Child Stars Who Wound Up With Normal Jobs As Grown Ups

For some, the idea of making your living as an actor is the ultimate, impossible dream. As wonderful as it would be to have millions of people flocking to theaters to see your face flickering on the big screen, getting to that point usually takes years of hard work and sacrifice beyond the capacity of most people. However, there are those who find this success incredibly early in life, turning into stars before they've even made it to high school.

Imagine starring in some of the biggest movies and TV shows in pop culture without years of study and seemingly endless rejection, perhaps becoming the breadwinner in your family before most kids your age get a regular job. Could you give up that kind of fame and walk away to live the life of an average grownup?

While many would see that decision as lunacy, that's just what happened to the former actors on this list. All of them left show business to pursue frighteningly normal careers. For various reasons, instead of living out the fantasy that they're still relevant child superstars, they've elected to accept the fact that they've grown up and taken on very grownup jobs.

James Cameron's "Aliens" went in a decidedly different direction than its Ridley Scott-directed predecessor. While "Alien" was essentially a haunted house movie in space, the sequel became an action-packed military adventure film. Instead of a single xenomorph feeding on the crew of one ship, dozens of the creatures battle Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and the team of space Marines sent to wipe them out. 

The director's cut of the Cameron film also added depth to the Ripley character by letting the audience know that she lost her daughter while in hypersleep. So when she comes across a lost little girl named Rebecca Jorden (but everyone calls her Newt), her maternal instincts kick in and her mission becomes to keep this girl alive. 

Newt was portrayed by Carrie Henn, who was only 10 at the time. Following the success of the film, one would imagine she'd want to build on that momentum. Instead, she decided to let herself be a normal kid. While talking to AVP Galaxy, she explained that she'd been living in England until the military transferred her father back to the United States. Now she was the odd person out and wanted to be as "normal" as possible, so she left acting behind. As an adult, Henn decided to become a teacher, satisfying a childhood dream.

The family sitcom "Home Improvement," starring Tim Allen, ran for eight seasons from 1991 to 1999. The show chronicled the life of delusional television personality Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor trying to relate to his family. He has three sons with very distinct personalities. The youngest of those sons, Mark, is more sensitive and introverted than the rest of his family. He was played by young actor Taran Noah Smith.

Following the end of the series, Smith decided to leave acting behind. When he was 17, the actor had a public dispute with his parents over the handling of the money he earned during the production of "Home Improvement." While talking with HNGN, Smith said he enjoyed acting but after doing so for his entire childhood, he wanted to try something else.

As mentioned in the interview, Smith has helped with typhoon relief efforts in the Philippines and with various art installations. He and his former wife also started a vegan food and restaurant business, called Playfood, in 2005. Another one of his jobs, however, is that of teaching people how to pilot submarines, which he had been doing as late as 2019.

Ross Bagley started acting at the age of six when he appeared as Buckwheat in the 1994 big screen reboot of "The Little Rascals." In 1996, he joined the cast of the Will Smith sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air," where he played Will's youngest cousin Nicky. That same year he worked with Smith again in the blockbuster "Independence Day." While his IMDb page shows that he continued to pop up in small roles for the rest of the '90s, Bagley seems to have left acting behind.

During an appearance on the "Hip Hop Uncensored Podcast," Bagley discussed his time on "The Fresh Prince" and his life following the end of the series. Before getting cast as Nicky, he loved watching the show. He has fond memories of working on it, but now prefers to live a more low-key lifestyle out of the public eye. Instead of pursuing the constant grind that is a show business career, Bagley has a more steady job as a realtor.

Jeff Cohen was all over the place during the early years of the '80s. Starting in 1983, the young actor appeared in "Tales from the Darkside," "Webster," "Little Shots," "The Facts of Life," "Kids Incorporated," and of course "The Goonies." He played Chunk, the hilarious "fat kid" with a penchant for telling tall tales and clumsiness. His performance in that film was so confident and assured that the fact that he is no longer performing is mind-boggling. But it turns out that the former actor has a theory as to why his career ended after only eight years.

While talking to the Daily Mail, Cohen clearly states that he wasn't the one who gave up on acting. He started his career as the funny fat kid. That was how the business saw him, so when he started hitting puberty and losing the weight, they weren't quite sure what to do with him. He said, "It was terrible. My first love was acting but puberty had other ideas. It was a forced retirement. I didn't give up on acting. Acting gave up on me."

With the help of his friend, "The Goonies" director Richard Donner, Cohen learned more about the film business and studied law at UCLA. In 2002, he co-founded his law firm Cohen Gardner LLP, which is based in Beverly Hills and specializes in the many legal aspects of film and TV development, production and distribution.

Lisa Jakub started working in show business when she was seven and worked like crazy from 1985 to 2000. The young actress was involved with projects like "The Care Bears," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "The Twilight Zone," "Friday the 13th: The Series," and "Matinee" before landing her most memorable role in the 1993 Robin Williams comedy "Mrs. Doubtfire." She played Lydia in the film about a divorced dad who dresses up as a matronly Scottish woman to spend more time with his kids.

That wasn't her only big movie of the '90s either. In 1996, she appeared in the alien invasion hit "Independence Day." Despite these successes, however, she decided to leave acting. On her blog, she discussed her reasons. After all that time, the pressure and competitiveness of the job got to be too much. She wrote, "I decided I should leave, before I became one of those alcoholic/eating disorder ravaged/drug addicted train wrecks of a former child actor. I had no desire to be a cautionary tale."

The experience had taken such a toll on her that she refused for a long time to engage in discussions about her early life. Instead, she focused on being a normal person out of the spotlight. But she's since made peace with that time of her life and has even written extensively about it. Her other passion is yoga instruction. 

