Matilda star reveals why she won't return to Hollywood after disappearing for decades
Despite winning performances in Matilda, Mrs. Doubtfire and the Christmas classic Miracle on 34th Street as a kid, Mara Wilson did not buy into the Hollywood system.
Now in her 40th year, Wilson cut short a wonderful streak in the 1990s to focus on endeavours outside of acting — 16 years separated her last major film release, 2000's Thomas and the Magic Railroad, and a noteworthy turn in the animated comedy BoJack Horseman (voicing black widow spider Jill Pill).
This time in her life was plagued by sadness caused by the loss of her mother, who died from breast cancer.
"I felt completely lost, completely unmoored," Wilson told The Guardian in 2023. "There was who I was before that, and who I was after that.
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"She was like this omnipresent thing in my life. To lose her felt like this incredible upheaval. I didn't really know who I was."
As Matilda (which was adapted from the Roald Dahl book and directed by Danny DeVito) celebrates its 30th anniversary with a cinematic re-release, we're looking back on Wilson's interview with PEOPLE, where she explained why she doesn't foresee a proper return to Hollywood in the near future.
"There aren't always roles for women of my specific age and my specific looks and demographic and everything. And I would really have to change myself a lot to be able to fit into Hollywood's mould and I don't really want to do that.
"It's funny, but I don't [wonder where I'd be] if I'd stayed acting. I think way more about what would have happened if I'd gotten out earlier than I do about what would have happened if I'd stayed in."
Wilson went on to add: "I don't know who I would be if I had stayed in. I would be totally different. I might be miserable. I think that I probably wouldn't be super successful."
However, while some people might be completely obsessed with the money and fame that would come with a regular acting job, it seems as if Wilson has truly found her passion in the form of voice acting.
"All I ever wanted to do was tell stories, write stories and perform stories... So I think that it makes sense to me that my job now is storytelling," she reflected.
"I remember I was having a hard day when I first started recording, and then I started recording and I felt so much better. I just loved being in this world, even though it was a world where sad and scary things were happening."
Wilson isn't the only one to take a step away from the entertainment sector in recent times, with Malcolm in the Middle actor Erik Per Sullivan focussing on his studies instead of returning for the recent Disney+ reboot.
Topics: Mental Health, Celebrity, Film
Dan Seddon