Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory’ Star Looks Unrecognizable During Rare L.A. Outing (Exclusive)

Paris Themmen, who starred in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory alongside Gene Wilder, was spotted in L.A. last month.

In photos obtained by the Examiner, the former child star, 66 — who played Golden Ticket finder Mike Teevee in the 1971 film — was seen running errands in his neighborhood on July 3.

The Broadway actor has grown up since his days on screen and sported a red T-shirt, blue jeans, sneakers, and a baseball cap covering his shaven head at one point.

In an interview with Yahoo Entertainment! Themmen — who stepped back from acting years ago — addressed how he was a “notorious troublemaker” on the set of the cult classic film.

“I can corroborate that,” he told the outlet in June 2021. “I was younger than the others. I was 11, they were 13, and was naturally just sort of more high spirited and rambunctious.”

Themmen was also a guest on The Projection Booth podcast that year and described his experience on set as “very positive,” noting he still stays in touch with his fellow castmates.

“I see the other kids from Willy Wonka fairly regularly,” he revealed. “If it isn’t at a convention, then over this last year it’s been on Zoom calls, that kind of thing. We see and talk to each other a lot. They’re some of my oldest relationships.”

Themmen also gave an update on what his life has looked like since he quit acting in his 20s after graduating from NYU Tisch.

“When I was done with that, I just took a break, and I started traveling with a backpack around the world and racked up about 30 countries by the time I was 30,” he shared.

“And now I’ve been to 62 countries,” he continued. “I’ve just always had a sort of variety of either artistic things or businessy things and mixed it up and went back and forth in my life.”

Over the years, Themmen has had his hands in many different cookie jars, calling himself an “entrepreneur,” he has worked as a financial advisor, tried his hand at casting, worked for Walt Disney Imagineering, and more. He also competed on Jeopardy! in 2018, coming in second place.

“Honestly, I can’t even remember all the things I’ve done,” Themmen admitted. “Every two or three years, I would kind of get bored and want to break the mold and start something new and do something else.”