The stars who quit Hollywood and those who came back — from Cameron Diaz to Jim Carrey

Following a 10 year hiatus from acting in 2024, Cameron starred in what was reportedly her final film, Back in Action alongside Jamie Foxx. It was Jamie that coaxed her to come back, after she'd reportedly retired in 2018. 

While reports of the actress's exit from the industry persist, she is still set to return as Princess Fiona in Shrek 5.

After a career of cult classics such as The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Jim Carrey decided in 2022 that he was considering retirement. He said: "I have enough. I've done enough. I am enough." 

When asked if he would ever return, he said: "It depends. If the angels bring some sort of script that's written in gold ink that says to me that it's going to be really important for people to see, I might continue down the road, but I'm taking a break."

He would later return to screens as Dr. Robotnik in Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

From his start in the 90s as one of the most beloved action stars, with roles in George of the Jungle and The Mummy Trilogy, Brendan was set for stardom. But in 2014, he disappeared from Hollywood and didn't appear in another film until 2019.

This came as Brendan claimed he had been sexually assaulted by Philip Berk, the then-president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which he denied. After the actor's divorce from actress Afton Smith and the death of his mother, he experienced depression and took a break from the industry. There were even allegations he had been blacklisted from Hollywood.

Brendan would go on to make a major comeback in The Whale, which won him an Oscar.

The late-actress, best known for her work on The Shining, retired from acting on a hiatus that lasted from 2002 to 2022. She made a comeback in 2023 with The Forest Hills, and it was reported not long before she passed away that there were more films due to come out.

After winning his third Oscar for Lincoln, Daniel Day-Lewis announced he would be taking a break from acting. It was five years, much of which he spent in County Wicklow, Ireland, before he reunited with Paul Thomas Anderson for Phantom Thread. 

Not long before the film's release, it was announced that he would retire from acting, of which he said: "I haven't figured it out. But it's settled on me, and it's just there ... I dread to use the over-used word 'artist', but there's something of the responsibility of the artist that hung over me."

"I need to believe in the value of what I'm doing. The work can seem vital, irresistible, even. And if an audience believes it, that should be good enough for me. But, lately, it isn't."

An icon of 80s cinema, Rick Moranis announced he would take a hiatus from working in the film industry in 1997, explaining: "I'm a single parent and I just found that it was too difficult to manage to raise my kids and to do the traveling involved in making movies. 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."

While he did a bit of voice acting for Brother Bear and its sequel, he hasn't acted on screen since Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves. He is set to return to that franchise in Shrunk, currently in pre-production.

She may have been one of the most beloved child actors of the 90s, but in 2000 she took a hiatus from acting to focus on her burgeoning career as a writer. She has since made brief appearances on screen, working on Broad City and BoJack Horseman.

The Everything Everywhere All At Once star had one of the most famous comebacks, after his early career as a beloved child star in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies. When he couldn't get work as an adult, Ke Huy Quan took a 20 year break and instead worked in film editing and stunt choreography. He would return in 2021 and win an Oscar for his role in the Daniels directed film.

The esteemed actor surprised many when he quit the industry in 2004, after a brilliant 50-year-long career - but he did it for his health. "The doctor advised me that my heart wasn't in the kind of shape that I should be putting it under any stress", he said, referring to the stressful nature of being on set and its impacts on his body.