In 1993, at the age of four, Linz told his mother he wanted to be in TV commercials and, after several auditions, won his first for JC Penney, followed by a series of spots for McDonald's. He broke into acting in 1995, appearing on daytime's "The Young and the Restless" (CBS), as well as primetime episodes of "Cybill" (CBS), "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" (ABC), and "Step by Step" (ABC). That same year, he made his TV-movie debut in a small role in "Danielle Steel's 'Vanished'" (NBC). Linz had the lead in a CBS TV-movie, "The Uninvited" (1996), playing a boy who moves with his family to a new home only to find a spirit in the house covets him.