13 Reasons Why star Dylan Minnette shares reason he gave up acting

Musician and former actor appeared in all four seasons of hit Netflix series

13 Reasons Why star Dylan Minnette has opened up about his decision to step away from his acting career.

Minnette, who is also the frontman for the indie band Wallows, became known to many for his role in the Netflix teen drama, playing student Clay Jensen on all four seasons from 2017 to 2020.

However, Minnette has been an actor since he was a child, appearing in his first professional project aged eight.

Since 2022, he has been on a hiatus from acting, having last appeared in horror film Scream and miniseries The Dropout.

On Friday’s edition (24 May) of the video podcast The Zach Sang Show, Minnette spoke about his choice to stop pursuing acting roles, explaining that he stopped feeling as inspired as before.

“I was fortunate to find success in [acting],” he explained. “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.”

Dylan Minnette (Getty Images for Universal Studios)

Appearing on the show with his Wallows bandmates, Braeden Lemasters and Cole Preston, Minnette noted that focusing on music is “what feels natural and inspiring” for him at the moment, and that they’d always dreamed of taking music “all the way as far as we can.”

“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 Saving Grace actor added.

“The only way that’s gonna happen is if I put my 100 per cent 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.”

Dylan Minnette of Wallows, performing at Lollapalooza Brazil in March 2023 (Getty Images)

Wallows have been releasing music under this name since 2017 but began in 2011 under the moniker The Narwhals.

As well as playing at major festivals such as Coachella, Wallows have also performed on live TV, featuring on NBC’s Today show earlier this month.

Though Minnette is currently most passionate about music, he has not ruled out a return to acting in the future.

“I do feel like I have something to give, and that’s probably acting... I feel like I’m starting to feel inspiration for that again,” he noted.

“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.”