Six huge child stars who disappeared from Hollywood after earning major fame in breakout role
Some of our favourite characters as kids were played by just kids themselves and it almost felt like we grew up alongside them on our screens.
From the children of Disney Channel to the youngsters in sitcom families, the actors who played them became household names from a very young age.
But not all of them stayed with that celebrity lifestyle. While the likes of Daniel Radcliffe still playing various roles and Selena Gomez continuing to stay on our screens, other young actors decided to pursue something else.
Like these six huge child stars that disappeared from Hollywood after earning major fame in their breakout role.
Peter Ostrum
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Sure, you might not know his name straight away but I’m sure you’ll know his face.
The now 67-year-old played the legendary role of Charlie Bucket in the 1971 classic, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
But despite that huge screen debut, Ostrum pretty much never acted again and went on to pursue a career as a vet.
Back in 2018, he explained he still receives a payment from the film every three months of about $8-10 (£6.44-8.05) each time.
Ostrum retired from Countryside Veterinary Clinic in New York in 2023.
Jake Lloyd
Lloyd found fame playing young Aanakin Skywalker in 1999’s Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace. He took on the role at just eight-years-old and said the franchise still holds a special place in his heart.
The star left Hollywood shortly after the film’s release and part of that was down to his mental health struggles and schizophrenia diagnosis.
He recently spoke about completing an 18-month stay at a mental health facility and has since been living at a new rehabilitation centre.
Lloyd said of Star Wars: “The experience I’ve had with the fans is immediately therapeutic. Right now, it’s still therapeutic. It’s helpful for people and healthy. It isn’t something I’d shy away from.”
Angus T. Jones
Making his debut at the age of five in 1999’s Simpatico, he landed his first big role as Jake Harper in Two and a Half Men. Jones went on to star in a whopping 226 episodes of the CBS show with Charlie Sheen, before quitting in 2013.
Reprising his role for the finale and becoming an award-winning actor, he was the highest paid child actor in Hollywood at the time.
But the money and fame wasn’t quite the pull for Jones, and he decided to leave acting behind. He went on to pursue higher education at the University of Colorado and also joined the Seventh-Day Adventist Church – encouraging his decision to stop acting.
Jones did end up making a quick return in 2023, when he reunited with Sheen for a guest role in Bookie.
Danny Lloyd
Ah, little Danny Torrance from The Shining.
Lloyd was a mere youngster when the horror was made and production kept him off-set while the scary scenes were filmed, even giving him an edited copy of the flick for him to watch.
And nowadays, the 52-year-old works as a biology professor in Kentucky. After appearing in 1982’s Will: G Gordon Liddy, he retired from acting at 13.
Erik Per Sullivan
One child star who famously seemed to have drop off the face of the Earth is Sullivan, best known as Dewey from Malcolm in the Middle.
Since the show wrapped nearly two decades ago, we’ve seen very little of the star with the cast often being asked about him.
And lead actor Frankie Muniz previously opened up about it as he admitted to not really knowing what he’s up to.
“I hate to say that because I've talked to him a few times since the show ended,” the Malcolm actor confessed. “I've talked to his parents a lot. When I was in the band, we went and played in the city where he lives and his parents came to the show but unfortunately he couldn't make it.”
He went on to add that Sullivan seems to be living more of a normal life ‘out of the spotlight’.
Jeff Cohen
The face of the Truffle Shuffle, Cohen played the iconic role of Lawrence ‘Chunk’ Cohen in the 1985 cult classic, The Goonies.
He found, however, that he was being typecast and ended up leaving acting behind in 1991, going on to earn a law degree and become an entertainment lawyer.
The now 50-year-old told the MailOnline previously: “There were basically about four fat kids in town, so every time there was a fat kid role you saw the same people at the audition.
“It was survival of the fattest. But when I hit puberty, it was a career ender for me. I was transforming from Chunk to hunk and I couldn’t get roles any more.”
Topics: Celebrity, Disney, Entertainment, Nostalgia, TV and Film
Jess Battison