The spotlight isn't for everyone! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Hollywood stars who abandoned successful careers.
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00:00You had your babies and kind of stepped away from the spotlight.
00:03Yeah.
00:04Tell me about that choice.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks
00:09for the Hollywood stars who abandoned successful careers.
00:13We're leaving off late legends like Audrey Hepburn,
00:15focusing more on actors from recent memory.
00:18Why quit acting?
00:20It was important for my recovery at the time.
00:22It represented my mom living vicariously through me.
00:26Number 10.
00:26Evangeline Lilly.
00:28In 2024, the actress behind the MCU hero Wasp
00:32announced that she was taking a step back from acting.
00:35No one can say she didn't enjoy an illustrious career over the past two decades.
00:40Oh my god.
00:40Look, I get it. I've got needs too.
00:43Oh my god!
00:44After spending several seasons on Lost,
00:46she successfully crossed over into film stardom in the 2010s.
00:50Although she appeared in big budget projects like the Hobbit trilogy
00:53and the Ant-Man series, Lilly never thought she would be an actor.
00:57And I hooked myself up with an extra gig, and the first day on set,
01:01they were like, you, do you want to be an actor?
01:03I was like, nope, don't.
01:04Actually, I want to study my book.
01:05They're like, great, you're hired.
01:07And they upgraded me to actor.
01:09In fact, her dream was to be a retired actress,
01:12dedicating her life to humanitarian causes and her own writing.
01:15She's done both.
01:17Along with her humanitarian work, Lilly is also a published children's author.
01:21We've been here signing copies of the Squickerwonkers book,
01:24and it was so lovely to see how much interest there was in the series.
01:28Number 9. Mia Wasikowska
01:31At the start of the 2010s, this Australian actress was turning
01:34into one of the industry's most interesting and sought-after young performers.
01:38I just don't want you to have big expectations.
01:41Will you quit saying that? I have no expectations, all right?
01:43Okay, I'm just saying.
01:45She appeared in movies by masters such as Tim Burton, Guillermo del Toro,
01:49Gus Van Sant, and Pak Chan Wook.
01:52Then, after the release of Alice Through the Looking Glass, she downshifted.
01:56Time is against you, and you're being careless with it.
02:00I once believed I could do as many as six impossible things before breakfast.
02:05Finding the pace of making Hollywood movies grueling,
02:08she made the conscious decision to move back to Australia
02:11and take herself out of the rat race.
02:13While the Crimson Peak star hasn't quit acting completely,
02:16she's gotten more selective about her projects.
02:18She seems to prefer taking roles in indie movies over Hollywood vehicles.
02:23I'm so happy we found you. And I am very happy to be here.
02:27Number 8. Ian Somerhalder
02:29This heartthrob played the suave and ruthless vampire Damon Salvatore
02:33on eight seasons of The Vampire Diaries.
02:36I know this is probably the last thing you want to do right now,
02:38but we should talk about what happened tonight.
02:40When that show ended in 2017,
02:43Ian Somerhalder made sporadic appearances in film and TV.
02:46However, fans have noticed he hasn't headlined a major project since 2020.
02:51There's a good reason.
02:52You moved to a farm since the last time I saw you.
02:54Yes.
02:54Which I live on a ranch, so I love that lifestyle.
02:57Somerhalder and wife, Twilight actress Nikki Reed,
03:00moved away from Hollywood with their children.
03:02Instead of the concrete jungle of Los Angeles,
03:05they left the entertainment industry to live on a farm.
03:07The retired actor has taken to producing documentaries
03:10and dedicating his efforts to environmental activism.
03:14Happy, healthy people build happy, healthy societies
03:16by making happy, healthy choices.
03:19Number 7. Lili Sobieski
03:21Making her film debut in 1995,
03:23Lili Sobieski made over 20 movies before calling it quits in 2012.
03:28I'm going away. Can you hear me?
03:31The majority of the actress's movie career spanned less than two decades.
03:35In that time, she got the chance to act alongside some cinematic heavyweights.
03:40Her co-stars include the likes of Al Pacino,
03:42Robert De Niro, and Nicolas Cage.
03:44What's with the sister thing, anyway?
03:47It's just our way. We don't have any royal honey for you.
03:51None at all?
03:52No, not a drop. Our crop was cursed last year.
03:58After memorable roles in Joyride, The Glass House,
04:01and the unforgettable 2006 remake of The Wicker Man,
04:04Sobieski left Hollywood to focus on raising her children.
04:07She hasn't given up a career in the arts, though.
04:10She's since embarked on a career as a painter and sculptor.
04:13That's my plan.
04:14Number 6. Jeanette McCurdy
04:16She became one of Nickelodeon's biggest stars and then gave it all up.
04:20Playing Sam Puckett on iCarly made Jeanette McCurdy a major star at a young age.
04:25I don't play to get even. Mama plays to win.
04:32Many millennials felt like they grew up with Jeanette McCurdy,
04:35so when the actress announced she was taking a step back from performing in 2018,
04:39it kind of felt like the end of an era.
04:41As it turns out, we didn't know the half of it.
04:44In many ways, your mother tried to keep you a child.
04:46Yeah, I think my mom wanted to keep me as controllable as possible.
04:52I think she really wanted to have her influence on me,
04:55and me growing up was a threat to that.
