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Jerry Maguire star Jonathan Lipnicki has made his first red carpet appearance in years.
Lipnicki, 35, made his acting debut at age five in the 1996 film alongside Renée Zellweger and Tom Cruise. He then went on to star in Stuart Little (1999) and Stuart Little 2 (2002). While he has continued to act, he’s been open about going through rough periods following his successful start in the industry.
Now, he’s stepping back into the spotlight with a role in Primetime, the psychological crime thriller based on the making of the hugely popular NBC reality series To Catch a Predator.
Lipnicki was photographed on the red carpet at the September 23 Los Angeles premiere of the film, which stars Robert Pattinson, Merritt Wever, Matthew Maher and fellow former child star Skyler Gisondo.
Aside from the Jewish Media Awards in 2024, Lipnicki was last photographed on a red carpet in 2021 at Film Threat’s Award This!.
Lipnicki takes on a dark role in the new film, which hit theaters September 25, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The actor spoke to the publication about his decision to take on the role, saying: “As actors, we pray for dark material and for things we can really sink our teeth into. At the end of the day, you have to ask yourself, ‘Am I as courageous an artist as I say I am?’ I had to answer that question, and I was courageous enough to take the plunge.”
Lipnicki went on to open up about being a child actor and the pressures that accompanied that.
“Growing up, there was a lot of pressure not to become a train wreck,” he said, recalling press events for Stuart Little where he was asked if he’d do drugs.
But doing Primetime has helped Lipnicki move forward.
“For me, taking this role felt like letting go of that pressure,” he told THR. “I’ve always been concerned about making mistakes and worried about what other people think of me. This role was part of saying, ‘I have no control over what people are going to think, and I’m not going to concern myself with that anymore.’”
Primetime marks a change in Lipnicki’s career. Just last year, he told People he was “not where I want to be career-wise.”
Despite feeling somewhat disappointed by his adult career so far, Lipnicki said that he was committed to continuing in the field, stating: “This is the thing I want to do for the rest of my life, and I think you just have to believe it’s going to happen and do everything in your power to take action in the right direction.”
