Freddie Prinze Jr. Entered Acting Due To Financial Difficulties And Didn’t Love It

Freddie Prinze Jr. is one of the most beloved stars who reigned in the ’90s, starring in a number of movies now considered a classic – remember Scooby Doo?

Wow that was comedy gold, even though Prinze Jr once revealed he didn’t have a particularly fun experience shooting the movie.

This time round, the star is opening up about the reason he hated acting in general during the beginning stages of his career.

Freddie Prinze Jr.’s Mom Didn’t Want Him To Have Anything To Do With Acting

Freddie Prinze Jr. has come a long way in Hollywood, not only due to the success of his movies, but the way his mindset has evolved since the days he was just coming out of his first big break.

“When I was a kid, my mom was like, ‘Absolutely not. It’s just not gonna be your life,’ ” Prinze Jr., now 48, told hosts Randy Spelling, Brian Austin Green and Sharna Burgess on the most recent episode of the Oldish podcast.

“That was my dad’s life, and it didn’t end well. And so, she didn’t want me to have anything to do with it.”

The “I Know What You Did Last Summer” star’s dad was comedian Freddie Prinze, who rose to fame in the ’70s with his various appearances on talk shows, before ultimately landing a leading role in the first three seasons of NBC sitcom ‘Chico and the Man.’

Sadly, he struggled with depression, which caused him to abuse drugs, leading to an untimely death in 1977 at the age of 22.

His death was ruled apparent suicide at the time. Later on, Washington Post would publish a report on how his death had been medication-induced due to an overprescription of the tranquilizer Quaalude.

Prinze Jr. was determined to stay away from the industry, until a financial crisis in the family changed his mind and made him turn to acting to get by. Reflecting on his rise to fame, he admitted that “it happened really quick.”

At the time, he starred in various teen-centric movies like ‘She’s All That’ which “rocket-shipped” him to where he ended up.

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Freddie Prinze Jr. Credits Parker Posey For Inspiring His Love of Acting

Naturally, you’d suspect that his success would have changed, or at least softened, his hatred for the industry, but you’d be wrong. He was only able to channel his passion for acting after he met fellow actor Parker Posey.

He starred opposite Posey, who played a mentally ill woman with a strange fixation on Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, in the 1997 black comedy ‘The House of Yes.’

“I was working with Parker, and she was just on this level that I was like, ‘I can’t do that,’ ” Prinze Jr. recalled. “And so it was inspirational, but intimidating at the same time.”

“I didn’t love acting because of what the business had done to my dad,” he continued. “And [Posey] was the first person that I ever saw love it. And I was just like, ‘How does she have this much passion?’ ”

However, it took him two more decades for it to finally dawn on him “why she cared so much.”

Be sure to catch up on everything happening with Freddie Prinze Jr. right now. Come back here often for all Freddie Prinze Jr. spoilers, news, and updates.

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