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Justin Berfield reflected on his decision to step away from acting — and return 20 years later for the Malcolm in the Middle revival.
“I just wanted to change because I had started acting when I was 5. Fortunately, I worked quite a bit, and I then got on Malcolm in the Middle, which was seven years,” Berfield, 40, who reprised his role as Reese in the four-part revival out now, exclusively told Us Weekly. “I just grew up working constantly, and I wanted to try something different.”
Berfield ultimately chose to pivot to working behind the scenes, adding, “I started producing some projects, and I wanted to just travel more and explore. Then I got married and had a couple of kids and then time flew by. Now it’s been 20 years, and we’re fortunate enough to be able to step back into it now.”
The actor has enjoyed getting to return at a time when he could share his work with his kids.
“It was just really nice showing my eldest daughter just me working so she can actually see it’s better than just turning on the TV and showing them something,” Berfield, who shares two kids with wife Liza Almeida, said. “She actually got to see me on set.”
Despite it being two decades since Berfield was in front of the camera, he felt “no pressure,” telling Us, “I’d stepped away from acting for 20 years now, so I didn’t have a lot of pressure. Obviously I had pressure on myself because I wanted to do a good job. I wanted people to enjoy the show, but it was more just me enjoying the moment too. For me, it was a little bit different. It was low pressure.”
Berfield was grateful to be working with the same cast and crew — including creator Linwood Boomer.
“I had very little stress that it wasn’t going to be great because he wasn’t going to come back and do something that he didn’t feel was great. When he was on board, he wrote it with a few of the original writers of Malcolm,” he continued. “I knew it was going to be funny. I knew it was going to have the flavor and the familiarity of what this crazy family is. So I wasn’t concerned at all.”
Malcolm in the Middle originally aired from 2000 to 2006 and focused on a dysfunctional working-class family, with Frankie Muniz playing the lead role as a child prodigy. It returned on Friday, April 10, with the subtitle Life’s Still Unfair and stars Muniz, Bryan Cranston, Jane Kaczmarek, Christopher Masterson and Berfield. In addition to the main cast, Kiana Madeira, Anthony Timpano, Vaughan Murrae and Keeley Karsten had key roles.
After his return, Berfield told Us he has considered coming back to acting more.
“I had forgotten how much I enjoyed being on set and just the whole process. I realized I do miss it a little bit,” he continued. “But I just stepped away for so long. The industry moves on and then you’re just there. I kind of had a little bit of the itch. We’ll see what happens after this.”
Berfield concluded: “It just felt natural. I feel like I just got back into the character because he’s the opposite of me. It was fun getting to channel that energy again.”
Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair is streaming now on Hulu and Disney+.
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