My, how you've grown! Jerry Maguire's adorable child star returns to the spotlight as a handsome leading man

By Daily Mail Reporter

Grown up: Jonathan Lipnicki, the adorable star of the 1996 hit Jerry Maguire, appeared on The View today

The adorable child star of Jerry Maguire is all grown up.

Jonathan Lipnicki, now a strapping 20-year-old, was just five when he starred alongside Tom Cruise and Renee Zellweger in the 1996 film.

He then starred in less successful movies Like Mike and Stuart Little before disappearing into obscurity for the best part of 15-years.

'I did a couple of small, independent films that I really believed in and after that I decided to go to high-school,' he said on US morning show The View.

'I just wanted to be a normal kid,' he added.

Too cute: The actor was famous for his line: 'Do you know that dogs and bees can smell fear?'

Ready for a comeback: Lipnicki stars in the upcoming movie, For the love of Money

On the show, with Whoopi Goldberg, Lipnicki admitted that he landed the Jerry Maguire role by the skin of his teeth.

'I auditioned for the role and I didn't get cast,' he said.

'They cast another kid and shot two weeks with him and it just wasn't working out so they went to re-cast the role but at first they wouldn't even see my because the casting associate had seen me, not the casting director,' he recalled.

'My agent just fought and fought and fought until I got back in the room and then I got it,' he said. After showing a clip of the famous 'dogs and bees' line host
Barbara Walters said: 'So can dogs and bees really smell fear?'

'I'm not sure, I can ask my dog when I get home,' he replied.

Lipnicki also admitted that when he went to public school he was teased by other children:

'Everyone gets teased, he said. 'Whether you are an actor or not.'

Lipnicki was also mocked in the cartoon Family Guy, where they pictured him as a saggy-faced misery guts.

'I actually did Family Guy about three years ago and I know they are just having fun with me so I think it's great,' he smiled.

The child star is now re-entering the spotlight with a new movie, For the love of Money, with Edward Furlong.

'I'm ready to come back and I'm ready to work,' he said.

'People are always going to have this image of me as five years old so it's my job to work hard, go into the right rooms and blow them away.'