For six years, viewers tuned in to watch the hectic and hilarious lives of the family on Malcolm in the Middle. The cast of characters included parents Lois (Jane Kaczmarek) and Hal (Bryan Cranston) and their sons Francis (Christopher Masterson), Reese (Justin Berfield), Malcolm (Frankie Muniz), Dewey (Erik Per Sullivan), and, later, Jamie (James and Lukas Rodriguez). The second to oldest brother, Reese, was known for bullying his brother Malcolm, driving his parents nuts, and for not exactly being the sharpest tool in the shed.
Berfield, who played the character, had a successful run as a child actor but has since moved into a new career behind the scenes. Read on to find out more about the 36-year-old’s life today.
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Berfield was already a child star when he took on Malcolm in the Middle in 2000. Most notably, he appeared in all five seasons of the sitcom Unhappily Ever After. He was also in the series The Good Life and The Mommies, as well as the 1998 movie Wanted.
After Malcolm in the Middle ended in 2006, Berfield only made one more onscreen appearance—in an episode of Sons of Tucson in 2010.
In 2010, Berfield began working for Virgin Produced, a production and development company of Virgin Group. He had already founded his own production company, J2TV. It’s unclear if Berfield still works for the Virgin today (he at least did as recently as 2018) but he was, at one time, the Chief Creative Officer. His bio on the Virgin Produced website read (via Yahoo!), “As Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer at Virgin, Berfield oversees a full service development team responsible for the packaging and production of commercial quality film, television and digital short form content that is reflective of the Virgin brand.”
Regardless of the company’s status, Berfield still works as a producer today. His most recent project was the reality series Relatively Famous: Ranch Rules. He also produced Sons of Tucson, An Invisible Sign, Blonde Ambition, and Filthy Rich: Cattle Drive.
Berfield keeps his life pretty private, but he has shared on Instagram that he is a father. He’s posted several photos of himself with his daughter, keeping her face obscured. In 2020, he shared a photo of the two of them with the caption, “Becoming a father during a global pandemic has definitely made this transition interesting. But having the extra time to spend with this little one has been fine with us!” According to The Things, Berfield’s wife is named Liza.
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In 2020, the cast of Malcolm in the Middle reunited virtually to read the pilot episode for charity.
“A bunch of us from that show #malcolminthemiddle are getting together to read the pilot episode over Zoom (I’m hoping I still have the script somewhere…)” Berfield posted on Instagram. “It’s being hosted by @rwquarantunes to benefit @healingcalifornia Head on over to @charitybuzz (link in bio) for a chance to win some prizes and maybe join us!”