Fans of the show remember Blossom for the lead character’s many eccentric hats, her sidekick Six (Jenna von Oÿ), and her brother Joey’s (Joey Lawrence) catchphrase “whoa.” But it may have slipped your mind that Blossom also had an oldest brother, Tony, who was played by Michael Stoyanov. Tony had a darker backstory than his younger siblings as he was a recovering addict who was getting his life back together and studying to become a paramedic.
Stoyanov starred on Blossom throughout most of its five-season run but left during the final season to pursue a new career. These days, the 51-year-old is back to acting regularly and has spoken about finding his passion for performing again. Read on to find out more about his life today, including his reunions with his Blossom co-stars.
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Stoyanov was 20 when Blossom premiered, and he had already been working in the industry for a few years prior. The young actor had appeared on episodes of T.J. Hooker, Quantum Leap, Married.. with Children, Baywatch, and more.
After leaving Blossom, Stoyanov began focusing on writing.
“After that incredible experience, I ended up going to New York and embarking on a career as a writer, mostly comedy, mostly late-night television,” he told Blossom co-star Mayim Bialik in an interview for her website in 2017. “I started on Conan O’Brien when he was still at 30 Rock [where NBC is headquartered]. I worked on a Dana Carvey show and then on MadTV a little later.”
He added, “The last writing I did was a screenplay credit on a very funny, quirky, dark sci-fi comedy called Space Station 76 with Patrick Wilson, Matt Bomer, and Liv Tyler.”
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Even while he was working as a writer, Stoyanov continued taking the occasional acting role. He appeared in episodes of Beverly Hills, 90210, Chicago Sons, Safe Harbor, and Reno 911!. He also had a small part in the 2008 movie The Dark Knight.
In his interview with Bialik, Stoyanov shared that when he was offered a small part on CSI in 2012, he realized just how much he still enjoys performing.
“I’m on the Universal lot, doing wardrobe meetings and walking around this storied movie lot—one of the big ones, one of the most famous,” he explained. “I’m soaking in the sights, looking at the sound stages, at people in the golf carts, zipping around and I thought, ‘You know what? I’m home.’ This is where I belong. This feels right. I guess I’m an actor. Whether it’s ‘man with potatoes’ or Oskar Schindler, this tour-de-force part, or contributing borderline background. This just makes me happy.”
In recent years, Stoyanov has appeared on Justified, Gotham, and The Blacklist, and in recurring roles on Kingdom and Billions.
Blossom cast members have gotten together for officially a couple of times in recent years. In 2017, Stoyanov, Bialik, Lawrence, von Oÿ, and Ted Wass participated in a reunion for Entertainment Weekly and opened up about their experience making the show.
“It was really a fun, fun role to do, and definitely out of the norm at the time,” Stoyanov said of playing Tony. “I was so happy that I was even going be in consideration for this part, because it was so different from everything else I was seeing. I was blown away to end up doing it.”
Then, in 2022, Stoyanov, Bialik, Lawrence, and von Oÿ reunited again when they appeared on Bialik’s current sitcom, Call Me Kat. During the episode, the Stoyanov, Lawrence, and von Oÿ play themselves with Bialik’s character, Kat, telling them they were the stars of one of her favorite shows. They also joke about Kat remembering von Oÿ and Lawrence, but not Stoyanov. “Oh, no, I get it,” he says. “She talked real fast and he was an idiot. I was just a boring old heartfelt three-dimensional character. Whatever.”