While workers in most industries are typically counting down until their retirement, that’s not always the case in Hollywood. It’s not uncommon to see octogenarian filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, 82, Ridley Scott, 87 and Clint Eastwood, 95 still active, or actors like 94-year-old June Squibb who starred in an action movie last year.
Hollywood is also — conversely and simultaneously — an industry so demanding that it often forces high-profile talent to step back from their careers and retire, far before any of their contemporaries could even register for AARP or even cash a Social Security check. This is particularly true of actors, some who step away to raise families, some just to escape from the constant grind.
However, Hollywood is also that rare industry where one has the luxury of unretiring just as quickly as one retired. This has almost become a trend in recent years, with a slew of beloved performers returning to their craft, much to the delight of their legions of fans.
Daniel Day-Lewis
Daniel Day-Lewis is such a great actor he was even able to retire twice, once from 1997 to 2002 and most recently from 2017 to 2024. He picked up his first Oscar for 1989’s My Left Foot, which started a string of indelible performances leading up to 1997’s The Boxer, after which he embarked on his first retirement at the age of 40.
He moved to Florence, Italy and became a shoe-maker’s apprentice for several years, before he was lured back on set by Martin Scorsese for 2002’s Gangs of New York. He would only appear in five films over the next 15 years, two of which he won Oscars for (There Will Be Blood, Lincoln), retiring again after 2017’s Phantom Thread.
Seven years later, it was his son, filmmaker Ronan Day-Lewis, who was able to coax the three-time Oscar winner out of retirement for his new film Amenone, which arrives in theaters October 10. Now that he’s at a legit retirement age at 68, it remains unclear if that film will feature the final performance of Daniel Day-Lewis.
Cameron Diaz
Cameron Diaz was showing no outward signs of slowing down after starring in the 2014 adaptation of the hit musical Annie, but it would take another 11 years to see her return to acting in this year’s aptly-тιтled Back in Action. While she never formally announced her retirement after Annie, she first broached the subject in 2017
She appeared at an event for Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop brand that she, “felt the need to make myself whole” at 41, after a two-decade career. Diaz also tied the knot with Good Charlotte singer Joel Madden in 2015 and raised their two children, while also keeping busy in other avenues, including launching the organic wine brand Avaline in 2020.
It seems Back in Action was just the beginning of Cameron Diaz’s career renaissance. She also has Outcome with Keanu Reeves and director Jonah Hill, and she’s returning as Fiona in Shrek 5.
Rick Moranis
Rick Moranis strung together a series of enviable hits in the 1980s and early 1990s, but he stepped away from showbiz for family reasons as well. The actor became a widow in 1991 when his wife, makeup designer Ann Belsky, pᴀssed away from cancer. After 1997’s Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves, Moranis stepped away to raise his two children, but he didn’t fully retire.
The actor didn’t fully retire, though, instead pivoting to far less demanding voice over work, including voicing Rutt in the animated Brother Bear movies. He also released the 2005 comedy album The Agoraphobic Cowboy, and reprised his beloved role as Doug McKenzie alongside Dave Thomas’ Bob McKenzie in the 2007 special, The Bob & Doug McKenzie Two-Four Anniversary.
Now Moranis will finally reprise his coveted role of Dark Helmet in the sequel nearly four decades in the making: Spaceballs 2, alongside Bill Pullman, Daphne Zuniga and Mel Brooks.
Joe Pesci
Joe Pesci had put together a truly remarkable career when he decided to step away from the biz in 1999 at 56 years of age. He had been a proven success in comedy (My Cousin Vinny, Home Alone), drama (Raging Bull, Casino) and everything in between (Moonwalker), taking home an Oscar for Goodfellas.
He turned away from film so he could pursue music, releasing the musical comedy album Vincent LaGuardia Gambini Sings Just for You in 1998, based on his character from My Cousin Vinny. Still, he was coaxed back into acting by some good friends, like Robert De Niro, who brought him back for The Good Shepherd in 2006.
