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Some people dream of being famous; they want all the paparazzi, the money, the glitz and
glam.
And some are able to have all of that at a young age.
I can’t imagine being a child actor and having the world at your fingertips and then
walking away from it, can you?
Regardless of what WE would do, there are some child stars who didn’t want that lifestyle.
Let’s see who some of them are with today’s list: Top 10 Famous Child Stars Who Gave Up
On Fame.
10) Starting off our list at number 10 is Danny Lloyd.
For decades, people have been wondering what ever happened to the kid from the iconic horror
movie: The Shining.
Like legit, horror fans have actually asked the author, Stephen King, where he went.
Turns out he left the Hollywood glitz and glam to become a pig farmer and a science
teacher.
No, this is not a joke.
Danny was only 5 years old at the time when he took on the role as Danny Torrence in the
1980 classic and reached fame almost instantly.
But, he didn’t seem to want it.
He is now in his 40’s and is happily married with 6 children.
In 2013 he did his first episode since he was a kid with Daily News where he opened
about his normal life.
He said that people don’t recognize him when he goes out in public and he loves it.
He explained that he did continue acting after The Shining, but ended up giving up when he
was a teenager because it was too difficult.
He said: We kept trying for several years until I was in high school and I stopped at
about 14 with almost no success.
Danny says he enjoyed being in the movie, but went on work at a local wal-mart and drove
a tractor on a hog farm.
Now, he teaches biology at a community college outside of Louisville.
Fans were hoping to see him reprise his role for the upcoming sequel, Doctor Sleep, but
sadly he is sitting this one out.
9) Coming into number 9 is Mara Wilson.
She is best remembered for playing Matilda in the 1996 film titled after her character.
Kids were quick to fall in love with her character and the magical powers that came with it.
In fact, we are STILL talking about Matilda to this day.
Earlier this year there was a trending game called The Matilda Challenge which had people
making videos of them dancing around a room and pretending to make objects move.
Just like her iconic scene from the movie.
The challenge went viral that Mara even reacted to them.
But regardless of how fun her character was, Mara would disagree, which is why she quit
the business just a few years after the movie brought her fame.
In one of her blogs in 2012 she wrote: here is something no real celebrity will ever tell
you: film acting is not very fun.
Oh.
Well then.
After leaving Hollywood she went on to live a normal life and found a passion for writing.
In 2013 she was asked if she would return to acting.
Her response was: No, I don’t think so.
I do act sometimes in friends’ projects but when I do, it’s just for fun.
It is actually a hobby for me now.
We haven’t seen her on the big screen in a long time, but she continues to work on
screenplays and novels.
8) Swiping the number 8 spot is Shirley Temple.
She began acting at the young age of 3, and became Hollywood’s biggest box office child
stars in the 30’s.
I mean, who hasn’t heard of Shirley Temple?
I’m pretty sure we were all sick of her song Animal Crackers In My Soup after singing
it every time we had a bowl of soup as a kid.
By the time she was 12 she starred in 43 movies and tonssss of commercials.
But, by the time she was 22 years old she decided she wanted to retire from acting.
She ended up changing her career path entirely and ran for Congress in 1967.
She lost, but then 2 years later she was appointed to represent the US at the United Nations.
She then became the US ambassador to Ghana from 1974-1976.
Who would have thought the animal cracker girl would end up in politics.
Sadly, she passed away in 2014 at the age of 85, but her memory lives on forever.
In Hollywood and in politics.
Talk about a life full of achievements.
7) At number 7 is Jeff Cohen.
The child star was famously known for his role as Chunk in The Goonies, which is one
hell of a classic movie.
The movie came out in 1985, and he continued his acting career up until 1991.
So you do the math, that’s a total of 6 years, not very long.
He’s been asked on numerous occasions why he left the industry, he cracks jokes saying
that puberty forced him into early retirement as a child actor.
He explains that as he got older, finding work was a lot more difficult.
The roles were different and the competition increased as he got more involved in the industry.
But once acting was out of the picture, he found a passion for law and attended the University
of California, Berkeley, earning a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.
He had no problem leaving the world of Hollywood behind; he ended up becoming a lawyer and
in 2008 he was named one of the top 35 executives under 35 years of age.
So he’s a successful one at that.
He says that acting has benefited his legal career because it makes him more empathetic
for his clients and less academic.
Basically meaning he can show more emotions.
I feel that.
6) Here we are at number 6 with Kay Panabaker.
She made her on-screen debut when she was 12 years old.
She first became popular after taking on the role as Nikki in the Summerland TV series,
and then later on as Jenny in the 2009 Fame movie remake.
She also starred alongside her sister Danielle for a few Disney channel shows and movies.
But throughout her time filming she was also getting through school and trying to do advanced
courses.
She graduated from high school at the age of 13, she’s a smart little cookie.
Which might be why she decided to leave her acting career and go to school.
She ended up going to UCLA and studied Zoology.
From there, she got her dream job as an animal keeper at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
The now 29 year old has said that she doesn’t regret her decision and loves what she is
doing now.
5) Half way through the list at number 5 is Peter Ostrum.
You might remember him as Charlie Bucket from the original Willy Wonka and The Chocolate
Factory movie back in 1971.
He was only 12 years old when he got selected to play the role, and although he enjoyed
working on it, he decided NOT to sign a 3-film contract once the movie was over.
He returned home after filming the movie and just never felt the desire to go back and
continue to pursue his acting career.
