Dylan Minnette is done with acting — at least for a bit!
For those who don’t know, the actor has been in the business since he was just 8 years old! You’ve almost certainly seen him in something as he’s been in shows like Drake & Josh, Two and a Half Men, Lost, Grey’s Anatomy, Prison Break, and Scandal over the years — as well as the fifth Scream movie in 2022. Of course, his most notable role was portraying Clay Jensen in the Netflix show 13 Reasons Why, which aired between 2017 and 2020.
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Despite being a bigger star than ever after his role in the hit series, though, Dylan stepped away from acting! Why? He wants to focus more on his band!
Yes, if you didn’t know, Dylan has been in a band since 2011 with fellow actor Braeden Lemasters and Cole Preston. They’ve gone through a few incarnations, even performing at the Warped tour under the name Feaver one year. They have gone by the name Wallows since 2017.
Now he’s finally opening up about his decision to take a break from his successful acting career to focus on music. During an interview on the Zach Sang Show, Dylan acknowledged he was lucky to find “success” in acting. But after a while, he started to lose passion for the art when it started to feel more and more like a job to him:
“I was fortunate to find success in [acting]. 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, but then it was just starting to feel like just a job.”
(Um… it is a job. Just like everyone else has.)
Since his passion for acting was dwindling, he decided to focus on the music. Dylan said he and his band always dreamed of going “all the way as far as we can.” And now feels like the perfect time to do just that. However, that means putting acting on the back burner. He continued:
“I feel like I’m in a position now where I can just kind of like do that for a while and get this the farthest it can be. The only way that’s gonna happen is if I put my 100 percent time and energy into it and take it very seriously and show the world that we all take this very seriously. This is a real band, we’re going to do real band things.”
His music is “what feels natural and inspiring” for him right now, according to Dylan. That being said, he’s not saying goodbye to acting forever. It’s just a break! He even planned on trying to “do something last year” but then the SAG-AFTRA strike happened between mid-July to early November 2023 during his only free months to work on acting gigs.
While Dylan is all in on music at this time, he shared that he also feels like he still has “something to give” when it comes to acting. He even told his manager and agents that he would return to the big screen in 2026:
“And that’s probably acting … 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, that’s when I’ll have the perfect inspiration to do something.”
So don’t worry, fans! You haven’t seen the last of Dylan on the screen quite yet! You may just have to wait a few more years! Watch the interview (below):
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[Image via Netflix/YouTube, MEGA/WENN]
