It is quite hard to step out of fame especially when you are having the best of it. For celebrities, it is something that they work hard to get and achieve for them to be able to market themselves more in the industry. However, some popular celebrities have stepped away from the limelight. These celebrities even starred in different movies and series so it is kind of hard to know why as they are already at the peak of their career. Read on to find out who the celebrities we are talking about.
Katherine Heigl
Katherine Heigl was known for her films and most especially the series with a title Grey’s Anatomy. Who would not recognize her? Greys Anatomy series was pretty much popular and one of the most successful series that gained massive viewers. With her popularity, it is not hard to tell that she is going to be a star. However, many have noticed that she has been appearing less on-screen and people do not know why.
Katherine Heigl
Billy Zane
Anyone here who still hasn’t watched the movie Titanic? We bet everyone has seen this movie and if you did, you know this celebrity for sure. Billy Zane, who played an antagonist role in Titanic, has not been receiving any big roles yet since 1977. However, even with that situation, he still managed to get paid and not leave the screen. He has been doing commercials and broadway productions. To add, he also produced quite a few movies. He has a reported net worth of $20 million. Not bad!
Billy Zane
Emilio Estevez
We might be seeing Emilio Estevez less on the big screen but there is a reason behind it. We have seen him in quite numerous movies as the star actor like in the movie The Breakfast Club, The Outsiders, and The Mighty Ducks. But now, we can see him behind the camera. Emilio diverted from acting to directing, writing, and movies. He had already produced one movie in 2010 which he starred in alongside with his father, Martin Sheen.
Emilio Estevez
Cameron Diaz
You can’t deny the popularity of this lady. She has portrayed a lot of roles in the Hollywood industry and every time she does, she does it really well, may it be comedy, action or romance. Her most famous role was when she played as Mary Jensen in the movie There’s Something About Mary in the year 1998. She retired from her acting career in 2014 and diverted into the “landscape of wellness” as she called it. She has already written 2 books.
Cameron Diaz
Meg Ryan
Meg Ryan has proven her worth in the Hollywood scene. She was named as the queen of the romantic comedy movies in the 21st century. She was known for the roles she played in When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and You’ve Got Mail. However, her spotlight dimmed as she’s been appearing less on the movie screen. She also diverted to directing and production of films. She has a son whom she had with his ex-husband Dennis Quaid and later married John Mellencamp in 2010.
Meg Ryan
Karyn Parsons
If you have seen the movie The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, it is impossible for you not to know Karyn Parsons. She is famously known for her role in this movie. After starring in this movie, she appeared in a few more theatrical movies like The Ladies Man and Major Payne. However, even with her good career in Hollywood, in 2002, she began appearing less in the industry. She mentioned that she wanted to focus more on her children.
Karyn Parsons
Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson is known for his roles in different classics such as The Departed, The Shining, Easy Rider, Chinatown, and One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. Nicholson undeniably has a pretty much good career. He’s been in the Hollywood scene for 6 decades already so it is not surprising if he wanted to take a little break. Rumors of him retiring from the industry circulated but he denied it. He said that he just wanted to be in the scene less.
Jack Nicholson
Phoebe Cates
Many people may not know her as she retired quite early in show business. She was considered a superstar in the 1980’s because of her lead roles in the movies Fast Times, Gremlins and Ridgemont High. She retired after being in the spotlight for 14 years. There was not really any heavy issue on why she retired even with her shooting up career, she just wanted to spend more time with her children and husband.
Phoebe Cates
Allyson Hannigan
Allyson Hannigan has appeared in various movies and series. She was in the American Pie movies and in the series How I Met Your Mother. We can say that How I Met Your Mother was her most successful one yet. However, after the series ended, she also began disappearing in show business. There was really no reason reported as to why people are seeing much less of her.
Alyson Hannigan
Jack Gleeson
If you have seen the series Game of Thrones, it is impossible for you to forget this character. Jack Gleeson played the role of Joffrey Barratheon, the king which everyone truly hated but also got what he deserved. After finishing the Game of Thrones series, he left show business. Although there’s indeed a bright future ahead for his career, he said that he wanted to focus on his studies.
Jack Gleeson
Jennifer Love Hewitt
Jennifer Hewitt started her career in Disney Channel but she is best known for the horror film movie I Know What You Did Last Summer, as well as its sequel, where she played as Julie James. She had appeared in numerous box office hit movies but also has not made a comeback yet since 2012. Although she might not have appeared in the Hollywood scene recently, she has been appearing in popular TV shows. She also wrote a best-seller book.
