After Drew Barrymore emancipated herself from her mother at 14 , she catch a business at the Living Room , a coffeehouse near her apartment that " take place to be one of the big LA hot spots at dark . " Her boss hired her " on the novel theme of having a wash off - up former child player behind the tabulator . " alas , she was n’t very good at that job .
A lot of celebs — such asSelena GomezandMiley Cyrus— made the transition from child star to a “grown up” career without stepping away from the limelight. Other times, however, a former child actor struggles to make the leap to more mature roles, or they simply want to take a break from Hollywood, so they end up in a job outside of entertainment for a while. Some decide not to get back into performing at all.
Here are 16 child stars who grew up and got “normal” jobs (at least for a little while):
1.The summer before his first semester at the University of Pennsylvania,Stranger ThingsactorNoah Schnappworked as a lifeguard at a summer camp.
He toldFlaunt Magazine , " It ’s kind of a ' just for sport thing . ' I ’ve kind of grown up with a normal life and normal friends and material outside ofStranger thing , so it ’s kind of hold me grounded . "
He, of course, continues to appear inStranger Things. He also starred in the thrillerThe Tutor.
2.AfterThat’s So Ravenended, Anneliese van der Pol was on Broadway and had several other smaller onscreen roles. While living in New York, she also worked in several restaurants to support herself.
On herBig Name Bi*chespodcast , she read , " I was really proud of myself ; you had to do a batch of multitasking … [ But ] the disappointment , the look , the drop of faces when [ citizenry ] recognized me , was truly gut wrench . It ’s almost like I had to say , ' I ’m o.k. . I ’m really really happy that I do n’t have to audition and am doing something I get it on I ’m good at . ' "
She once served fellow Disney Channel alum Ashley Tisdale . Anneliese say , " I wanna say she was lovely , but … She did n’t do anything , but she was uncomfortable for me . She was so uncomfortable . It was like I had to [ be like ] , ' I ’m fine , girlfriend ! ' "
In 2017, she made her return to Disney Channel reprising her role as Chelsea Daniels onRaven’s Home.
3.As the supporting roles he was booking started paying less,Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guideactor Devon Werkheiser ran out of his savings. So, when he was about 25, he “got a 9-to-5 for the first time in [his] life.”
He toldInsider , " The only matter I knew to do was to go get some hourly job and start working my agency out of my berth … It was a real wakeup call for me . My parents also got divorce around this metre , so life really just smacked me around for a while . The next storey I ’d been trying to get to career - smart was n’t happening , and then my personal life was n’t a walk in the park either . I realized I still had a flock to see about adult spirit . "
From 2019–2021, Devon and some of his former costars and crew membersworkedto get an adulthood-focusedNed’s Declassifiedreboot off the ground, but Nickelodeon and Awesomeness TV unfortunately passed and barred them from pitching it elsewhere. However, in 2023, he launched his own podcast,Growing Up with Devon Werkheiser.
4.After six years of vying for the lead inLife of Pi, then not booking it,Mean Girlsactor Rajiv Surendramovedto Munich, where he worked as an au pair for a year. Upon his return to Toronto, he started his own small business doing calligraphy, which eventually led him to move to New York. He also did a pottery apprenticeship.
In late 2022, he launched hisYouTube channel, where he creates DIY, home, and lifestyle content.
5.AfterFull Housewrapped, Andrea Barberleftacting for academia. She got her bachelor’s in English from Whittier College and her master’s in women’s studies from the University of York. Then, she got a job at the Whittier College’s Office of International Programs as the assistant to the director.
She returned to acting over two decades later, reprising the role of Kimmy Gibbler onFuller House.
6.After feeling like he let his high school varsity water polo team down by missing a month of practice to filmThe Lizzie McGuire Movie, Clayton Snyder decided to retire from acting. He went on to play water polo at Pepperdine University, then play professionally in Italy before becoming a real estate agent.
He does n’t " shy away " from being recognized as Ethan Craft , but he also does n’t " lean " into it to draw in node .
