Mara Wilson was the child star of '90s family films Mrs. Doubtfire, Miracle on 34th Street,
and Matilda, but we rarely see her these days.
Let's get up to speed on what she's been up to since she left the big screen behind.
In a 2013 blog post, Wilson opened up about why she decided to quit acting after such
a successful run on the big screen.
She wrote:
"Film acting is not very fun.
Doing the same thing over and over again until, in the director's eyes, you 'get it right,'
does not allow for very much creative freedom."
She went on to describe how "dehumanizing" auditions can be, as well as how inherently
"ridiculous" it is to even be a celebrity in the first place.
A few years later, she expanded on her lost love for the big screen in a 2016 interview
with NPR.
She explained how the passing of her mother, which happened when Wilson was 8 years old,
combined with what she viewed as her career-peak performance in Matilda, led to her becoming
disenchanted with what Hollywood had to offer.
"And especially after my mother died, it felt like that was staying there.
Something that was there for me, my career.
But I was never really that crazy about it."
She kept acting for a few years, however, calling it "a crutch" that helped her deal
with the depression and anxiety she suffered after her mother's death, but even the sense
of stability she felt from her career soon faded, and it wasn't long before she decided
to step out of the Hollywood spotlight.
On top of the aforementioned creative frustration Mara Wilson experienced with film acting,
she also suffered an on-set embarrassment during her formative years that any adolescent
could identify with.
According to an interview with NPR, Wilson said that while starring in 2000's Thomas
and the Magic Railroad, it suddenly became clear that she could no longer pull off the
child roles that had made her famous.
She told NPR:
"I came to set one day after a few months away, and people were kind of giving each
other worried looks.
And I had to have the director come and sit with me and explain to me that my body was
changing."
We have to imagine that the one-two combination of already not feeling the biz and having
to chat about your bra with your boss while you're still a pre-teen basically sealed the
deal for Wilson.
Perhaps it's unsurprising that Thomas and the Magic Railroad was her last acting credit
until 2011.
Although she quit acting, Wilson didn't give up on her creativity, instead, she went on
to study at New York University.
Over the years, she's developed a rather fine resume as a writer.
She wrote a book, a play, and articles that landed in high-profile places such as McSweeney's,
The Daily Beast, and Elle.
One particular piece called "7 Reasons Child Stars Go Crazy (An Insider's Perspective),"
written for Cracked, made national headlines due to Wilson's humorous, yet completely on-point
rundown of why actors such as Lindsay Lohan struggled to find their footing as adults.
In the piece, she wrote:
"If I were to talk to Lindsay Lohan, I'd encourage her to get the hell out of acting and into
something soothing.
Take up botany or something."
In addition to her writing, Wilson occasionally does voice-over work and cameos, but for a
while, she also dedicated much of her time and energy to the nonprofit organization Publicolor.
According to its website, the youth development program:
"engages high-risk students in their education throughout the year with a continuum of design-based
programs that mentor them for success in college, career, and life."
These days, it's unclear what affiliation Wilson still has with the program.
However she was still promoting it and helping to raise funds in February 2017 when she tweeted,
"I worked with Publicolor for years.
I love this organization so much.
Please give!"
A child star who now mentors young kids?
There should be some kind of honorary Oscar for that!
If you're unfamiliar with internet "challenges," welcome to the world wide web!
It's weird here, but it's mostly just cat videos.
Anywho, challenges are an entire genre of internet video in which people participate
in everything from dance crazes to dumping ice water on their heads for charity.
They can be literally anything, which is why, more than two decades after the film was released,
Matilda became the inspiration for one such challenge, for some reason.
Regardless of how the Matilda Challenge came to pass, Mara Wilson absolutely loved it,
which is pretty much the holy grail of any celebrity-based challenge.
She gave her seal of approval by sharing a video of a young girl hilariously pretending
to have telekinesis, a trick she pulled off by having several ineffectively obscured helpers
tossing items around the room while she pointed at them using her "powers."
Speaking of internet things, Mara Wilson also weighed in on another web trend: memes.
This one involved people pitting her character from Matilda against another similarly gifted
character from more recent times: Yup, we're talking everyone's other favorite telekinetic
wunderkind, Eleven from Stranger Things.
According to BuzzFeed, this debate got downright technical, with one journalist weighing in
on Twitter: "Folks are really saying Eleven would win and I am perplexed.
She had training and still could barely wiggle a truck.
Matilda's skills were sharp and precise.
She had kids flying, electricity going crazy, multiple objects moving simultaneously.
Eleven don't want no smoke."
"Watch this!"
Mara Wilson finally shut the whole conversation down by tweeting, "Matilda and Eleven would
choose not to fight, and would instead become friends."
Granted, this isn't exactly a viable crossover given that Stranger Things takes place years
before Wilson was even born, but maybe it would at least inspire some awesome, pro-girl
power fanfiction!
In 2015, Wilson teamed up with Project UROK to create a video discussing her many battles
over the years with depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
In the video, she opens up about how she's often struggled with anxiety, stating:
"I wish somebody had told me that it's okay to be anxious, that you don't have to fight
it."
"That, in fact, fighting is this thing that makes it worse, that pushing it away is really
what it is; it's the fear of fear.
It's okay to be depressed."
She continued, admitting:
"Also, not that it's okay, but it's not a romantic thing.
You don't have to be depressed; you don't have to suffer with it.
You can get help.
You can reach out."
Wilson also turned her personal battles into a comedy show called What Are You Afraid Of?
in 2014.
Although Wilson has backed away from acting and explained her reasons for doing so multiple
times, she still agreed to appear in a cameo role in a 2016 episode of Broad City that
paid tribute to Mrs. Doubtfire.
How did that come about?
According to an interview with Brokelyn, Broad City star and co-creator Abbi Jacobson told
Wilson about the upcoming Mrs. Doubtfire episode after Wilson began following her on Twitter.
A few days later, the typically reserved Wilson said she "felt emboldened."
Wilson told Brokelyn:
"I think it was after a glass of wine, and I said, 'You know, if you want me to make
a cameo or something on this, I totally would.
I don't act much, I don't really like film or TV acting, but this would be really fun
and I have a lot of respect for you two.'
They were like, 'Totally, we'd love to have you on.'
They were both really excited."
In a June 2018 essay, Mara Wilson shared a funny anecdote about an email she got from
a dude named Jason, who offered her $50,000 to attend a "retreat" at a Montreal cabin
where he wanted her to pick and eat magic mushrooms with him and nine of his "long lost
bros."
Uhhh, we don't think so...
But in spite of dismissing the ludicrous email, Wilson offered a thoughtful explanation of
why she would never do such a thing.
Wilson is extremely cognizant of her youthful fanbase, which is kind of surprising, considering
anyone who loved her as the little girl from Mrs. Doubtfire when that film premiered would
be well into adulthood by now.
Regardless, Wilson wrote that she, quote, feels she has "to be discreet, to try to live
as if I'm a role model."
"What I've sort of deduced is that I mean something to a certain subset of the population,
something I did resonated with them."
It sure did.
And while Wilson's fans, both the younger ones and the children at heart, love them
some Matilda, we're also glad that Wilson has found solace in severing ties with an
industry she outgrew years ago.
Still, we can't help but hold out for that Stranger Things cameo.
Hey, stranger things have happened!