Frankie Muniz praised for avoiding pitfalls as ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ cast reunites
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Frankie Muniz always had “great common sense,” according to TV mom Jane Kaczmarek.
“He always had a lot of common sense about him,” Kaczmarek, who reunited with Muniz for a revival of the early 2000s hit “Malcolm in the Middle,” told Fox News Digital. “He was always a good kid. He never got into a lot of trouble that I think some actors might get into.”
Bryan Cranston, who returns as Muniz’s father in “Malcolm Out There: Life Is Still Unfair,” added that the actor, now 40, does not drink or do drugs.
“He never did. No. “He was always very ambitious and very curious,” Cranston said.
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Frankie Muniz has managed to avoid the pitfalls of child stardom. (Bob Riha, Jr./Getty Images; Jason Howard/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
The “Breaking Bad” actor said that when they worked together on the original series, when Muniz was still a teenager, he sometimes tried to offer advice on how to use his money responsibly.
“For example, when he was 16, he bought a race car,” Cranston explained. “Like an over-the-top race car. And I said, ‘Frankie, you need to save your money now.’ “Now is the time to save yourself and do this,” and then he waited patiently, “You have to do this.” That’s how you work, make sure you can stay an actor, okay?’ And he says: ‘I already sold it and made a profit of $40,000.’ I went, ‘Good, good’.
WATCH ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ parents say Frankie Muniz has had ‘great common sense’ since he was young
Kaczmarek added that she remembered sitting with him while he was doing make-up and told him that he was considering buying some warehouses in Australia.
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“And I was like, ‘What?’ “I said,” he laughed, explaining that he got into real estate as a young actor.
Frankie Muniz with the cast of “Malcolm In The Middle” in 2001. (Vince Bucci/Getty Images)
Cranston said seeing himself as a husband, a father and a son now “warms” his heart.
“How patient and loving he is with the boy, and how gentle and protective he is with his wife. And it’s like, ‘Oh my God, he’s there,'” Cranston said. “He’s arrived, he’s tough, he’s safe, he’s smart and he’s doing all the right things in the best possible way.”
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Muniz married his wife Paige Price in 2019 and they share 5-year-old son Muaz.
Ever the mother, Kaczmarek joked that she never wanted Muniz to climb a ladder again because he fell and broke his ankle last year while trying to change a light bulb.
Frankie Muniz on “Dancing with the Stars” in 2017. (Adam Rose/Getty Images)
“And I said, ‘Frankie, never, ever go ahead, never put up Christmas tree lights.’ Don’t —‘ I mean, stairs are such that — people fall down the stairs to their deaths,” Kaczmarek said.
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Cranston joked: “I mean, he doesn’t All the right things.”
Muniz told Fox News Digital last year that moving from Los Angeles to Arizona after the show ended was a big deal for him.
“I say moving from Los Angeles to Arizona saved my life because I started to really enjoy the little aspects of life,” he explained. “I noticed that I left my house feeling like I was always looking down. When I moved to Arizona, I started looking up.”
Frankie Muniz “Malcolm in the Middle: Life Still Ain’t Fair.” (David Bukach/Disney)
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Muniz said the slow pace in Arizona helped him reconnect with daily life in a way that Los Angeles never allowed.
“I mean, it was a lot easier, like going to the store, doing things. Los Angeles was so hectic and busy and everyone was trying to look Hollywood or whatever, and it really wasn’t for me.”
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Muniz said Arizona offered a sense of normalcy he couldn’t find in Los Angeles, where the culture often kept him indoors and disconnected from daily life.
Frankie Muniz with his wife and son. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
He explained: “Moving to Arizona definitely made me… make me want to do more normal things, if that makes sense. I found myself in Los Angeles, just staying in my house unless I had to go to work. I really didn’t want to leave.”
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In 2024, Muniz told Australia’s PEDESTRIAN.TV channel that he did not want his son to become a child actor.
“I would never let my kid get a job,” Muniz said before filming the Australian version of the reality series “I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here.” TO! News. “And it’s not that I had a negative experience, because honestly, my experience was 100% positive. But I know a lot of people close to me, my friends, have had such insanely negative experiences.”
Muniz told Zach Sang on Wednesday’s podcast that he’s always felt like an outsider in show business, which he attributes in part to “imposter syndrome.”
“Where do you go when you’re a kid wanting to be an actor, but I did a bunch of stuff and then all of a sudden it’s like, you’re here, right? You’re in Hollywood. You go to everything. You’re nominated for awards and I’m not like, how did I get invited, how am I here?”
He also said that he always questions himself as an actor and feels that he is “lucky”.
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But the actor now has a “greater appreciation” for everything he’s experienced.
“I had a great time, but when you’re in it, you don’t really realize the impact it has on its own, you know what I mean? I mean, you know, people are watching, but it’s like being away from it for such a long time and 20 years, to be able to look back and be like, man, I’m so lucky to be able to do this.”
Muniz, now a professional race car driver, said he was shocked to hear people calling him a “failed” actor after leaving the entertainment industry.
“And I remember thinking: Do people really think that? Like, I don’t know. I’ve made 40 movies, I had a television show for seven years, and I’ve made tens of millions of dollars, not to mention money. Like, I don’t know if I’m a failure, you know?”
“Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair” premiered April 10 on Hulu and Disney+ on Hulu.
Fox News Digital’s Danielle Minnetian contributed to this report.