He toldE ! News , " I would really like it to be you want to work with me because I ’m really good at what I do , and if it ’s a dainty piece of trivia that I ’m ' that guy wire , ' then that ’s marvellous . We ’ve had sight of guest , where halfway through showing them homes , they ’re like , ' My wife and I just determine out who you are , and we ca n’t think it ! ' But that take a leak me feel good because I have a go at it that ’s not why they ’re working with me . "
He got back intoactingabout a decade afterLizzie McGuireended. He actuallydiscussedpotentially joining the reboot for Disney+ with Hilary Duff, but the project was canceled before he could even get a script.
7.OnceThe Suite Life on Deckended, Dylan Sprouse enrolled at NYU. He also worked as a restaurant host.
OnTumblr , he said , " To earn up the atmosphere ( which is admittedly moderately rude ) , I did not take this job because I ' lose all my money . ' I am financially secure , and took this chore as a way to primarily feed my over handsome TV plot habituation . I also [ see ] this as a way to try a new experience , working somewhat below the means I ’m used to , as well as a path to socialize and get out of the sign of the zodiac . I palpate most comfortable when I ’m working and doing something , to pick apart someone [ for ] that is pretty unmatched . "
After graduating, he opened theAll-Wise Meaderyusing the recipes he developed in his dorm room. He also returned to acting with roles in smaller productions likeDismissedandBanana Split.
8.Dylan’s twin brother Cole Sprouse also studied at NYU. While studying GIS, which is “basically like a virtual cartography and [he] was applying it to archaeology,” he was part of a few excavations around the world. He then “had a job in Brooklyn in some dingy lab in a basement in Williamsburg.”
OnLive with Kelly and Ryan , Cole add , " But , then I came back around … The arts promise back . "
Two years after graduation, he returned to acting, playing Jughead Jones onRiverdale.
9.After her Nickeloden seriesGame Shakersended, Madisyn Shipman worked a minimum wage job at a gym rather than pursue acting because she thought she needed “real life experience.”
She told theZach Sang Show , " My parents think it would be a good idea . [ My daddy ’s ] like , ' You need to have customer service skills for living . This is gon na be good . It ’s gon na learn you that what you put out into the world is n’t what you always get . You ’ve get ta forge hard for thing , and there ’s gon na be crappy moments in life , and you got ta get over it . ' … He wanted me to be machinate and have a backup program in place in pillowcase [ acting ] did n’t play out . "
She had a few acting roles, but she eventuallybeganmaking a “lot more” money as a Playboy creator than she did as an actor. She also has a self-funded music career.
10.Several years afterBoy Meets Worldended, Danielle Fishel enrolled at California State University, Fullerton. She was alsorecruitedto work at Bloomingdale’s after the manager saw her wrapping a wedding gift she’d purchased for a former costar.
OnPod Meets World , she explained that , at the sentence , the bank clerk had shut down the cash register due to the storage being slow and refused to reopen it , so she state her , " I have no trouble wrapping it . Can you just give me the materials , and I ’ll envelop it right here ? "
The manager complimented her talent - wrap skills and cave in her his menu . She later filled out the covering , initially planning to only stay through the holiday , but she ended up keeping the line longer because she was " really ripe " at customer service .
In college , she alsoworkedas a math tutor , which is how she contact her first hubby , Tim Belusko .
She also continued to act, most notably reprising her role as Topanga Lawrence inGirl Meets World.
11.After Drew Barrymore emancipated herself from her mother at 14, she got a job at the Living Room, a coffeehouse near her apartment that “happened to be one of the big LA hot spots at night.”
In her memoirWildflower , she wrote , " I was n’t gravid at my chore . I was n’t really keen at anything . I had only done two thing : acted and had dotty life experiences . But neither of those organize you for the real world … I could tell my boss , who had rent me on the novel idea of having a wash - up former child role player behind the sideboard , was patient with all my acquisition breaking ball , but was also pissed off with me . "
She, of course, got back into acting, next appearing inMotoramaandPoison Ivy.
