Actors come to Hollywood with visions of terrific roles, Academy Awards, fame, and fortune in their heads. While only a small percentage of these dreamers become bona fide stars, an even smaller number of the ones who do achieve stardom decide to then walk away from Hollywood.
Whether due to mental health reasons, difficulty adjusting to fame, a decision to focus on family, a complete change in their line of work, or simply retirement, the following successful actors all said farewell to Hollywood at some point during their careers.
Some returned years later and appeared here and there in movies or TV shows, but none of them came back with the fire in their bellies that they had when they started.
Gene Hackman
Gene Hackman's acting career spans over six decades. The two-time Oscar winner — for The French Connection and Unforgiven — isalso known for his role as Lex Luthor in the Superman movies, as well as his performances in Bonnie and Clyde, Mississippi Burning, Hoosiers, The Birdcage, and Heartbreakers, to name just a few of his numerous roles.
In 2004, Hackman announced to Larry King that he retired from acting to focus on writing novels. Hackman's final film role was 2004's Welcome to Mooseport.
Rick Moranis
Audiences know Canadian actor Rick Morani for his roles in Ghostbusters, Little Shop of Horrors, Spaceballs, and the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids movies.
After Moranis' wife and mother of their two children died in 1991, Moranis retreated from acting to focus on raising his kids. His final live-action feature film role was in 1997's Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves. Moranis has reportedly signed on to appear in that franchise's next entry, Shrunk, currently lingering in preproduction.
Sean Connery
Scottish actor Sean Connery became an icon playing James Bond in seven movies between 1962 and 1983. He is also known for his roles in Marnie, The Untouchables, The Hunt for Red October, The Rock, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Connery announced his retirement from acting in 2006. He made his final live-action film appearance in 2003's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Connery passed away in 2020 at the age of 90.
Cameron Diaz
In 2013, The Hollywood Reporter named Cameron Diaz as the highest-paid actress over 40. The bankable A-list actress delighted audiences in movies such as Charlie's Angels, There's Something About Mary, My Best Friend's Wedding, Being John Malkovich, Bad Teacher, and as the voice of Princess Fiona in the Shrek movies.
In 2014, Diaz announced that she had retired from acting to focus on family. The mother of two played her final film role as Miss Hannigan in Annie. After a decade away from Hollywood, Diaz will return opposite Jamie Foxx in the Netflix action-comedy Back in Action.
Daniel Day-Lewis
Many consider Daniel Day-Lewis one of the best actors alive today. The English performer won three Best Actor Oscars for My Left Foot, There Will Be Blood, and Lincoln. He is also known for his roles in A Room With a View, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Age of Innocence, Gangs of New York, and The Boxer.
Day-Lewis first retired from acting between 1997 and 2000 to take up shoemaking in Italy. Although he returned to acting for a few more years, he announced his retirement for a second time in 2017. His final film role stands as Reynolds Woodco*ck in Paul Thomas Anderson's Phantom Thread.
Shirley Temple
Child actor Shirley Temple became America's sweetheart and number-one box office draw between 1934 and 1938. Audiences must have wanted Temple to remain a tot forever because as she aged, interest in her movies waned. Temple made her final film appearance in 1949's A Kiss for Corliss.
In 1969, Temple famously switched gears to become a diplomat. She became the U.S. ambassador to Ghana, the first female U.S. chief of protocol, and the U.S. ambassador to Czechoslovakia. The former child star passed away in 2014 at the age of 85.
Phoebe Cates
Phoebe Cates set the screen on fire, emerging from a swimming pool in a red bikini in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. She also captivated audiences bytelling a really messed-up Christmas story in Gremlins and appearing in the black comedy-fantasy Drop Dead Fred.
Cates reportedly stepped away from acting in the mid-1990s to raise her children. She returned to the screen one final time in 2001 to appear in The Anniversary Party, co-directed by her Fast Times costar,Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Bridget Fonda
Bridget Fonda — the daughter of Peter Fonda and niece of Jane Fonda — is best known for her roles in The Godfather Part III, Single White Female, Jackie Brown, and Lake Placid. Bridget married composer and former Oingo Boingo lead vocalist Danny Elman, with whom she has a son.
