The stars who turned their back on Hollywood (and some who returned)

Actress Cate Blanchett has said she wants to quit acting to do other things, joining a long line of big Hollywood stars who gave up the red carpets for a different lifestyle.

The 55-year-old is seen as one of the most talented and bankable actresses in film, but she has indicated several times in recent years that she’s keen to break away from the big screen.

“My family roll their eyes every time I say it, but I mean it. I am serious about giving up acting,” she told the Radio Times in a new interview. “[There are] a lot of things I want to do with my life.”

Speaking about her experience of being a celebrity she added: “When you go on a talk show, or even here now, and then you see soundbites of things you’ve said, pulled out and italicised, they sound really loud. I’m not that person.

“I make more sense in motion – it’s been a long time to remotely get comfortable with the idea of being photographed.”

Her remarks echoed comments she made to BBC Radio 4’s This Natural Life last year, when she said she “absolutely loved” acting, but also said it would be “brilliant” to give it up and spoke about her passion for nature and conservation.

Blanchett is best known for appearing in films such as Tár, Notes on a Scandal and Elizabeth: The Golden Age, and won Oscars for her performances in Blue Jasmine and The Aviator.

She wouldn’t be the first successful actor to switch careers slightly later in life. Here are 10 other actors who retired from acting (including a few who came back):

The US actress was one of Hollywood’s biggest stars in the 90s and 00s, having made her debut at the age of 21 opposite Jim Carey in The Mask more than 30 years ago.

Initially finding fame for her goofy performances in romcoms such as My Best Friend’s wedding, and comedies including There’s Something About Mary, Diaz went on to prove her dramatic acting chops in movies like Being John Malkovich and Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York.

But she took a hiatus from Hollywood following her turn as Ms Hannigan in 2014’s remake of the musical Annie, confirming her “retirement” in 2018. “I was free to be [like] ‘I’m a mum, I’m a wife, I’m living my life’ – it was so lovely.”

She said the decade she spent in retirement from acting was “the best 10 years” of her life. But she was eventually persuaded to return to screens earlier this year for spy thriller Back in Action with actor Jamie Foxx.

The Oscar-winning star, considered one of his generation’s finest actors, apparently retired in 2017, but it wasn’t the first time he had stepped away from the spotlight.

Day-Lewis, who holds both British and Irish citizenship, has won an incredible three best actor Academy Awards for roles in My Left Foot, There Will Be Blood and Lincoln.

Known for leaving long stretches between roles, in the 1990s Day-Lewis went into what he called “semi-retirement” and became a shoemaker’s apprentice in Florence, Italy.

He was coaxed back to acting by Martin Scorsese and his offer of the role in Gangs of New York.

A statement issued through the star’s agent in 2017, when he was aged 60, said he “will no longer be working as an actor”.

Again, however, that proved not to be permanent. Day-Lewis is soon to star in Anemone, the debut feature film from his son Ronan Day-Lewis. Daniel and Ronan co-wrote the script which “explores the intricate relationships between fathers, sons and brothers, and the dynamics of familial bonds”.

Whether it’s a one-off due to the family connection or the start of a big return to film remains to be seen.

Nicholson is one of only three actors (including Day-Lewis, above) to have won three Academy Awards for acting. Two of Nicholson’s were for best actor (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and As Good As It Gets) and another for best supporting actor (Terms of Endearment).

The legendary star’s other famous roles include Easy Rider, The Shining, The Departed, A Few Good Men, Batman and The Departed.

Although he’s never formally announced he is quitting or retiring, he previously said his retreat from the spotlight was brought on by a desire to not “be out there anymore”.

His last film role was in 2010 romcom How Do You Know.

But just last week, that film’s director James L Brooks told Hollywood Reporter: “I wouldn’t be surprised to see Jack work again. I mean, it’s been a hunk of time but I don’t know. Maybe it could be the right thing. He’s reading scripts all the time, I think.”

Legendary Swedish screen siren Greta Garbo declared in 1941 at the ripe old age of 36 that she would be taking a “temporary” retirement.

It proved to be permanent. The Camille and Queen Christina star never appeared on film again.

Always the reluctant celebrity, the reclusive actress never played the Hollywood game, refusing interviews and avoiding film premieres and other public appearances.

The enigmatic star, whose famous line “I want to be alone” from Grand Hotel somewhat mirrored her desire in real life as well as on screen, only succeeded in increasing her mystique by stepping away from the spotlight.

However, she later clarified in an interview: “I never said: ‘I want to be alone.’ I only said, ‘I want to be let alone! There is all the difference’.”

One of the few silent movie stars to transition successfully to the “talkies”, Garbo moved away from Hollywood to New York, where she lived until her death in 1990 at the age of 84.

