14 Actors Who Had One Major Role And Then Called It Quits

The Major Role: Peter Ostrum was 12 years old when he scored the lead role of Charlie Bucket in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Charlie is the poor kid who wins the Golden Ticket for the coveted chance to visit Wonka's chocolate factory. Ostrum had no acting experience at the time. Thanks to Charlie's kind-heartedness and honesty, the newspaper boy becomes the heir to the candy empire. 

What Happened After: Charlie Bucket turned out to be Ostrum's lone big-screen role. He enjoyed the experience of being in a major motion picture, but still opted to retire from the movie business for good at the age of 13. Most people don't remember that when the now-cult classic premiered in the early '70s, it wasn't a hit. That all changed when Roald Dahl's adaptation was released on home video a decade later. 

Ostrum opted to pursue a more traditional career path. After his parents got a horse when he was a teenager living in Ohio, he grew interested in the veterinarian who came to check up on the animal. Ostrum decided at that point to become a vet. "Everybody thinks that acting is such a glamorous profession, but it's a difficult profession," said Ostrum. "I can remember the veterinarian coming out and taking care of the horses, and it made a huge impression on me."

The Major Role: Tami Stronach played the Childlike Empress (AKA Moon Child) in the 1984 children's fantasy classic The NeverEnding Story. The box-office hit is one of the most magical films of the 1980s. The movie's most endearing character is the immortal benevolent ruler of Fantastica. The Childlike Empress is only in two scenes in the entire film, yet the entire narrative revolves around her. 

What Happened After: Stronach was just 10 years old and acting in a community theater in California when a casting agent spotted her. She won the role of Moon Child and enjoyed working on the movie. "The experience of being inside of these vast sets and mingling with the army of creatives who brought Fantasia to life definitely took my sense of wonder to a new level," she said. "Also, the message of the film is to keep that childlike part of us alive, and I took that message to heart." 

However, neither Stronach nor her parents were ready for all the trappings that come with being a movie star. "I did not desperately want to be a star. I desperately wanted to act," Stronach said. "Those are two different things."

When the film became a smash hit, Stronach revealed that older men found her address and even showed up at her family's house in California. One producer even wanted her for a nude role in his film. The unwanted and creepy attention turned off the young girl and her parents to Hollywood.  

"The bottom line is my parents just weren't equipped to be managers. We weren't in it for the money, and we certainly weren't in it for the fame," Stronach said. "I think if I had moved to LA and they had decided to help me hunt for projects, we could have found those. But that was just not a step we as a family were going to take."

After Stronach graduated from high school, she moved to New York to pursue a career as a professional dancer. She went on to have a successful career in the city. She later opened up her own company and taught dance at Marymount Manhattan College.

The Major Role: Carrie Henn played the wide-eyed Rebecca "Newt" Jordan in James Cameron's 1986 horror sci-fi sequel Aliens. Henn was just 9 years old during the movie's production. It was her first and only acting role. Newt becomes an orphan after her entire family and settlement are slain in a Xenomorph attack on her home colony. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) becomes the young child's surrogate mother and the two form a memorable and unbreakable bond. 

What Happened After: Aliens became one of the most successful science-fiction films of all time. Henn insisted while out promoting the movie that she was not interested in a film career, and she never changed her mind later in life. Her decision to leave show business apparently had nothing to do with her time on the set of Aliens, which she enjoyed: "I wasn't nervous about being on set, because I knew everybody, and they were very friendly."

Henn went to college and worked as a school teacher in Northern California. She will occasionally attend Aliens conventions. "It’s very weird, because I have a daughter who's now the age I was when I made the movie, and she's like my clone," she said. "So as I'm watching it, it's like watching my daughter up there."

The Major Role: Danny Lloyd was just 5 years old when he took on Danny Torrance in the now-horror classic The Shining. The 1980 Stephen King adaptation, which was directed by famed perfectionist Stanley Kubrick, became Lloyd's only big-screen movie role. In the film, young Danny is blessed (or perhaps cursed) with the psychic ability to "shine," which allows him to detect spirits in the Overlook Hotel. Danny is Jack (Jack Nicholson) and Wendy's (Shelley Duvall) son. 

Danny's one-take Big Wheel ride through the Overlook has been studied by cinema lovers for decades. Additionally, his finger-wagging imaginary friend Tony and "Redrum" are forever etched in pop-culture movie lore. 

What Happened After: Lloyd became a biology professor at a community college in Kentucky. He got married and had four kids. In 2017, he did an extensive interview with The Guardian detailing his post-Hollywood life. "I don’t do many interviews," he said. "But when I do, I try to make it clear, The Shining was a good experience. I look back on it fondly. What happened to me was I didn't really do much else after the film. So you kind of have to lay low and live a normal life."

Lloyd admitted to not even realizing he was making a horror film. He also had no idea Kubrick was putting his movie mom Duvall through the proverbial wringer throughout filming. Lloyd attempted to land more acting work after The Shining. However, he gave up the craft for good at around 13 years old. Lloyd said the rejection never got to him, but he was simply ready to quit.  It's a decision he still doesn't lament.

"I don’t regret trying acting," he said. "When I decided to stop, I don't regret that either. At the end of the day, it's not a huge deal. Well, it is and it isn't. I still have to grade the tests at school, get the kids to bed. All the regular stuff."

The Major Role: Josh Saviano (not Marilyn Manson) played Paul Pfeiffer on the nostalgia-driven coming-of-age series The Wonder Years for six seasons. Paul is Kevin Arnold's (Fred Savage) nerdy but sweet best friend. The show centers on Kevin's life. He often brings his girl problems to Paul, who is always there to help him. 

Paul is a loyal friend to Kevin. However, the two eventually drift apart. It's revealed that Paul goes on to attend Harvard University and ultimately becomes a lawyer.

What Happened After: Saviano decided to retire from acting following The Wonder Years. He stayed away from show business except for a three-episode arc on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit beginning in 2014. Saviano attended Yale University, and much like his small-screen character, eventually became a lawyer. Saviano also started an independent advisory firm "designed exclusively for artists, entertainers, athletes, influencers and other creatives."

The Major Role: George Lucas hired Jake Lloyd to play young Anakin Skywalker (the future Darth Vader) in the first installment of his long-anticipated prequel trilogy. Lloyd was just 9 years old when he took on the origin story of perhaps the most celebrated villain in film history. Unfortunately, he didn't have a lot of acting experience under his belt. Many diehard Star Wars fans criticized Lloyd's performance, which probably had more to do with the script and Lucas's direction than his acting chops.

What Happened After: Instead of living the Hollywood dream, Lloyd said playing young Anakin turned his life "into a living hell." Other kids bullied him at school. Lloyd decided to retire from acting in 2001, and he never went back. "I've learned to hate it when the cameras are pointed at me," he said.

Unfortunately, the young man got into trouble with the law. Lloyd was arrested in 2015 for reckless driving and assaulting his mother. His mother later explained that her son suffered from schizophrenia. He also spent time in a psychiatric facility.