6 female child stars who quit Hollywood – and what they did next: from Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen to The Amanda Show’s Amanda Bynes and iCarly’s Jennette McCurdy
- The Olsens now run fashion brand Elizabeth and James, while Jennette McCurdy is embarrassed by her child roles and Bynes struggled with drug abuse and mental health issues
- Ariana Richards was in The Golden Girls, Jurassic Park and The Lost World: Jurassic Park, while Mara Wilson was in Mrs Doubtfire, Matilda and Miracle on 34th Street
Some child stars struggle to keep their careers going as they get older, while others choose to ditch Hollywood entirely, going on to become veterinary surgeons, fashion designers or even car salesmen. Here are six girls who made it to our screens at a young age but later opted for another path in life.
Jennette McCurdy
McCurdy made her on-screen debut with a 2000 episode of Mad TV when she was just eight years old, and she got steady work for a while after that, appearing in Malcolm and the Middle, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and Tiger Cruise.
After Sam & Cat ended, McCurdy appeared in sporadic episodes of different shows, and starred in the sci-fi series Between, which was cancelled after two seasons in 2016.
Now 30, she returned to acting in 2020 for a one-woman show she wrote called I’m Glad My Mom Died. Although the show continued through 2021, she called it a “one-time thing” during a 2021 episode of her podcast Empty Inside.
McCurdy confirmed in March 2021 that she has retired from acting.
“I quit a few years ago to try my hand at writing and directing – it’s going great. I quit a few years ago because I initially didn’t want to do it,” she said.