‘Malcolm in the Middle’ Star Justin Berfield Reveals He Auditioned To Play Anakin Skywalker
Long before ‘Malcolm in the Middle‘ became one of the defining sitcoms of the early 2000s, its future star was chasing a very different kind of stardom entirely. Justin Berfield, who would go on to spend seven seasons playing the mischievous older brother Reese, once found himself caught up in one of the most competitive child castings in Hollywood history.
That casting call belonged to none other than ‘Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace,’ which sent casting directors searching for a young actor to play Anakin Skywalker in the franchise’s long-awaited prequel trilogy. At the time, Berfield was already a working child actor, having spent years starring as Ross Malloy on ‘Unhappily Ever After.’
Berfield has now confirmed that he was actually part of that massive search, revealing he auditioned for the role of young Anakin Skywalker around 1995, when he was just nine years old. According to reports at the time, roughly 3,000 juvenile actors were considered for the part, putting Berfield among an enormous pool of young hopefuls all vying for the same career-defining role.
The part ultimately went to Jake Lloyd, whose take on young Anakin became one of the most recognizable, and polarizing, performances of the entire prequel era once ‘The Phantom Menace’ hit theaters in 1999. Other names reportedly connected to the audition process around that same time included Cameron Finley, Devin Michael, Michael Angarano, and a young Haley Joel Osment.
Missing out on the galaxy far, far away didn’t slow Berfield down for long. Shortly after his Anakin audition, he landed the role that would define his career, playing Reese Wilkerson in Fox’s ‘Malcolm in the Middle,’ which premiered in 2000 and ran for seven seasons through 2006.
Berfield appeared in all 151 episodes of the series, and combined with his earlier 100-episode run on ‘Unhappily Ever After,’ he became the youngest person in television history to appear in more than 100 episodes of two separate shows. That kind of consistency helped cement Reese as one of the most memorable characters of the show’s ensemble cast.
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Berfield’s career has continued well beyond his years on ‘Malcolm,’ expanding into producing through his company J2 Pictures alongside Jason Felts, with credits including the Coen Brothers-adjacent musical film ‘Romance & Cigarettes.’ Most recently, he stepped back into the role that made him famous, reprising Reese for four episodes of the 2026 revival series ‘Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair.’
Looking back, it’s genuinely fascinating to imagine an alternate timeline where Berfield landed the Anakin role instead of Jake Lloyd, potentially reshaping both the ‘Star Wars’ prequels and the sitcom landscape that eventually gave audiences Reese. Sometimes missing out on one iconic role clears the path for an entirely different kind of legacy.
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