Acting can be a challenging, labor-intensive job—and that's before the pressures of fame and public scrutiny. Several actors have, over the course of their careers, retired or stepped back for an extended break from Hollywood. The stars on this list, however, returned to the limelight after some time away, delighting fans. Below, celebrities who "un-retired" from acting.
Tobey Maguire
Tobey Maguire took a break from acting after Spider-Man 3, which concluded several years of him playing the original Peter Parker. He had a memorable role in Babylon (if you know you know) and reprised his superhero role in Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021.
Jane Fonda
After starring in a multitude of movies in the '80s and '90s, Jane Fonda left Hollywood in 1990 "because I wasn't having fun anymore." She later returned to acting for Monster-in-Law in 2005. "It was just a gut feeling of, Why the hell not? It'd been 15 years, and I wanted to act again."
Tyler James Williams
As a child actor, Tyler James Williams appeared on Sesame Street and Everybody Hates Chris. Realizing the transition to acting in adulthood would be tough, he told GQ, "I decided to stop and pivot. I got with a really good acting coach and I turned down every single thing I was offered.” Then he came roaring back, including with a star-making role in Abbott Elementary.
Channing Tatum
Channing Tatum took a four-year break from acting (2018–2022) so he could reprioritize and refocus, telling People, "I don't want to take too much on, so I can really enjoy my life and enjoy the actual projects that I do take on and just give it all I have."
Evangeline Lilly
The first time Evangeline Lilly retired from acting after wrapping the television show Lost, she told The Hollywood Reporter, "I had a baby, I was writing scripts, I had a quiet little life, and two years later—and I mean, throughout those two years, I had no contact with Hollywood at all—I got a covert call from Peter Jackson." That led to a role in the Hobbit trilogy and, subsequently, the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Macaulay Culkin
Arguably the most famous kid actor in the world in the '90s, Macaulay Culkin retired from acting because he said he felt overwhelmed by the pressures of fame—and that he hoped to have a semblance of a normal childhood. He technically returned in 2003 and acted in select roles since then.
Mara Wilson
Like others on this list, Mara Wilson was a child star (who made a whole generation of kids love her in Matilda) who had difficulties transitioning into acting in adulthood. She has written, done cameos (including in Broad City), and done voice work including BoJack Horseman.
Chris Tucker
After the success of the Rush Hour films in the 2000s, Tucker said he felt like he was getting typecast in comedic roles. When he eventually returned to acting, it was in more dramatic material and somewhat more serious roles, including Silver Linings Playbook and Air.
Hayden Panettiere
Hayden Panettiere has been candid about taking a four-year break from acting to focus on her health and healing. When she returned to the big screen in 2023’s Scream VI and Amber Alert, she noted she was trying "to take my career in a direction that I wasn’t able to go in before.”
Joaquin Phoenix
Joaquin Phoenix has taken breaks from acting, including after establishing himself as a child actor. It's kind of a long story, but he announced in 2008 he was retiring from acting to pursue a career in hip-hop. The whole thing ended up being a "performance art piece," so to speak, for the 2010 mockumentary I'm Still Here.
Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey announced he'd retire after Sonic the Hedgehog 2, but returned for the franchise's third installment. At the time, he said, "I came back to this universe because, first of all, I get to play a genius, which is a bit of a stretch. And I just, I bought a lot of stuff, and I need the money, frankly."
Brendan Fraser
The industry was hard on Brendan Fraser: he sustained numerous injuries on The Mummy movies, among others, and he said he felt "blacklisted" from Hollywood after speaking out about an assault. He returned to acting was with 2022's The Whale, which earned him an Oscar.
Joe Pesci
Joe Pesci left acting for 11 years to pursue a passion for music. He'd occasionally take on roles, but it would be in 2017 when (after much persuasion from Martin Scorsese) he'd come back to play gangster Russell Bufalino in The Irishman. He received an Oscar nomination for the role.
Cameron Diaz
Of her decade away from the industry, Cameron Diaz said it “felt like something I had to do to reclaim my own life. And I just really didn’t care about anything else.” Jamie Foxx enticed her to come back to acting with the film Back in Action; she said she missed the craft and felt a positive change in the industry towards women.
Rick Moranis
Tragically, Rick Moranis' wife, Ann Belsky, died from cancer in 1991. After that, Moranis stepped back from the limelight to focus on his kids. He also pursued a music career, but he started doing voice work again in 2018 and slowly added on other projects.
