Jake Thomas' parents worked in a bar after he found Disney Channel fame.

The 35-year-old actor - who is the son of former radio host Bob Thomas and actress Sinns Thomas - was cast opposite Hilary Duff in the comedy series Lizzie McGuire in the early 2000s, and is still "super grateful" for how his parents gave up their own careers in Tennessee so he could pursue acting in LA.

Speaking on the Zach Sang Show, he explained: "My parents were still acting and writing. My dad wrote two episodes of Lizzie McGuire, but the focus definitely started to become giving me the best shot possible. I am super, super grateful and thankful that they did that for me. They gave me the best opportunity to get where I am today. It's massive. Massive.

"I recongised too,that when I was following along on this success, they had to make sacrifices in their own lives to help support that. You're a kid, you've got to have your parent there the entire time and they're not getting paid to be there.

"My parents have never really talked about this, but they took [jobs] waiting tables, nightshifts, while I was on a TV show, just so that one of them was always earning income and keeping health insurance and stuff like that.

During that time, Jake - who also appeared opposide Jude Law in A.I. Artificial Intelligence, and in more recent years has become a director - "hadn't realised" that his parents had given up so much for them, but now admits that he "can never thank them enough" for what they did.

"Looking back on that now, I hadn't realised that growing up, but they worked at the Hard Rock Cafe at Universal Studios. I have memories of us going to Universal and meeting my mom, and she'd still be in her waitress uniform smelling of french fries and we'd pick her up from work go home.

"Now, looking back on that, I'm like 'You went from being on TV, local celebrity to doing this...' Sacrificing that essentially so I could continue my career. I can never thank them enough."