Malachi Barton is 19 years old as of July 2026. He was born on March 10, 2007, and will celebrate his 20th birthday on March 10, 2027. Viewers who remember him as the mischievous Beast Diaz on Disney Channel’s Stuck in the Middle may be surprised by his age, since that role introduced him to a wide audience when he was still a young child.
Barton has since grown from a sitcom performer into one of Disney’s most visible young actors. His career includes television comedy, voice acting, feature films, supernatural adventures, musical productions, soundtrack performances, and live touring. Recent roles in ZOMBIES 4: Dawn of the Vampires and Camp Rock 3 have placed him at the center of a new generation of Disney performers.
His public story is largely about that transition. Barton spent much of his childhood working professionally, but his parents have said they tried to keep acting from becoming his entire identity. Now entering adulthood, he is taking on larger roles while building skills in singing, dancing, and live performance.
Early Life and Family Background
Malachi Barton was born on March 10, 2007, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in the United States. He is American and has used his birth name professionally throughout his acting career.
His parents are Felicia and Loren Barton. Felicia Barton is a singer and songwriter who gained national attention as a contestant on American Idol. She has also worked as a songwriter and vocalist, giving Malachi an early connection to the entertainment business through music.
Loren Barton has also been associated with music and touring. Both parents have spoken publicly about supporting their son while trying to protect the ordinary parts of his childhood. Rather than treating every audition as a major career test, they encouraged him to see early acting experiences as something enjoyable.
Barton reportedly began acting at around five years old. His family helped him attend auditions and work on professional sets, but they also encouraged interests outside the entertainment business. His mother has discussed the value of friendships with children who weren’t actors and activities such as baseball.
That approach appears to have given Barton some stability during a childhood that involved unusual responsibilities. Young actors must memorize dialogue, follow production schedules, work with adult crews, and balance education with employment. Barton’s parents remained closely involved as he moved from brief television appearances to regular work on a major Disney series.
Detailed information about his extended family, siblings, or private home life has not been consistently confirmed. Barton and his parents have shared selected parts of their family story, but they have not turned every personal detail into public material.
Education and Early Training
Barton’s full educational history is not publicly confirmed. Like many child actors, he would have needed to complete schoolwork while meeting production obligations, but reliable public sources have not established the specific schools, tutoring programs, or study arrangements he used throughout his career.
His most visible training came through professional experience. Barton began working on television sets before he was 10, which allowed him to learn camera awareness, comic timing, script preparation, and the demands of repeated takes at a young age.
His later projects required new forms of preparation. For ZOMBIES 4, he trained in singing and choreography, moving beyond the family-comedy work that first made him known. The production showed that his development had not been limited to acting lessons or set experience.
Barton has described himself as an actor first, especially in comparison with his mother’s music career. His move into musical roles came gradually rather than through a childhood plan to become a recording artist. That distinction helps explain why ZOMBIES 4 represented such an important professional step.
First Television Roles
Barton began his screen career with small parts in television programs including Workaholics, See Dad Run, Instant Mom, and Henry Danger. These appearances gave him experience without placing the full weight of a series on him.
Guest roles are often short, but they test whether a young performer can adapt quickly. A child actor may have only a limited amount of time to understand a character, learn lines, and fit into an established production. Barton’s early work helped prepare him for a much larger opportunity.
His breakthrough arrived in 2016 with Disney Channel’s Stuck in the Middle. Barton played Beast Diaz, one of seven children in the fictional Diaz family. Jenna Ortega led the cast as Harley Diaz, the inventive middle child trying to find her place in a crowded household.
Barton was eight when he secured the role and was close to turning nine when the series premiered. Beast was energetic, unpredictable, and frequently involved in comic trouble with his brother Lewie. The character allowed Barton to use physical humor, expressive reactions, and fast-paced delivery.
Stuck in the Middle ran for three seasons, giving Barton steady exposure during a formative part of his childhood. Viewers watched him grow while the series remained on television, and reruns later introduced the show to audiences who had not seen it during its original run.
The role remains central to his public identity. Many searches about Barton’s age come from viewers who still associate him with the young version of Beast Diaz and want to know how much time has passed since the sitcom.
