David Krumholtz Quits Acting, Says He’s “Frustrated, Fed Up, Fried” After Decades in Hollywood

David Krumholtz has decided to quit acting, for now at least, as announced on his social media — screen caption below.

It sounds like an indefinite hiatus after years of being afraid to step away, largely because he worried about going broke and losing his place in the industry. After finally sending what he calls the “definitive email,” however, he felt an enormous sense of relief, realizing how much of a burden the career had become.

Krumholtz has no idea how he’ll support himself or what comes next, but says he’s frustrated, exhausted and fed up, and is taking a step back to reconsider his direction and whether there might be a different, more meaningful path for him.

This comes from an actor with one of the more impressive character-actor résumés of his generation, with his work in “Oppenheimer,” “10 Things I Hate About You,” “Superbad,” “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle,” “The Slums of Beverly Hills,” “This Is the End,” “Ray,” “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” and “The Santa Clause.”

However, his recent turn as physicist Isidor Isaac Rabi in Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” may be his finest film performance. It’s the kind of performance that reminds you just how good Krumholtz can be when given material worthy of his talents.

Seth Rogen has recalled that around 2020, Krumholtz was so disillusioned with acting that he was seriously considering moving to Riverside and selling BMWs. Rogen reportedly talked him out of leaving the business, and not long afterward, Krumholtz landed “Leopoldstadt” on Broadway, earning some of the strongest reviews of his career.

That said, his concerns about money appear to be genuine. He has spoken candidly in the past about how “Numb3rs,” the hit CBS series of the 2000s, suddenly gave him more money than he had ever imagined, much of which he spent lavishly before buying an expensive Hollywood Hills home that became a financial nightmare. After the property was foreclosed on and sold short, he claims to have lost $500k out of the ordeal. So when Krumholtz talks about “financial insecurity,” it may not be a joke.