'13 Reasons Why' star Dylan Minnette quit acting after it started to feel like 'a job'
Dylan Minnette isn't doing much acting these days, and he's revealing his reasons why.
The "13 Reasons Why" star, 27, shared on the "Zach Sang Show" that he decided to stop acting after it began to feel like "just" work.
"I was on '13 Reasons Why,' and it was really popular and definitely reached a peak so far in what I'd had in acting," he said. "But it also started to feel like a bit of a job."
Minnette, who starred as Clay Jensen on Netflix's teen drama, has not had any acting credits since 2022, when he appeared in Hulu's Elizabeth Holmes series "The Dropout" and starred in the fifth "Scream" film. According to his IMDb page, he has no announced projects on the horizon.
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Instead, Minnette has been devoting his time to his alternative rock band Wallows, which he formed with bandmates Braeden Lemasters and Cole Preston. The group has performed at Coachella and released three studio albums, most recently "Model." Their song "I Don't Want to Talk" was used in the closing credits of 2022's "Scream."
On the "Zach Sang Show," Minnette explained that although acting was always "fun" and "inspiring" for him, "as soon as it was starting to feel like just a job," he decided he would step away and focus on music.
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"Wallows and music is this passion that we have always had as a group to really take all the way, as far as we can," he said. "I feel like I'm in a position now where I can just do that for a while and get this the farthest it can be. The only way that's going to happen is if I put my 100% time and energy into it and take it very seriously."
Minnette acknowledged he is "incredibly privileged and lucky" to be in this position where he can pursue his passions instead of a career that felt more like work. "It's insane, but it's working out that way," he said. "I'm just following what feels inspiring."
But he also left the door open to returning to acting "one day." In fact, the "Don't Breathe" star said he was thinking about trying to act again last year during a window he had available, but it coincided with the Hollywood actors' strike and ultimately didn't work.
"When we're ready to take a break as a band, or just take a second, that's when I feel like I'll have the perfect inspiration to do something," Minnette added.
Minnette got his start as a child actor appearing in episodes of shows like "Drake & Josh" and "Two and a Half Men." He went on to have roles on "Grey's Anatomy" and "Lost" and starred in films like "Goosebumps" and "Don't Breathe."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: '13 Reasons Why' star Dylan Minnette explains why he quit acting