Erik Per Sullivan

Personal life

Sullivan was born an only child in Worcester, Massachusetts. His father, Fred Sullivan, owns a Mexican restaurant in Milford, Massachusetts, called The Alamo. His mother, Ann, was born in Sweden and was naturalized as a US citizen in 2007. He speaks a little Swedish, and his family visits Sweden almost every year. At a young age he began studying piano and the saxophone. He has a first degree black belt in taekwondo.

Sullivan attended Mount Saint Charles Academy in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, before transferring to Phillips Exeter Academy his junior year. He attended the University of Southern California from 2009 to 2010.

Career

One of his early roles includes playing the main character, a child, in the 2001 horror film Wendigo. Sullivan also played the only child in the 2002 film Unfaithful, and he played the orphaned child Fuzzy Stone, who suffered from weak lungs, in The Cider House Rules. He was also in the 2004 comedy film Christmas with the Kranks, playing the character of Spike. He played young Joe Dirt in the film of the same name. In the 2003 animated film Finding Nemo, he voiced Sheldon the Seahorse. He starred as the title role in the independent film Mo. In 2010, he played the role of Timmy in the film Twelve. He hasn't acted since appearing in Twelve.

From January 9, 2000 to May 14, 2006, he played the role of Dewey in the American sitcom Malcolm in the Middle. In 2005, he joined co-star Jane Kaczmarek in writing the afterword to a children's book called Together, which shows the importance of livestock in the world and was inspired by the mission of the nonprofit charitable organization Heifer International. Toward the end of June 2006, he was seen in a specially made advertisement for the airing of the last episode of Malcolm in the Middle on Sky One in the UK.