Julianna Rose Mauriello started her acting career at the age of six when she appeared in "Sesame Street: Fiesta!" in 1996. She went on to do the voice of Ruby in the animated series about bunnies, "Max and Ruby," in 2002. Perhaps her best-known role, however, is that of Stephanie on the hit Nickelodeon series "LazyTown." According to her IMDb page, her final acting credit was a voice role in "The Doc Files."

Why did she stop acting and what has she been doing since 2013? Based on the lack of details from official sources, any statement on her reason for leaving show business would be speculation. What is clear, however, is that Mauriello is now working as a pediatric occupational therapist. On her LinkedIn profile, it says that she attended Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and is practicing in a clinic environment. Whatever her reasons for leaving her old career, one would hope she is happy and fulfilled with her new one.

Even if you've never seen a single film starring this tiny megastar, chances are you recognize the name. There would be no Olsen Twin empire without Shirley Temple. Her image was so recognizable and popular with the public that it was plastered all over various kinds of merchandise in the '30s. She was such a huge star early in life that she retired from acting at the age of 22. Considering she started acting at the age of 3, starred in 34 films over a 14 year period, it's safe to say she had a full career before most people even got started. 

During the end of the '50s and into the early part of the '60s, Temple briefly returned to entertainment both in front of and behind the camera. She then transitioned to a new role in 1969 where she became a diplomat. As she traveled the world, she witnessed atrocities that put her on track to becoming the ambassador to Ghana in 1974. In 1989 she was appointed by President George H. W. Bush to be the first woman ambassador to Czechoslovakia.

Fans of television from the mid-'80s to the mid-'90s will likely recognize Slaten from his extensive work on the small screen. Although his first credited role was in "The Greatest American Hero" in 1982, he didn't really pick up steam until 1985 where he started landing roles on classic shows like "Diff'rent Strokes," "Who's the Boss?,"  "Cagney & Lacey," and "Roseanne." He also co-starred in cult shows like the offbeat teen comedy "Parker Lewis Can't Lose," from 1990 to '93 and "Super Human Samurai Syber Squad" from '94 to '95."

After leaving his acting profession behind, Slaten turned his sights on studying law. In a piece from "The Hollywood Reporter" covering his campaign for the position of Judge in Los Angeles County's Superior Court, it's mentioned that his love of "Law & Order" and a love of learning that came from being educated on sets was a major factor in the decision to pursue law as a career. During the interview portion, he stated that his sadly unsuccessful campaign was about "finding alternatives to incarceration, ending the scourge of mass incarceration, ending the jail turnstile and ending the school-to-prison pipeline."

Leanna Creel's biggest claim to fame is probably the 10 episodes of "Saved by the Bell" she appeared in during the show's final season where she was set up as a foil for Zack, being a headstrong girl who wouldn't fall easily for his charm. Before that, however, Creel's first credit was in another beloved series "Growing Pains." Shortly after her debut, she and her sisters starred in the TV movies "Parent Trap III" and "Parent Trap: Hawaiian Honeymoon," alongside acting legend Hayley Mills, who originally starred in the series that became "Saved by the Bell," "Good Morning, Miss Bliss."

Creel may not be acting anymore, but she is still involved with producing visual content through Creel Studio, a production company she runs with her wife Rinat Greenberg. According to its website, it's the company's commitment to philanthropy that makes it stand out. The section reads, "We believe The Good Life is about more than just material comforts, it's also about living a life marked by doing good. In illuminating all aspects of The Good Life we convey an enlightened sense of luxury lifestyle content." She also started the app Vuse that assists real estate professionals in creating content.

Michael Oliver's career may have only lasted six years, but when your first role out of the gate is the meanest little kid in cinema there isn't much else you need to do after that. Although the actor had small roles in projects like "Forrest Gump" and "Eraser," it's his portrayal as the Junior in "Problem Child" and "Problem Child 2" where he left his impact on the world of entertainment.

In 2015, Oliver was a guest on his "Problem Child" co-star's show "Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast," where the two reminisced about working on the original film, learning from John Ritter, and what happened to Oliver following the film's unexpected success. According to Oliver, around the time his parents pursued legal action against the studio for failing to pay them the money they were owed, they lost their house and he was becoming disinterested in acting. He likens his life experience to the opposite of a kid wondering what it must be like to be famous. To him, he was looking at the lives of normal kids and wondering what that was like. At the time of the interview, Oliver was working in the tech support industry.

Maia Brewton was cinema's biggest fan of Marvel's Thor long before the character made his way to the big screen. Her character Sara in the 1987 comedy "Adventure in Babysitting" could be responsible for introducing a certain generation to Marvel's version of the God of Thunder thanks to her obsession with him. That would be enough to justify fans remembering her career, but she also made appearances in other great titles like "Back to the Future," "21 Jump Street" and "Parker Lewis Can't Lose."

Brewton's final acting credit, according to IMDb, was on the series "Odd Mom Out." In an interview to support the appearance, she briefly discussed her decision to leave acting full-time and attend law school. She said, "I love acting, and I've been fortunate enough to experience it in many incarnations — from TV to film to off-Broadway to smaller theater. After college I thought about getting back into professional acting, but I was drawn to other things."

Ariana Richards appeared in a few films and TV shows from the '90s that are still talked about today. While probably best remembered as Lex in the original "Jurassic Park," she also appeared alongside Kevin Bacon in the 1990 film "Tremors," played the title character's love interest in "Angus," and turned in a heartbreaking performance as a young girl abused by her father in "Boy Meets World." 

In 2020, the former actress spoke with Amblin Entertainment about her experiences making "Jurassic Park" and what her life's like now. A painter from an early age, and coming from an artistic family, Richards took part in a mentorship through the California Arts Club after college and credits everything she learned during those four years with sending her down the path she is now on as a professional painter.