Dacre Montgomery has revealed why he took a step back from acting for five years.
The Australian actor, 30, made his film debut in the 2017 adventure comedy A Few Less Men, starring alongside Death in Paradise’s Kris Marshall.
He then went on to play Jason Scott / Red Ranger in the superhero film Power Rangers, but it was being cast in the blockbuster Netflix series Stranger Things that saw his career hit new heights.
From 2017 until 2022 he played Billy Hargrove, the arrogant and abusive older brother of Max (Sadie Sink), however his character was eventually killed off in a heartbreaking scene.
Dacre was nominated for an MTV Movie & TV Award for his performance, however in the years since he’s only featured in a handful of other projects.
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He’s now explained how he ‘dropped off the map’ in order to regain a sense of ownership over his career.
‘I think things have changed. Traditional Hollywood stars existed because there was mystery,’ he said.
‘Social media has done away with that. That’s a large part of why I dropped off the map for the last five years.”
‘I’m not trying to compete with anyone else; I’m living my truth and hopefully being able to pay the rent while I’m doing it,’ he added when speaking to The Australian.
Dacre then explained that he decided to ‘take time off’ after investing so much into acting jobs.
‘I’ve given a piece of myself to every role I’ve played and that’s largely why I’ve taken time off,’ he explained.
‘Lately, there’s been a lot of personal reflection about what I want in my career. I’m trying to gain a bit more control over where and what I’m working on.’
Although Dacre won’t appear in the fifth and final season of Stranger Things, he has said he’s excited to see how showrunners Matt and Ross Duffer wrap it up.
‘I’m more excited than anything for it to be over for the Duffer Brothers, because I know they have so many other awesome stories that, years ago, they were telling me about,’ he recently told ScreenRant.
‘I’m like, “Guys, you haven’t had the bandwidth to make this project”. So, that’s my most exciting thing.”
Dacre will next be seen in the crime drama Dead Man’s Wire, which follows the 1997 kidnapping by Tony Kiritsis of his bank mortgager and request for hostage money. He plays Richard Hall, while Kiritsis is played by Bill Skarsgård.
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