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Everybody deserves a break every once in a while, and that includes actors. Some of Hollywood’s finest have even indulged in stepping away from the camera for years on end, such as these celebrities.
Joe Pesci
Academy Award winner Joe Pesci went eight years without an acting role, the last being in Lethal Weapon 4, before making a cameo in 2006’s The Good Shepherd. He finally appeared in another starring role in 2010’s Love Ranch, lent his voice to 2015’s A Warrior’s Tale, and later received his third Oscar nomination for portraying Russell Buffalino in 2019’s The Irishman. He waited another four years to break retirement for Peacock’s Pete Davidson-led TV show, Bupkis, and a boxing movie called Day of the Fight.
Ke Huy Quan
After making a name for himself in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies, Ke Huy Quan appeared in nothing between 1996’s Red Pirate and 2002’s Second Time Around, during which he worked as a stunt coordinator for movies like X-Men and The One. He was absent from the screen for another 19 years before showing up in Finding Ohana, but the former child star’s huge comeback came the following year with his Oscar-winning role in Everything Everywhere All At Once.
Meg Ryan
Following 2009’s Serious Moonlight, Meg Ryan appeared in a few episodes of Web Therapy between 2011 and 2013 before returning to cinema as star and director of 2015’s Ithaca. That same year, the When Harry Met Sally… actor appeared in a TV movie called Fan Girl and, eight years later, she wrote, directed, and starred in a 2023 rom-com called What Happens Later.
Eddie Murphy
After winning the Razzie for “Worst Actor of the Decade” in 2010, Oscar-nominated former Saturday Night Live star Eddie Murphy decided to take a year-long break that turned into a six-year hiatus, according to an interview with People. He came out of retirement to play the title role of a 2016 drama called Mr. Church before earning a Golden Globe nomination for portraying Rudy Ray Moore in 2019’s Dolemite Is My Name.
Joaquin Phoenix
The world would eventually discover that Joaquin Phoenix‘s claim that he was retiring from acting in favor of a rap career was all a hoax for Casey Affleck’s 2010 mockumentary, I’m Still Here. However, he did briefly step away from the spotlight during that time, following the 2009 release of Two Lovers. He made his official return in 2012 with Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master and would go on to win an Oscar for Joker in 2019.
Rick Moranis
After playing Wayne Szalinski a third time in 1997’s Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves, the widowed Rick Moranis decided to step away from acting and focus on raising his children. The Canadian comedy legend would only come out of retirement for voice acting, such as in the Brother Bear movies and a cameo on The Goldbergs as the voice of his Spaceballs character, Dark Helmet.
Marlon Brando
Two-time Academy Award-winning legend Marlon Brando announced that he would retire from acting after starring in 1980’s The Formula. However, the Godfather star would return nine years later for A Dry White Season, which he followed with memorable performances in the likes of 1990’s The Freshman and Don Juan DeMarco.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s last major acting gig before taking office as the governor of California was the title role of 2003’s Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Not counting a few uncredited cameos during his political stint – namely in The Rundown, Around the World in 80 Days, The Kid & I, and The Expendables – the Austrian-born bodybuilder made his official return to acting as part of the ensemble cast for The Expendables 2.
Ryan Gosling
Ryan Gosling has taken a few breaks throughout his largely successful career, starting with his hiatus between 2007’s Lars and the Real Girl and Blue Valentine in 2010. The Oscar-nominated Canadian heartthrob stepped out of the spotlight again after 2018’s First Man before coming back for Netflix’s The Gray Man in 2022.
Cameron Diaz
The timeline of Cameron Diaz’s acting career experienced a gap after she starred in the 2014 remake of Annie with Jamie Foxx. The Charlie’s Angels star spent the next 11 years focusing on raising her family and entrepreneurship before making a comeback in 2025 with Netflix’s spy comedy, Back in Action, which also stars Foxx as her husband and espionage partner.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Following his Academy Award-winning performance in 2015’s The Revenant, Leonardo DiCaprio took a break from the craft, during which he focused on environmental activism. He would reemerge with an Oscar-nominated performance as, ironically, an actor fearing he may be nearing his time of retirement in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood in 2019.
Brendan Fraser
We did not see Brendan Fraser in a movie for five years, between 2014’s The Nut Job and The Poison Rose in 2019. The actor has credited that hiatus with his allegation against then Hollywood Foreign Press Association President Philip Berk, whom he claims assaulted him in 2003. While the Mummy star did some TV work during that time, it was strange to see the A-lister completely absent from the big screen for so long, making his subsequent comeback and Oscar win for 2022’s The Whale such a refreshing moment.
Eva Mendes
Eva Mendes’ last major film role before settling down to focus on raising her family was 2014’s Lost River, which is written and directed by her longtime partner, Ryan Gosling. However, in 2021, the model-turned-actor would lend her voice to an episode of Bluey, which she and her children are fans of, as she told People.
Macaulay Culkin
Macaulay Culkin is, thankfully, a former child star who still acts, but there was a significant gap between adolescence and adulthood in which he was almost nowhere to be seen. After playing the title role of 1994’s Richie Rich, which earned him a Razzie, he took a break, only to emerge nine years later with his most mature role yet, in Party Monster.
Daniel Day-Lewis
Daniel Day-Lewis has always been known to keep a few years of space between each acting role, but the widely revered Academy Award winner announced that he would be officially retiring after starring in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread in 2017. In 2024, it was announced that he would make a return to star in his son, Ronan Day Lewis’, directorial feature debut, Anemone.
