“Works As A Nurse Now”: 38 Stars Who Left Hollywood And Entered More Traditional Fields

Rick Moranis didn't 'lose' his career per se but when his wife died he stepped away from acting and focused on raising his children.

Mara Wilson (star of Matilda) retired from acting and became an online writer.

bomboclawt75:

She is also the cousin of Ben Shapiro- who she hates for his views.
Good for her!

Linda Blair (The exorcist) runs animal rescue foundations in California.

Chunk from The Goonies is the attorney for Key Huey Quan and was the first person to call him after he won the Academy Award.

AerHolder:

Chunk was student body president when I was at UC Berkeley. He ran on the slogan "Vote For Chunk!" and won in a landslide.

Winnie from the 'Wonder Years' went in to become a successful mathematician. I think she’s a professor.

Robert Maschio, the guy who played The Todd in Scrubs, is a realtor in Santa Monica.
He also does cameo and I got him to make a video for my brother's 30th as the Todd.

Just a great dude.

That guy from *Hercules in New York* went into politics for a while. I heard he's back and trying to make a go of it in acting again.

Peter Ostrum is a veterinarian now, he was Charlie Bucket opposite Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka.

Not sure if it counts as "lost his acting career", but isn't acting anymore.

Amanda Bynes is a nail tech.

mr_panzer:

She comes into my restaurant every once in a while. Reserved, but surrounded by the most flamboyant gaggle of gays I've ever seen.

Mike Vitar from The Sandlot and The Mighty Ducks is a Firefighter now in LA.

I don't know if he was famous, per se, but Omri Katz (Hocus Pocus) became a hair stylist.

jfreebs:

He's a legend in my house. Hocus Pocus is my wife and daughters favorite movie. We even went by his house from the movie in Salem this summer.

Not a "star", but the boy, Tom T. Tran, that played opposite Robin Williams in Good Morning Vietnam is a Manager at my company. Based on his IMDB page he's had a few acting gigs in the last 10 years.

This one can be technically be mentioned here. Leslie Hamilton, Linda Hamilton's identical twin sister, starred with her in all the scenes in Terminator 2 where they needed a double. She was a professional nurse before passing away in 2020.

Ashley Judd went to Harvard and was one of the leaders of the #MeToo movement.

Bridget Fonda married Danny Elfman in 2003 and has since retired from acting.

Eliza Dushku is a therapist.

Several child/teen actors from the 80s are attorneys: the daughter in my 2 dads, Chunk from the Goonies, the best friend from the Wonder Years, the little boy from Hook.

Bridgit Mendler got a degree at MIT, a JD at Harvard and is now CEO of a space telecommunications startup.

taywil8:

Charlie Korsmo is right up there with her. Physics degree from MIT and a JD from Yale. Worked for Sullivan and Cromwell who is a huge NYC law firm. Also worked for the GOP in the House of Reps and the was a lawyer for the EPA. Got nominated by Obama to the board of trustees for a major scholarship program.
Funny thing is in Can’t Hardly Wait he played the nerdy guy in the movie and his “where are they now” at the end talked about how he went to MIT after high school and became majorly successful and wealthy. He was attending MIT when he shot that movie.

Gary Coleman was working as a security guard before he died.

Danny Lloyd, who played Danny in The Shining, is a college biology professor now.

Peter Weller (robocop, buckaroo bonzai) became a professor. I remember he taught a cool class on how the zero was such a radical invention for the Greeks it twisted their minds and made them navel gaze so much it made them weaker for conquest.