When “Full House” first aired as part of ABC’s family friendly lineup on Friday nights in 1987, one of its biggest draws was baby Michelle (famously played by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen), who was often seen in funny, cute scenes before the title sequence even came on. As the show matured, so did the young actresses who played the Tanner family’s youngest girl. So, “Full House” added a new child attraction — two, actually. When uncle Jesse Katsopolis (John Stamos) married Rebecca Donaldson (Lori Loughlin) in Season 4, it gave writers an excuse to add a new set of cute-as-a-button twins to the cast by the middle of the fifth season.
Although Jesse and Rebeca’s baby boys, Nicky and Alex, were initially played by Kevin and Daniel Renteria, they were aged up for season six, when suddenly the infants were ambulatory toddlers with long blond hair. At this point, they were played by Dylan (as Alex) and Blake (as Nicky) Tuomy-Wilhoit. They eventually got their own place in the credits, too. Unfortunately for its fans, the show was canceled with little notice (via US Magazine) after Season 8 in 1995, robbing viewers of the chance to watch Nicky and Alex grow up the way they had with Michelle.
They did appear on two episodes of “Fuller House,” the Netflix series that continued the next generation of the Tanner family starting in 2016. But, other than that, what have the Tuomy-Wilhoit twins done since “Full House” ended, more than 25 years ago? Here’s what we know.
Blake was a firefighter, then became a foley artist
The Tuomy-Wilhoit twins quit acting after “Full House.” Their IMDb bios say that this was so they could live normal lives. However, the popularity of the show continued to impact them. Blake told Popternative he continued to get fan mail into his teen years. In 2009, the twins graduated from John Burroughs High School in Burbank, California, but then their lives diverged. Blake became a firefighter, working in the Atlanta area. He said that he loved the job, but he missed friends and family. California would not accept his certification for firefighting, so he opted to join what he calls “the family business” instead: audio engineering.
“I’ve always just loved that production side of things. I do like the performance side as well, but I’m really drawn to production,” he told Popternative, noting that even as a firefighter he was still working on the side helping local churches improve their lighting and sound. So, when he returned to L.A., he started looking into becoming a foley artist — which has both a sound engineering and a performance aspect to it.
A foley artist, in case you’re not aware, makes the hundreds of everyday sound effects in TV shows, movies, and video games — which aren’t picked up by microphones because those focus on actors’ voices, or may not sound real enough — from the creaking of wood to the drawing of steel swords. This is usually done with props. For example, a foley artist might clap coconut halves together to simulate the sound of horses’ hooves, a la “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”
Dylan preceded Blake into the audio engineering industry
When Blake became a foley artist, he was following the footsteps of family members, including his brother, Dylan. While Blake’s foley mixing credits to date include shows like “FBI” and “Castle Rock” starting in 2018, Dylan started his sound career in 2014 and has worked on a larger number of projects, some of which are rather high profile. They include movies like “Furious 7” from 2015, “The Glass Castle” from 2017 and the upcoming “Tyler Perry’s A Madea Homecoming,” along with television shows like “Lost in Space,” “Game of Thrones,” “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan,” “The Nevers,” “Lovecraft Country,” and “Turner and Hooch.” In fact, he’s won three Emmy Awards for his work on “Game of Thrones,” “Lovecraft Country” and “Black Sails.” He has also worked on video games, including “Valorant,” “Legends of Runeterra,” and the 2019 “Spider-Man” game for the PlayStation 4.
It’s possible Dylan might be mentoring his brother in the industry, as his credits also include “FBI” and “Castle Rock.” Dylan himself was mentored by his father, Jeffrey Wilhoit. “In media I have the luxury of creating a sound and music atmosphere that engulfs viewers into other worlds and stories. Music and sound effects are such a vital part of creating these other worlds and experiences for people, and I am proud and excited to be a part of that. When people come up to me excited, saying ‘Oh my god that episode was amazing! How did you make that scene sound so real?! I almost puked when that guy’s head exploded!’ — making people feel through sound … those are the rewarding moments of my job,” the twin said in a 2017 interview (via Train Wreck Society).
Blake recently posted about Bob Saget’s death
The brothers remain close, occasionally appearing on each other’s Instagram accounts. Dylan took Blake to the Emmys in 2017, for example. Neither appear to be married, but at least as of a year and a half ago, Blake was in a long-term relationship with Sienna Hyerim Choi. Blake, in the past, has also enjoyed streaming on Twitch, but no longer has an account there.
The brothers have been known to delete posts on social media, although back in 2015 that’s where they announced that they were returning to TV in “Fuller House” (via People Magazine), to play Nicky and Alex in a couple of episodes in the first and second seasons, as underachieving college students who love to surf and want to open a taco truck. On his Popternative interview, Blake said that experience was “surreal” because the Netflix series was filmed on the same stage as the original. Blake said, “We were walking and then Bob Saget was walking over there … and my brother was like ‘Hey, Bob,’ and he was looking at us, and he was like, ‘Who are you guys?’ He was like, ‘Wait! No way!'”