Jennifer Love Hewitt
Kel Mitchell
There’s no denying that Kel Mitchell was quite pretty famous during the 1990s and early 2000s. He was one of the biggest stars of The Nickelodeon at that time. In the set of All That, he impressed the producers, making them create a new show where he will star as well as Kel Thompson. The show’s title was Kenan and Kel. However, Kel stopped appearing in the show with Kenan and viewers thought that the two might have been feuding.
Kel Mitchell
Macaulay Culkin
Macaulay Culkin was best known for the role he played when he was younger. He starred in the movie Home Alone which became his stepping into a prosperous career ahead of him. However, he left the industry after 4 years. He wanted to take a break to focus on his studies and live a normal life. Being popular at such a young age may have been overwhelming to him. He went back to the industry after 9 years.
Macaulay Culkin
Mo’Nique
Mo’nique was not only known for her acting in the Hollywood scene but also for her hilarious stand-up performances. She was best known for her role in the drama Precious as Marly Lee Johnston and you may have seen her in legendary venues like The Apollo for her stand-up performances. However, she disappeared from the spotlight after the year 2015. It was rumored that it was because of her refusal to “play the game”.
Mo’Nique
Kevin Jonas
After the split-up of the widely known group Jonas Brothers, Kevin remained quiet while his brothers, Nick and Joe, have been having shooting careers in the music industry. However, Kevin’s disappearance and stepping away from the limelight was not because of having poor decisions in terms of his career but rather he became more focused on building different businesses. In 2019, the Jonas Brothers were reunited, so you can expect to see more of him.
Kevin Jonas
Adam Grenier
Adam Grenier first appeared in the TV show Entourage. The show was about a superstar and his friends. Even with his appearance in Entourage, Adam did not really become popular as he may have wished. However, he became part of the movie The Devil Wears Prada in which he played the role of the boyfriend of the leading actress, Anne Hathaway. With his performance in this movie, his name became likely memorable for everyone. Hopefully, he could snatch more roles in the future.
Adam Grenier
Mike Meyers
Mike Meyer was best-known for his movies Austin Powers, Wayne’s World and Shrek. These comedy films were such great hits. It’s quite unexpected when Mike Meyer’s career went down in 2008. It was reported that it was because of the film he wrote which he also produced and starred in. The movie title was Guru. The movie received a lot of negative reviews as it was labelled as culturally insensitive by some critics. People are talking about the Austin Powers film as it is rumoured to be in the works.
Mike Meyers
Jonathan Taylor Thomas
Jonathan Taylor Thomas was best-known for the sitcom Home Improvement in the 1990s. You can see his face everywhere. After the sitcom Home Improvement had ended, he still appeared in different TV shows but soon retired too. In 2005, Jonathan Taylor Thomas decided to leave the limelight to focus on his studies. “I wanted to go to school, to travel and have a bit of a break,’ he told the People Magazine. Soon after he got his degree, he returned to the Hollywood scene.
Jonathan Taylor Thomas
Kelly McGillis
Kelly McGillis was popularly known in her movie Top Gun and The Accused. She played the role of Charlie in Top Gun and Kathryn Murphy in The Accused. After gaining spotlight for the 2 mentioned movies, she disappeared in the Hollywood scene and her career instantly dropped. However, there was a reason for it. She mentioned that he hated working on the Cat Chaser to the point that it made her want to take a break from acting. How bad could it be then?
Kelly McGillis
Lori Loughlin
People may have known her for the role Lori Loughlin played in the Full House. With her performance in Full House and after gaining such popularity, many people have thought that her career will spike up after the show and it is the door for her to snatch more projects. However, that was not what actually happened. Lori never had that type of attention after the Full House ended. Instead, she got into trouble with regard to college bribes. Hopefully, she gets out of the mess and returns to the limelight.
Lori Loughlin, Mossimo Giannulli Appear In Boston Courthouse
Paz de la Huerta
We can all remember her in the movies A Walk To Remember and Choke. She played only small roles in the movies yet she rose to fame. She starred in an HBO crime drama, Boardwalk Empire, which was a hit and definitely made her career pretty much shoot up. With the success of the said drama, people may have thought that everything will go well in her career, but the opposite happened. She starred in Nurse 3D which she claimed was so bad she even demanded the studio.
