Jerry Maguire and Stuart Little star Jonathan Lipnicki is nearly unrecognisable as he takes on a far darker role in his latest film.
The former child star, 35, appears in Primetime, a psychological crime thriller about the making of NBC’s To Catch a Predator, the reality series that confronted men accused of trying to meet minors for sex.
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The film features a nude scene involving Lipnicki, whose character is caught by To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen, played by Robert Pattinson, while attempting to meet an underage boy.
“I’ve done full frontal before in a play, Lost Girls, so that part didn’t bother me as much,” Lipnicki told the Hollywood Reporter.
“The pedophile element by itself is terrifying to tackle, and then you add the nudity. Not only are you a pedophile — you’re a naked, full-frontal pedophile. It was intimidating, to say the least,” he continued.
“Even after I shot it, I thought, ‘I really hope I made the right decision.’ But I’ve tried to live by the idea that, when it comes to art, if something scares you, most likely you should do it,” Lipnicki added.
Primetime is only the second film Lipnicki has starred in as an adult to receive a theatrical release.
Lipnicki made his acting debut at age 5 in the 1996 film Jerry Maguire, starring alongside Tom Cruise and Renée Zellweger.
He played Ray Boyd, the young son of Zellweger’s character, and became one of the film’s most recognisable child stars.
His performance earned him a Critics’ Choice Award for Best Child Performance and a Young Artist Award.
He followed Jerry Maguire by starring as George Little in Stuart Little in 1999.
The family comedy earned about $400 million worldwide, and Lipnicki returned for Stuart Little 2 in 2002.
He also appeared in Like Mike and had a small role on Dawson’s Creek before his acting career slowed down.
In 2017, Lipnicki spoke about being bullied by classmates after becoming a child star, saying the experience contributed to his anxiety and depression.
“I was told I was a has-been and would never book a job again,” he wrote on Instagram at the time.
“I was made to feel like garbage every day of middle school to the point where I had a panic attack every night before school, because I wondered how I would get through the next day.”
However, Lipnicki reflected at the time, “I am grateful for the amazing life I have and I hope I can pass on that it DOES get better.”
In 2025, the actor said he had turned down several movie roles while trying to figure out his next move.
“To be quite honest, I said no to about five movies in the last year,” he told People.
“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,” he added.
This story originally appeared in Page Six and was reproduced here with permission