Matthew McConaughey
During a two-year hiatus (where he considered leaving the profession entirely), Matthew McConaughey hoped to stop being typecast as a romantic lead. He was able to return feeling reinvigorated about the work in more dramatic roles including The Lincoln Lawyer and Dallas Buyers Club.
Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood took a long pause from acting after Million Dollar Baby. “Then Gran Torino came along,” he noted. “It seemed like an interesting part. It was a man my age, and I figured I wasn’t stretching things that much. So I decided I’d go ahead and have another shot.”
Shelley Duvall
In the 2000s, Shelley Duvall took on some minor roles then retired from acting entirely, telling People, "It's the longest sabbatical I ever took, but it was for really important reasons—to get in touch with my family again." In 2022, she had a small role in The Forest Hills, not long before she passed away.
Michael Keaton
Michael Keaton spoke about creative differences with him and the Batman producers after Tim Burton left as director. He took on fewer roles and prioritized his family for several years, but made a full-fledged return to the spotlight with dramatic movies like Birdman.
Hilary Swank
Hilary Swank stepped back from acting to care for her father, who was undergoing a lung transplant. When she returned, she said, "I realized I'm so much more than an actress. There's all these other things I was able to explore about myself and it also gave me a renewed passion for being an actress. I think we can take things we love for granted and stepping back in I have a whole new appreciation for storytelling."
Ke Huy Quan
Even though Ke Huy Quan found success as a child actor, including in The Goonies, he found there weren't a ton of roles available for Asian actors. He worked as a stunt coordinator and assistant director before taking on the (Oscar-winning) role of a lifetime in Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Michael Fassbender
From 2020 to 2023, Michael Fassbender took a hiatus from acting to race sport cars—one of his life-long passions—and spend more time with his family. He made a quiet return with movies like Black Bag and told IndieWire that acting "is the only thing I can do."
Meg Ryan
After a successful career, Meg Ryan stepped away to focus on family and develop other skills like directing. She returned to the limelight starring, directing, and cowriting the romantic comedy What Happens Later. Around that time, she noted, “It’s nice to think of [acting] as a job and not a lifestyle."
Al Pacino
Al Pacino took a four-year break from film acting after his American Revolution-era movie, Revolution, bombed at the box office. He focused on stage acting during that time, but then made a triumphant return to Hollywood with the well-received Sea of Love in 1989.
Renée Zellweger
Renée Zellweger stopped acting between 2010 and 2016, saying she did it “because I needed to. I was sick of the sound of my own voice. When I was working, I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, listen to you. Are you sad again, Renée? Oh, is this your mad voice?’ It was a regurgitation of the same emotional experiences.”
Eddie Murphy
In 2011, Eddie Murphy took a break from acting, later telling Marc Maron, “I was making these s****y movies...They’re giving me Razzies. Motherf****r gave me the "worst actor ever" Razzie.' It was like, ‘Maybe it’s time to take a break.’” His return in Dolemite Is My Name was considered a roaring success.
Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder has spoken about the break she needed from the industry to protect her mental health: “It allowed me time that I really needed, where I went back to San Francisco and got back into things that…I just had other interests, frankly.” She returned with season 1 of Stranger Things.
Rachel McAdams
In the '00s, Rachel McAdams took a two-year break from acting. “I felt guilty for not capitalizing on the opportunity that I was being given because I knew I was in such a lucky spot,” the actress told Bustle. “But I also knew it wasn’t quite jiving with my personality and what I needed to stay sane.”
Robert Downey Jr.
Robert Downey Jr.'s struggles as a young actor were well-documented, and he has been sober since the early 2000s. His tour-de-force performance in Iron Man, and his later performance in multiple movies in the MCU, rocketed him back to super-stardom.
Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn had been retired for two decades (spending time with her children and as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF) when Steven Spielberg approached to her play Angel Hap in Always. Due to the prestige of the director and role, she readily accepted.
Frank Sinatra
In the late '40s and early '50s, Frank Sinatra's music and on-screen career was in decline, leading to a hiatus when his television show was cancelled. He took a role in From Here to Eternity at a reduced salary, and it was a success—nabbing him an Oscar in the process.
Daniel Day-Lewis
Citing his intense commitment to roles and his desire for a more private life (including an interest in woodworking), Daniel Day-Lewis retired in 2017. He then came out of that hiatus to act in his son Ronan Day-Lewis' directorial debut, Anemone, which Daniel also cowrote.
