Former Child Actor Dylan Minnette Quit Acting Because It Was “Starting to Feel Like Just a Job”

Dylan Minnette, a former child actor best known for starring on four seasons of Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why, has stepped away from acting to pursue music. His reason? It was “starting to feel like just a job,” the now 27-year-old actor said during a recent interview on the Zach Sang Show.

“I was fortunate to find success in [acting],” he explained. “I was on 13 Reasons Why and it was really popular and definitely reached a peak in what I’ve had in acting. But it also started to feel like a bit of a job. And I was in a very fortunate position. It was always fun for me, always really inspiring.” At the same time, Minnette felt the desire to take his band, Wallows, which also includes Braeden Lemasters and Cole Preston, “all the way as far as we can.”

The actor got his start with bit parts in early 2000s sitcoms like Two and a Half Men and Drake & Josh before going on to book film roles in Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners and Jason Reitman’s Labor Day. After 13 Reasons Why concluded in 2020, Minnette reemerged two years later for roles in the fifth installment of Scream and Hulu’s Elizabeth Holmes limited series, The Dropout, in which he played real-life Theranos employee turned whistleblower Tyler Shultz.

While Minnette said his goal was to give “my 100% time and energy into” Wallows, which is releasing a new album and recently covered Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso,” he hasn’t ruled out a return to acting. “I do feel like I have something to give, and that’s probably acting,” he said. “I feel like I’m starting to feel inspiration for that again. At some point, when we’ve fulfilled our Wallows duties and we’re all ready to take a break as a band, or just take a second, that’s when I’ll have the perfect inspiration to do something.”