Justin Berfield Reflects on 20-Year Acting Break Before Returning for 'Malcolm in the Middle' Revival

Justin Berfield is opening up about stepping away from acting.

Ahead of the release of the Malcolm in the Middle revival, the 40-year-old actor, who is reprising his role as Reese from the early 2000s series, reflected on why he decided to take a 20-year acting break.

Keep reading to find out more…“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,” Justin told Us Weekly. “I just grew up working constantly, and I wanted to try something different.”

He then ultimately decided to pivot to working behind the scenes.

“I started producing some projects, and I wanted to just travel more and explore,” Justin explained. “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.”

Justin said that he’s enjoyed returning to acting acting at a time when he could share his work with his kids. If you didn’t know, he shares two kids with wife Liza Almeida.

“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,” he shared. “She actually got to see me on set.”

Despite not being in front of the camera for two decades, Justin said he felt “no pressure” acting again.

“I’d stepped away from acting for 20 years now, so I didn’t have a lot of pressure,” he said. “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.”

He also said that he was grateful to be working with the same cast and crew again, including creator Linwood Boomer, on the Malcolm in the Middle revival.

“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,” Justin said. “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.”

After returning to acting for the revival, Justin said that he’s considered acting more again.

“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 shared. “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.”

“It just felt natural,” Justin concluded. “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 on Hulu and Disney+ now. Watch the trailer here!