The child star to hotshot lawyer pipeline.
Acting isn't all glitz and glam. Sometimes, actors — especially those who started in the business as children — decide to leave the limelight for more traditional career paths.
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It's not always a permanent decision. Some decide to get back into acting after a few years, while others have left the limelight for good.
Here are 24 former actors who went on to have "regular" jobs.
1. Michael Schoeffling, who played Jake Ryan in 16 Candles, became a furniture maker.
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He retired from acting in 1991.
2. Kal Penn, who played Kumar Patel in the Harold & Kumar movies, briefly left Hollywood for Washington, DC when he served as the associate director of the White House Office of Public Liaison from 2009–2011.
New Line Cinema / ©New Line Cinema/Courtesy Everett Collection
He took a brief break from the position to filmA Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas.
3. Donnie Dunagan, who voiced the titular character in Bambi at 6 years old, joined the military in his teens and kept his previous acting career a secret until 2005.
Universal Pictures Co. courtesy Everett Collection /Walt Disney / Courtesy Everett Collection
He told the Houston Chronicle that he kept it a secret because he was in a leadership role for 25 years, and if the people he was in charge of found out, "as much affection as I had for it — they'd have ridden me out on a rail."
4. Carrie Henn, who played Newt in Aliens, never acted in another movie, and when she grew up, she became a teacher.
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After she filmed Aliens, her family moved from London back to the US. However, she still attends fan conventions, and she occasionally signs DVDs of the movie for her elementary students.
However, in 2020, she had a voice acting role for Thunder Island.
5. Jennifer Stone, who played Harper on Wizards of Waverly Place, is now a registered nurse.
Disney / Via Disney+
She's been fighting on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Currently, she's set to play Sloane inThe Perfect Night.
6. Erik Estrada, who played officer Francis Llewellyn "Ponch" Poncherello on CHiPs, became a real-life police officer in St. Anthony, Idaho.
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He focuses on protecting children from predators online.
7. Dylan Sprouse, who played Zack Martin on The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, runs All-Wise Meadery, a mead brewery in Brooklyn.
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His business partners are Matt Kwan, a friend he met while studying at NYU, and fellow Disney channel alum Doug Brochu, who played Grady on Sonny with a Chance.
He returned to acting in 2017 with the movie Dismissed. More recently, he starred inThe Curse of Turandot.
8. Karyn Parsons, who played Hilary Banks on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, founded the nonprofit organization Sweet Blackberry, which creates content to teach children about Black history.
Warner Bros / ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
She also writes children's books.
9. Kevin Jonas, who acted in Camp Rock and Jonas L.A. alongside his music career with his brothers, worked as a contractor before getting back into music.
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He also co-owns Jonas Werner Fine Custom Homes.
10. Reed Alexander, who played Nevel Papperman on iCarly, is a financial news reporter.
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He also published a cookbook.
He reprised the role ofNevel Papperman on Sam and Cat in 2014 and on the iCarly reboot in 2021.
11. Phoebe Cates Kline, who played Linda Barrett in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, runs a boutique called Blue Tree in Manhattan.
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The boutique takes its name from a common motif in Fauvist paintings.
12. Rick Moranis, who played Louis Tully in Ghostbusters, became a stay-at-home dad.
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He decided to leave Hollywood to raise his children a few years after his wife's death.
13. Jeff Cohen, who played Chunk in The Goonies, is now a lawyer.
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He founded his own firm in 2002.
14. Lucas Babin, who played Spider in School of Rock, became the district attorney for Tyler County, Texas.
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His term began in 2019.
15. Mara Wilson, who played the titular character in Matilda, is now a writer.
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She still occasionally does theater.
16. Peter Ostrum, who played Charlie in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, is now a dairy veterinarian.
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He was featured in Pfizer Animal Health's YouTube reality series "Vets on Call."
17. Danny Lloyd, who played Danny Torrance in The Shining, is now a biology professor at Elizabethtown Community and Technical College in Elizabethtown, Kentucky.
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The Shining was Danny's film debut.
18. Bridgit Mendler, who played Teddy Duncan on Good Luck Charlie, is pursuing a degree at Harvard Law School.
Disney / Via Disney+
She previously undertook a social media-focused graduate program at MIT.
Her last acting project was 2019's Merry Happy Whatever.
19. Jerry Mathers, who played Beaver Cleaver on Leave It to Beaver, became a sergeant in the Air Force Reserve.
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During the Vietnam War, he was mistakenly reported as killed in action, despite never being sent outside the US.
20. Charlie Korsmo, who played Jackie in Hook, is a law professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law.
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Then-president Barack Obama appointed him to the board of trustees for the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation in 2011.
21. Nikki Blonsky, who played Tracy Turnblad in Hairspray, was a makeup artist at Superstar Salon in New York.
New Line Cinema / Via youtube.com
She earned her cosmetology license before taking up the job.
She's had a few roles since then. Most recently, she appeared onLife Unfiltered.
22. Ross Bagley, who played Nicky Banks on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Buckwheat in The Little Rascals, works as a Realtor in Los Angeles.
Warner Bros / ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
23. Teddy Dunn, who played Duncan Kane on Veronica Mars, became a lawyer who now serves as an Assistant United States Attorney at the United States Attorney's Office District of Columbia.
Warner Bros / ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
He retired from acting in 2009.
24. And finally, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who played the titular role in The Terminator, announced his bid for governor of California on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in August 2003 then served two full terms from 2003–2011.
Orion Pictures Corporation / Orion Pictures Corporation/Courtesy Everett Collection
In 2012, he returned to acting as Trent "Trench" Mauser in The Expendables 2.