Moving Beyond Stuck in the Middle
After Stuck in the Middle, Barton continued building his résumé through both live-action and animated work. He voiced Lionel in Disney Junior’s Fancy Nancy, which required him to communicate personality without relying on facial expressions or physical movement.
Voice acting gave Barton a different technical challenge. The performance had to work through rhythm, tone, and vocal reactions alone. It also allowed him to remain connected to Disney while broadening the kind of work attached to his name.
In 2019, he appeared as young Diego in Dora and the Lost City of Gold. The movie marked an early feature-film credit and placed him in a theatrical production based on the popular children’s franchise.
Barton later starred as Marshall in Disney Channel’s Under Wraps, released in 2021. The film remade the network’s 1997 Halloween movie and followed a group of friends who accidentally awaken a mummy. Barton returned for Under Wraps 2 in 2022.
The Under Wraps films gave him more responsibility than a brief guest role. As one of the main young characters, he had to help carry a complete movie while balancing comedy, friendship, and fantasy elements.
The Villains of Valley View
In 2022, Barton joined the cast of Disney Channel’s The Villains of Valley View. He played Colby Madden, a member of a family of supervillains hiding under ordinary identities after turning against their former leader.
Colby begins the series as a seemingly normal younger family member before discovering unusual transformation abilities. The role combined family comedy with fantasy effects and action, allowing Barton to return to a television ensemble while playing a character different from Beast Diaz.
Barton was around 15 when the series premiered. That period can be difficult for actors who became known as children, since their appearance, voice, and casting range are changing at the same time. The Villains of Valley View helped him bridge the gap between his early sitcom image and the older roles that followed.
Rather than abandoning family entertainment, Barton continued working within it while increasing the scale of his characters. That strategy kept him visible to Disney audiences and gave him time to develop before taking on musical lead roles.
Breakthrough in ZOMBIES 4
Barton reached a new stage of his career with ZOMBIES 4: Dawn of the Vampires. The Disney Channel Original Movie premiered in July 2025 and introduced him as Victor, a young vampire from the community of Shadyside.
Victor is adventurous, curious, and increasingly willing to question the hostility between his people and the Daywalkers. His connection with Nova, played by Freya Skye, becomes an important part of the story. The pair represented a younger generation joining a franchise previously led by Milo Manheim and Meg Donnelly.
The role required Barton to sing and dance as well as act. He appeared on several soundtrack numbers, including ensemble songs and performances with Skye. Preparing for the film involved weeks of choreography training before production began.
Filming took place in New Zealand. Barton celebrated his 17th birthday there in March 2024, showing how far in advance the movie was produced before its 2025 release. He was 18 by the time audiences saw the finished film.
ZOMBIES 4 changed the way Barton was presented publicly. He was no longer simply a former child actor taking another Disney role. He became a romantic lead, musical performer, and central member of a franchise with a large international audience.
The project also introduced him to live concert work. Barton joined the Descendants/ZOMBIES: Worlds Collide Tour, performing songs and choreography in arenas across multiple cities. Live touring demanded consistency and stamina that film production does not require in the same way.
Camp Rock 3 and His 2026 Career
Barton’s next major Disney project is Camp Rock 3. He plays Fletch, one of the new campers competing for an opportunity to open for Connect 3 during the fictional band’s reunion tour.
The movie connects Barton with one of Disney Channel’s best-known musical properties. Joe, Nick, and Kevin Jonas return as the members of Connect 3, while a younger cast introduces new characters and conflicts at Camp Rock.
The film is scheduled to premiere on Disney Channel on August 13, 2026, followed by its Disney+ release on August 14. Barton will be 19 when it reaches viewers.
Playing Fletch continues the musical direction established by ZOMBIES 4. It also places Barton in a project that carries strong nostalgia for viewers who watched the first two Camp Rock films in 2008 and 2010.
Disney has also announced further work involving Barton. He is expected to return as Victor in a fifth ZOMBIES movie alongside Freya Skye. The installment will introduce mermaid characters and continue the supernatural conflicts developed in the franchise.
Barton has also been connected to Coven Academy, an upcoming Disney series built around a supernatural school setting. Full release details and the complete scope of his role have not yet been publicly confirmed.
