Actors Who Decided To Take A Break From Acting In 2022
While it may look glamorous, life as a Hollywood actor can be a difficult job. Long hours, grueling shoots, the emotional and physical demands. On occasion, the biggest names in the industry are able to leverage their power in order to work fewer hours than the rest of the cast and crew (such as Elizabeth Taylor, who famously had it in her contract that she would not work more than eight hours a day), but even then, life on set is a grind.
So, you can't blame actors for wanting to take a break every now and again. Long hours and exotic shooting locations make it particularly difficult on those who have families and loved ones they have to leave behind for long periods of time.
Fortunately, the wonderful world of streaming offers deep catalogs to revisit the classics of many on-hiatus stars. If you're a fan of the soon-to-be-on-vacation stars below, don't be looking for anything new anytime soon. They've posted a none-too-subtle "Out of Office" status for the benefit of moviegoers around the globe, and instead of scripts, they'll likely be catching up on their beach reading.
Sandra Bullock
Bullock's most recent film, "The Lost City," was met with excitement from fans and well-received by critics. Some saw it as a return to form for the veteran actress and the rom-com genre overall, which has languished in quality in recent years. But, while there was a lot of excitement around the film itself, the announcement Bullock made during the press tour may have eclipsed it in newsworthiness.
"I can be creative, I can be part of a community," she told CBS Sunday Morning, announcing plans to take a break from acting following the release of the film. "But right now, work in front of the camera needs to take a pause."
Bullock said it's important for her to be at home and present with her family at this stage in her life. The star knew going into shooting "The Lost City" that it was going to be her last film "for a while," but clarified that she doesn't know how long "a while" will last at this point.
Speaking with Entertainment Tonight around the same time, Bullock elaborated, noting that she puts her all into work projects, and now she wants to put her all into family life. "I take my job very seriously when I'm at work, and it's [a 24/7 job]. And I just want to be 24/7 with my babies and my family," she said. Luckily, Bullock has given us no shortage of movies to watch during her sabbatical — take your pick.
Jim Carrey
While on the press tour for "Sonic the Hedgehog 2," Carrey spoke about his desire to take an extended break from acting. Talking with Access Hollywood, he said "I've done enough. I am enough," and suggested that he's actually considering retiring for good.
He's not completely ruling out future projects, however. "It depends," he added. "If the angels bring some sort of script that's written in gold ink that says to me that it's going to be really important for people to see, I might continue down the road, but I'm taking a break."
Speaking with Entertainment Tonight a few days later, Carrey clarified his comments. "Honestly, I feel like there's so many things, because I've been so busy for so long, important things that I've ignored," he added, citing painting, making NFTs and watching "Mystery Science Theater" as examples. "Other than that, I'm going to strive for un-exceptionalism ... I want to be frighteningly normal. Nothing going on. Whole lotta nothing."
So, what's the one thing that could bring Carrey back into the Hollywood fold? Apparently, it's Dolly Parton. Carrey noted that he would "always speak to Dolly" if she ever wanted him to appear in her biopic.
Tom Holland
While most of the actors who have announced breaks have children and have been in the business for many years, it's only fair that younger actors be allowed to take a break too. Tom Holland may be one of the biggest names in Hollywood right now, but he's not keen on working non-stop forever.
Speaking with CinePop in February of 2022, Holland shared his plans for the immediate future. "I am going back to shoot a TV show for Apple, which I'm really excited about," he said of "The Crowded Room," a mental health anthology series that will star Holland as a man with multiple personalities. "But I can confidently say that after I finish that TV show, I will be taking a break."
Holland didn't say how long this proposed break might last, but he has spoken about taking time off before. In December of 2021, he spoke with People about his eagerness to start a family.
"I've spent the last six years being so focused on my career," he said. "I want to take a break and focus on starting a family and figuring out what I want to do outside of this world."
Though he's only twenty-five years old, Holland (who is dating his "Spider-Man" franchise co-star Zendaya) is already envisioning what family life would be like. "I love kids. I can't wait to be a dad," he said. "I can wait and I will, but I can't wait!"
Benedict Cumberbatch
Tom Holland isn't the only MCU star who wants to take a break from superheroing in the near future. Fresh off the success of "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," the doctor himself has announced plans to take some time off. Speaking with IGN in May of 2022, Benedict Cumberbatch explained that being an actor and a dad can get quite complicated at times. "It gets very multiversal in real life as well," he said.
When asked which variant of himself he would most like to be, he responded: "I guess one that's less busy, maybe ... I might be that variant very soon, which is nice — taking a bit of a break." After playing multiple different versions of his character in "Madness," it's only fitting that Cumberbatch will now have the time to be just one version of himself at home with his wife and kids.
So when will Cumberbatch return to screens? The next several movies on the MCU docket ("Thor: Love and Thunder" and "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" among them) likely won't require Marvel's resident sorcerer, so it seems as if both Doctor Strange and Cumberbatch will get the break they have so thoroughly earned.
Ryan Reynolds
Sandra Bullock isn't the only star of "The Proposal" who has decided to take a break from acting in 2022. At the end of 2021, Ryan Reynolds spoke with LinkedIn about his career, noting that while he's done "a lot of [acting], the biggest thing for me, and I know you have kids as well, is that I don't want to miss this time with my kids."
Reynolds has three kids with wife Blake Lively, and has starred in or voiced 8 films since 2018. He is also co-founder of the creative agency Maximum Effort, Chief Creative Officer of software platform MNTN and co-owner and creative director of Aviation Gin (well, until recently). Taking time off from acting, he explained, will allow him to focus on such projects while providing a better sense of normalcy for his family.
"I want my kids to have a pretty normal schedule," Reynolds explained. "For many years when my wife Blake would shoot a film, I would not shoot a film and I would be with the kids and vice versa. So we would sort of trade off. We never really worked at the same time. But always we were away. So the kids were away too."
Though he described his break from acting as a "sabbatical" on Instagram in late 2021, he does have several projects on the horizon. There's the John Krasinski film "If," which is slated for a 2023 release, the in-the-can Will Ferrell Christmas comedy "Spirited," and the much-anticipated "Deadpool 3."