What Happened to Tylor Chase? Fans Rally to Support Him in 2026

If you were a kid watching Nickelodeon in the mid-2000s, you knew Martin Qwerly. He was the lovable inventor-slash-oddball from “Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide,” the kid with the gadgets and the deadpan delivery. The actor behind him was Tylor Chase. For years, no one really asked what happened to him after the cameras stopped rolling. Then, in late 2025, videos surfaced that no fan wanted to see — and suddenly a lot of people were asking. So where is Tylor Chase now? The answer is hard, but it’s also, at its core, a story about people refusing to give up on him.

01Profile

Full name

Tylor Kurtis Mendez (known professionally as Tylor Chase)

Born

September 6, 1989 (36 years old)

Birthplace

Arizona, USA

Occupation

Former actor, spoken-word poet

Best known for

"Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide" (2004–2007)

Active years

2004–2011 (acting)

If the name doesn’t ring a bell but the face does, that’s normal — Tylor Chase was one of those reliable supporting players who made a hit show work without ever becoming the household name out front. Here’s how he got there, and what came after.

02The Rise: Ned’s Declassified

Martin Qwerly arrives at James K. Polk

In 2004, Nickelodeon launched “Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide,” a single-camera comedy built around a kid named Ned Bigby narrating “tips” for surviving middle school. It was a smart, fast-paced little show, and it ran for three seasons through 2007. Chase joined the ensemble as Martin Qwerly, the resident gadget-loving brainiac, and according to his filmography he appeared in 33 episodes across the run.

For a generation of viewers, that show was appointment television. Chase, playing one of the recurring oddballs in the school’s orbit, became a familiar face to millions of kids — the kind of role that, decades later, sends people straight to a comment section going “wait, THAT’S the guy?”

A working young actor

Chase wasn’t a one-show actor, either. He picked up other credits along the way, including an appearance on the acclaimed sitcom “Everybody Hates Chris” in 2005 and a role in the 2007 independent film “Good Time Max,” which was directed by James Franco. A few years later he did voice and motion-capture work as a character named Hank Newbern in Rockstar’s 2011 detective game “L.A. Noire.”

By most accounts, that 2011 game work marks the end of his on-camera acting career. He was in his early twenties, and like a lot of former child performers, he was about to discover that the industry doesn’t hand out a roadmap for what comes next.

03Life After the Show

When the acting jobs tapered off, Chase didn’t disappear so much as quietly step into a different kind of creative life — one that, in hindsight, told a more honest story than any press release ever could.

• 2004–2007Plays Martin Qwerly on "Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide" across its three-season run.
• 2005Appears on "Everybody Hates Chris."
• 2007Cast in the indie film "Good Time Max," directed by James Franco.
• 2011Provides voice and motion-capture work for the video game "L.A. Noire" — his last major industry credit.
• 2014–2021Posts spoken-word poetry to YouTube, with pieces that openly addressed mental health; reporting notes his channel discussed living with bipolar disorder.
• Sept 2025Videos circulate on TikTok appearing to show Chase homeless on the streets of Riverside, California, prompting widespread concern.

That stretch from 2014 to 2021 is worth sitting with. Instead of chasing auditions, Chase turned to writing — uploading spoken-word poems to a modest YouTube channel whose description reads “Conquering the war with words.” His pieces, several outlets later reported, dealt candidly with isolation and his experience of bipolar disorder. It was art made by someone clearly working through something. After 2021, the uploads stopped.

04The 2026 Struggle and the Community Response

This is the part that brought Tylor Chase’s name back into headlines, and it deserves to be handled carefully. The specifics here are drawn from mainstream reporting and from statements made by Chase’s own family and by the people trying to help him.

The viral videos

In September 2025, videos began spreading on TikTok that appeared to show Chase living on the streets of Riverside, California, visibly struggling. They went viral because viewers recognized him — the Ned’s Declassified guy — and were alarmed. Reporting from outlets including ABC7 Los Angeles described the clips and the wave of concern that followed.

