Dorough's love and passion for entertainment started when he was three years old, begun by jumping on his grandparents' bed, singing "Babyface" with his little guitar. He started performing around age six or seven, thanks to his sister Polyanna, singing during mass in the church choir and having his first role in the musical adaptation of "The Wizard of Oz" as a singer and actor. Throughout elementary school, his mother enrolled him in children's community theaters and performed in many community theater productions of top musicals, among them "Sound Of Music", "Showboat" and "Camelot" and got him in singing/voice and acting lessons by putting him in a performing arts academy where he also took dance lessons in classical ballet, tap, and jazz. He even was in an all-boy ballet troupe. He did Little League once before switching to the arts. During junior high to high school, Dorough also did some singing in the choir, even qualified for All-State Chorus, talent shows, and joining drama club and acting school productions, as well as a school TV show called "Macho & Camacho". He got discovered by an acting agent when he was 14 and also managed to land roles in movies, such as "Parenthood" starring comedian Steve Martin at 15 and Cop and a Half starring Burt Reynolds, Nickelodeon TV production pilot "Welcome Freshman" and star in a commercial for Disney World under the stage name, Tony Donetti. He didn't particularly like this, but his agent thought he was Italian and believed it would help him to get discovered. Although he enjoyed it his entire life, like his bandmates AJ and Nick, he too was a victim of bullying as a child for his lack of Spanish language, his falsetto vocal range when he was 12 and his weight.