Jonathan Lipnicki. Getty Images(2)
Jonathan Lipnicki never lost the acting bug as he grew up in and out of the spotlight.
“Really, it was kind of just going to high school,” Lipnicki, 34, shared with E! News in an interview published Tuesday, January 21. “I wasn’t, like, ‘I’m stepping away.’ I still had my agent, I’d audition here and there.”
The actor was a child when he rose to fame in Stuart Little and Jerry Maguire in the ‘90s. Although he admits to not acting much in the late 2000s, it wasn’t because of a lack of effort.
“I auditioned for a lot and I just didn’t get things. I think that’s OK to say, right?” he shared. “Acting is this thing that I’ve always loved, and sometimes it just doesn’t love you back. There was a span where I didn’t work for a while and I was pursuing it.”
Lipnicki said he continued participating in acting classes and tried his best to “be in tune with who” he was.
“There was just a portion where maybe I just wasn’t very good, and I’m OK saying that,” he explained in his latest interview. “Maybe it’s a me thing, and I’m more than willing to work on myself all the time and take accountability and control for what I can control.”
Later this month, Lipnicki will appear on the small screen playing a fictionalized, over-the-top version of himself on The Joe Schmo Show.
Hosted by Cat Deeley, the show features a new cast of improv characters who help play out a fake reality competition scenario centered around an everyday guy.
Win or lose, Lipnicki said he’s always finding the positive in an industry that isn’t always predictable.
“I got to find out from a young age what I wanted to spend the rest of my life pursuing, so I can never be mad at it,” he shared more than 25 years after playing Renée Zellweger‘s son in Jerry Maguire. “I’m always grateful for it. I am living more in the present now and really trying to focus on who I am now and what that’s going to look like in the future. But I’m extremely grateful for my past.”
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He’s also focused on being the “best person” he can be as he follows his heart and continues his acting journey.
“I’ve been through it — the ups and the downs — and consistently throughout it, it’s the thing I love doing with my life,” he shared. “I know the best is yet to come with me.”
The Joe Schmo Show premieres on TBS Tuesday, January 21, at 9 p.m. ET.
