Are there people who crushed a significant role on screen but chose another career path? For example, recently, someone asked, “Which actors had a massive role in one Movie then left the business?

Here are the top-voted actors who left the business after experiencing success.

1. Karen Lynn Gorney

Karen Lynn Gorney played the love interest, Stephanie, in Saturday Night Fever. The original poster says they thought Karen would build a career off the notoriety she got from that movie. Instead, after making the movie, she quit acting and started an art gallery.

Fourteen years later, she began doing bit roles, such as an appearance in Men in Black. The forum user wonders what made Karen quit acting after being in such a big movie and what made her decide to get back into acting.

2. Ariana Richards

A moviegoer states that Ariana Richards, the actress who played Lex in the first Jurassic Park, had a few minor roles in the 90s but became a full-time artist. Another person comments that they forget she was in Tremors and was also in Angus as the love interest.

3. Jeff Cohen

A movie enthusiast says Jeff Cohen, who played Chunk in The Goonies, is now a lawyer. Another person argues that he stayed in the movie business as an entertainment lawyer and even drew up fellow Goonie Ke Huy Quan's contract for Everything Everywhere All At Once.  Someone else jokes that they wonder if he does the truffle shuffle (Chunk's iconic move in Goonies) when he wins a case.

4. Skandar Keynes

One user volunteers that their first thought was Skandar Keynes, who played Edmund in the Narnia movies. They believe he stopped acting shortly after those movies. One commenter replies that they checked his Wiki page after reading the user's comment and discovered that Skandar is Charles Darwin's great-great-great-grandson.

5. Jake Lloyd

One forum user suggests Jake Lloyd, Kid from Phantom Menace, saying that he only did video game voiceovers after that movie. Another commenter shares that Jake developed schizophrenia as a young man and was institutionalized several times. Several people replied that the ridicule and bullying from Star Wars fans didn't help. One even went as far as to say that it led to his mental trauma and quitting the industry.

6. Jaye Davidson

Even though Jaye Davidson was nominated for an Oscar in his first film, The Crying Game, he only did three other movies afterward, says one commenter. Another shares a fun fact that Jaye was ready to leave the industry and didn't want to be Stargate. So, he demanded one million dollars, an amount he thought was a ridiculous salary, and then the studio accepted.

7. Jack Gleeson

One forum member comments that Jack Gleeson did exceptionally well in a massive role as a primary antagonist in the TV show, Game of Thrones. As soon as this contract with HBO was over, Gleeson retired from acting. Another corrects the user that the actor was in Batman Begins before Game of Thrones and was also in A Shine of Rainbows.

8. Claudia Wells

According to one person, Elizabeth Shue replaced Claudia Wells' role in Back to the Future, and Wells didn't do any more movies for over two decades. Another individual notes that the actress did care for her mother, who had cancer.

9. Carrie Henn

One contributor volunteers that they believe Carrie Henn, who played Newt in Aliens, became a teacher. Many users agree with another who expresses that it's more interesting to see an actor who hits it big as an adult disappears than, more commonly, child actors.

10. Danny Lloyd

A forum user states that years later, Danny Lloyd, who played Danny Torrance in The Shining, learned he was in a horror movie. They had told him he was in a drama. The user says that Lloyd became a professor at a community college and was only onscreen briefly as a cameo in Doctor Sleep.

11. Peter Ostrum

One person nominated Peter Ostrum, who played the leading role of Charlie from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Ostrum chose not to pursue an acting career after the movie. Another writes that they think he's a veterinarian. A third commenter agrees, stating that Ostrum is a veterinarian in the commenter's hometown of Lowville, New York.

12. Harold Russell

A film connoisseur expresses that Harold Russell's departure from acting is tragic, given he is the only actor to win two Oscars for the same role. One film buff explains that Russell lost his hands during military training in 1941, and there weren't likely many roles for someone with hooks for hands. The film buff says the director, William Wyler, encouraged Russell to return to school after The Best Years of Our Lives wrapped.

13. Alison Lohman

A moviegoer notes that Allison Lohman left the industry after starring in films such as Big Fish and White Oleander. One fan explains that she's involved in the farm life now and loving it. She got the itch to live in the country after working on Flicka and went for it.

14. Michael Schoeffling

One forum member recalls Michael Schoeffling, the actor who played Jake Ryan, the love interest in Sixteen Candles. The member thinks he's a cabinetmaker in Wilkes-Barre, PA. Another individual mentions that he did one other movie, Slaves of New York, but then started a wood shop and never returned to acting. A third person brings up two other films that Schoeffling was in, Mermaids with Cher and Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken.

15. Robert Tsai

One person brought up Robert Tsai, the keyboardist from the movie School of Rock. The person says the child actor went to an Ivy League school to pursue music. A respondent remarks that they believe they read that the kids were cast for their musical ability and not necessarily their acting talent.

16. Leelee Sobieski

A film buff says Leelee Sobieski appeared in many movies for a while, including Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, and then disappeared. Several responders discussed Sobieski's resemblance to Helen Hunt. A contributor claims that the actress is an artist named Leelee Kimmel, taking her husband's surname.

17. Rick Moranis

A film enthusiast listed several movies from the 80s that Rick Moranis was in but then lamented that Moranis took “time to be a dad” after his wife passed and never returned to acting. According to a commenter, Moranis didn't return to acting because he wasn't getting anything that interested him and was still open to acting.

18. Sarah Holcomb

One forum user recalls Sarah Holcomb, the 13-year-old mayor's daughter in Animal House and later, Danny's girlfriend in Caddyshack, who disappeared from movies that. Someone replies that her Hollywood story is tragic and that involvement with drugs on set triggered a mental breakdown that led to her being institutionalized for a while. Another person alleges that she went to live on a farm after that.

19. Charlie Korsmo

Charlie Korsmo started off as a talented child actor, but after doing a few movies in his youth, he moved on to a new chapter in his life. He was in big movies like Hook, Can't Hardly Wait, and What About Bob. Korsmo is now an Assistant Professor of Law at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law. He went to school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale!

20. Jennifer Stone

Jennifer Stone is another example of a child star moving on from her early career into another field completely. Stone is mostly known for her role as Harper on Wizards of Waverly Place, but nowadays, she's a nurse and works as an E.R. nurse in Burnbank! She often posts about her experience as a nurse and child actor on TikTok.

Source: Reddit.