Why did Jack Gleeson take a break from the big screen? Game of Thrones actor clears the air

Jack Gleeson, who gained fame portraying the role of Joffrey Baratheon on HBO's Game of Thrones, stepped back from acting after wrapping his work on the series in 2014. Gleeson is now back with a new show, House of Guinness. At the premiere, Jack Gleeson addressed rumors that he took a hiatus from acting because of the hate his character, Joffrey, received.

While speaking to The Hoot at the premiere, Jack Gleeson said,

"Thankfully, it wasn't because I received any sort of abuse from anybody. Thankfully! I know that can happen, sadly. People confuse the character (with the actor) but after Game of Thrones or even during the show, I was continuing to act but it was more of just a theater company that I set up with some friends in Dublin and I was more into that at the time."

He also added,

"But then I started to miss screen acting so I got back into it. So I don't know it is where I was just at the time."

Jack Gleeson says appearing on Game of Thrones caused him to lose his passion for acting

Jack Gleeson had addressed his hiatus from acting earlier during a talk at University College Dublin in February 2022. While talking to the students, he opened up about starting as a child actor and said,

"It really comes down to just not deriving as much enjoyment as I did from acting as I used to. I started acting when I was eight and really loved it, you know. All I wanted to be was an actor when I grew up."

He added that his passion for acting changed when it became a profession,

"For some reason, I don't know it became a bit kind of mechanical and less kind of passionate when I started Game of Thrones."

The actor started appearing on the show when he was just 19 and also mentioned that his loss of passion for acting at the time had nothing to do with the way Game of Thrones was filmed. Gleeson mentioned that when he turned acting into a profession, it "put more pressure on the acting" and made it "less enjoyable."

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However, despite going on a hiatus, the actor made his comeback to the screens with House of Guiness, which was released on Netflix on September 25. The series is inspired by one of Europe's most famous dynasties, the Guinness Family. The series is set in 19th-century Dublin and New York.

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