Jerry Maguire star Jonathan Lipnicki has admitted to going through a rough time since his successful start as a child actor in the film industry.
The actor, now 34, shot to fame in 1996 as Ray Boyd, the son of single parent Dorothy Boyd (Renée Zellweger), who starts a relationship with the film’s titular lead Maguire, a sports agent played by Tom Cruise. Lipnicki was five-years-old at the time.
Lipnicki also enjoyed success as the star of the children’s film Stuart Little (1999) and its sequel Stuart Little 2 (2002), in which he played George Little whose parents (Geena Davis and Hugh Laurie) adopt a mouse (voiced by Michael J Fox) to be his brother. The pair are then embroiled in a series of adventures as they strengthen their bond as siblings.
The actor has appeared in a number of smaller productions since then and has turned to producing as well, but has said that his career has not turned out the way he wanted.
“I had some really good things that happened when I was younger,” Lipnicki told People. “It's totally fine to say I'm not where I want to be career-wise. Everything we're doing in this life is nearly impossible.”
Despite feeling somewhat disappointed by his adult career so far, Lipnicki said that he is 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.
“I've had half-and-half in my adult career where there are some things that were really good and nobody saw them.”
The actor went on to say that he has no regrets, but has learnt to be “careful” about the projects he picks.
“To be quite honest, I said no to about five movies in the last year,” he said. “I just really want to turn this ship around.”
He continued: “And I pray every night for clarity on where I need to go, and I'm confident the best is yet to come for me. 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.”
