- 7/23/2025
Welcome to WatchMojo.WORLD where we’re counting down the Top 10 famous actors who walked away from Hollywood despite having successful careers. From Eva Mendes to Leelee Sobieski, Ian Somerhalder, and more, these stars shocked fans by stepping out of the limelight.
Which of these actors would you love to see make a comeback? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Which of these actors would you love to see make a comeback? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Short filmTranscript
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 for the Hollywood stars who abandoned successful careers.
00:13We're leaving off late legends like Audrey Hepburn, focusing 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.
00:25Number 10, Evangeline Lilly.
00:28In 2024, the actress behind the MCU hero Wasp announced 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.
00:41Look, I get it.
00:41I've got needs too.
00:43Oh my God.
00:44After spending several seasons on Lost, she successfully crossed over into film stardom in the 2010s.
00:50Although she appeared in big budget projects like the Hobbit trilogy and the Ant-Man series,
00:55Lilly never thought she would be an actor.
00:57And I hooked myself up with an extra gig, and the first day on set, they were like,
01:02you, do you want to be an actor?
01:03I was like, nope, don't.
01:04Actually, I want to study my books.
01:06They're like, great, you're hired.
01:07And they upgraded me to actor.
01:09In fact, her dream was to be a retired actress, dedicating her life to humanitarian causes and her own writing.
01:16She'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, and it was so lovely to see how much interest there was in the series.
01:28Number 9.
01:29Mia Vosikowska.
01:31At the start of the 2010s, this Australian actress was turning into 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, Gus Van Sant, and Park 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.
01:58I once believed I could do as many as six impossible things before breakfast.
02:05Finding the pace of making Hollywood movies grueling, she made the conscious decision to move back to Australia and take herself out of the rat race.
02:13While the Crimson Peak star hasn't quit acting completely, she's gotten more selective about her projects.
02:19She seems to prefer taking roles in indie movies over Hollywood vehicles.
02:23I'm so happy we found you.
02:25And I am very happy to be here.
02:26Number 8. Ian Somerhalder
02:29This heartthrob played the suave and ruthless vampire Damon Salvatore on eight seasons of The Vampire Diaries.
02:36I know this is probably the last thing you want to do right now, but we should talk about what happened tonight.
02:40When that show ended in 2017, Ian Somerhalder made sporadic appearances in film and TV.
02:47However, 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.
02:55Which I live on a ranch, so I love that lifestyle.
02:57Somerhalder and wife, Twilight actress Nikki Reed, moved away from Hollywood with their children.
03:02Instead of the concrete jungle of Los Angeles, they left the entertainment industry to live on a farm.
03:08The retired actor has taken to producing documentaries and dedicating his efforts to environmental activism.
03:14Happy, healthy people build happy, healthy societies by making happy, healthy choices.
03:18Number 7, Lili Sobieski.
03:21Making her film debut in 1995, Lili Sobieski made over 20 movies before calling it quits in 2012.
03:28I'm going away.
03:30Can 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, Robert De Niro, and Nicolas Cage.
03:44What's with the sister thing, anyway?
03:47It's just our way.
03:48We don't have any royal honey for you.
03:51None at all?
03:53No, not a drop.
03:55Our crop was cursed last year.
03:57After memorable roles in Joyride, The Glass House, and 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.
04:15Number 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.
04:29Mama 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.
04:58Her explosive memoir, I'm Glad My Mom Died,
05:01detailed all the years of abuse, exploitation, and health struggles
05:04that went into her decision to leave show business behind.
05:07I think I've chosen
05:09a path of integrity.
05:15And it hasn't always been easy.
05:21Number five, Bridget Fonda.
05:23While her last name definitely didn't hurt her career, Bridget Fonda carved out a space
05:27for herself in the industry with roles in some of the biggest hits of the 1990s.
05:32You've been working too hard.
05:33Let me show you around.
05:34Can you get me an interview with Michael Corleone?
05:36Uh, no.
05:37I'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
05:45became 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 trick.
05:55Could 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.
06:07Since 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.
06:17It's too nice being a civilian.
06:19Number four, Ava Mendez.
06:21Known for her magnetic screen presence and great beauty,
06:24Ava Mendez broke out of roles in low-budget genre picks
06:27with 2001's Training Day.
06:29New guy, Jayden.
06:32Hi.
06:33Nice to meet you.
06:35Come in, welcome to my house.
06:36From there, she expanded her profile and her talents,
06:40but 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.
06:57Better not be fathers out there.
06:59Mendez insists she still does work,
07:02but 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.
07:13Do you have any plans of coming back to acting?
07:16Is that something you'd want to think about?
07:17You know, I think that'd be fun at some point,
07:19but I think my list has gotten so short, you know,
07:22like, I don't want to do anything violent,
07:24I don't want to do anything sexual,
07:25I don't want to do anything, like, you know.
07:27Yeah.
07:27I'm like, what's left?
07:28Your boundary's up.
07:29Looking back, it's kind of amazing
07:33how much Amanda Bynes accomplished at such a young age.
07:36Sweetheart, be a good little girl
07:38and run to the gas station and fill this up with gas.
07:40You want me to walk 53 miles?
07:42No, no, no, run!
07:45She 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.
08:08Her Twitter soon became her arena.
08:10What started as an internet oddity soon took an alarming turn.
08:14Bynes' behavior became increasingly erratic,
08:16instigating a media circus.
08:19Fortunately, she seems to be in a better place,
08:21and some say she'd be open to acting again.
08:24This is sort of her wanting to tell her story,
08:27kind 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
08:38charmed audiences in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids series,
08:41Ghostbusters, and Little Shop of Horrors.
08:43Suddenly, Seymour is here to provide you sweet understanding.
08:57But in 1991, tragedy struck Rick Moranis' personal life.
09:01His wife, Ann Belsky, passed away due to cancer.
09:05Though he didn't leave acting right away,
09:07he 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.
09:24We brought in an actor we've all gone too long without, Rick Moranis.
09:28So what do you want me to do?
09:29You want me to say something about me?
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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.
09:58When I was a boy, I started to hide things in the linings of the garments.
10:04Things that only I knew were there.
10:08And over my breast, I have the lock of my mother's hair.
10:12To keep her close to me always.
10:15His announcement that he was retiring for good after he finished with the role was met with shock.
10:20It actually wasn't the first time he quit acting.
10:22I sorely missed him.
10:24That's crazy, right?
10:25The famously meticulous actor retired once before in the late 90s and took up shoemaking of all things.
10:31This time, though, it seems the actor is serious about leaving the spotlight for good.
10:35He 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, professionally as a movie actor?
10:44Well, I think it's always sad if someone who's so talented, you know, stops giving what he knows to do.
10:52But I respect it, you know.
10:54Which of these actors would you love to see make a return?
10:57Let us know in the comments.
10:58Did you enjoy this video?
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