Highest-paid child actor of all time reveals why he left Hollywood

At the peak of his career, Angus T. Jones made over $7 million from one season of Two and a Half Men. Now, he lives a quieter life – and this is why.

While it came off the back of a few smaller TV appearances, Jones effectively made his debut in Two and a Half Men’s pilot in 2003. He played Jake Harper, the lovable son of Jon Cryer’s Alan and nephew of Charlie Sheen’s character.

The sitcom was an enormous success, lasting 12 seasons of binge-worthy TV (if you count the ones after Sheen was fired). Jones left the series in 2013, before returning for one last cameo in the finale.

Notably, his salary topped out at a whopping $350,000 per episode, making him the highest-paid child actor on TV.

CBS

Since the show ended, Jones has shown up in two projects: Louis CK’s Horace and Pete in 2016, and he appeared as himself alongside Sheen in 2023’s Bookie.

So, why did he give up acting? It all started in 2012 when he was baptized into the Seventh-Day Advent Church. Soon after, he attacked the show in a video for a Christian group called the Forerunner Chronicles.

“Jake from Two and a Half Men means nothing. He is a non-existent character. If you watch Two and a Half Men, please stop watching Two and a Half Men. I’m on Two and a Half Men and I don’t want to be on it. Please stop watching it and filling your head with filth.

“People say it’s just entertainment. Do some research on the effects of television and your brain, and I promise you you’ll have a decision to make when it comes to television, especially with what you watch.”

The next day, he apologized and insisted he was “grateful to and have the highest regard and respect for all of the wonderful people on Two and a Half Men… who have become an extension of my family.”

In 2014, after leaving the series to study at the University of Colorado, he explained to KHOU-TV how he felt like a “paid hypocrite… it was making light of topics in our world that are really problems for a lot of people.”

Two years later, he told People he was happy to be living a “normal existence… if you’d asked me a few years ago if I wanted to get back involved in the industry, I would have said, ‘No. Not at all.’

“I got pretty doomsday with my thinking for a long time, but now I’m having fun and enjoying where I’m at. I no longer feel like every step I take is on a land mine.”

In the meantime, you can check out other TV shows streaming this month, and find out what new movies you should add to your watch list.