Sterling K. Brown's teenage son will never admit his dad is cool - despite secretly thinking it

Sterling - who also has 10-year-old son, Amare, with his spouse - told E! News: "The 14 year old, he knows I'm cool, but will never admit it out loud and will never treat me that way.

"He kind of understands it like, 'That is an alright human being.' But he's always going to bring me down, and I appreciate that."

Amare, however, thinks the Paradise star is "slightly cool", with Sterling joking that the preteen "hasn't gotten to a jaded place yet".

But unlike the Golden Globe winner, Andrew and Amare have no thrill when they spot their dad on billboards.

Sterling said: "This is so crazy, they're used to it. I'm not used to it, like it's cool for me.

"They just don't look at the picture. They'll stay in their phone. They'll be like, 'Yeah, Dad, I've seen it.' So, I'm like, 'OK, thanks buddy,' as I turtle into my little shell."

In September 2024, Sterling - who, with Ryan, welcomed Andrew and Amare into the world in 2011 and 2015, respectively - said he allows his children to decide their own futures.

He told People: "There's this idea I think that both of us agree on, most of the time, is that they're not to be moulded into versions of us.

"That they kind of are who they are when they come to you. And we're just trying to shepherd them to become the best version of who they already are, right?"

Ryan - who eloped with Sterling in 2006 and had a bigger wedding ceremony in 2007 - tried to get one of her sons to go down a particular career pathway.

However, Sterling - whose decades-long romance with Ryan started when they were cast in the same freshman-year show at Stanford University in 1998 - said the idea ultimately proved to be a big failure.

The Black Panther actor shared: "Ryan tried to make [our son] into a dancer for a hot second. He's a very good dancer, a very good dancer. And he looked around in ballet class, and he's like, 'I'm the only dude. I'm out.'"