Coronation Street Star Ryan Thomas Says He Has Quit Acting

Former Coronation Street actor Ryan Thomas has announced he is quitting acting, after “losing his bug for it”.

Thomas played as Jason Grimshaw in the Weatherfield-based soap from 2000 to 2016, before appearing in the Australian Neighbor soap operas.

He was recently nominated as the winner of the 2018 Celebrity Big Brother.

Speaking to Mancs On The Mic podcast, Ryan admitted he was tired of being rejected for roles.

‘It’s So Hard For Me’

“It’s so hard for me,” he said. “I started off acting, I started off in that game and I really lost the bug for it.

“I feel the reason for losing the bug is rejection and going to auditions and not getting them.”

Speaking to his brothers and the hosts of the podcast, Adam Thomas – a former Waterloo Road actor and Emmerdale – and a former Love Island actor, Scott Thomas, added that getting “negative views” from online trolls also influenced his decision.

Criticism And Negativity

“I’ve never had that before because social media wasn’t around,” he continued. “I never got it in Corrie because I never had social media when I was in Corrie. If I did, it was at the end but I was so established there that people saw me as fixtures and fittings, so I never really got that sort of negative criticism.

“It happens in all aspects but I just found it really, really hard to deal with at first. I always think, ‘Oh, it’ll [the desire to act] come back at some point and maybe it will, and it’s still something that I have in my locker if I want to explore it again. Right now I’m really happy with the direction I’m going.”

Thomas first appeared on Coronation Street at the age of 16, and the character’s storyline focuses on his love life, which saddens him after losing his father Tony and is attacked by his enemy Callum Logan. Jason Grimshaw became a suspect in the killings, and eventually went to Thailand.

In 2018, Thomas emerged as Rafael Humphreys in Neighbors’ Hit & Run special.

Thomas’s Celebrity Big Brother housemate Roxanne Pallett publicly apologised to him, saying she had “overreacted” when he “punched” her on the show. She said: “I was sensitive and emotional and mistook what was playful – I apologise for it, I shouldn’t have questioned his motivation.”

Last year, the three brothers confronted the issue of their absent father in an ITV documentary.

Family Commitment

Thomas recently informed everyone on social media that he is now delivering food at Adam’s restaurant, near Stockport.

The 36-year-old went on to say that making a regular trip home to Manchester to see his daughter Scarlett – and his ex-girlfriend and Corrie colleague Tina O’Brien – was “difficult” in his relationship with his fiancée and former TOWIE actress Lucy Mecklenburgh.

Thomas and Mecklenburgh live in Essex with their son Roman.

and working out where you’re going to end,” he said.

“I think eventually I’d like to be in Manchester with both my kids, but at the moment it’s having that help at hand in London, it’s just easier, but I think eventually I would love to be back where I started, with all my brothers and all our kids.

“I think that’s what’ll happen eventually but we’re just taking it a day at a time. I think that’s what you’ve got to do with this family life.”