Fame can be many things. It can be a ticket to wealth and power. It can open doors to travel and adventure. It can provide access to the best stuff money can buy and experiences that most of us can't even imagine. But as anyone who has ever watched a celebrity documentary or read a celebrity memoir knows, fame can also be complicated, exhausting, and fleeting. While it seems like there are some thirsty people who will do almost anything to stay famous or get even more famous, there are also some celebrities who have left the limelight and are working regular jobs.
It can be hard to know if these former celebrities are doing that by choice or out of necessity because their high-profile job opportunities have dried up. There are some former child stars who gave up fame when adult acting jobs never appeared and went to college like any regular teen might. There are also some Oscar winners who opted out of the celebrity grind to have a simpler life (including one living as a yogi in New Mexico). And there are some celebrities who've just quietly shifted from weekly TV shows to jobs that might leave someone wondering, "Hey, doesn't that waiter look a lot like someone famous?" while they are out to breakfast.
Read on for some surprising jobs being filled by formerly famous people.
Mara Wilson
Mara Wilson is one of the child actors who was thankfully able to make a safe transition to adulthood without having major public scandals. After starring in classic films including Matilda and Mrs. Doubtfire, she took a break from acting and turned to writing. She's written a well-reviewed memoir and several essays.
Mike Vitar
Mike Vitar, one of the adorable kid stars of The Sandlot and The Mighty Ducks, seemed poised to transition from child actor to teenage TV hunk, but he retired from acting in 1997 and became an EMT and a firefighter instead. We suspect he just might fall into the "hunky firefighter" category!
Ali MacGraw
Ali MacGraw was a highly successful actress from the late 1960s to 1970s, including getting nominated for an Oscar and winning two Golden Globe awards. She decided to leave acting and pursue a career in yoga, including releasing several successful yoga DVDs. She now lives in New Mexico and is also an advocate for animal rights.
Kara Keough Bosworth
Kara Keough Bosworth first brushed up against fame as a child actress in movies including Outbreak and Implicated, but she became a lot more recognizable when the Real Housewives of Orange County began and her mother, Jeana Keough, was one of the OG stars of the show. Kara appeared in more than 35 episodes but has been out of the public eye since 2013. Since then, she went to college, married, and became a mom. She now lives in Florida and works in a corporate job as a marketing manager.
Geoffrey Owens
Several years ago, The Cosby Show actor Geoffrey Owens briefly went viral when pictures of him working at Trader Joe's surfaced online, along with commentary that mocked him for working at a grocery store. This started a larger discussion about how we value work and how difficult it is to make it as a working actor, with many famous people coming out in support of Geoffrey, who also makes a living teaching theater classes.
Jo De La Rosa
Another former reality celebrity is Jo De La Rosa, who was on multiple seasons of Real Housewives of Orange County and a spin-off show that focused on her post-Housewives dating life. While she still does some sponsored content on Instagram, she primarily works in advertising for a brand consulting company.
Danny Pintauro
Danny Pintauro is, according to a recent interview with People, "much happier as a person with no secrets" now that he has revealed that he is gay, in recovery from addictions, and no longer a child star. The former actor — who gained fame on the classic sitcom Who's the Boss? — now works as a veterinary tech in Texas.
Vanilla Ice
Although he is still a little in the limelight through occasional concert appearances at retro shows and through reality TV gigs like Dancing With the Stars, Vanilla Ice makes most of his living through home renovation and even interior design, including starting his own line of lighting fixtures. Lights, lights, baby …
Erik Estrada
Erik Estrada was a major TV star in the 1970s and 1980s, getting especially famous from playing a police officer on the show CHiPs. In a case of life imitating art, he eventually actually pursued a career in law enforcement. He has worked for three law enforcement agencies, including spending eight years investigating internet crimes against children in Virginia.
Geena Davis
Geena Davis is kind of amazing. Not only has she starred in some major movies including A League of Their Own and Thelma & Louise, she's also won an Oscar, tried out for the Olympics, and dedicated herself to activism for women's equality. While she still does some voiceover work and smaller acting jobs, she mostly works in the nonprofit sector, running the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.
Al Green
Al Green is responsible for some of the all-time best baby making music (we especially love "Let's Stay Together" and "Love and Happiness"), but he's been making his living as a minister since 1976. He founded and appears to still preach at a church in Memphis. Can you imagine how amazing that church choir must be?
Michael Schoeffling
During the 1980s, there were tons of amazing teen movies, but Pretty in Pink might be the most iconic because everyone had a crush on the character Jake Ryan. The actor who played him, Michael Schoeffling, now leads a super private life (no social media or reality show gigs for him!) working as a furniture maker.
Willa Ford
During the peak of the Britney Spears/Christina Aguilera/Jessica Simpson years, Willa Ford was another pop diva poised to make it big. Her song "I Wanna Be Bad" is still a total bop, but Willa isn't living the music video life anymore. She now works as an interior designer and has her own firm.
Jon Gosselin
For years, Jon Gosselin was one of America's favorite reality TV dads, starting with Jon & Kate Plus 8. He seemed like the calm one, putting up with his then-wife Kate's high energy, high nagging approach to marriage and parenting their eight children. Then, of course, the marriage fell apart, the show fell apart, and things seemed to get awfully dicey for both Jon and Kate. Jon seems more stable now and currently works in IT services for Amazon, in addition to doing DJ gigs on the side.
Rick Moranis
Rick Moranis was a busy actor in the 1980s and early 1990s, starring in big comedy hits including Spaceballs and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. After he lost his wife to cancer in 1991, he quit acting to become a full-time single dad to his two children. Now that his kids are grown, there are some signs that he might be open to fame again. He recently signed on for a part in an upcoming film called Shrunk.
