Chauncey Leopardi

Chauncey Leopardi is an actor from the United States, born on 14 June 1981 [4] [5]. Most people know him as Michael “Squints” Palledorous in The Sandlot (1993) [3].

Squints and the summer of 1962

He has described the film as a kind of time capsule. At a 2023 event in Ogden, Utah, he called it a little time capsule of one summer in 1962 [3]. In a later PEOPLE interview he put it more simply: “It's one summer, set in 1962, that can live forever” [2].

He also contrasted the film's handmade sets and real props with the effects-heavy productions of today [3]. The movie was mainly shot in Salt Lake City in 1992. A well-known scene was filmed at the Lorin Farr pool in Ogden [3].

Other credits

BetaSeries lists Boy Meets World (1993), Casper (1995), Safe (1995), The Big Green (1995), 7th Heaven (1996), Freaks and Geeks (1999), Gilmore Girls (2000) and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000) among his credits [4]. Those titles run from family films in the early 1990s to network television in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Why he stepped back

In a PEOPLE interview published in October 2025, he said he had loved acting but did not care much for the business side of Hollywood: “I loved when I was acting but I didn't necessarily like the business side of Hollywood” [1]. He described the point at which he began to question the work, asking himself “Do I even like doing this?” [1]

He also said that powerful people in high places had a great deal of sway over who and what was popular [1]. Of his own move away from the work, he said: “I transitioned better than a lot of child actors” [1].

Cannabis and the cast today

He now works in the cannabis industry, and he still takes an occasional acting role [2]. “It's definitely my passion. I fell in love with the plant,” he told PEOPLE [1]. The same article describes his Squintz cannabis brand [1].

He still keeps in touch with the cast. “We have multiple group chats. They're funny, they'll hit you at random times,” he said [2]. On co-star Patrick Renna he said, “Pat is so recognizable, people scream at him from cars” [2].

Back in Ogden

In August 2023 he attended the inaugural Brookey Bakes and Barragan Family Inclusion Ballgame at Monroe Park in Ogden. The charity game raised money for the Utah Parent Center and marked the film's 30th anniversary. Teams Squints and Yeah Yeah played, and the cast signed autographs and posed for photos with fans [3]. He said it was very cool to see the pool where they had filmed the Wendy scene [3].