These Former Actors Left Hollywood to Follow Entirely New Career Paths

Formerly From: CHiPs
Currently: Reserve police deputy 
Net Worth: $4 million*

Erik Estrada was born in East Harlem, New York City. His mom, Carmen, was a seamstress. Growing up, Estrada knew that he always wanted to be an actor, and it wasn’t until his role in the 1970 movie The Cross and the Switchblade that he was able to get his foot in the door.

Erik Estrada @JulieatSyracuse | CHiPs @GroovyHistory / Twitter.com

The beloved series was a flagship show on NBC (owned by Comcast). The actor and former activist currently works as a police reserve deputy in Idaho. Estrada is best-known, acting-wise, for his role as Officer Frank Poncherello (AKA “Ponch”) in the police procedural drama CHiPs. 

Formerly From: “I Think We’re Alone Now” – 80s Popstar Fame
Currently: Clothing store owner  
Net Worth: $4 million*

Tiffany was an eighties teen singing icon who was best known for her song “I Think We’re Alone Now.” Tiffany also sang “I Saw Him Standing There,” which was a cover of the Beatles’ song “I Saw Her Standing There,” just with the lyrics changed. 

Tiffany “I Think We’re Alone Now” Singer (1987) @espofootball / Twitter.com

Tiffany’s single reached the top position on the Billboard charts, and was famously used in an old ad for Apple. Though Tiffany has continued to sing, her primary focus these days is as the owner/operator of a small business: a clothing store. She also tours small venues (coffee shops and festivals), often to use her 80s fame to help promote her clothing business.

Formerly From: She’s All That
Currently: Chef 
Net Worth: $19 million*

Freddie Prinze Jr. is famous for his movies like I Know What You Did Last Summer, which was where he met his future wife, actress Sarah Michelle Gellar. Prinze Jr. has still stuck with showbusiness, except he has decided to go behind the camera this time as a producer for WWE.

Freddie Prinze @DEADLINE | Jr. She’s All That @wahleci / Twitter.com

He first worked for the WWE from 2008 until 2009. He would blog about his thoughts on the matches and create content for the WWE’s media outlets. When that came to an end, Freddie ended up going into an entirely new industry., creating the culinary company Foodstirs with his wife.

Formerly From: What About Bob?
Currently: Law professor 
Net Worth: $500,000*

Charlie Korsmo was a child actor who famously appeared in the Disney comedy What About Bob? He decided that he wanted to go into a more academic field after that, though he still has occasionally appeared in movies—most recently, he was in the film Can’t Hardly Wait in 1998 as William Lichter.

Charlie Korsmo @cineporloscodos | What About Bob? @Rebecca Shah / Pinterest.com

Korsmo decided to attend law school,  leaving his Disney days behind. He got his undergraduate degree in physics from MIT in 2000. He got his J.D. from Yale Law School six years later. He has worked for the EPA and in politics. Currently, he is a law professor at Case Western Reserve, teaching corporations and corporate finance law.

Formerly From: Thelma & Louise
Currently: Documentarian 
Net Worth: $30 million*

Geena Davis is a former actress and model. She started her career when she was in the movie Tootsie in 1982. She then starred in The Fly, a thriller that proved to be her breakthrough. Her role in Beetlejuice made her internationally famous. She continued to act, but her career slowed down in the 1990s. Fans might recall her short-lived talk show, The Geena Davis Show, which was produced by Disney.

Geena Davis @Tribeca | Thelma & Louise @OscarRunnerUp / Twitter.com

Ditching Disney, Davis then turned to directing and business. She founded her own organization, The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. Her Institute helps increase the presence of women in the media, both onscreen and off. Davis also used her business ties to finance a documentary in 2018 called This Changes Everything.

Formerly From: Two and a Half Men
Currently: Management at a media company  
Net Worth: $15 million*

Angus T. Jones’ most famous role was in the show Two and a Half Men. He got his first acting job as a child actor when he was five, appearing in the ’99 film Simpatico. The 26-year-old also was in films like The Rookie, George of the Jungle 2, Bringing Down the House, See Spot Run, and The Christmas Blessing.

Angus T. Jones @WATNCelebrity | Two and a Half Men @CinemaBlend / Twitter.com

After announcing his retirement, Jones decided to enter the private sector, though Two and a Half Men and his other work still streams on platforms like Amazon and Hulu. He is currently employed for Tonite, a multimedia company that finances and produces a wide array of communications services. 

Formerly From: Home Alone
Currently: Publisher of the website Bunny Ears 
Net Worth: $15 million*

Macaulay Culkin starred in the Home Alone series as a child, which made him famous. He also was in the coming-of-age film My Girl in 1991. He was in The Good Son in 1993, Getting Even with Dad a year later, and he was, at the height of his career, one of the most successful child actors of all time.

Macaulay Culkin ©Featureflash Photo Agency / Shutterstock.com | Home Alone @Geniu / Twitter.com

These days, Culkin owns and operates the satirical Bunny Ears site, producing content and cross-promotions (including more than a few memorable collaborations with RedLetterMedia). He is also a fan favorite for his witty tweets on Twitter.

