5 Actors Who Came Back to Hollywood From Acting Retirement
- Hollywood has seen many actors retire before their passing for various reasons.
- Some of those actors decided to return to their beloved profession after years of retirement.
- From Daniel Day-Lewis to Shelley Duvall, here are five actors who returned to acting after prolonged hiatus.
The saddest truth about some of the most beloved actors in Hollywood is probably that they will all retire at some point in their lives. Over the years, there have been numerous actors who have retired from acting at some point in their careers.
While some of these actors like Jack Nicholson, Gene Hackman, Amanda Bynes, and Portia de Rossi are yet to break out of retirement, others like Daniel Day-Lewis took the world by surprise by returning to grace the screens after years. Here is a look at 5 actors who made a comeback to Hollywood after years of inactivity in the industry.
Daniel Day-Lewis
English actor Daniel Day-Lewis is regarded as one of the greatest actors in Hollywood. He began acting professionally in the 1980s and gained wide recognition for his role in the British romance film A Room with a View. In the years following his rise to prominence, he became well-known for his method acting style.
It was this intense method acting that led to his retirement from acting in 1997 and 2017. His retirement in 1997 did not last long as he made a comeback in 2000 upon Martin Scorsese’s insistence to star as Billy the Butcher in Gangs of New York.
After winning his second Oscar for 2012’s Lincoln, he went into a five-year hiatus from acting which ended with his return in 2017’s Phantom Thread, which earned him another Oscar. This was declared to be his final movie (via BBC), but in October 2024, The Hollywood Reporter reported that he would be starring in his son’s directorial debut, Anemone.
Cameron Diaz
Cameron Diaz was 16 when she entered the entertainment industry as a model and almost immediately shot to fame after starring in 1994’s The Mask opposite Jim Carrey. In the 1990s and 2000s, she became one of the most popular and successful actresses.
Besides working with legendary directors like Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott and Spike Jonze, she also starred in blockbusters such as My Best Friend’s Wedding, There’s Something About Mary, Shrek, Charlie’s Angels, and Bad Teacher. She went on a hiatus after 2014’s Annie.
In 2018, she officially addressed her retirement from the industry in a conversation with Gwyneth Paltrow for goop. Next year, she will be making a comeback with her lead role in the aptly named Netflix action-comedy, Back in Action alongside her former co-star Jamie Foxx. The announcement for this film was made in 2022.
Shelley Duvall
Late actress Shelley Duvall never even planned get into acting before director Robert Altman convinced her to star in the 1970 film Brewster McCloud. A decade later, she appeared as one of the lead characters in Stanley Kubrick’s horror film, The Shining. She went on to gain more success and even started her own production company Think Entertainment, which she sold in 1993 but continued to act for another decade.
Gabrielle Burton’s 2002 comedy film Manna from Heaven was her last movie before she went on a hiatus for over two decades. 2023’s horror film The Forest Hills marked her return to Hollywood. Unfortunately, AP News reported that she passed away due to diabetes complications in July 2024 before the world could see more of her talent.
Ke Huy Quan
Ke Huy Quan first gained prominence for acting when he was a child. His performance in movies like The Goonies and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom earned him widespread acclaim. However, as his age increased, the number of good roles being offered to him decreased to the point that he gave up acting and began film editing and stunt choreography.
Quan returned to acting after two decades in the movie Everything Everywhere All at Once and won an Academy Award for his role as Waymond Wang. In an interview with GQ, he said that watching Crazy Rich Asians inspired him to give acting another shot. The representation and cast of the film revived his passion for acting.
Rick Moranis
Canadian actor Rick Moranis was one of the most beloved comedians in the ’80s and ’90s. He was widely known for his sketch comedies and roles in films like Ghostbusters, Little Shop of Horrors, Spaceballs and the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids movies. Unfortunately, he had to take a step away from the entertainment world after his wife’s passing in 1991.
Initially, the hiatus was supposed to be brief because Moranis wanted to prioritize his two children over his career. However, as fate would have it, his break from live-action films lasted almost 25 years after he appeared in the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids sequel in 1997. He is set to return in the upcoming Honey, I Shrunk the Kids which is currently in production.
The world is lucky that such brilliant actors are breaking out of their retirement to do what they love- acting. When people do what they love, the results are mostly phenomenal. Hopefully, these actors can inspire other retired actors to return back to Hollywood even if it is briefly.
