Hollywood is tough, guys. Though some actors have sustained careers over several generations, others have burned out after only a single role. Some actors have thrived, while others have ended up spending more time in the tabloids [1] than in front of the camera. Not everyone leaves Tinseltown of their own volition, but whether they've been forced out or opted out, there are several young actors who decided to ditch Hollywood surprisingly early in their careers. We've rounded up some of the most unexpected retirements in Hollywood, and while some of these celebs have considered going back, others have decided they're done with acting for good.
Jack Gleeson
After playing the loathsome Joffrey Baratheon on Game of Thrones, Jack Gleeson decided that he was ready to say goodbye [3] to Hollywood. "I just stopped enjoying it as much as I used to," he told Entertainment Weekly back in 2014. ". . . When you make a living from something, it changes your relationship with it. It's not like I hate it, it's just not what I want to do." Following Joffrey's death in season four, Gleeson graduated from Trinity College Dublin [4] in 2015, where he majored in philosophy and theology. He also became part of the Dublin-based theatre company, Collapsing Horse [5].
Nikki Blonsky
Nikki Blonsky starred in the 2007 remake of Hairspray as larger-than-life Tracy Turnblad, and she landed a few other roles after that — like in Freeform's Huge and Queen Sized — but she could never seem to make a name for herself beyond her breakout role. Though she hasn't technically quit acting [6], she's definitely become disillusioned with Hollywood. "I did not take a conscious step out of Hollywood and so long as I'm alive, I never will," Blonsky explained to Out Magazine in 2017. "Singing and acting has been my dream since I was 3. It kind of feels like the industry left me." In 2011, Blonsky earned her cosmetology licence [7], and she began working part-time as a hairstylist and makeup artist in Great Neck, NY, while continuing to audition for TV and stage roles.
Angus T. Jones
Angus T. Jones — who may be better known as Jake Harper from Two and a Half Men — spent a decade of his life on the set of the long-running sitcom, and after the show's second-to-last season, Jones decided to depart the series, as he could no longer reconcile his faith and the sitcom. Jones went on to enroll at the University of Colorado at Boulder as an environmental studies major, later switching majors to Jewish studies. Now Jones works on the management side of a company called Tonite, which is run by Diddy [8]'s son Justin. Though he's on an indefinite acting hiatus [9], he's not entirely against the idea of returning to acting eventually. "The door is definitely still open for me to do that, but I'm taking things slowly," Jones told People in 2016. "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."
Taylor Momsen
Taylor Momsen is best known for playing little Jenny Humphrey on The CW's Gossip Girl [10] (as well as little Cindy Lou Who in 2000's How the Grinch Stole Christmas), but in 2011, she decided to leave Gossip Girl as a series regular in order to pursue music full-time. During an interview with Elle, when asked if she had any projects in the works, Momsen formally announced her decision [11]. "I quit acting, actually," she said. "I quit Gossip Girl and now tour and am in a band and that's pretty much all I want to do. Hopefully I'll be able to only do that for the rest of my life." Since then, Momsen has been rocking with her band, The Pretty Reckless, and the group is now preparing for the release of their fourth album [12].
Cameron Diaz
You may not have even realised, but Cameron Diaz [13] hasn't appeared in a film since 2014's Annie, and she doesn't plan on appearing in any more. Though she stayed quiet about her absence from Hollywood for a while, she finally explained why she stepped out of the limelight [14] during Gwyneth Paltrow [15]'s Goop Wellness Summit in 2017. "I just went, 'I can't really say who I am to myself,'" she explained. "Which is a hard thing to face up to. I felt the need to make myself whole." Since retiring from Hollywood, Diaz has married Good Charlotte singer Benji Madden [16], had her first baby [17], and published two books — The Body Book [18], which covers health and fitness, and The Longevity Book [19], which is about the science of growing older.
Freddie Prinze Jr.
Late '90s heartthrob Freddie Prinze Jr. — who's best known for his roles in I Know What You Did Last Summer and She's All That, among others — had originally planned on entering culinary school [20] before ending up in Hollywood. After he and his Scooby-Doo costar and wife, Sarah Michelle Gellar [21], welcomed their first child together, Prinze decided he was ready to leave acting behind [22]. "I wanted to be a stay-at-home dad," he told GQ during a 2016 interview. "I wanted to cook breakfast and dinner for my kids every day." As well as doing some occasional voiceover work, Prinze finally fulfiled his dream of working in the kitchen, even releasing his own cookbook, Back to the Kitchen [23].
