Where Is Chez Starbuck Now? From Disney Merman to Shelf King

By CelebPaid Editorial Team · 8 min read

Thematic illustration: custom shelving, evoking Starbuck's business. This is a generic image, not a photo of the subject.Image via Wikimedia Commons

He was Cody Griffin — the 13-year-old who discovers he's a merman in Disney Channel's The Thirteenth Year (1999), one of the most beloved DCOMs of the era. Chez Starbuck was the face of Disney's merman movie — and it was his first role ever, his second audition ever. Then he walked away from Hollywood for Colorado entrepreneurship. This is the verified story of where Chez Starbuck is now.

The Beginning: Second Audition Ever

Born Caesaray Sarnella in 1982 in Lakewood, Colorado — most sources give July 26 — Chez Starbuck wasn't a Hollywood kid. He was a Nevada resident who'd been the anchor on a kid's news program in Green Valley when he auditioned for a Disney Channel movie. It was only the second audition of his life.

He got the part. The Thirteenth Year premiered May 15, 1999, directed by Duwayne Dunham (Little Giants, Halloweentown). Starbuck played Cody Griffin — a 13-year-old who grows scales and fins, communicates with fish, and breathes underwater as he hits puberty, raised by adoptive parents (Dave Coulier, TV's Joey Gladstone, played his dad). The ocean scenes were shot around Newport Beach's Balboa Peninsula and Corona del Mar.

The film was a hit — one of the most highly regarded Disney Channel Original Movies ever, a staple of millennial childhood. And Starbuck, with no formal training, carried it: the bewildered kid turning into a merman, selling both the comedy and the genuine adolescent alienation underneath.

The Run: DCOMs and MTV (1999-2003)

Starbuck worked steadily for a few years after his debut: Time Share (2000), You're Invited to Mary-Kate & Ashley's School Dance Party (2000), MTV's Undressed (briefly its main character in one run), a guest spot on Even Stevens, and Recipe for Disaster (2003) — his last major credit for over a decade. By the mid-2000s, he was done. No drama, no announcement — just a stop.

The Shelf King: Colorado Entrepreneur (2010s-)

Starbuck returned to Colorado and started The Shelf King (theshelfking.com) — a custom shelving and woodworking business. He designs and builds custom shelves, bookcases, and storage solutions: measuring, cutting, building, installing.

This is hands-on entrepreneurship, the tradesman's exit. He works with his hands, runs his own business, answers to customers instead of casting directors. The kid who played a fantasy creature now builds the furniture that holds people's real treasures.

He's discussed the transition in podcast interviews — including the Not in a Huff podcast, on how he got into acting, what filming was like, and why he ultimately left acting: to chase a different passion. No bitterness, just a man who tried Hollywood and chose something else.

The Comebacks: Brief Returns (2016, 2020)

He briefly returned to acting in 2016's The Long and the Short, and in 2020 appeared on Christy Carlson Romano's Christy's Kitchen Throwback. He's on Instagram (@chez_starbuck), engaging with fans on his own terms. These aren't comebacks; they're visits. The Shelf King is the career.

The Person: Family Man

He married Whitney Ward (now Whitney Sarnella) on January 5, 2014. They have two children: a son, Saxon Lev (born February 2020), and a daughter. He maintains a low public profile focused on family life in Colorado while running his business.

The Legacy: The Merman

The Thirteenth Year endures as a DCOM landmark — streaming on Disney+, rewatched by millennials, podcasted by nostalgia shows. And Cody Griffin endures as one of Disney Channel's most original protagonists: a boy whose puberty is literal metamorphosis, played by a kid who'd never acted before. That Starbuck now builds shelves in Colorado and shows up for the occasional nostalgia podcast is the healthiest version of the child-star story.

The Era: The DCOM Golden Age

The Thirteenth Year arrived at the peak of the Disney Channel Original Movie golden age — the era of Zenon, Smart House, Halloweentown, and Johnny Tsunami, when DCOMs were genuine cultural events for millennials. Premiering May 15, 1999, Starbuck's merman movie stood out even in that crowd: stranger, more melancholic, more original than the formula.

The film's premise — puberty as literal metamorphosis — gave it a resonance beyond its genre. Cody Griffin's scales and fins were a metaphor every 13-year-old understood: the body changing without permission, the urge to swim away from everything familiar. Starbuck, cast on his second audition ever, played it with the bewilderment of someone actually living it.

The Rarity: The One-Role Wonder Who Chose It

Most one-role wonders are trapped by their part; Starbuck was freed by his. He didn't spend decades trying to escape Cody Griffin — he simply left, built The Shelf King, married Whitney, raised two kids, and showed up for the occasional nostalgia podcast when he felt like it. The merman who chose the workshop over the soundstage.

His 2020 appearance on Christy Carlson Romano's Christy's Kitchen Throwback was the perfect encapsulation: the former Disney star, now a craftsman and father, reminiscing without regret. No comeback tour, no tell-all — just a man who'd lived two interesting lives and was happy with both.

The Craft: What The Shelf King Builds

The Shelf King (theshelfking.com) isn't a metaphor — it's a working woodshop. Custom shelving, bookcases, storage solutions: the unglamorous, essential furniture that holds people's lives together. Starbuck measures, cuts, builds, and installs, working directly with customers who care about craftsmanship.

There's a direct line from Cody Griffin to the Shelf King. Acting — especially as a teen, especially on a fluke — is about being shaped by other people's visions: the director's, the network's, the audience's. Woodworking is the opposite: you shape the material. You start with a plan and end with a thing. After years of being the clay, Starbuck chose to be the sculptor.

He's discussed this in interviews — the Not in a Huff podcast's deep dive into why he left acting is strikingly free of bitterness. He liked parts of Hollywood. He just liked building more. The merman traded the ocean for the workshop, and he's never looked back.

The Name: Chez Starbuck

Born Caesaray Sarnella, he performs — and now builds — as Chez Starbuck: one of the great stage names in child-actor history, as memorable as the merman he played. It's the kind of name that sounds like a superhero, which is fitting: his first role ever was carrying a Disney movie on his second audition. He didn't need a better origin story. He lived one.

Where Is Chez Starbuck Now?

As of 2026, Chez Starbuck owns and operates The Shelf King, a custom shelving business in Colorado. He retired from regular acting in the mid-2000s (with brief returns in 2016 and 2020). He is married to Whitney Sarnella (née Ward, since January 2014) with two children.

Cody Griffin discovered he was a merman. Chez Starbuck discovered he was an entrepreneur — and a damn good one.

Then vs Now: Two Chapters

Chez Starbuck was Cody Griffin, the Disney merman — cast on his second audition ever. Now he owns The Shelf King in Colorado, building custom shelves with his hands. From scales to shelves, from DCOM to DIY. The most hands-on exit — and one of the happiest.

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