Why Wizards Of Waverly Place Star Jake T. Austin Disappeared From Hollywood

Jake T. Austin was a child actor who initially found success with voice work in the cartoon movies "Everybody's Hero" and "The Ant Bully" before landing two major roles on the biggest kids' networks. He voiced Dora's cousin Diego on Nickelodeon's "Dora the Explorer" and "Go Diego Go!" and played Max Russo, the youngest brother and mischievous practical joker on "Wizards of Waverly Place." The latter quickly became one of the best Disney Channel shows, skyrocketed Selena Gomez into superstardom, and ran from 2007 to 2012. Jake T. Austin also starred in the Disney Channel Original movie "Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board" and did voice work for "Rio," its sequel, and "The Emoji Movie" 

The actor also found television success on the Freeform drama "The Fosters" about a lesbian couple raising their biological son and four adopted teenagers. For the first two seasons, Austin played Jesus Adams Foster — a troubled teen with ADHD and anger issues — before being replaced by Netflix rom-com star Noah Centineo through season 5. After his abrupt exit from "The Fosters," he did voicework for "Justice League" as the Blue Beetle, starred in underseen indies, and participated in "Dancing with the Stars." Today, for the most part, it seems Jake T. Austin has disappeared from Hollywood, choosing to forgo opportunities and put his on-camera career on hold.

In a vulnerable 2019 interview with Flaunt Magazine, Jake T. Austin describes a common problem for child actors: they are so busy working and pretending to be someone else that they don't learn who they are. He says when he was growing up on screen, "I kind of lost sight of who I was as a person ... I knew the characters I was playing really well, and I knew their characteristics and their backstories, but as I started discovering who I was, I started losing touch in many ways."

Jake T. Austin also confesses that he left "The Fosters" because he fell into "the trap of being in Hollywood, running with the wrong crowd, making some bad choices and also not taking the work seriously," such as not remembering his lines. Although he did voicework here and there, taking a break at 19 to find his adult self was the best thing he could have done because "it prevented me from getting too big for my britches and really prevented my behavior from getting worse." 

It's still up in the air whether or not he will return to the "Wizards of Waverly Place" reboot. His character has already been off-handedly referenced as a billionaire who owns the family's sandwich shop. After starring in "Adverse," a low-budget rideshare thriller with Mickey Rourke in 2020, Jake T. Austin took another break for four years. In 2024, he did star in the indie "Draft State" and the Lifetime movie "Killing for Extra Credit," but still seems to be laying low in 2025. Now that it's been 10 years since Jake T. Austin left "The Fosters," he could be disappearing from Hollywood again to discover who he is in his 30s.