These projects make 2025 and 2026 the most active period of his career so far. He has moved across film, television, music, and touring while remaining closely tied to Disney’s family audience.
Relationships and Private Life
Barton has kept his romantic life private. No marriage, engagement, or publicly confirmed long-term relationship has been established through reliable reporting or a direct announcement from him.
Online speculation sometimes links young actors with co-stars because they appear together in interviews, promotional videos, or social-media posts. Those appearances are part of entertainment publicity and don’t prove that a private relationship exists.
Barton does not have any publicly known children. At 19, his public focus remains on acting, music, touring, and his transition into adult roles.
His family remains the most clearly documented part of his personal life. He has spoken warmly about his parents’ support, and Felicia Barton has shared selected career and birthday moments publicly. Even so, the family has maintained boundaries around private matters.
Net Worth and Income Sources
Malachi Barton’s net worth is not publicly confirmed. Websites that publish exact figures usually rely on estimates rather than verified contracts, financial filings, or statements from Barton and his representatives.
His known income sources are likely connected to acting, voice work, soundtrack performances, live tours, and promotional activity. His Disney projects include multiple television series, original movies, feature-film work, and music-based productions.
The amount an actor earns from a project depends on contract terms, episode counts, billing, union rules, commissions, taxes, and other expenses. Public visibility alone does not reveal how much money Barton personally retains.
Because he began working as a child, some of his earlier income may also have been governed by rules designed to protect minors’ earnings. The details of any accounts, contracts, or family financial arrangements remain private.
It is more accurate to describe Barton as an established working actor than to attach an unsupported fortune to his name. His growing number of lead roles suggests increasing professional value, but no dependable public evidence supports a precise net-worth claim.
Public Image
Barton’s public image is closely tied to Disney and to the experience of growing up on screen. He is recognized by older viewers for Stuck in the Middle and by younger audiences for ZOMBIES 4, The Villains of Valley View, and his musical performances.
His career has avoided major public controversy. He generally presents himself through cast interviews, promotional appearances, family-supported posts, and material connected to his projects.
The main challenge ahead is artistic rather than personal. Barton must decide how long he wants to remain centered in Disney entertainment and whether he will eventually pursue roles for older audiences. His current projects show that Disney is giving him room to mature without breaking sharply from the audience that already knows him.
That position can be valuable, but it also creates expectations. Viewers will be watching to see whether he develops a broader acting range, continues pursuing music, or builds a career that combines both.
Frequently Asked Questions
How old is Malachi Barton?
Malachi Barton is 19 years old as of July 2026. He was born on March 10, 2007, and will turn 20 on March 10, 2027.
Where was Malachi Barton born?
Barton was born in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in the United States. He is American and has worked professionally since early childhood.
How old was Malachi Barton in Stuck in the Middle?
Barton was eight when he was cast as Beast Diaz. He was close to nine when the Disney Channel series premiered in 2016.
Who are Malachi Barton’s parents?
His parents are Felicia and Loren Barton. Felicia is a singer and songwriter, while Loren has also been associated with music and touring.
Is Malachi Barton dating anyone?
Barton has not publicly confirmed a current romantic partner. Claims linking him to co-stars should be treated as speculation unless he provides clear confirmation.
What is Malachi Barton’s net worth?
His net worth is not publicly confirmed. Exact figures published by celebrity-finance websites are estimates and should not be presented as verified facts.
What is Malachi Barton doing now?
As of 2026, Barton is promoting and preparing for projects that include Camp Rock 3, further ZOMBIES work, live touring, and the announced Disney series Coven Academy.
Conclusion
Malachi Barton’s age tells only part of his story. At 19, he already has more than a decade of professional experience, beginning with small television appearances and expanding into long-running Disney roles, movies, voice work, music, and arena performances.
His career has developed without requiring him to reject the work that made him famous. Instead, he has moved gradually from child comedy into fantasy adventures and musical lead roles that better match his age.
The next stage will show whether Barton remains mainly a Disney performer or uses this period as the base for a wider adult career. For now, he stands as one of the company’s most visible young stars, shaped by years of experience but still early in the process of defining what kind of performer he wants to become.
