by Michele BirdBuzzFeed Contributor

If you've ever "quit" a job, sometimes you realize you want to give it another go. Hollywood has had its fair share of actors who stepped away from the spotlight, only to return years later. Here are the celebs who left the industry and made unexpected comebacks:

To start, Rick Moranis made a name for himself with roles in Ghostbusters, Spaceballs, and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. When his wife died in 1991, he stepped back from onscreen roles to focus on raising his kids. "I was working with really interesting people, wonderful people," he said. "I went from that to being at home with a couple of little kids, which is a very different lifestyle. But it was important to me." He took various voice acting roles throughout the '00s, but will reprise his role as Wayne Szalinski in the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids reboot.

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After appearing in 2014's Annie, Cameron Diaz took a break from acting. "It felt like the right thing for me to do to reclaim my own life, and I just really didn't care about anything else," she said. "Nobody's opinion, nobody's success, no one's offer, no one's anything could change my mind about my decision of taking care of myself and building the life that I really wanted to have." During that time, she married musician Benji Madden and welcomed two kids. In 2025, she finally made her return as Emily in Back in Action alongside Jamie Foxx.

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In 2009, Kal Penn took a hiatus from acting to pursue a new role in the White House. He later returned to acting with recent roles in Industry, American Horror Story, and Designated Survivor.

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Winona Ryder "checked out" of Hollywood after being arrested for shoplifting in 2001. While she had minor roles throughout the '00s, she truly made her comeback when she got cast as Joyce Byers in Stranger Things.

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Macaulay Culkin got his start as a child actor, starring in Home Alone, Uncle Buck, and My Girl. At age 14, he took a break from acting for almost 10 years to focus on being a normal teen. "When I was younger, I never worked with people my own age. I was always working with adults," he said. "I had a yearning to go to school, to have contemporaries and things like that." But he didn't permanently leave Hollywood and has had recent roles in American Horror Story, Zootopia 2, and Fallout.

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Ke Huy Quan quit acting in 2002, after rising to fame for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies. During his 20-year break, he shifted his focus to working as an assistant and stunt coordinator. Watching Crazy Rich Asians inspired him to return to the big screen in 2021. He's since had roles in Everything Everywhere All at Once, Loki, and Zootopia 2. "I was happy working behind the camera, but I had serious FOMO," he said. "I wanted to be up there with my fellow Asian actors!"

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Shelley Duvall rose to fame for her roles in The Shining, 3 Women, and Popeye. In 2002, she took a long break from acting and didn't return to the silver screen until 2023. Her final film appearance was in The Forest Hills Festival Cut before she passed away at age 75 in 2024.

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Tobey Maguire was an absolutely unforgettable Spider-Man in the '00s. After appearing in 2017's The Boss Baby, he took a few years off before reviving his Spidey senses for Spider-Man: No Way Home alongside Tom Holland and Andrew Garfield.

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Joe Pesci quit acting in the late '90s to focus on music. While he had a cameo in 2006's The Good Shepherd, he really made his comeback as Charlie Bontempo in 2010's Love Ranch.

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10.

In 2017, Daniel Day-Lewis retired from acting after appearing as Reynolds Woodcock in Phantom Thread. He decided to make an exception seven years later to appear in Anemone, a film directed by his son Ronan Day-Lewis. They also co-wrote the script together.

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11.

In 2018, Hayden Panettiere took a short break from acting after starring in 124 episodes of Nashville. "I had taken four years off. Didn't know or plan to, but that's just the way it panned out," she said. "And I desperately needed it." She returned to film in 2023 as Kirby Reed in Scream VI.

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12.

Jane Fonda thought she wouldn't return to acting after she wed her third husband, Ted Turner, in 1991. Lucky for us, she revived her career by starring as Viola Fields in 2005's Monster-in-Law. Her recent roles include Grace and Frankie, Book Club: The Next Chapter, and 80 for Brady.

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13.

Evan Peters took a one-year break after portraying serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer in 2022's Monster. "I

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