Formerly From: The Wonder Years
Currently: Lawyer 
Net Worth: $500,000*

Another actor turned lawyer is Josh Saviano. The New York native played Paul in The Wonder Years, a sitcom that ran from 1988 until 1993. He stopped acting once the show was over, though he did return to TV to play a lawyer in a few episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

The Wonder Years @historydailypix / Twitter.com | @80sThen80sNow / Twitter.com

Saviano attended Yale after his time on NBC, and there he majored in political science. There, he was the president of the Sigma Nu frat. After graduation, he worked as a paralegal before he got a J.D. from Cardozo School of Law. He joined a law firm in 2000 and founded his own firm fifteen years later.

Formerly From: Home Improvement
Currently: Vegan food company owner, tech manager for Community Submersibles 
Net Worth: $300,000*

Taran Noah Smith portrayed the role of Mark in Home Improvement. Home Improvement was a nineties sitcom that was one of the most successful of the decade, with Tim Allen making over $1 million an episode while on the show. After that finished, Smith retired from acting. He stated in an interview that he just “didn’t want” to act.

Taran Noah Smith @hotcountry1035 / Facebook.com | Home Improvement @StarCrushCeleb / Twitter.com

Smith founded his own company, Playfood, which was a non-dairy cheese manufacturer. Playfood hasn’t hit the ground running, and you can’t find it in stores like Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. Smith, a vegan, also opened a vegan restaurant of the same name. He works as a tech manager for Community Submersibles, a submarine piloting and educational project.

Formerly From: The Cosby Show
Currently: Director of the Brooklyn Shakespeare Company 
Net Worth: $300,000*

Geoffrey Owens was on The Cosby Show in the nineties. He also had guest appearances on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, That’s So Raven, Lucifer, and more. He made headlines in 2018 after the Daily Mail posted photos of him working as a cashier at Trader Joe’s.

Geoffrey Owens @ajplus / Twitter.com | The Cosby Show @Paulette / Pinterest.com

People rallied to Owens’ defense, noting that show business was fickle and Owens shouldn’t be job-shamed for working at the Whole Foods competitor. Owens was able to book roles from that publicity, including one on a ten-episode Tyler Perry project. Currently, in addition to minor acting roles, he is the artistic director of the Brooklyn Shakespeare Company, which he also founded. 

Formerly From: Unforgiven
Currently: Novelist 
Net Worth: $80 million*

Gene Hackman retired from acting after a long career, though he is still a novelist, having not announced his retirement from that. The ninety-year-old has won two Oscars, a SAG Award, two BAFTAs, and four Golden Globes over his six-decade career that started in 1956. He took a break in 2004 before returning in 2016.

Gene Hackman @CescFrancB | Unforgiven @magnanisima / Twitter.com

He officially retired in 2017. Now, Hackman is a novelist. He has written three historical fiction books, a Western, and a police thriller. His thriller, Pursuit, was released in 2013 and is his most recent book. It has a 4/5-star rating on Amazon. His first novel, Wake of the Perdido Star, was released in 1999. 

Formerly From: Two-Time World Heavyweight Champion Fame
Currently: Ringside boxing analyst for HBO 
Net Worth: $340 million*

Former boxer George Foreman was one of the most successful fighters in the sixties and seventies. He retired in 1977 after a loss to boxer Jimmy Young. After what he later described as a “religious epiphany,” Foreman was ordained as a Christian minister. In 1994, he made a boxing comeback.

George Foreman ©Featureflash Photo Agency / Shutterstock.com | @RetroNewsNow / Twitter.com

At age forty-five, he knocked out Michael Moorer, who was half his age, to regain his title. That made him the oldest heavyweight boxing champ in history before he re-retired. Foreman also is the owner of the patent to the Foreman grill. He is a ringside analyst for HBO now.

Formerly From: Matilda
Currently: Writer/podcaster 
Net Worth: $500,000*

Mara Wilson was born in 1987 in Burbank, California. She became famous as a child actor for her role as Natalie in Mrs. Doubtfire when she was six. She also appeared in Miracle on 34th Street, Matilda, and Thomas and the Magic Railroad. Her last film appearance was in 2000. She announced her retirement that year.

Mara Wilson @etnow | Matilda @Thrillist / Twitter.com

Now, Wilson is a writer and podcaster, as well as a fan favorite on Twitter. She wrote a play for the NY International Fringe Festival, called Sheeple, though she is more of a novelist now. Her book, Where Am I Now?, which discussed her childhood fame, was published in 2016.

Formerly From: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Currently: Cookbook writer/business owner 
Net Worth: $20 million*

Sarah Michelle Gellar made her debut when she was four years old, appearing in the eighties movie Invasion of Privacy. She had her breakthrough a few years later when she starred as Kendall in All My Children, followed by Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Sarah Michelle Gellar - Buffy the Vampire Slayer @foodsirs / Facebook.com | ©Getty Images / Handout

Gellar continues to act, but also runs her own lifestyle brand, with an emphasis on cooking. In 2015, she formally formed her business entity and released her first cookbook, which went on to be a best-seller. You can find her brand, Foodstirs, at stores like Whole Foods and Giant Eagle.