Two and a Half Men child star explains why he left Hollywood after becoming highest paid child actor
He would abruptly leave the acting industry in 2013
Angus T. Jones, who used to be a child actor, has shared why he decided to step away from acting after becoming famous on the show Two and a Half Men.
A lot of actors start their careers when they are really young. For example, Jones, who is now 30 years old, began acting when he was just five years old.
He got his first acting job in the movie Simpatico in 1999, but it wasn’t until four years later that he really hit it big. He played Jake Harper in the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men, working with Jon Cryer and Charlie Sheen.
The actor used to be in a lot of episodes, a total of 226, before he decided to leave the show in 2013. He came back for a special guest spot in the last episode two years after that.
Jones made a fortune on Two and a Half Men. (Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic)
After winning several Young Artist Awards for playing Jake, it looked like Jones’ acting career was going to soar. He was also the highest-paid child actor in Hollywood back then, earning about $300,000 (£236,310) for each episode.
Even though Jones had money and fame, it wasn’t enough to make him stay in acting. In the end, he chose to leave the industry and go after a higher education at the University of Colorado.
When he talked about why he decided to leave the show in 2014, Jones told KHOU, a news station in the US, that he felt like a ‘hypocrite’ for being part of a show that joked about serious issues in real life.
“It was making light of topics in our world that are really problems for a lot of people,” he told the outlet.
“I was a paid hypocrite because I wasn’t OK with it, but I was still doing it.”
Jones decided to leave the show at the same time he chose to become a member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, which is a group of Christians known for their conservative beliefs.
He started to publicly criticize his part in Two and a Half Men through religious videos, telling fans to avoid the show and calling it ‘filth’.
Angus T. Jones photographed in February 2024. (MEGA/GC Images)
After getting a lot of criticism for what he said, Jones later explained his comments in a statement to Us Weekly. He mentioned that he has “the highest regard and respect for all of the amazing people on Two and a Half Men” and that he never meant to come off as “indifferent” or “disrespectful” to his old coworkers.
I’m really sorry if what I said made it seem like I don’t care about my coworkers or that I don’t respect them. I truly appreciate the amazing chance I’ve been given.
After being out of the public eye for a few years, Jones is set to come back to the entertainment world in 2023. He will be a guest star in the show Bookie and will also team up again with his old co-star, Sheen.
Featured Image Credit: (Mark Sullivan/WireImage for Silver Spoon (formerly The Cabana) and Photo by MEGA/GC Images)
