Featured Image Credit: Nickelodeon/Supplied
Topics: Film and TV, Celebrity
Emily Brown
If you grew up watching Nickelodeon, chances are you'd recognize Coconut Head through his name, his hair, or his iconic scream.
Almost two decades on from when Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide first aired, however, actor Rob Pinkston looks like a whole different person, and he's got a new persona to go along with it.
Of course, it helps that he no longer has that perfectly round hair framing his face.
The hair was what made Coconut Head who he was - though Rob has admitted that for a while, his castmates thought the hair was something he had in common with his character.
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Having been excited to land the role on the Nickelodeon show when he was 16, Rob was eager to please when he sat down in hair and makeup.
He was initially willing to shave his head to look like 'the rough outside of a coconut', but after some discussion with the producers they settled on a wig cut into the iconic silky bob.
"That became the haircut, and then I was just so excited to be involved I thought, 'sure, I'll wear the wig'," Rob told UNILAD
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"But then I was kind of nervous to ever mention anything, like 'should I take this off during lunch... or ever?'
"So for weeks, I would just have it on all day. And everybody thought that was my actual hair for quite a long time."
When Rob finally plucked up the courage to take off the wig, people were 'shocked' to realize that he was not, in fact, a real-life Coconut Head.
Though the wig got quite hot at times, Rob described the job as the 'dream', and threw himself into the role.
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"I was doing all these absurd things like smashing plates on my head and wearing a bubble wrap costume. It was totally exciting and fun. It's, you know, you get to really jump into a character," he told us.
Since Coconut Head was always referred to by his nickname, Rob even went as far as giving the character a real name.
"I always thought his name should be Cornelius Head," Rob revealed. "I feel like he got into some sort of tech startup or won the lottery. I feel like he got very successful."
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Where Coconut Head probably went on to become some mysterious millionaire, Rob went on to make his own mark.
With a moustache and short hair he no longer looks anything like the quirky character he portrayed on Nickelodeon, and when Rob appeared on the Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide podcast earlier this year, fans said he looked 'unrecognizable'.
In moving away from Coconut Head, Rob has also established himself a new alter-ego with his DJ name, Pinky, under which he performs gigs and releases new music.
"I've always been a big dance music fan," Rob said. "When I was a kid, I used to sit in my car seat, my mom would play this this tape of 90s rave anthems... [and] I kind of had this moment a few years back when I was turning 30, and I was like, 'I've always wanted to do this, but I've never felt confident enough to kind of pursue it'."
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Rob decided to start sharing his plans to become a DJ with others to hold himself accountable, and eventually started making music.
However, he explained: "I don't try and be myself - I guess maybe that's a little bit of the actor in me, I don't want my DJ alias to be me. I want it to be this DJ character that everyone can connect to."
Though Pinky is the persona Rob often adopts nowadays, some people are still able to figure out that he once sported a sleek coconut-shaped wig.
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"I don't think I look at all the same," he told us. "And people still are able to point me out from across the room. I go to a lot of music festivals, so I'll be in these massive crowds in the dark with flashing lights, and somebody will be like, 'hey!', and immediately point me out."
With Coconut Head clearly still living rent-free in people's brains, Rob isn't against returning to the character if the cast ever had a reunion.
"I would be right back there, are you kidding me?," he said. "I would look even funnier now with the moustache and the beard with the wig."
Who knows - maybe we'll see more of Coconut Head yet, though for now you can catch Rob releasing new music as Pinky. You can listen to his music here, or find him on Instagram under @pinkypinkston.