He also starred alongside Helen Mirren in the 2010 film Love Ranch before his long-awaited reunion with Martin Scorsese in 2019’s The Irishman.
Shelley Duvall
Shelley Duvall was just a young woman in Houston when some crew members working on Brewster McCloud discovered her and introduced her to director Robert Altman in 1970. It started her career that reached amazing heights with Nashville, Annie Hall, The Shining and Popeye, though her work started diminishing in the late 1980s and early 1990s before her hiatus in 2002.
While she retreated from public life, the reasoning behind it was unknown until an interview with People in 2023, where she revealed that she returned to her native Texas after her brother was diagnosed with spinal cancer. She revealed, “It’s the longest sabbatical I ever took, but it was for really important reasons—to get in touch with my family again.”
She returned to the silver screen for the first time in more than two decades with the 2023 indie film The Forest Hills, though it would be her last role. Shelley Duvall pᴀssed away in July 2024 due to complications from diabetes at 75 years of age.
Ke Huy Quan
There aren’t many actors whose first two roles as a child were iconic 1980s classics, but Ke Huy Quan can make that claim. He made his feature film debut as Short Round — the diminutive sidekick to Harrison Ford’s тιтle character in 1984’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Just one year later, he played Data in the 1985 classic The Goonies.
He went on to play Jasper Kwong in the short-lived TV series Head of the Class, and later in 1992’s Encino Man, but acting work quickly started to dry up for him. He enrolled at the USC film program and would also work behind-the-scenes as a fight choreographer on X-Men before his hiatus.
After the success of Crazy Rich Asians, he was inspired to give acting a sH๏τ again, culminating in his role in 2022’s Everything Everywhere All At Once, where he won his first Oscar.
Hayden Panettiere
While the actress never officially “retired” from acting, she did take a four-year break. While she started acting as a child, she truly broke out with her role in the NBC series Heroes, where she played the pivotal cheerleader Claire Bennet. She went on to star in films like I Love You, Beth Cooper and the ABC drama series Nashville.
After Nashville went off the air in 2018, she took a break from acting, which ultimately lasted four years, though she had no idea it would last that long. “I had taken four years off. Didn’t know or plan to, but that’s just the way it panned out. And I desperately needed it,” Panettiere, 35, told Us Weekly in April.
Anthony Hopkins
There were reports that Hopkins was going to retire from acting back in 2007, so he could focus on his other love: composing music. He had released a number of different types of music over the years, and back in January, he hosted a concert in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, featuring compositions he had written in the past.
Still, a quick glance at Hopkins’ filmography makes it seem like he didn’t take much of a break at all. After 2007’s Beowulf, he didn’t appear in a film for two more years, with 2009’s The City of Your Final Destination. However, after 2010’s The Wolf Man, he has released at least one film (often multiple films) every year since.
Emma Watson
Emma Watson grew up in front of the entire world while playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films, and now it seems she’s taking a break. The actress hasn’t appeared in a film since 2019’s Little Women, though she hasn’t formally announced her retirement at this time.
Still, while she may be holding off on retirement, her agent reportedly told the New Zealand Herald back in 2021 that her career was “dormant,” and that she was ‘not taking new commitments.” Naturally, there’s nothing stopping Watson’s return, though when or if they may happen remains unclear.
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda was already a screen legend, a two-time Oscar winner, when she announced in 1991 that she was retiring from acting at 54 years of age, after her 1990 film Stanley & Iris. She stepped away for 15 years before her return alongside Jennifer Lopez in the 2005 rom-com Monster-In-Law.
That ignited a strong second half of her already-legendary career, starring in Georgia Rule, The Butler, Better Living Through Chemistry, The Book Club and her hit Netflix series Grace & Frankie. She recently starred in This Is Me… Now and continues her activism work as well at 87 years of age.
