Netflix star in tears revealing they’re close to quitting acting after more than a year without work-Pierra Willix-Entertainment – Metro

An actor who appeared in the hit Netflix series After Life has broken down in tears when revealing he’s close to quitting acting.

Ethan Lawrence, 31, played James, a young man who does work experience at the Tambury Gazette, in Ricky Gervais’ comedy-drama.

Although he’s had other screens roles since the show ended in 2022, Ethan has now explained how much he is struggling financially.

This week he shared a video on TikTok titled: ‘A long rant. Thinking of giving up being an actor.’

In it, he said 2024 had already been a ‘really bad year’ and he was ‘the closest’ he’s ever been to giving up acting.

Holding back tears, he apologised for being emotional, saying his landlord was ‘selling the house from underneath me’, which came off the back of ‘nearly a year and a half without acting work’.

After Life star Ethan Lawrence has said he is close to quitting acting (Picture: Netflix)

‘It’s not because of anything I’ve done, the industry’s in a state of collapse, I don’t know how else to say it. There just aren’t the jobs there once were. The creative industry is one of the biggest in the UK and yet 70% of people who work in it are unemployed. It’s so wrong,’ he shared.

The actor said it felt like things ‘weren’t going to get any better’ and as bills started to grow, he was now ‘in a constant state of financial stress’.

‘I had the best years of my life professionally a few years ago, but since then I’ve not worked,’ he said.

‘I can’t rely on anything or make plans for the future, and I can’t live like this anymore.’

He explained how he was ‘in a constant state of financial stress’ after struggling to secure work (Picture: Ethan Lawrence/ TikTok)

Addressing potential comments from people who might have told him to go out and get a ‘real job’, Ethan said it was already something he considered.

‘I’m wondering if it just might be time to stop.’

However, many people encouraged Ethan to ‘keep going’ with another saying they hoped things ‘picked up soon’.

In 2012 Ethan was cast as Joe Poulter in Bad Education, which ran for three seasons.

He previously starred as Joe in Bad Education (Picture: BBC)

He then went on to play Ryan in Trying Again, before reprising the role of Joe in The Bad Education Movie.

Over the next few years, he made several guest appearances in television series such as Flat TV, Avatards and Doc Martin.

After struggling to secure acting work after that, in 2018 he got a job as a pizza delivery boy to make ends meet, the next year he bagged the role in After Life.

His last acting job was in the 2023 thriller miniseries Boat Story, and before that he appeared in Magic Mike’s Last Dance and Horrible Histories.

After Life is streaming on Netflix.

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