Portia de Rossi
Arrested Development star Portia de Rossi [24] decided she was ready for a career change after she was written off of Scandal in its sixth season. In 2018, she explained her reasoning [25] during an appearance on her wife Ellen DeGeneres [26]'s talk show. "I was approaching 45, but I just kind of was wondering, is there something I could tackle now that I've never done before that would be really challenging and different?" she said. "I kind of knew what acting would look like for me for the next 10, 20 years, so I decided to quit and start a business." De Rossi is now working full-time on her business, General Public [27]. The art curation and publishing company is based on a 3D technology called Synograph, which De Rossi developed with the assistance of Fujifilm.
Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen [28] started acting when they were still in nappies, but after starring in several TV shows and dozens of movies together, the twins decided to redirect their attention into the world of fashion design. They began in Walmart with Mary-Kate and Ashley: Real Fashion For Real Girls, and eventually, they began building their own fashion empire, which includes the labels The Row and Elizabeth and James. In 2012, they announced the end of their acting careers [29] during an interview with Elle. "It was time to step behind the process," Ashley explained. "I wanted to work on other things. It doesn't mean I'm not interested in Hollywood. I like the way it operates, I like the people who are involved and the sense of possibility. But if I ever get back in, it's not going to be as an actress." Mary-Kate agreed, adding that it "just felt right to move away."
Carly Schroeder
After playing Matt's girlfriend Melina on Lizzie McGuire and starring in Gracie, among many other roles, Carly Schroeder decided to leave acting behind and enlist in the Army. Her decision was made after working with veterans [30] and advocating for human-trafficking victims, as well as by her own family's involvement in the armed forces. "I've been considering it for a while and it is a big choice, but thankfully my parents and my little brother were very supportive of me," Schroeder told TMZ in 2019. "My dad was actually in the Army, he was a Green Beret medic, and my little brother Hunter, he's in the Marines now." Schroeder has since been accepted into Officer Candidate School, and she eventually plans to work in military intelligence.
Adam Lamberg
Adam Lamberg — whom you probably know as Lizzie McGuire's David "Gordo" Gordon — fell off the radar after appearing in Beautiful Loser in 2008. That same year, Lamberg graduated from UC Berkley with a bachelor's degree in geography, and in 2012, he went on to attend Baruch College, where he got his MPA. Since then, Lamberg has kept himself busy as a developmental associate at the Irish Arts Centre in NYC. In 2014, he opened up about his decision to quit acting [31] on Tumblr. "I finished college and figured all I really knew was acting and gave it a go after a long layoff," he said. "After a couple of early highs things have gotten tough and now I'm somewhere between the denial stage and the acceptance stage as to whether I still can/want to do this with my life." However, Lamberg is set to reprise his role [32] in the Lizzie McGuire reboot, so perhaps he'll come out of retirement after all.
Haylie Duff
After appearing in Material Girls and Napoleon Dynamite (as well as several Hallmark Channel movies), Hilary Duff [33]'s big sis Haylie Duff made the decision to take a step back from acting once she had her second daughter [34]. "I've mostly stepped away from everything a little bit because I was having a baby," Duff told Distractify in 2019. "I really wanted to enjoy that time with them." Since then, Duff's been concentrating on her passion for cooking and her blog, The Real Girl's Kitchen [35], which eventually turned into a cookbook and a Cooking Channel show. She did tell Distractify, however, that she can see herself acting again. "I will do [movie acting] again," she said. "I just needed to take the time to be a mom and have my family, and I feel very fortunate that I've been able to do that . . . Now I'm ready to get back to work again."
Kay Panabaker
Kay Panabaker is a former Disney Channel darling who followed in the footsteps of her older sister, Danielle, and is best known for playing Debbie Berwick on Phil of the Future, among many other roles. Though her sister Danielle Panabaker continues to act, starring as Caitlin Snow in The Flash, the younger Panabaker decided to become a zoologist [36] instead. After playing Rosa in Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3: Viva la Fiesta in 2012, Panabaker officially retired and went to UCLA to study zoology. She now works at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Orlando. In response to a fan who asked her why she quit acting in 2016, Panabaker tweeted [37], "I just lost the love for acting. Life is short, we spend so much time at work, gotta do what you love :) and I love my job!!"
Karyn Parsons
Karyn Parsons may have played a privileged princess on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air [38], but in real life, the former actress is very different from her beloved character, Hilary Banks. After the show ended in 1996, Parsons kept attended auditions, but she quickly grew frustrated with her lack of success. Eventually, she acknowledged that she'd lost her passion for acting [39] and wanted to instead concentrate on philanthropic endeavours. "When I was pregnant with my daughter, that's when I started really thinking about what are they going to teach her in school, and what am I supposed to teach her? How do I supplement her education as a parent?" Parsons told Vice in 2019. "As I was talking a lot about Black history and stories that you don't hear about, my husband was like, you need to do this." Parsons now runs the Sweet Blackberry Foundation [40], which shares stories of lesser-known African-American heroes with children.
