By DEIRDRE SIMONDS and DAVID LAWRANCE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

PUBLISHED: 21:15 EST, 31 August 2021 | UPDATED: 22:34 EST, 31 August 2021

He’s best known for playing Jake Harper in the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men, alongside Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer, for ten consecutive seasons from 2003 to 2013.

But this reclusive actor cut a very different look on Monday while stepping out barefoot with a thick bushy beard, black beanie and wide-brimmed glasses in Los Angeles, California. 

While the 27-year-old was once the highest-paid teen actors in history, he has largely stayed out of the spotlight since departing from the raunchy series over religious beliefs after he ‘rediscovered’ his Christian faith, according to The Washington Post. 

While the 27-year-old was once the highest-paid teen actors in history, he has largely stayed out of the spotlight since departing from the raunchy series over religious beliefs after he ‘rediscovered’ his Christian faith, according to The Wall Street Journal 

As he maintained a low-profile in a pair of beige shorts and black graphic T-shirt that that read ‘SHOQUIP’ in blue lettering and the name of his home state of Texas.   

Jones began acting at the age of five after being cast in the 1999 film Simpatico that starred Sharon Stone and Nick Nolte.

He went on to win other small roles in movies before landing the gig of Jake, a kid who’s living with his divorced dad (Cryer) and hedonistic uncle (Sheen). 

Casual: As he maintained a low-profile in a pair of beige shorts and black graphic T-shirt that that read ‘SHOQUIP’ in blue lettering and the name of his home state of Texas

Child star: Jones began acting at the age of five after being cast in the 1999 film Simpatico that starred Sharon Stone and Nick Nolte

But as he grew up, so did his TV alter ego with the show’s creators giving his teen character more adult storylines including dating older women. 

In 2013, Jones said in an interview with Seventh-Day Adventist filmmaker Christopher Hudson that being on the show was incompatible with being ‘a true God-fearing person.’

He even described the comedy as ‘filth’. 

Household name: He went on to win other small roles in movies before landing the gig of Jake, a kid who’s living with his divorced dad (Cryer) and hedonistic uncle (Sheen)

In 2013, Jones said in an interview with Seventh-Day Adventist filmmaker Christopher Hudson that being on Two and a Half Men was incompatible with being ‘a true God-fearing person’

He did not appear in season 11 of the hit comedy, but did return for a cameo in the season 12 series finale in 2015. 

He attended the University of Colorado at Boulder switching from environmental studies to Jewish studies at the end of his freshman year. 

He told People: ‘Over the last three years I’ve been involved with various faith-based organizations.’ 

Quit: He did not appear in season 11 of the hit comedy, but did return for a cameo in the season 12 series finale in 2015; seen in 2003 

Cute kid: He also acknowledges that he still likes acting and is hoping to reignite his Hollywood career on his own term; (left to right) Charlie Sheen, Jones and Jon Cryer

Not pleased: As he grew up, so did his TV alter ego with the show’s creators giving his teen character more adult storylines including dating older women

‘Right now, I’m stepping away from the organizational business-model programs. I’m interested in seeing where I go without an organization putting a stamp of approval on if I’m good or bad or whatever.’ 

He has now put his college degree ‘on hold’ and has partnered with Sean Combs’s son Justin in events company Tonite. 

He also acknowledges that he still likes acting and is hoping to reignite his Hollywood career on his own terms.

In 2016 he appeared in an episode of the Louis C.K. show Horace and Pete.   

Not the end: He also acknowledges that he still likes acting and is hoping to reignite his Hollywood career on his own terms; pictured in 2004

Angus T. Jones opens up about leaving ‘Two and a Half Men’ over religious beliefs

By Emily Yahr

March 17, 2014 at 9:47 p.m. EDT

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The very public falling out between Angus T. Jones and “Two and a Half Men” raised an interesting question: What happens to the millionaire teen actor who goes on YouTube to call his show “filth” and begs people to stop watching?

It turns out … life goes on. That is, life goes on after the actor leaves the show. Jones, who has been under the radar since departing from the long-running Chuck Lorre comedy last year, opened up in an interview with the CBS affiliate in Houston on Monday, calling himself a former “paid hypocrite,” as he explained that the material on the raunchy sitcom conflicted with his beliefs as he “rediscovered” his Christian faith.

