It is quite hard not to see Tangled character Flynn Rider when Milo Manheim enters the room: the height, the shadow of a goatee, the big brown eyes, the confident swagger. When he arrives at his shoot with VMAN, he pulls off a classic cool guy move, casually identifying the fragrance I’m wearing before graciously introducing himself to everyone on set. After years of fans eagerly drawing the comparison between the 25-year-old School Spirits actor and the Tangled leading man, Manheim was officially cast in the live- action remake earlier this year—marking the beginning of the most exciting chapter in his acting career so far.

Growing up in the industry, Maheim says that his on-set experiences with his mother, actor Camryn Manheim, initially discouraged him from acting: “I realized how unrealistic it was, but I definitely did fall in love with the culture and the community.” At the same time, his musical inclination was developing, but not with any future-oriented mindset.“When you’re painting something at six years old, you’re not thinking, is this going to be good? You’re just thinking, ‘I’m painting right now,’” he explains. The nascent music-tinkering would eventually blossom into a musical theater career.

After a run of American Idiot at LA’s Mark Taper Forum in 2024, Manheim spent a chunk of 2025 as Seymour in the off-Broadway revival of Little Shop of Horrors, which he describes as “one of the more memorable things I’ve ever done. Theater is like the reward that we get as actors. It obviously can be stressful and hard, but it is the most fulfilling thing ever. For me, it’s the truest art form where I’m able to get lost in it.”

Rampant fan-casting does not always result in a fairytale ending. Manheim’s approach to self-preservation was about convincing himself he wasn’t going to get the part, to “protect my soul,” he says. “I spent all my time preparing myself to get the call that I didn’t book it. Anytime you get any role in this industry, it needs to be a perfect storm of timing, of people rooting for you, and of you matching enough people’s visions of the character.” He says, reflecting on how he has made his affiliation for the Tangled character clear over the years. “I actually remember going to see it in theaters with my cousin, Noah. I was nine years old,” he grins. “I just didn’t think that it would ever be a perfect storm for something this important to me, and it was. I’m still pinching myself.”

Manheim essentially got the news at the same time fans did. “I found out that I got this role ten minutes before the information came out,” he says. “I woke up that morning just being like, ‘Here comes another day of convincing myself I didn’t get this role.’ When I [did], my skin literally was tingling. My body was rushing with so much serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins that I almost looked like I wasn’t feeling any emotion at all, like I was blank- faced for the whole day. It wasn’t until the end of the day when I hung up my last phone call, and crumbled into a ball and cried on the floor.”

As he gets more comfortable on horseback and prepares to head to Spain for months of shooting, Manheim is thinking about how best to develop the character he loves. “I think that is what scares me a little bit, finding the balance of making it my own while also honoring the iconic character he is.” Then, with the kind of cheeky smirk that likely nabbed him the role, “But obviously, I’m not a cartoon, so I’m going to have to make it a little bit different.”

This story appears in the pages of VMAN 56: on global newsstands now!

Photography David Roemer

Fashion EJ Briones

Interviews Charlie Kolbrener

Grooming Scott McMahan (Honey Artists)

Casting Kev Ponce

Fashion Market Editor Copelyn Bengel

Cinematographer Mynxii White

Lighting Director Ernesto Urdaneta

Styling Assistants Angelina Aliano, Jolie Avignone, Juliet Amorina

Production Assistant Juliet Lloyd