Former child star Jonathan Lipnicki is still hoping to recapture his early Hollywood success.
The Jerry Maguire star rose to fame at just five years old alongside Tom Cruise and Renee Zellweger in the 1996 hit, and he had a leading role alongside the titular mouse in Stuart Little three years later.
This led to major parts in 2000’s The Little Vampire and 2002’s Like Mike, but he hasn’t seen the same level of success as an adult.
‘I pray every night for clarity on where I need to go, and I’m confident the best is yet to come for me,’ he told People. ‘And I think you just have to believe that. If you’re going to pursue this, you’re doing yourself a disservice not to dream big.’
He acknowledge that he ‘had some really good things that happened’ when he was a youngster, but it’s not followed as he’s got older.
He added: ‘It’s totally fine to say I’m not where I want to be career-wise.’
Jonathan – who even had a stint on Celebs Go Dating in the past – is keen to act ‘for the rest of his life’, and he’s working hard to maintain his self-believe ‘it’s going to happen’.
After his early roles, he returned to high school and then took acting classes before landing parts in some independent films, as well as theatre shows in Los Angeles.
‘I’ve had half-and-half in my adult career where there are some things that were really good and nobody saw them,’ he admitted.
Although he doesn’t regret any of his choices, he’s become more mindful about the roles he takes on.
‘To be quite honest, I said no to about five movies in the last year,’ he added, as he ‘really wants to turn this ship around’.
He has even explored the world of mixed martial arts (MMA) and got himself into incredible shape.
Despite his family running a company that promotes MMA fights, he’s much more interested in reigniting his acting career.
He’s maintained steady work since returning to the business, with two films in 2016, while the following year he had six feature films and one short.
In the years before and after the pandemic, he’s had one or two each year, and he recently made a guest appearance on TBS’ The Joe Schhmo Show.
He played a fictional, egomaniac version of himself on the programme, which pushed him out of his comfort zone, and quipped: ‘There was something empowering about that in a weird way.’
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