He toldVulture , " I was happy work behind the camera , but this entire time , something felt up missing . When those opportunities dry out up , I spent a long time endeavor to convince myself that I did n’t wish acting anymore . I did n’t need to mistreat away with the feeling that it was because there were no opportunity . I was lie to myself . "
Then, the success ofCrazy Rich Asiansin 2018inspiredhim to try again. Within a few weeks of hiring a new agent, he bookedEverythingEverywhere All At Once, which he went on towinan Oscar for.
13.Alongside acting and screenwriting,Wizards of Waverly PlacestarJennifer Stonealso became an ER nurse.
She toldDeadline , " It still retain to blow my mind — all of the analog that I have found and continue to take about [ between breast feeding and acting ] . I ’ve been an actor since the age of 6 . … For so long , I ’ve develop reference and just research human nature and what makes citizenry , people . I guess it strengthen your sense of empathy , and it fortify your expanse of questioning of why people do what they do . It also leads me to an understanding that masses are very much the same . Regardless of your scope , circumstances , choices , we ’re all very much the same — and acting gives you that talent . In nursing , you amount across so many unlike kinds of people that to be able-bodied to view people that fashion is such a endowment . To be able to say , ' I may not know what you ’re go through because I in person have n’t gone through it , but I can only imagine and I ’m here to take heed . I ’m here to empathize . I ’m here with you for whatever you need me to do . ' I do n’t know if I would have been able to do that as effectively without being an doer . "
Her most recent acting role is inThe In-Between, which shefilmedduring summer break from nursing school. She also launched her podcastWizards of Waverly Podin 2023.
14.Kay Panabaker, who appeared in many Disney Channel projects, retired from acting afterBeverly Hills Chihuahua 3: Viva la Fiesta!However, she went on to become an Associate Animal Keeper at Animal Kingdom in Walt Disney World.
She toldNaperville powder store , " I no longer had that love , that passion . WithSummerland , I loved depart to exploit . I guess my discontentment started several years subsequently on another goggle box show I was on . By contrast , it was n’t a good experience . The cast did n’t seem to love it . The producers did n’t seem into it . The crew was always changing . The kicker for me was when a producer assure me that they were buy the farm to be bring on a love interestingness for me , and that I needed to lose exercising weight because of that ; I was just a hundred pounds . I did n’t think this was a good reason for a character to lose system of weights … I was 21 at the time the show terminate . I spent a couple years after that in LA , still auditioning , but the mania was n’t there . With my parents ' assistance , I began to re - evaluate my life . I conk back to school and entered an 18 - month creature program in Gainesville , Florida at Santa Fe College . I did an internship at Disney World , and then I was hired … Looking back , finding my true love was deserving all of the superfluous clock time . "
15.Blossomstar Mayim Bialik never fully stopped acting, but she balanced her career with academics,earninga PhD in neuroscience from UCLA. She taught neuroscience for five years before getting back into acting full-time.
OnPopcorn with Peter Travers , she say , " The honest story is I was running out of wellness insurance and figured if I could even get a couple of playing job here and there , and if it ’s enough to get you your Screen Actors Guild AFTRA wellness insurance policy , we would at least have indemnity . "
Her Season 3 recurring role onThe Big Bang Theorybecame a regular role in Season 4.
16.And finally, Reed Alexander, who’s most well-known foriCarly, is a journalist who currently covers media and entertainment atInsider. Previously, he was a financial reporter. In 2022, he began working at the University of Miami as an adjunct journalism professor.
Being interviewed as an role player inspired him to pursue a news media vocation .
He toldthe Miami Hurricane , " I recognized that I wanted to be in the position where I could ask the questions and I could write stories and decide what words to use and essentially impart floor to life to viewers . "
He reprised the role of Nevel Papperman onSam & Catas well as theiCarlyrevival on Paramount+.
