Francisco "Frankie" Muniz IV (born December 5, 1985) is an American actor, musician, writer, producer, and racecar driver. He is known primarily as the star of the FOX television family sitcom Malcolm in the Middle. In 2003, he was considered "one of Hollywood's most bankable teens". In 2008, he put his acting career on hold to pursue an open wheel racing career. He competed in the Atlantic Championship. In 2012, he joined the band Kingsfoil as the drummer. Muniz was born on December 5, 1985, in Ridgewood, New Jersey, the son of Denise, a former nurse, and Francisco Muniz III, a restaurant manager, and grew up in Wood-Ridge, New Jersey. His father is Puerto Rican, whose ancestral origins descend from Asturias, Spain, and his mother is of Italian and Irish descent. He has an elder sister, Cristina. Muniz was first discovered at the age of eight, at a talent show in Raleigh, North Carolina (shortly after the family moved from New Jersey), where he was cast as Tiny Tim in a local production of A Christmas Carol. His parents divorced shortly after. He subsequently moved to Burbank, California, with his mother.