Why Jonathan Lipnicki gave up acting after being a child star

Jonathan Lipnicki never lost the acting god growing up and out of focus.

“Really, it was just going to high school,” Lipnicki, 34, shared And! News in an interview published on Tuesday, January 21. “I didn’t say, ‘I’m leaving.’ I still had my agent, I went to auditions here and there.’

The actor was a child when he became famous in Stuart Little and Jerry Maguire in the 90s. While he admits he didn’t film much in the late 2000s, it wasn’t for lack of trying.

“I went to auditions a lot, but I didn’t get anything. I think that’s okay, right?” he shared. “Acting is something I’ve always loved and sometimes it just doesn’t love you back. There was a period where I didn’t work for a while and I was pushing for it.”

Lipnicki said he continued to take acting classes and tried his best to “be in tune with who” he was.

“There was just a part where maybe I wasn’t very good, and I can say that,” he explained in his latest interview. “Maybe it’s my thing and I’m more than willing to work on myself all the time and take responsibility and control over what I can control.”

Later this month, Lipnicki will appear on the small screen in a fictionalized, over-the-top version of himself on The Joe Schmo Show.

Organized Dilly the catthe show features a new cast of improvised characters who help act out a fake reality competition scenario centered around an ordinary guy.

Win or lose, Lipnicki said he always finds the positive in an industry that isn’t always predictable.

“From a young age I had to find out what I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing, so I can never be angry about that,” he shared more than 25 years after the game Renee Zellwegerson of Jerry Maguire. “I’m always grateful for that. Now I live more in the present and really try to focus on who I am now and what that will look like in the future. But I am very grateful for my past.”

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He is also focused on being the “best person” he can be because he is following his heart and pursuing his acting career.

“I’ve been through it — ups and downs — and being consistent throughout it, that’s what I love to do with my life,” he shared. “I know the best is yet to come.”

The Joe Schmo Show Premieres on TBS Tuesday, January 21 at 9:00 PM ET.