04:57Her explosive memoir, I'm Glad My Mom Died,
05:00detailed all the years of abuse, exploitation,
05:03and health struggles that went into her decision to leave show business behind.
05:07I think I've chosen a path of integrity,
05:19and it hasn't always been easy.
05:20Number five, Bridget Fonda.
05:22While her last name definitely didn't hurt her career,
05:25Bridget Fonda carved out a space for herself in the industry
05:28with roles in some of the biggest hits of the 1990s.
05:32You've been working too hard. Let me show you around.
05:34Can you get me an interview with Michael Corleone?
05:36Uh, no. I'm a relative, but I can't do that.
05:39What else can I do for you?
05:40But the star of potboilers like Single White Female and Lake Placid
05:44became scarce on movie theater screens once the millennium hit.
05:48Ma'am, look, this isn't some kind of fact-finding expedition.
05:52Yes, I know that.
05:53It's not a science trip.
05:54Could you be a little more condescending?
05:56Because I'm not real great with subtlety.
05:58Behind the scenes, Fonda met and married Danny Elfman,
06:01composer for The Simpsons and several Tim Burton movies.
06:04She dropped her career to become a mother.
06:06Since then, she's kept a surprisingly low profile.
06:10There's not even a public social media account to her name.
06:13Is there any chance that you make a move back?
06:15I don't think so. It's too nice being a civilian.
06:19Number four, Ava Mendez.
06:20Known for her magnetic screen presence and great beauty,
06:24Ava Mendez broke out of roles in low-budget genre picks with 2001's Training Day.
06:29New guy, Jaden.
06:32Hi.
06:33Nice to meet you.
06:34Come in, welcome to my house.
06:36From there, she expanded her profile and her talents,
06:39but she ended her acting career after meeting and marrying Ryan Gosling,
06:43her co-star in 2012's The Place Beyond the Pines.
06:47The couple have two children together.
06:49Does Ryan get in there and change the diapers too and do all of that?
06:52I mean, that's a given these days.
06:54I don't think that that's a plus anymore.
06:56He better not be father's other.
06:59Mendez insists she still does work, but acting is not in the cards.
07:04It requires more time away from home and her kids than she's comfortable with.
07:08She says she's fine with Gosling having the spotlight,
07:11just as long as he comes home to put the kids to bed.
07:13You have any plans of coming back to acting?
07:15Is that something you'd want to think about?
07:17I think that'd be fun at some point, but I think my list has gotten so short.
07:21You know, like, I don't want to do anything violent.
07:23I don't want to do anything sexual.
07:25I don't want to do anything like, you know.
07:26Yeah.
07:27I'm like, what's left?
07:28Boundaries up.
07:29Number 3.
07:30Amanda Bynes.
07:31Looking back, it's kind of amazing how much Amanda Bynes accomplished at such a young age.
07:36Sweetheart, be a good little girl and run to the gas station and fill this up with gas.
07:40You want me to walk 53 miles?
07:42No, no, no, run!
07:46She was only 13 when she was given her own sketch comedy show,
07:49and she made a successful transition to movie stardom afterward.
07:52After dropping out of a couple of movie roles,
07:54a then 24-year-old Bynes tweeted that she was retiring.
07:58After her work in Easy A, the actress telling the magazine,
08:02I saw it and I was convinced that I should never be on camera again,
08:05and I officially retired on Twitter.
08:07Her Twitter soon became her arena.
08:10What started as an internet oddity soon took an alarming turn.
08:13Bynes' behavior became increasingly erratic, instigating a media circus.
08:18Fortunately, she seems to be in a better place, and some say she'd be open to acting again.
08:24This is sort of her wanting to tell her story, kind of close a chapter that was difficult,
08:30move on, and start the next phase of her life and career.
08:34Number two, Rick Moranis.
08:36The bespectacled Canadian comedian charmed audiences in Honey I Shrunk the Kids series,
08:41Ghostbusters, and Little Shop of Horrors.
08:55But in 1991, tragedy struck Rick Moranis' personal life.
09:01His wife, Anne Belsky, passed away due to cancer.
09:04Though he didn't leave acting right away,
09:06he announced a hiatus in 1997 to devote more time to his family.
09:11Outside of some voice acting, he stayed out of Hollywood from that point on.
09:15Though he's made more appearances in recent years,
09:18and even said he wasn't truly retired,
09:20his big return to the screen still hasn't come to fruition.
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09:47Number one, Daniel Day-Lewis.
09:49There was no sign that the three-time Oscar winner was ready to quit.
09:53If anything, some fans felt his last performance in Phantom Thread was among his best.
10:15His announcement that he was retiring for good after he finished with the role was
10:18met with shock. It actually wasn't the first time he quit acting.
10:24That's crazy, right?
10:25The famously meticulous actor retired once before in the late 90s,
10:29and took up shoemaking of all things. This time, though, it seems the actor is serious
10:33about leaving the spotlight for good. He hasn't been seen on movie screens since 2017.
10:39Do you think that would be sad if it's the last thing he ever does,
10:42professionally, as a movie actor?
10:44Well, I think it's always sad if someone who's so talented, you know, stops giving
10:51what he knows to do, but I respect it, you know?
10:54Which of these actors would you love to see make a return? Let us know in the comments.
10:59That's my office.
11:03Your office? You have a miniature, miniature drone in here? I love it.
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