As the videos spread, a fan-organized GoFundMe was created. But Chase’s mother stepped in and asked for it to be shut down — and her reasoning was both heartbreaking and clear-eyed. She told reporters that her son lives with bipolar disorder, that he loses phones within days, and that he could not realistically manage money on his own. Per coverage of her statements, she put it bluntly: “Tylor needs medical attention not money… money would not be a benefit to him.” Her point was that what he needed was structured, long-term care — not cash handed to him on the street.

It’s a detail worth underlining, because it reframes the whole story. This isn’t simply a “broke ex-celebrity” tale. The people closest to him were saying, publicly, that the real need was medical.

Former child stars rally

What happened next is the genuinely moving part. Other former child actors — people who know exactly how strange and isolating this industry can be — started organizing to help.

Shaun Weiss, best known as Goldberg from “The Mighty Ducks” and himself someone who has spoken openly about his own past struggles and recovery, publicly offered to help. As reported by ABC7 in December 2025, Weiss said he had already lined up resources for Chase.

“I reached out to some friends of mine and we have a bed for him at a detox, and we have a place for him to go and get long-term treatment. All we need to do now is find him.” — Shaun Weiss, to ABC7 Los Angeles, December 2025

Daniel Curtis Lee, who played Cookie on “Ned’s Declassified” alongside Chase, also got involved, reportedly visiting him and helping search for rehab facilities that would accept him on scholarship. According to reporting, Lee even looked into setting up a trust so that any donated funds would only be released as Chase completed a treatment program — a thoughtful structure built directly around the concern his mother had raised.

Reporting also indicated that, around late December 2025, Chase was hospitalized — placed on a 72-hour hold and receiving care at a Southern California hospital before any transfer to longer-term treatment. Outlets including TMZ covered the hospitalization at the time.

05What He Is Doing Now

The honest answer, as of mid-2026, is that Tylor Chase’s situation remains unresolved — and the people helping him have been candid that recovery can’t be forced.

The offers are still on the table

Mike Jordan, who runs Eleven 11 Recovery in South Orange County, publicly offered Chase a full treatment scholarship. But in a January 2026 update, he was honest about how things stood: Chase, he said, was still on the street and declining support, and both he and Shaun Weiss had stepped back somewhat — not out of giving up, but out of the hard reality that a person has to accept help for it to work.

“I have offered my treatment services to help, and that offer still stands if Tylor chooses to accept it.” — Mike Jordan, Eleven 11 Recovery, January 18, 2026

That distinction matters. Detox and treatment beds were reportedly available; scholarships were offered; co-stars showed up. What no one can do is make the decision for him. Jordan and others have emphasized that Chase’s needs go beyond a quick detox stay and require a longer, supervised stabilization.

A community that hasn’t walked away

What stands out in 2026 isn’t a tidy comeback — it’s the persistence of the people around him. His mother has stayed focused on getting him medical care rather than money. Former co-stars and fellow former child actors have used their own platforms and their own painful experience to keep doors open. Weiss, in particular, has framed the whole effort through the lens of his own recovery, repeating that, in his words, recovery is possible.

For now, the most truthful thing to say is this: Tylor Chase is a 36-year-old man living with serious health challenges, and a circle of people who knew him — or simply grew up watching him — are doing what they can while respecting that the next step is his to take.

Where you can find his work

His acting and creative output is still out there. His spoken-word poetry remains on his YouTube channel, @tylorchase2029, a quiet record of someone who was, even years ago, trying to put his struggles into words.

06Summary

Tylor Chase’s story is not the breezy “where are they now” most fans expect. It’s a sober reminder that the kids we watched on TV grow into adults who carry real weight — and that fame, especially the early kind, offers no protection against illness or hard times. But it’s also, undeniably, a story about a community refusing to let one of its own vanish.

If there’s a takeaway here, it’s a gentle one: the people who loved Tylor Chase, on screen and off, are still pulling for him. The hope is simple — that the door they’ve held open is one he eventually walks through. Recovery, as more than one of them keeps saying, is possible.