Paz De La Huerta
Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy’s comeback has been rolling around the entertainment industry. It’s creating noise as people are quite excited to see him on the big screen yet again after the hit movies he had done before. Some said he left the limelight for some reason, however, that wasn’t truly the case. He didn’t leave the limelight as he was not just as popular as he was back in the ’80s, ’90s and 2000s. In case you didn’t know, he has 2 upcoming movies to watch out for.
Eddie Murphy
Ashley Judd
Ashley Judd was best-known for her leading roles in the movies A Time To Kill, Double Jeopardy, and Kiss The Girls. She was having a long successful career until the producer Harvey Weinstein blacklisted her. Even with what happened, she still managed to land some projects. Her recent movie appearances were in the movies Divergent and A Dog’s Way Home. It’s safe to say that her career was not fully jeopardized by what Harvey Weinstein did.
Ashley Judd
Freddie Prince Jr.
Freddie Prince Jr. has been playing small roles in TV shows and movies. When he starred in the film I Know What You Did Last Summer, his acting career shot up. He’s with Jennifer Hewitt in this movie. He also starred in the movie She’s All That, where he became popular among teen girls as the movie is a romantic comedy. He was working on a movie called 24, which he had such a bad experience that it made him decide to take some time off in the Hollywood scene.
Freddie Prinze, Jr.
Leelee Sobieski
Leelee Sobieski was well known for the movies she appeared in like the Deep Impact and Eyes Wide Shut. She also starred in the television movie Joan of Arc and Uprising. For her performances in the said movies and miniseries, she received Golden Globe Award nominations. Her career continued soaring high until 2016 when she decided to leave the industry. Her main reason for her retirement was to focus on her kids and she didn’t want to do movies with sexual stuff.
Leelee Sobieski
Rick Moranis
Many have known Rick Moranis for his performances in Spaceballs, Ghostbusters and Honey I Shrunk The Kids franchises. After that, he began to slowly disappear from show business. It was reported that he wanted to focus more and spend more time with his kids. However, recently, he’s starting to come back slowly. He had a voice appearance in The Goldbergs and there’s a circulating rumour that he already signed up for his return in Honey I Shrunk The Kids franchise with Disney.
Rick Moranis
Aaron Eckhart
If you have seen the movie Thank You for Smoking, you probably know how great of an actor Aaron Eckhart is. He received a lot of praise for playing the role of Tobacco firm representative and did it extremely well. After this movie, he began to receive a lot of film opportunities. He was able to snatch a role in The Dark Knight where he played as Harvey Dent or Two-Face. Shortly after 2016, he disappeared in show business for unknown reasons.
Aaron Eckhart
Martin Lawrence
Martin was well known for his great acting in the popular sitcom Martin in which he was able to play multiple roles in 1 show. The sitcom was highly-rated and indeed it was the break of his career. He also starred in cop films like Bad Boys and Blue Streak which also gained popularity. Even with the good flow of his career, Martin has become inactive in show business. His absence was quite more about his health issues and legal troubles.
Martin Lawrence
Wesley Snipes
Wesley Snipes became popular in action movies considering that he is a 5th-dan black belt in Karate and 2nd-dan black belt in Hapkido. With his background, it seemed that roles in action movies fit him. He’s technically an ideal action star. He starred in the trilogy Blade and it was indeed a huge success. However, he had some legal troubles that quite damaged his career. Although that is the case, he’s slowly returning to show business. He’s teaming up with Eddie Murphy in a movie.
Wesley Snipes
Tobey Maguire
Who wouldn’t know Tobey Maguire? He was the first Spider-man that people have known! His acting career spiked up in the early 1990s. His friendship with Leonardo DeCarpio made him land different projects. With each other’s connections, they help each other land some roles in the industry. Tobey Maguire’s last major role was in the movie The Great Gatsby in which Leo was included too. The last movie he took part in was Boss Baby in 2017.
Tobey Maguire
Dave Chapelle
Dave Chapelle is popularly known for Chappelle’s Show. The show consisted of mixed performances from the A-list comedians and musical invitees. Even with the high rating of the show, it only lasted for about 2 years. Dave mentioned in an interview that he felt that he was being forced to write and perform skits that are out of his comfort zone and definitely uncomfortable with. However, even with what happened, he’s slowly coming back. He has a few stand-up specials on Netflix.
Dave Chappelle