Actor Reveals How He's Found Success in Hollywood Without Compromising His Faith and Values

Actor David Henrie, who has appeared in well-known TV shows like "Wizards of Waverly Place" and "How I Met Your Mother," has figured out how to be successful in Hollywood without compromising his faith and values.

Henrie recently told TheBlaze's Billy Hallowell and Raj Nair on their "Freefall" podcast that growing up as an actor doesn't have to mean falling into the industry's many temptations — and that taking one's career seriously will yield success.

"I think the people in Hollywood who take their sort of abilities more seriously and who are always working on their craft or trying to be the best that they can with what they’ve been given, those are always the most successful people cause they don’t buy into the whole lifestyle that goes along with it," Henrie said.

As far as his own handling of the temptation that comes along with being a famous actor, Henrie said that he's been lucky to have good friends and family around to offer positive support and keep him grounded.

Listen to the actor describe his Hollywood experience below:

Henrie admits that "it is much easier to go along and go party every night or go out every night and go do ridiculous things" like many young actors do, but believes "that’s a waste of time."

"It’s much easier that way, but that’s the difference between people who are successful and a lot of the times people who fall off the map," he added. "And I think that’s the difference between a virtuous guy and a guy who is just sort of pleasing his emotions or his passions."

Henrie also thinks that his Christian beliefs do impact the choices he makes in the television and film industries — and he acknowledged that being a role model is not always something that an actor wants, but considers it a responsibility that one must accept.

"I remember people were looking at me as a role model when I was a teenager and I was like I don’t want to be a role model, you know, I just want to be an actor. But then the older I got, the more I was like 'well shoot, even though I didn’t ask for that responsibility to be on my shoulders, should I still be accountable for it?'"

Henrie compared this responsibility to that of Peter Parker in the Spiderman stories. "With great power comes responsibility, and it’s true, even though Peter Parker didn’t ask to become Spiderman, he still ended up embracing that responsibility and doing the best that he could with it."

The actor recently released "Catch," a short film about fatherhood that he wrote and directed. Watch the trailer below: