Celebrities’ careers come and go. It is a very competitive business, so it is not always easy scoring a role. For most stars, it is very difficult to break out from being an extra into a big lead role. Things like canceled shoots, movie theater competitions, and box office flops can slam the brakes pretty quickly on an actor’s career. One misstep and a star can quickly slide down from the A-List into a state of complete unrecognition. It can happen just like that.
Furthermore, some have been in the business for years and hardly have anything to show for it. Some actors are just doomed to be sidekicks forever—never the leading man or woman.
There are tons of reasons people are not cast in roles they would be perfectly good for. Sometimes auditions are a flop. Other times, you might remind the director too much of someone they know. That is just the way it is.
But do not worry, even some of the most popular actors ever hit slumps—or they just quit the business altogether. For instance, this list of 15 once-famous celebs from our childhood have not landed any big roles as of late. Check it out to see if there’s anyone you recognize.
15 Rick Moranis - A Family Man
Rick Moranis was a comedy king. Starring in films like Ghostbusters, Spaceballs, and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Moranis was one of the greats of the ’80s and ’90s. However, in 1997, he took a break from the silver screen. That year, his wife Ann passed away from breast cancer. He decided to step up and be a full-time dad of his two children.
In the few interviews he has done since, he revealed that it was not a big deal for him to give up the fame and fortune to be a father. He is very protective of his kids and does not talk about them often in the media. He also declares he did not lose his creativity. He instead applied all of his creativity and focus to a different outlet—his family.
14 Mara Wilson - Missing Matilda
Mara Wilson was very recognizable in the early ’90s for her roles in Matilda, Mrs. Doubtfire, and Miracle on 34th Street. You would think that as a popular young child star, she would thrive well into her teenage years as an actress—but that was just not the case. In her memoir entitled Where Am I Now?: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame, Wilson reveals that she was no longer getting auditions when she hit puberty.
At 13, she was no longer the cute, little girl because she was on her way to turning into a beautiful woman. At one point, she was called in for a role to audition as a “fat girl,” and for a young, impressionable girl with a single parent, that was enough. Wilson is thriving now though. She even has a great Twitter feed.
13 Jonathan Taylor Thomas Has No Regrets
Jonathan Taylor Thomas left the big screen at the very peak of his career—and he has never looked back. Famous as the kid who voiced young Simba in The Lion King, playing Rand Taylor on Home Improvement and starring as leads in films like Tom and Huck, young Thomas was a teenage heartthrob. When he was about 16, he left it all behind him. He had been acting constantly since he was 8 years old, and he had other aspirations.
He wanted to go to college and travel and that is exactly what he did. Jonathan took classes at Harvard, Columbia and even St. Andrew’s University in Scotland. He spent a lot of time reading, watching movies, hiking and checking out the theater. He is slowly easing back into the Hollywood lifestyle, however. He recently reunited with Tim Allen on the TV show Last Man Standing.
12 Meg Ryan’s Revolt
Meg Ryan used to rule the box office as “America’s Sweetheart.” She starred in many films including When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and You’ve Got Mail. Close friends reveal that her divorce from Dennis Quaid and affair with Russell Crowe played a part in her stepping away from the limelight. The media attention after all of that was too much to handle, and she was not as aggressive as many other actresses when it came to pursuing roles.
Furthermore, her denial of her plastic surgery did not do her any favors either. She tried to expand from roles in rom-coms, but in more serious roles, she just could not hack it. Now, she focuses more on her two kids and on her relationship with the singer John Mellencamp.
11 Freddie Prinze Jr. - Quitting At The Perfect Time, Part 1
Freddie Prinze Jr. is another celeb who did his time and got out before it was too late. An actor in She’s All That, I Know What You Did Last Summer and the live-action Scooby-Doo franchise, Prinze did quite well for himself. At one point, he was even the lead in his own show. But after acting in the TV show 24 alongside co-star Kiefer Sutherland, Prinze was pretty turned off to acting all together. So, he quit. He and his wife started a family.
He started getting in to some of his hobbies—comic books, pro wrestling, video games, Star Wars and cooking. Those hobbies turned into some money makers for him. He’s invested in limited-edition and rare comic books. He’s worked for WWE. He picked up some gigs as a voice actor for video games as well as some movies. He’s even put out some of his own cookbooks. It sounds like Prinze’s decision to quit Hollywood was a good one.
10 Sarah Michelle Gellar - Quitting At The Perfect Time, Part 2
Sarah Michelle Gellar met hubby Freddie Prinze Jr. in 1997 when they started filming I Know What You Did Last Summer together. But Gellar is not just some arm candy for Prinze—she is quite accomplished on her own. You might recognize her as the title character from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Kathryn from Cruel Intentions or as Daphne from the live-action Scooby-Doo franchise.
After she married Prinze in 2002, her career began slowing down. Some might say that it was because she was pigeonholed into the horror genre. Eventually, she started having kids and turned away from the spotlight. She occasionally takes roles as a voice actor. In 2015, she co-founded a company that sells easy-to-make organic baking kits for children and families called Foodstirs. She recently put out a cookbook as well.
9 Shia LaBeouf Has Left Hollywood
In 2014, Shia LaBeouf reported that he was retiring from public life. He had had a lot of experience in the public eye. He started as a child actor in projects like Even Stevens and Holes. He made it all the way up to the top as the star of the Transformers franchise.
He was doing great for himself, but then something happened. LaBeouf was accused of borrowing from the graphic novella “Justin M. Damiano” for a project he put together online. This stirred up a lot of controversy.
Although he apologized to the author, LaBeouf has been popping in and out of the limelight with some crazy stunts. He has been charged with disorderly conduct, obstruction and public intoxication. He also went through a 12-step program for alcoholism. Who knows, maybe LaBeouf will resurrect his career yet.
8 Jodie Sweetin’s Not So Sweet
Jodie Sweetin got her start when she was only five years old in the sitcom Valerie. That same year, 1987, she was cast as Stephanie Tanner in the show Full House. Full House ran from 1987-1995 and became her most famous role to date. After the show ended, she struggled with how to cope. She admitted in her memoir that she probably drank two bottles of wine at co-star Candice Cameron’s wedding—and she was only 14 years old.
During her late teen years, she was in and out of rehab for alcohol use. She somehow managed to graduate high school in 1999. From there, she attended Chapman University in California. She had a few roles in minor TV shows after that, but nothing ever stuck because of her newfound habit. Sweetin managed to clean up her act by the end of 2008 and has been clean ever since.
7 Did Jaleel White Really Do That?
Jaleel White unfortunately will never get past the role of Steve Urkel on the show Family Matters. Interestingly enough, he was only intended to be on Family Matters as a guest character for one episode, but was such an instant hit that they kept him as a regular cast member from 1989 until 1998.
He also got a gig voicing Sonic the Hedgehog in the animated series Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic Underground, and Sonic (SatAM). Unfortunately, every project that White has touched since then has been unsuccessful or very short term. He has made appearances on shows like CSI, Psych, Atlanta, and Bones—fairly popular shows—but they were all just a one-time thing. What is next for Jaleel White? The world will never know.
6 Hollywood Did Not Stick For Danielle Fishel
Danielle Fishel is widely recognized for playing Topanga Lawrence-Matthews on the 1990s popular show Boy Meets World. Fans loved watching her romance with Cory Matthews blossom on screen from 1993 to 2000. They loved it so much that the show was revived as Girl Meets World on the Disney Channel from 2014 to 2017—but, unfortunately, it was not a big success and it looks like Fishel will only ever be known as Topanga.
After Boy Meets World, she had a few minor roles in movies like National Lampoon’s Dorm Daze (1&2), Gamebox 1.0, and The Chosen One. In 2006, she talked about weight loss on The Tyra Banks Show—praising the Nutrisystem diet. She has had a few roles scattered here and there, but spends most of her time as a reporter for PopSugar.
5 Catherine Zeta-Jones Needed A Little TLC
Catherine Zeta-Jones was recognized as one of the most beautiful women of the late 1990s and early 2000s. She was a doing great. She was in films like The Mask of Zorro, America’s Sweethearts, and Ocean’s Twelve. She even got an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in the 2002 production of Chicago.
After filming No Reservations in 2007, Zeta-Jones’s roles slowly decreased. She planned to focus on her family and her health. Zeta-Jones married fellow actor Michael Douglas in 2000, and they have two children together. Zeta-Jones was also diagnosed with bipolar II disorder in 2011—something that reports have claimed was triggered by Douglas being treated for tongue cancer in 2010.
Zeta-Jones attempted to resurrect her career a handful of times and received great praise for her role as Olivia de Havilland in Feud. Unfortunately, de Havilland sued the network and producers which led to some controversy around Zeta-Jones’s acting.
4 Macaulay Culkin's Career Crashed And Burned
At the peak of his fame, Macaulay Culkin was considered the most successful child actor since Shirley Temple. Known for his iconic roles in the Home Alone franchise, My Girl, Richie Rich and even being featured in Michael Jackson’s “Black or White” music video, it seemed that Culkin had the world at his feet. However, from 1994 to 2003, after releasing three films, no one heard from him.
During that time, he married actress Rachel Miner and divorced her. He then started dating Mila Kunis, but they soon broke up. In 2004, he was arrested in Oklahoma City for possession, and it was displayed for the entire world that he really had a serious problem.
Somehow, he managed to turn it all around and even started taking some roles. He met his now girlfriend, Brenda Song, working on the film Changeland that will be released sometime soon.
3 Hilary Swank Burned Out Too Quickly
There are many theories as to why Hilary Swank is not acting anymore. Some suspect that she won her Academy Awards for Best Actress too fast with her role as Brandon Teena in Boys Don’t Cry and her role in Million Dollar Baby five years later. Others suspect that it is because her following roles were not big enough to even compare to her other films.
For instance, the film Amelia—in which Swank played Amelia Earhart—was a complete flop. She has taken a handful of small roles since then, but nothing that would bring her back to her full glory. However, in 2017 she started doing a lot of bigger projects, so who knows—it may not be the end of Swank’s career in acting after all.
2 Brendan Fraser - Flop After Flop
Brendan Fraser is a Canadian-American actor known for his roles in comedy and fantasy films. His big breakout role was in George of the Jungle in which he played the title character. He also did fairly well in The Mummy trilogy as Rick O’Connell. His following films were not as successful, including Inkheart and Journey to the Center of the Earth.
Did you notice how Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was the lead in the sequel to Journey to the Center of the Earth? That is because the director of the film asked Fraser to step down. He has had a few roles in the theater, movies and television, but nothing too major since he was asked to step down. Between an ugly public divorce and a handful of terrible flops, who knows if Fraser will ever make a significant comeback.
1 Amanda Bynes Is Jinxed
Amanda Bynes rose to fame as a child star because of her cute, girl-next-door look. She starred in shows like All That, The Amanda Show and What I Like About You. She even did alright in the teen chick-flick genre with She’s The Man, What A Girl Wants and Hairspray.
But after Easy A in 2010, she announced that she was going to take a break from acting. She went to study fashion design at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Irvine, California. The Times wrote an article about her that talked about how straight-edge and wholesome she was, but that just seemed to jinx her.
From 2012 to 2015, Bynes’ live was a disaster. Between legal trouble, drugs and Twitter rants, it seemed like the fame had gotten to her. At least she will always be remembered for her charming roles.
Sources: Wetpaint, Looper, DailyMail, People, IMDB, GQ, Vanity Fair