After Fonda got engaged to Elfman, she withdrew from acting to focus on family and rarely makes public appearances. Her final big-screen role was in 2001's Kiss of the Dragon opposite Jet Li, and her last screen role was in the 2002 TV movie Snow Queen.
Meg Ryan
Former rom-com queen Meg Ryan — dubbed “America's Sweetheart” — dominated the genre in the 1990s with movies such as Sleepless in Seattle, French Kiss, Addicted to Love, and You've Got Mail.
After news broke that Ryan, who was married to Dennis Quaid at the time, started a relationship with Russell Crowe on the set of the film Proof of Life, Ryan and Quaid's subsequent separation and divorce tarnished Ryan's good-girl image and hurt her career.
After starring in the 2009 black comedy Serious Moonlight, Ryan stepped away from acting only to return in 2015 to direct the movie Ithaca, in which she also acted. She retreated from Hollywood again for years before she returned as a director and star of 2023's rom-com What Happens Later, starring David Duchovny.
Grace Kelly
Oscar-winning actress Grace Kelly appeared in classic movies such as High Noon, Mogambo, The Country Girl, and the Alfred Hitchco*ck movies Rear Window, Dial M for Murder, and To Catch a Thief.
Kelly retired from acting at age 26 to marry Prince Rainier III, making her the Princess of Monaco. Princess Grace then turned her attention to her family and charity work. Kelly's final film role was in the 1956 musical rom-com High Society. In 1982, Kelly suffered a cerebral hemorrhage while driving and died later at the hospital at the age of 52.
Jonathan Taylor Thomas
Jonathan Taylor Thomas became a teen idol for playing Randy Taylor on the popular TV series Home Improvement. He also voiced young Simba in 1994's The Lion King.
After leaving Home Improvement in 1998, Thomas stepped away from acting to focus on his education at Harvard and then Columbia University. Although he took occasional acting and voice roles in the following years, he kept his distance from the spotlight. He made his last screen appearance on the Tim Allen sitcom Last Man Standing, which aired from 2013 to 2015.
Michael Schoeffling
Michael Schoeffling is best known for his performance as Jake Ryan in Sixteen Candles, which made Molly Ringwald's character's birthday wish come true. He also starred in Vision Quest and Mermaids.
After setting himself up to become the next Hollywood hunk in Sixteen Candles, Schoeffling left Hollywood less than a decade later to make handcrafted furniture at his own woodworking shop. Schoeffling's final screen credit was the 1991 movie Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken.
Jami Gertz
Audiences remember Jami Gertz for her early screen roles in movies such as Less Than Zero, The Lost Boys, and Twister. Later, she starred in the TV sitcoms Still Standing and The Neighbors.
Gertz married billionaire Tony Ressler in 1989 and they have four children together, which explains the long gaps between acting credits on Gertz's résumé. Her only big-screen role after 2013's Dealin' With Idiots was 2022's I Want You Back. She also co-owns the NBA's Atlanta Hawks.
Amanda Bynes
Former child actor Amanda Bynes became a star for the TV shows All That, The Amanda Show, and What I Like About You. As an adult, she starred in the films She's the Man, 2007's Hairspray, and Easy A —her final film role in 2010.
Bynes has struggled with mental health issues for years and was locked in a conservatorship from 2013 to 2022. During that time, she enrolled at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising and graduated with a degree in 2019.
Doris Day
Beloved singer-actress Doris Day starred in the movies The Man Who Knew Too Much, Pillow Talk, and The Thrill of It All. After ending her film career in 1968, Day starred in her popular TV show The Doris Day Show from 1968 to 1973.
Day made sporadic TV appearances in the 1970s and 1980s, but instead turned her attention to animal-welfare activism. She passed away in 2019 at the age of 97.
