Why You Recognize Braden From Grown Ups 2

Although the first Grown Ups movie is more than a decade old at this point, the ridiculous antics the childhood friends get into as adults — relieving themselves in a water park pool to have the water turn blue around them, completely wiping out on a rope swing, a kid innocently coining the phrase "chocolate wasted" — are just as hilarious as they were when the movie first premiered. The first movie was so successful that a sequel was made, which follows Adam Sandler's character Lenny's move back to his hometown from Los Angeles with his young kids and designer wife to be back with his childhood friends.

While Sandler is still clearly the main guy in the sequel, David Spade's character Marcus has quite the interesting storyline. He finds out he has a son named Braden who is sent to spend the summer with him. At that point, the actor who played Braden was about 13 years into his acting career and had recently finished up a movie that was wildly popular at the time. Keep reading to find out why you might recognize Braden from Grown Ups 2.

Braden from Grown Ups 2 is played by actor Alexander Ludwig. You might recognize him from the successful film series The Hunger Games, in which he played District 2 male tribute Cato. Ludwig told Entertainment Weekly in March 2012 that he was super stoked to snag the role of Cato, which put him on the map and elevated him to a level of fame he did not expect. "I think when it really hit me was when I came back to Vancouver for Thanksgiving, and there was press and fans outside the airport. That was the first thing. You expect that in L.A., but not really at home," he said.

Ludwig has continued booking big roles in films following his Hunger Games and Grown Ups days. Since then, he has starring landed roles in movies like Bad Boys for Life and Operation Christmas Drop. He's also landed leadings gigs on the History Channel's Vikings and the TV series Swerve. In an October 2014 interview with Untitled magazine, the actor reflected on his snowballing career and said he plans to keep growing. 

"I've been really happy with the way my career has been going lately, because I've been all over the map with these types of movies, from Hunger Games to Vikings to Lone Survivor, which is a really heart-felt movie," he said. "It's just gut-wrenching, so I get to show my more innocent side, which is great. I feel really fortunate."