7 Child Stars Who Ditched Showbiz

At least they're not in the tabloids for all the wrong reasons
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 25, 2014 8:50 AM CDT
7 Child Stars Who Ditched Showbiz
This image released by 1993 TriStar Pictures, Inc. shows Meg Ryan as Annie Reed, left, Ross Malinger as Jonah Baldwin and Tom Hanks as Sam Baldwin, right, in a scene from "Sleepless in Seattle."   (AP Photo/1993 TriStar Pictures, Inc.)

Not all child stars grow up to be Lindsay Lohan or Amanda Bynes. Radar rounds up some who turned their backs on fame:

  • Lisa Jakub, who played Robin Williams' older daughter in Mrs. Doubtfire, left the business at age 22 because she had "no desire to be a cautionary tale," she once wrote. "I decided I should leave before I became one of those alcoholic/eating disorder ravaged/drug addicted train wrecks."
  • Mara Wilson, who played Williams' younger daughter in the same movie, also quit acting, because it's just not her "thing," the writer and playwright explained in 2012. (Last year she penned a piece on why child actors go nuts.)

  • Josh Saviano, perhaps better known as Paul from the Wonder Years, is now a New York attorney.
  • Ariana Richards, who played Lex Murphy in Jurassic Park, is now a professional painter.
  • Ross Malinger, who played Tom Hanks' son in Sleepless in Seattle, managed a car dealership in Malibu. But it closed in 2009, and it's not clear what he's been doing since.
  • Lori Beth Denberg, who played Lydia Liza Gutman on The Steve Harvey Show, is now an ordained minister who officiates "personalized, quirky weddings" and gives motivational speeches.
  • Andrea Barber, AKA Kimmy Gibbler from Full House, is currently a full-time mom, but she's also worked at a college.
Click for the full list, and pictures. (More child star stories.)

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