This Is What Chloe Grace Moretz Has Been Up To Since The Equalizer
Ever since Chloe Grace Moretz made her film debut in The Amityville Horror in 2005, she has established herself as a hardworking and ambitious young actress. After that role, Moretz was featured on high-profile TV shows such as Desperate Housewives and 30 Rock while landing more prominent parts in movies such as Kick-Ass, Hugo, and Let Me In.
One of Moretz's breakthrough movie moments came when she appeared in 2014's The Equalizer as teenage prostitute Alina, opposite Denzel Washington's Bob McCall. Alina's mistreatment at the hands of her pimp kicks off McCall's international tour of vengeance. While Moretz appears only briefly, her portrayal of an aspiring singer caught in a world of violence provides a meaningful framework for the movie's nonstop action. When the film caught critics by surprise and become one of the biggest Denzel Washington movies of all time, it helped introduce Moretz to a vast new audience.
Moretz has kept busy ever since 2014, appearing in multiple films, often in starring roles, almost every year that followed. Here is what Chloe Grace Moretz has been up to since The Equalizer.
Chloe Grace Moretz's roles often had a more mature tone after The Equalizer
Once Chloe Grace Moretz demonstrated her range in The Equalizer, she began to receive central roles in films that often exhibited a more mature tone than her work before 2014. While Moretz only appeared in one film in 2015, called The Dark Places, in 2016, she appeared in three films in which she was either the lead or one of the primary characters in an ensemble.
In 2016, Moretz starred in Brain on Fire as Susannah Cahalan, a writer for The New York Post who suffers from a difficult-to-diagnose brain condition. Moretz also starred in the adaptation of the young adult sci-fi series The 5th Wave. While The 5th Wave flopped and Brain on Fire failed to impress critics, the films did demonstrate that Moretz was comfortable taking charge in her movies.
Critics and audiences were kinder to Moretz's other big film in 2016, Neighbours 2: Sorority Rising. In that film, Moretz plays Shelby, a young woman in college who attempts to open a new sorority chapter next to the house that Seth Rogen's character, Mac, is trying to sell. While Neighbors 2 didn't achieve the box office results that the original did, many considered it a solid sequel made better by Moretz's involvement.
Moretz took a break to reconsider her roles after 2016
While Chloe Grace Moretz had a lot of momentum from her leading roles in 2016, she decided to reevaluate her commitments toward the end of the year. The actress felt that the demanding schedule of producing several movies per year, now often in a lead role, had caused her to lose her focus and passion for acting, leaving her preoccupied with box office returns. As Moretz told The Hollywood Reporter, "So I pulled the plug on all my movies because I want to reassess who I am and find myself within my roles again."
Although the exact number of roles Moretz walked away from is unknown, her choice at least cost her a starring role in the live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid, which was announced in late 2015. As a result, the only 2017 film that Moretz appeared in was November Criminals, a poorly received crime drama. Moretz's other 2017 film, I Love You, Daddy, was not given a wide release in the aftermath of sexual misconduct allegations brought against the film's writer and director, Louis C.K.
Chloe Grace Moretz has been featured in multiple animated projects
After taking a step back in 2017, Chloe Grace Moretz returned to a slate of starring roles and had parts in various animated features. In 2018, the actress appeared in three films, all in a leading role. These include the mysterious horror fantasy film Suspiria with Tilda Swinton, Neil Jordan's psychological thriller Greta, and the teen drama The Miseducation of Cameron Post. While each of these films was a relatively low-budget affair, all received better critical receptions than many of Moretz's projects before her career reassessment.
Moretz has also appeared in multiple animated projects, both as a voice actress and an on-camera character. In 2019, she voiced Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family and Snow White in Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs, a South Korean reimagining of the famous fairy tale. Most recently, Moretz starred in 2021's Tom & Jerry as Kayla, a wedding planner who makes the mistake of pitting Tom against Jerry. While the movie's opening was impacted by the continuing effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the film industry, the film also premiered on HBO Max the same day it arrived in theaters, giving it an expanded audience.