People spend years trying to break into Hollywood, yet for some of them, all the fame & glory isn’t exactly what they’re looking for. They decide to switch career paths entirely by starting off somewhere completely unexpected. Their new career paths actually fit them a lot better. Here are nine Hollywood actors who changed careers, and what they’re doing now.
1. Jeff Cohen
You probably remember Jeff Cohen as one of the leading stars in The Goonies. It seemed like he was going to become a major Hollywood star. However, during a segment in 2015 with NPR, Cohen explained that once he hit puberty, the roles simply didn’t come, so he began studying business at UC Berkeley instead. He then finished law school at UCLA and co-founded Cohen Gardner LLP, an entertainment firm, in 2002. Cohen still works in showbiz, except now, he negotiates deals for film and TV clients.
2. Kay Panabaker
Kay Panabaker appeared in Disney Channel’s Phil of the Future and Summerland on the WB. But she left Hollywood around 2012 and later spoke about how she wanted steady, hands-on work instead. This led Panabaker to study at UCLA, where she earned a history degree and also completed zoology training. She then went on to work at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and has been working there ever since.
3. Jennifer Stone
Jennifer Stone was another Disney Channel star who left show business. She played Harper in the Wizards of Waverly Place, but she told People magazine in 2019 that being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes pushed her towards nursing. That same year, Stone graduated from nursing school and passed her boards. She currently works in an ER in Los Angeles as a registered nurse.
4. Peter Ostrum
Who would’ve thought that Charlie Bucket himself wouldn’t say goodbye to the silver screen? Peter Ostrum played Charlie in his only film role and later earned a degree as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 1984. He said the change came about after he was inspired by a vet who treated his family’s horse. Since then, Ostrum has worked at a mixed-animal practice in upstate New York as both a dairy and equine practitioner.
5. Danica McKellar
Danica McKellar played Winnie Cooper in The Wonder Years. But rather than focusing on acting, she became seriously interested in math during college and co-wrote a theorem with Professor Lincoln Chayes and fellow student Brandy Winn at UCLA. McKellar also wrote several books to make math more accessible to people and still acts occasionally. However, math is her main passion now.
6. Josh Saviano
Josh Saviano was another star from The Wonder Years, and he played the kid who always had the answers. He went in a completely different direction once the series wrapped, finishing Yale with a political science degree and getting his law credentials from Cardozo. He became a partner at Morrison Cohen LLP and then launched his own consulting groups, Act 3 Advisors and the Spotlight Advisory Group.
7. Danny Lloyd
Danny Lloyd is best known for playing Danny Torrance, the child from The Shining, but he actually stepped away from acting relatively soon after. Eventually, Lloyd earned a graduate degree in the sciences. He became a community-college biology professor in Kentucky at the Elizabethtown Community and Technical College. Lloyd has only had two other acting roles since The Shining, one in the TV film Will: G. Gordon Liddy, and a cameo in the sequel to The Shining, titled Doctor Sleep.
8. Rick Moranis
During the ‘80s and early ‘90s, Rick Moranis was practically everywhere, featuring in hit films like Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and Ghostbusters. He also appeared in Little Shop of Horrors. Sadly, family tragedy meant that he had to step back from acting to look after his children, and he later released a country-comedy album called The Agoraphobic Cowboy. He received a Grammy nomination for this record.
9. Phoebe Cates
Phoebe Cates was another famous ‘80s star, and she appeared in Gremlins and Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Cates appeared in several other projects before deciding to retire from acting. She said she wanted a career where she wouldn’t be away for long stretches from her children, and she later opened a boutique on Madison Avenue called Blue Tree. The boutique is still open to this day.
You might think that the career changes that some of these celebrities have made are quite unusual. But many actors actually depend on outside work to sustain their careers, although these 180s are a little strange. Who would’ve thought they’d get their law licenses or even publish math theorems?