Sean Connery
It seemed like Sir Sean Connery was done with acting after the critical and commercial failure of 2003’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which the actor was openly critical of. However, the Scottish former James Bond star did come out of retirement once in 2012 to voice the title role of Sir Billi (also known as Guardian of the Highlands in the US) before he passed away in 2020.
Renée Zellweger
After starring in My Own Love Song in 2010, Renée Zellweger stepped away from Hollywood to focus on her humanitarian efforts. She would return to reprise one of her most iconic roles in 2016’s Bridget Jones’s Baby and would go on to win her second Academy Award for her performance as Judy Garland in the 2019 biopic, Judy.
Martin Lawrence
After dressing in drag a third time for Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son in 2011, Martin Lawrence decided to focus on his family and return to stand-up, and even released a comedy special in 2016 called Doin’ Time. The comedian would come out of acting retirement for The Beach Bum in 2019 and return to the Bad Boys franchise the following year.
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda, who earned Academy Awards for Coming Home and Klute, would take a break from acting after starring in 1990’s Stanley & Iris. She made her return 15 years later to star opposite Jennifer Lopez in the rom-com, Monster-in-Law.
Matthew McConaughey
After mediocre comedies seemed to define his career for a while, Matthew McConaughey took a break from movies after the release of 2009’s Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. He returned to the big screen in 2011 for what would be labeled the McConaissance with more serious roles in the likes of The Lincoln Lawyer, Mud, and his Oscar-winning turn in Dallas Buyers Club.
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Gellar’s absence from the big screen alone (between Veronika Decides to Die and Do Revenge) lasted 13 years, if you don’t count her role in the English dub for the Peruvian 2012 animated film The Illusionauts. However, she did not even have any small screen roles between 2016 – when she appeared in an unaired pilot for a Cruel Intentions sequel series and guest-starred on Those Who Can’t – and 2019, when she made a cameo as herself on The Big Bang Theory.
Tobey Maguire
Tobey Maguire played Bobby Fischer in Pawn Sacrifice in 2014, the same year he also starred in and produced the miniseries, The Spoils of Babylon. He would not appear in another live-action production until reprising his variation of Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021, but did lend his voice to 2017’s The Boss Baby.
Jennifer Lawrence
Jennifer Lawrence had an endlessly busy decade, including leading the Hunger Games movies and her Oscar win for Silver Linings Playbook, before deciding to take a break after saying goodbye to the X-Men movies franchise with 2019’s Dark Phoenix. She would return just two years later, however, with Adam McKay’s Oscar-nominated satire, Don’t Look Up, in 2021.
Dave Chappelle
Dave Chappelle was at the top of his game in 2005 when he chose to leave his successful Comedy Central sketch comedy series, Chappelle’s Show, and leave the country, due to creative differences and pressures. He would make infrequent appearances at comedy clubs for the next decade before returning to acting in Spike Lee’s 2015 satire, Chi-Raq, hosting Saturday Night Live the following year, and releasing a series of acclaimed Netflix stand-up specials in 2017.
Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder took a brief break from acting in the wake of media scrutiny following her shoplifting case. After her role in 2002’s S1m0ne, she narrated the 2003 documentary, The Day My God Died, and had an uncredited cameo in 2004’s The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things before returning in 2006 with The Darwin Awards and A Scanner Darkly. Of course, her big comeback came a decade later with her main role in Netflix’s Stranger Things.
Tom Holland
The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man actor, Tom Holland, announced that he was taking a break from acting after filming his dark role in 2023’s The Crowded Room. It was revealed the following year that he was cast in Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of The Odyssey.
Rachel McAdams
Rachel McAdams has taken a few brief, periodic breaks throughout her career. For instance, at the dawn of her busy A-list status, she did not appear in a movie between 2005’s The Family Stone and 2007’s Married Life. She later took another two-year hiatus between 2018’s Game Night and the Netflix comedy Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.
Phoebe Cates
Phoebe Cates was one of the most popular stars of the 1980s, with memorable roles in the likes of the horror-comedy classic, Gremlins, and the high school movie favorite, Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Her popularity did not repeat in the ’90s because, after starring in the title role of 1994’s Princess Caraboo, she would retire from acting, only to return just once more for 2001’s The Anniversary Party.
Gaby Hoffmann
Gaby Hoffmann came to prominence at a very young age with roles in enduring classics like Uncle Buck, Field of Dreams, Now and Then, and Sleepless in Seattle. Later in life, she did not appear in a movie between 2001’s Perfume and 2007’s Severed Ways, and eventually made a more memorable comeback with Emmy-nominated turns on Girls and Transparent.
Jim Carrey
After playing Dr. Robotnik in 2020’s Sonic the Hedgehog, Jim Carrey’s only acting roles since would be reprisals of the role for sequels to the video game movie. Perhaps this should be considered the retirement he had announced in 2022.
Emma Watson
Playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies made Emma Watson one of the biggest stars in the world. However, she would step away from acting for a while after starring in 2019’s Little Women as Meg March.
Chuck Norris
After starring in a straight-to-video action film called The Cutter and reprising Cordell Walker in a TV special called Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial By Fire in 2005, Chuck Norris took a break from acting. He would later to return in 2012 for an appearance in The Expendables 2.