:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(999x0:1001x2)/gettyimages-143556190-2000-7d60385a18df47dcb8b0e73431fc4ac2.jpg?w=1920&resize=1920,1574&ssl=1 "The Lawrence Brothers Want They Hadn’t Modified Their Final Identify")
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The brothers are again!
The Lawrence brothers — Matthew, Joey and Andrew — took the stage at 90s Con on Friday, March 28, on the Connecticut Conference Heart in Hartford, Conn.
Within the panel moderated by PEOPLE’s Dory Jackson, the trio opened up about how they received their final identify — and why they need they may change it again.
“It was my center identify,” Joey, whose full authorized identify is Joseph Lawrence Mignogna, defined. “So I used to be named after our dad, and our grandfather on our dad’s facet.” Joey, 48, stated that within the early ’80s, when he started performing, he was instructed, “Nobody can pronounce Mignogna. That is not a reputation folks will say.”
“At this time, issues like which can be celebrated,” he stated. “Within the ’80s, it was like, ‘We will must water this down. There are silent Gs.’ ”
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They determined to make use of his center identify, Lawrence, as his final identify, and when Matthew, 45, and Andrew, 37, adopted him into present enterprise, it “simply made sense” for them to make use of it too.
Matthew identified that there was a profit to this, because it gave the kid stars some privateness of their off-screen lives. “There was an insulation issue,” he stated. “Some folks may examine in old-fashioned methods, however it could be very, very laborious to search out us. That was an excellent factor.”
Nonetheless, he stated, “Now I am simply caught with two completely different names and I am unable to journey internationally.”
All three brothers agreed that they need they may return to their authentic identify. “It could have made it simpler,” Andrew stated. “It is actually a ache within the butt, actually, like having two names. It’s a must to show you are each folks.”
Matthew added, “Even for some time there the federal government solely acknowledged me as Matt Lawrence as a result of I paid taxes from the time I used to be a toddler to 18 as Matt Lawrence.”
Buena Vista Tv/Courtesy Everett Assortment
“However actually my identify is Matthew William Mignogna,” he defined. “So after I grew up and used my actual identify on my passport, there was completely no correlation. I did not exist.”
The brothers starred because the fictional Roman siblings within the sitcom Brotherly Love collectively from 1995 to 1997. The collection additionally starred Liz Vassey and Melinda Culea.
Joey discovered additional success within the early ‘90s with a starring function on Blossom. He additionally voiced Oliver in Disney’s Oliver & Firm. Matthew acquired consideration for his function in 1993’s Mrs. Doubtfire and his half as Jack Hunter, the brother of Rider Sturdy’s Shawn Hunter, on Boy Meets World. Andrew broke by together with his function on Brotherly Love and likewise voiced T.J. Detweiler within the beloved cartoon Recess.
In 2023, the brothers launched a podcast, additionally referred to as Brotherly Love, on which they discuss their lives, careers and different popular culture matters. Andrew instructed Leisure Tonight in 2023, “[The reason] why I used to be so enthusiastic about this podcast is as a result of it was an excuse for me to take a seat round a desk and discuss with my brothers and get to hang around with them. It is one thing I actually get pleasure from in life.”
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90s Con is working by Sunday, March 30, on the Connecticut Conference Heart in Hartford.