Synonymous with James Bond, the late Scottish star first found fame through modelling and body-building before landing a few small theatre and TV roles.

He made his film debut in No Road Back in 1957, but playing Secret Service agent 007 in Dr No a few years later gave him his big breakthrough. He went on to star in five further Bond movies including From Russia with Love and Goldfinger.

Connery appeared in numerous other films over his long career, including Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie, The Man Who Would Be King opposite Sir Michael Caine, The Untouchables (for which he won an Oscar) and The Hunt for Red October. But he would forever be wedded to 007.

In 2005, however, he said he was “fed up with the idiots” adding there was an “ever-widening gap between people who know how to make movies and the people who greenlight the movies.”

That declaration came a couple of years after he starred in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which many concluded was one of the main reasons for his retirement.

The poorly received comic book caper was to be his final screen appearance.

Kids of the 80s and 90s: You know. This guy was a huge star back in the day, the comedy backbone of popular films such as Ghostbusters, Honey I Shrunk The Kids and the musical Little Shop of Horrors (Suddenly, Seymour anyone?).

But then he just seemed to disappear off the face of the earth. So what happened?

He began to cut back on work after his wife died of cancer in 1991 to concentrate on raising his children, with his final big screen outing being the 1997 sequel Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves.

“I’m a single parent, and I just found that it was too difficult to manage raising my kids and doing the travelling involved in making movies,” he told USA Today in 2005.

“So I took a little bit of a break. And the little bit of a break turned into a longer break, and then I found that I really didn’t miss it.”

He did continue to do voiceover work, however, and Moranis was set to make a comeback in a Honey I Shrunk the Kids reboot, which sadly fell through.

We sadly lost this acting legend earlier this year, along with his second wife Betsy Arakawa, but the star hadn’t been seen on screen for years after retiring from the profession on the advice of his heart doctor – opting for a quiet life in New Mexico.

Hackman shot to fame in Bonnie and Clyde at the end of the 60s and was rarely out of work – in films like The French Connection, Mississippi Burning and Superman.

He chose to bow out from acting in the political satire Welcome to Mooseport in 2004.

Explaining his decision, he told Reuters that he didn’t want to risk going out on a sour note.

“The business for me is very stressful. The compromises that you have to make in films are just part of the beast,” he said, “and it had gotten to a point where I just didn’t feel like I wanted to do it any more.”

Fonda, from the famous family dynasty, is another star who quit at the height of her fame.

Starring in 80s and 90s hits such as Scandal (about the Profumo Affair), Cameron Crowe’s Singles, The Godfather Part III and Single White Female (everyone wanted to copy that elfin crop, not just Jennifer Jason Leigh). And then… nothing.

Fonda never formally retired, she just seemed to retreat. Her last big screen appearance was in The Whole Shebang in 2001.

When asked in 2023 by a reporter if she would return to acting at some point, she replied: “I don’t think so, it’s too nice being a civilian.” Fair enough!

Fonda’s aunt Jane also quit acting in 1990 for several years, explaining later in Vogue that “she wasn’t having fun anymore”.

But she later came out of retirement for the romcom movie Monster-in-Law.

“It was just a gut feeling of, Why the hell not? It’d been 15 years, and I wanted to act again.”

Another star we sadly lost in the last year, Shelley Duval was best known for her roles in film like The Shining, Annie Hall and Nashville.

Her step back from the spotlight wasn’t just her choice. Movie roles began to drop off in the 90s and then she decided to move back to Texas after her brother was diagnosed with cancer.

A year before her death, she told People magazine: “It’s the longest sabbatical I ever took but it was for really important reasons – to get in touch with my family again.”

Duvall did return to acting in horror movie, 2023’s The Forest Hills.

“Acting again – it’s so much fun. It enriches your life,” she told People.

“[Jessica Tandy] won an Oscar when she was 80. I can still win,” she joked. Sadly, she didn’t get the chance.

Who could forget 2024 award season’s most charming star, Oscar winner and Everything, Everywhere All At Once actor Ke Huy Quan?

He first found fame as a child actor in the 80s when he landed the role of Short Round in Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom, before taking another starring role in childhood adventure hit The Goonies.

A couple of TV roles followed but then the work largely dried up, and he settled for working behind the scenes as a stunt co-ordinator and assistant director.

“It’s always difficult to make the transition from a child actor to an adult actor,” he told the Telegraph. “But when you’re Asian, then it’s 100 times more difficult.”

He reluctantly gave up – only due to lack of opportunity – and it took years before he took a punt on inventive, off-the wall movie Everything, Everywhere, All At Once, where his role as Waymond Wang won him an Oscar and made him a Hollywood darling once again.

Additional reporting by Steven McIntosh