Mara Wilson
Mara Wilson played several notable roles in the '90s in movies such as Mrs. Doubtfire and Matilda, but after her years of child stardom, Wilson decided that Hollywood just wasn't for her [41]. "Acting is something I did when I was a kid," she told Parade Magazine in 2013. "I do act sometimes in friends' projects but, when I do, it's just for fun. It is actually a hobby for me now. I do still love stage acting, but the day-to-day process of being an actor is so exhausting and so taxing." Now Wilson works as a professional writer, even publishing a memoir, Where Am I Now?: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame [42], in 2016.
Jennie Garth
In the '90s, Jennie Garth was one of the most well-known actresses in Hollywood, thanks to her role as Kelly Taylor on Beverly Hills 90210. Garth appeared in a handful of other roles after her 10-season run as Kelly, but eventually, she turned her interests elsewhere. When asked about her experience on the iconic series by Los Angeles Times in 2014, Garth revealed that the role was exhausting [43], often involving 17-hour work days. "I don't miss anything," she admitted. "I mean, that's terrible to say, but . . . I don't miss those long hours." Nowadays, Garth is the owner of TheGiftBox.com [44], an online-based gift subscription service.
Meg Ryan
Once known as "America's Sweetheart," Meg Ryan [45] was a household name in the '90s thanks to her roles in Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally, and You've Got Mail, among several others. However, at the height of her career in 2001, Ryan decided that her heart just wasn't in it [46]. "I didn't really aim to be an actor," Ryan confessed during Gwyneth Paltrow [47]'s Goop Wellness Summit in 2017. "I was a journalism major at school, and a curious person, and I wanted to go back out into the world and figure out who I was — am — in relationship to other things and other people and other environments." Since quitting acting, Ryan has experimented with the production side of things, directing her first film, Ithaca, in 2015, and collaborating with Lorne Michaels on a forthcoming NBC series [48], The Obsolescents. It's possible that she will come out of retirement to star in the series, but nothing has been confirmed.
Terrence Howard
Terrence Howard managed to have a consistently successful acting career for more than 25 years, but in September 2019, the Hustle & Flow star announced that when the now-cancelled series [49] Empire (in which he plays Lucious Lyon) wraps its sixth and final season, he will quit acting for good [50]. When asked by Extra's Cheslie Kryst what he planned on doing after Empire, Howard said he wouldn't be taking on any new roles. "Oh, I'm done with acting. I'm done pretending," he said. Instead, Howard said he wants to focus on "bringing truth to the world," though what that entails isn't yet clear.
Amanda Bynes
After spending years in front of the camera, Nickelodeon star Amanda Bynes [51] hasn't appeared in any films or TV shows since she played Marianne Bryant in 2010's Easy A. She was supposed to appear in 2011's Hall Pass but ended up dropping out of the movie, and she then went on to study fashion design at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Irvine, CA. In 2012, after a period of erratic behaviour, Bynes announced that she was starting her own fashion line [52]. "I am retired as an actor," Bynes told People. "I am moving to New York to launch my career. I am going to do a fashion line." Though she hasn't yet released any designs, she has expressed a desire to return to acting [53], so we might just see her come out of retirement.
Jonathan Bennett
Jonathan Bennett made audiences swoon when he played Lindsay Lohan [54]'s love interest in Mean Girls [55], but we haven't seen much of the hottie since his iconic 2004 role. Though he has landed some small roles since then, Bennett now serves as the host of Food Network's Halloween [56] Wars, and he previously hosted Cake Wars as well. In 2018, he even released a pop culture cookbook called The Burn Cookbook [57] with celebrity chef Nikki Martin, and he has no regrets about perpetually being known as Aaron Samuels [58]. "It's the weirdest thing to be Aaron Samuels, because not a day goes by that someone doesn't come up to you and say something," he explained to Teen Vogue in 2017. "It's just part of my life, and I'm honoured to be part of people's lives."
Meghan Markle
Suits star Meghan Markle [59] traded in Hollywood for Buckingham Palace when she transitioned into the role of full-time royal [60]. During her first joint interview with Prince Harry following their engagement in 2017, Markle explained her reasoning behind departing Suits after seven seasons. "I don't see it as giving anything up," she said. "I just see it as a change. It's a new chapter. And keep in mind I've been working on my show for seven years. We were very fortunate to have that sort of longevity on a series. For me, once we hit the 100-episode marker, I thought, I have ticked this box and I feel really proud of the work we've done there, and now it's time to work as a team with [Harry]." Now Markle is living her happily-ever-after alongside Harry (and their son, Archie) as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.