Early life
Austin was born Jake Austin Szymanski in New York City, the son of Giny Rodriquez Toranzo and Joe Szymanski. His middle initial "T" is taken from his mother's maiden name "Toranzo". His mother is of Puerto Rican, Argentinian, and Spanish descent, and his father is of Polish, Irish, and English descent. He has one younger sibling, a sister named Ava.
Career
Austin began his career in 2002 at the age of 7, with roles in commercials, and in 2003 he appeared in his first "credited" role as "Kid 1698" in a comedy sketch on The Late Show with David Letterman. In 2004, he first gained notoriety when he landed the role as the voice of Dora's adventurous 8 year-old cousin, Diego on the Nickelodeon animated series Dora The Explorer (credited as "Jake Toranzo Szymanski"). Austin continued to voice the role of Diego for three seasons as the title character on the 2005 animated spin-off series Go, Diego, Go!, as well as on the musical CDs Diego, Dora & Friends Animal Jamboree Album and Dora's Fiesta Album.During his time as the voice of Diego, Austin went on to lend his voice to several other animated projects including the popular feature films The Ant Bully, and Everyone's Hero, as well as Comedy Central's Christmas special, Merry F#%$in' Christmas and Playhouse Disney's musical Happy Monster Band segments.
In 2006, Austin landed the lead role of Angel Macias in his first live-action feature film, The Perfect Game based on a true story about the first non-U.S. team to win the 1957 Little League World Series, although the film wouldn't be released in the United States until more than three years after filming was completed, due to post-production financing difficulties. In 2007, Austin began what would become a prolific career with Disney when he was cast as Chris in the Disney Channel original movie Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board. Later that same year, he was cast as the youngest sibling, Max Russo on the Disney Channel original series Wizards of Waverly Place alongside Selena Gomez and David Henrie. Wizards debuted in Octobter of 2007 and quickly became a fan favorite, lauded for its portrayal of Latinos and winning the Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s Program in 2009, as well as ALMA, Imagen and NAACP Image Award nominations.
In 2009, Austin made his live-action feature film debut with a starring role as Bruce, an orphan who hides numerous dogs in an abandoned hotel in the successful Dreamworks family film Hotel for Dogs, while later that year, The Perfect Game debuted at the 2009 Guadalajara International Film Festival. In the summer of that same year, Austin appeared as Max Russo in a crossover episode of the Disney Channel series, The Suite Life On Deck and in the Emmy Award winning Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, which was the Disney Channel's first television film adaptation of the popular series. In the spring of 2010, after almost four years, and several postponed release dates, The Perfect Game was finally released in U.S. theaters by Lionsgate. In the fall of that year, Austin was named as one of "The 25 Brightest Latino Stars Under 25" in the October 2010 issue of Latina Magazine, along with his Wizards co-star Selena Gomez.
As of 2011, Austin currently stars as Max Russo on the fourth and final season of the Emmy Award winning series Wizards of Waverly Place, with a second Wizards film adaptation said to be in pre-production. He will have a role as the voice of Fernando, in the 20th Century Fox 3-D animated musical feature film, Rio, scheduled to be released in April 2011. It is believed that Austin will also have a role in the upcoming Warner Brothers live-action/CGI film adaption of Marvin the Martian starring Michael Myers, scheduled to be released in October 2011. In December 2010, it was announced that Austin would be teaming up with Pilgrim Films & Television productions as co-executive producer of a new reality series that will focus on a group of families in the Los Angeles area as they put their lives on hold to pursue their children’s dreams of acting, singing and/or modeling. The pilot episode is scheduled to begin filming in mid-2011.
Personal life
Austin speaks fluent Spanish, and currently divides his time living in Los Angeles and New York with his parents, his younger sister Ava, and the family's two dogs, Bogey and Beju.His family owns an historic restaurant called ‘The Clarksville Inn’. The restaurant, located in West Nyack, New York, originally opened in 1840 as a hotel. Austin attends public school when he's in New York and has his school work sent to him when he's away filming. Along with writing, directing and acting in shorts for his YouTube channel "Jakeethekid", he has also written, and sold his first screenplay titled "Kings of Suburbia" which he has said is in the same vein as his favorite film Stand By Me.
When he isn't busy with school and work, Austin devotes his time to various charitable causes including the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which grants wishes to children who have life-threatening medical conditions, the Starlight Children's Foundation, which is dedicated to improving the quality of life for children with chronic and life-threatening medical conditions, and Variety's Power of Youth initiative, which partners with young stars to help raise money for their chosen causes.
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