Jonathan Lipnicki, aka the kid from Jerry Maguire, nearly didn’t get the part

JONATHAN Lipnicki, aka the kid from Jerry Maguire, has opened up about working with Tom Cruise and Renée Zellweger.

JONATHAN Lipnicki is one of the most recognisable child stars ever — but the movie part that made him famous nearly didn’t happen.

The 26-year-old, who made his screen debut alongside Tom Cruise and Renée Zellweger in 1996 movie Jerry Maguire at the tender age of five, revealed on Today Extra that he originally wasn’t cast in the role.

Lipnicki played Renée Zellweger’s son in the movie.

“I actually read for [the part of Ray] then they cast someone else,” Lipnicki told co-hosts David Campbell and Georgie Gardner (who’s filling in for Sonia Kruger.)

“They shot two weeks with the other kid and it wasn’t working out so they went to recast it ... and my agent begged them to see me again.

“That day, when I went in for my audition, they flew me out to Arizona where they were shooting a bunch of football scenes with Cuba [Gooding Jr], and I read for Tom [Cruise] and Cameron [Crowe] ... and I got the part.”

How could you forget the face of @JLIPNICKI... He was one of the cutest 5-year-olds on the planet! #9Today https://t.co/VEgWI4Tgqw

— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) December 5, 2016

The actor, who went on to star in Stuart Little, The Little Vampire and Like Mike, says while he had been “really excited” and had known who Cruise was, he’d had no idea how much that movie would change his life.

“I didn’t really understand the magnitude of what it was to be in a movie ... and then to end up being in a movie like Jerry Maguire! I definitely didn’t understand that.”

Lipnicki is still acting, and is also now unbelievably ripped thanks to his dedication to Brazilian jiu-jitsu.