Frankie Muniz has explained why he left Hollywood just as his career took off in the mid-2000s.
The 36-year-old former child actor recently sat down with Fox News Digital to speak about why he decided to step out of the spotlight despite being one of Hollywood’s most bankable teens.
Muniz said that soon after his hit TV series Malcolm in the Middle ended, he set out to pursue a professional career in race car driving while even drumming for the indie band Kingsfoil.
A jack of all trades, truly.
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He said: “I kind of left the business for a little bit. I started doing other things. I was racing cars. I joined a band.
"I was touring all over. I opened some businesses and I got to experience so many amazing things in my life, which now at this point has made me able to reflect and look back and be so appreciative of the experience."
He was involved in nearly 20 films between 1999 to 2008 and has only been in seven in the following decade.
In 2006, the Agent Cody Banks star competed in the Formula BMW USA Championship before moving up to race in the ChampCar Atlantic Championship from 2007 to 2009.
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Last year, Muniz also made his stock car racing debut at Kern County Raceway Park in Bakersfield, California.
He said that the choice to forge a career in race car driving ultimately saved his life as too many child stars fall victim to drug and alcohol addiction, especially as the spotlight begins dimming.
He said: “I think for a lot of people, it’s probably difficult to go from having such success at a young age where you always have people going like, ‘Oh, I love you,’ and everyone wanting you here and there.”
He continued: “I think a lot of people try to replace the missing feeling of [being] wanted with something else.
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"And that really is a negative for a lot of people.
"Whereas for me, I’ve always been super focused on what I was currently doing because I wanted to be the best at whatever I was doing.”
Most recently, in an interview with Dave Moody of SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, the former child star said he is in talks to join NASCAR’s second and third divisions.
I mean, not bad ey?
He added: “I want racing to be my focus. It's one of those things you have to do 100 per cent. You can't just do it halfway.
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"If I want to make it to any level of NASCAR — ARCA, Trucks, whatever it is — I'm racing against people who have been doing it since they were six years old, and I've gotta do it quickly."
Charisa Bossinakis