In case you missed the drama in November 2012: Jones appeared in a YouTube video posted by Alabama-based church Forerunner Chronicles, where he implored viewers to not watch the show and to “stop filling your head with filth.” Jones, then 19 years old and one of the highest-paid teen actors in history, continued: “You cannot be a true God-fearing person and be on a television show like [‘Two and a Half Men’]. I know I can’t,” he said. “I’m not okay with what I’m learning, what the Bible says, and being on that television show.”

Jones, who had just joined a Seventh-day Adventist church that year, later released an apology saying he was grateful for the opportunity to be on the series. At the time, he had been playing Jake Harper (Jon Cryer’s character’s son) since age nine, and by the end, reportedly made around $350,000 an episode. Post-YouTube incident, Jones was dropped as a series regular at the end of last season while he left to attend school.

Now, in Houston to speak at the World Harvest Outreach Church about his journey to find God, Jones sat down with the KHOU-TV station to discuss his mixed feelings about the show and why he wasn’t comfortable being involved. “It was making light of topics in our world that are really problems for a lot of people,” Jones said. “I was a paid hypocrite because I wasn’t okay with it, but I was still doing it.”

Jones also semi-apologized again for insulting his former boss’s (Lorre) TV show: “That’s his, like, his baby, and I just totally insulted his baby and to that degree I am apologetic,” Jones explained. “But otherwise I don’t regret saying what I said.”

You know what? That probably won’t thrill anyone at CBS — a network not unaccustomed to stars who dramatically leave that particular show. But in the end, it all worked out okay. Jones is spending time at church in Texas (he’s an Austin native) and going to college in Colorado. Over on “Two and a Half Men,” Amber Tamblyn replaced Jones’s character (she plays Charlie Harper’s illegitimate daughter) while the recently-renewed show’s ratings are still great in its 11th season.

In the TV world, that’s the best ending anyone could have hoped for.

By Emily YahrEmily Yahr is an entertainment reporter for The Washington Post. She joined The Post in 2008 and has previously written for the Boston Globe, USA Today, the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader and the American Journalism Review. Twitter

Why Angus T. Jones Has Left Faith-Based Organizations – and Is ‘Slowly’ Returning to Acting

“In terms of regrets, I try to avoid those completely,” says the former child star

By Patrick Gomez Published on October 26, 2016 02:50 PM – for People.com

Angus T. Jones had a hard time reconciling his devout Christian faith with his bawdy CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men, so he left the show. But now the former child star has seemingly left organized religion and is reconsidering his decision to say goodbye to stardom.

“I was very confident at that time,” Jones, 23, says in the current issue of PEOPLE of his decision to leave Men in 2013 after telling Seventh-Day Adventist filmmaker Christopher Hudson, “You cannot be a true God-fearing person and be on a television show like that.”

Walking away from Hollywood, Jones enrolled at the University of Colorado at Boulder as an environmental studies major. But at the end of his freshman year, he switched majors to Jewish studies, a sign of his evolving relationship with organized religion.

“Over the last three years I’ve been involved with various faith-based organizations,” says Jones. “Right now, I’m stepping away from the organizational business-model programs. I’m interested in seeing where I go without an organization putting a stamp of approval on if I’m good or bad or whatever.”

When he’d departed from Men after season 10, there were reports Jones would guest star on season 11 of the sitcom. But he did not return to the show until the series finale in 2015.

“Getting to be back on the set with everyone again kind of showed me how much I did like it and how much a part of me acting,” he says.

• For more from Angus T. Jones — including what his life is like now — pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday

Jones plans on getting his degree but is currently “on a break” from college and is serving as president of entertainment at Tonite, an events company cofounded by Sean “Diddy” Combs’s son Justin. But he admits he’s open to the idea of returning to acting.

“The door is definitely still open for me to do that, but I’m taking things slowly,” says Jones, who recently starred in his former college roommate’s short film and still has an agent. “But I’m kind of liking the ability to travel and to move around at a moment’s notice and not have to be in one spot for years at a time.”

Regardless of his future, Jones refuses to second-guess his decision to step away from the spotlight.

“In terms of regrets, I try to avoid those completely,” he says. “There’s no changing anything. There’s only moving forward.”