The odds of scoring a role in a single movie or TV show are tiny. You stand a better chance of winning the lottery than finding consistent work as an actor, let alone fame. So it’s not surprising some of our favorite screen actors went on to traditional jobs post-fame.
10 Celebrities With Totally Normal Jobs
Charlie Korsmo
Korsmo was the quintessential “kid” in 90s films (Dick Tracy, Hook), but like most child-actors, he struggled to find work post-puberty. The kid’s no slouch though–he earned a physics degree from MIT and a law degree from Yale. After passing the Bar, he became a law professor.
Mike Vitar
Vitar earned early fame for his role in the incomparable baseball movie, The Sandlot, as Benny the Jet. He got parts in the Mighty Ducks sequels, NYPD Blue, and Chicago Hope. Something about acting in shows about the boys in blue must have got under Vitar’s skin. He joined the LA Fire Department after retiring from acting.
Austin St. John
Despite the instant success of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the show wrote out three characters before the second season for pay disputes. St. John, the Red Ranger, among them. He worked as a paramedic in Washington D.C. before retiring to the comic book convention circuit.
David Lee Roth
After leaving Van Halen, Roth would ride-along in ambulances to 911 calls to become a licensed EMT in New York. He ended up reuniting with Van Halen for their 2007 tour, but he told The Guardian in 2012, “I probably have over 200 911 calls on my ticket in the last six years alone. I live a very different life away from music.”
Taran Noah Smith
The kid on Home Improvement who wasn’t Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Smith founded a vegan food company called Playfood. They make nut-based dairy-free alternatives to cheddar cheese, cream cheese, and sour cream.
Jeff Cohen
Chunk from The Goonies struggled to find acting work after charming the world with his truffle shuffle. But the business side of the acting world interested him more. Cohen became an entertainment lawyer. Do you think judges ever ask to see him shuffle?
Peter Ostrum
Gene Wilder’s co-star in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, while a talented actor, wasn’t passionate about the entertainment industry. He became a veterinarian in upstate New York.
Chris Owens
The embodiment of awkward puberty, Owens had roles in four films within a year, including American Pie, Can’t Hardly Wait, and She’s All That. Post-puberty, acting work dried up. He worked as a server before finding his second act as a photographer.
Erik Estrada
In a life-imitates-art turn of events, Estrada went from playing a motorcycle cop in CHiPs to becoming an actual police officer in Idaho. You have to believe that motorists are delighted when Estrada pulls them over.
Cameron Diaz
The well-known actress retired in 2014 after the film ‘Annie’. While she refers to motherhood as her primary occupation now, she’s also written two health books.