Why Frankie Muniz says he would 'never' let his son be a child star
Frankie Muniz is not signing off on his son becoming a child actor.
The "Malcolm in the Middle" star shared in an interview with Australian outlet Pedestrian TV released on Sunday that he "would never let my kid go into the business." The 38-year-old actor-turned-race car driver is a father to 3-year-old son Mauz, whom he shares with wife Paige Price.
"And not that I had a negative experience, because to be honest, my experience was 100% positive. But I know so many people, friends that were close to me, that had such insanely negative experiences," he said.
Muniz's comments come as several stars on Nickelodeon, including Drake Bell, Bryan Hearne and Giovonnie Samuels, discussed the alleged abuse they endured as child actors while on the network in four-part docuseries "Quiet on Set."
The "Malcolm in the Middle" star was a voice actor on Nickelodeon's "The Fairly OddParents," but he did not appear in the network's sketch comedy shows. As a child star, Muniz also appeared in "Big Fat Liar" and "Agent Cody Banks."
Muniz added that he would not allow his son to be an actor because the job comes with "a ton of rejection."
"I think people think it’s an easy thing to break into but I like to be honest about it and say there's a million people in Hollywood who tried, maybe they're amazing actors — they can be the best actors on the planet — but they don't even get the opportunity," he said. "It's not like going into a different industry where you can work really hard and get into it."
Muniz discussed more about his child actor days in his debut on Australia's "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!" which aired Monday.
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The actor said due to child labor laws, he worked nine and a half hours a day. Three of those hours also needed to include school in 20-minute increments. "As soon as 20 minutes was up they were like, 'OK, go on set and go film.' So there was no break," he recalled.
"I think if I added up the days off I had, it might’ve been 30 in the 12 years. It just went nonstop," he said of his acting days.
The intensity of his schedule led him to take a pause and pursue a career in racing.
"I was at the height of my career and I called my agents and managers like, 'I don't want to do any acting right now, I'm gonna focus on racing,'" he recalled, adding that at first he was still getting calls because his representatives didn't think he was serious.