He says being at home sparked an interest in horses and he wanted to become a veterinarian
one day instead.
He ended up going to Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1984 to receive
his certificate.
Later on in 2005, he moved to New York with his wife and two children, and as of 2018
he works out of the Countryside Veterinary Clinic.
As for acting, he says that he wanted to live a normal life and had declined reporters and
interviews for a long period of time.
He explained saying: I wanted people to judge me on who I was, not what I’d done.
He even said that sometimes in his childhood he lied and told people that it was his brother
in the movie, not him.
I wonder how many people actually fell for that and believed him.
4)Next up at number 4 is Ariana Richards.
She will forever be remembered for her role as Lex Murphy in the 1993 Jurassic Park.
She was only 14 years old when she booked the role; she just so happened to be one of
the grandchildren of Jurassic Park’s creator.
Talk about having connections.
She actually started her acting career 6 years before Jurassic Park but it was the one role
that put her name on the map, basically it was her big break.
After that, she appeared in multiple movies and also had a cameo appearance in The Lost
World: Jurassic Park.
But, she decided that her last on-screen appearance would be in 2001 as she sparked a new interest
for painting.
She went on to graduate from Skidmore College and she now runs her own art gallery.
The artist is now 40 years old and is married to Mark Bolton, who she shared a daughter
with.
3)Coming into our number 3 spot is Jake Lloyd.
The child star had a good career going after starring in 4 episodes of ER back in 1996,
but his breakthrough role playing Anakin Skywalker in the 1999 Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.
The 8 year old had some big shoes to fill at such a young age because we all know how
crazy and passionate Star Wars fans are.
He had to play this sweet innocent kid but also show a dark side that would be convincing
enough for him to grow up to become Darth Vader.
After his first Star Wars appearance, he reprised his role as Anakin’s voice for 5 video games,
but Jake stopped his acting career by the time he was 12 years old.
His life took a turn down a dark path and he was arrested in 2015 for reckless driving
after a high-speed car chase.
He was charged with reckless driving, failure to stop, resisting arrest, and driving without
a license.
In 2016, TMZ reported that he was transferred from jail to a psychiatric facility after
a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
When speaking with The Daily Telegraph, he spoke about his Star War days saying that
kids at school bullied him because of it so he ended up destroying any memories he had
from the filming experience.
This one wasn’t a happy ending.
2) In spot number 2 is Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen.
Twins are a 2 for 1 deal so they are taking 1 spot on this list.
The twins were infants when they stole hearts playing Michelle Tanner on the hit TV series:
Full House in 1987.
They were 9 years old when the series ended so their entire childhood, basically from
birth, was on a film set.
From there, they started their own brand simply by being the Olsen twins, where they made
a COLLECTION of Mary-Kate and Ashley movies.
I have all of them on DVD.
They also had their own TV shows called So Little Time and Two of a Kind.
But their last on-screen performance together was in 2004 when they did their first theatrical
release movie: New York Minute.
These two were wildly famous.
They were billionaires by the time they were teenagers, owning their own clothing line
on top of all their film success.
But they didn’t want it to last forever.
They announced in 2012 that they officially retired from acting and now focus on their
fashion line called Elizabeth and James.
They still remain in the public eye in the fashion world, but they keep their life very
low-key, we barely hear or see anything about them anymore.
1)Taking the number 1 place on our list is Macauly Culkin; every kid in the world knows
him as the kid from Home Alone.
He will always hold a place in our hearts for playing Kevin McCallister in those classic
christmas movies.
And although he’s mainly known for that series, he also appeared in 8 other feature
films between the years 1990-1994; the kid was a star.
He went on to make a guest appearance on the NBC sitcom Will and Grace, and starred in
the movie Party Monster.
Many would say his acting career was solid from there on out.
But then, which felt like out of nowhere, he quit acting.
He wanted to live a normal life and ended up moving to Paris where he spends most of
his time writing, painting, and working on a podcast called Bunny Ears with his friend
Matt Cohen.
After going MIA for many years he has now made his way back into the limelight to share
his story, but he doesn't really care for the fame part of it.
He’s actually thrilled when people don’t recognize him or bring up the Home Alone movies.
He told The Blast: I was going to Paris for a little while and I thought people didn’t
recognize me.
But it was like, no, we recognize you, we just don’t care.
And I was like, where have you been my whole life?
I think we’re so used to seeing celebrities in the spotlight that it’s hard to believe
there’s some that don’t enjoy it.
Alright you guys, that is today’s list.
Hit the thumbs up button if you liked it and tell me down in the comments which child star
you miss the most.
I would definitely have to say Mary-Kate and Ashley.
Still hoping they come back one day.
Fingers crossed.
I’m going to end the video now by responding to some of your comments.
Kim Cline says: I think you would make a perfect Esmerelda Joce.
Go get that role girl!
- - Listen, that would be an absolute dream.
Although I don't want to sing so maybe we can have like someone do the voiceover work.
Carmen Carlton said: your hair and blouse look great, really nice look - - thanks!
I felt like Hilary Clinton that day.
Well, her look, not like her as a person.
Let’s clear that up quickly.
Vikings TV says: jocelyn is now my favourite host - - now?
Why now?
Who was your favourite host before me?
I’m your second choice?
Just kidding- thank you.
Kayleigh Weber says: yes I do believe in ghosts and joce your arms look amazing!!
- - AHH thank you so much!
I’ve always hated my arms so you just made my day girl.
Well, we’ve made it to the end here guys.
I’m taking off.
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