Actors We Thought Were Retired But Still Show Up On Screen

Joaquin Phoenix's star power was on the rise in the early 2000s thanks to strong, critically acclaimed performances in films such as Ridley Scott's "Gladiator," M. Night Shyamalan's "Signs," and James Mangold's "Walk the Line," for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. So it was something of a shock when Phoenix announced in October 2008 that he had retired from acting to pursue a career in music. The actor even went on David Letterman to break the news in one of the more bizarre TV interviews you'll ever see, leaving many to believe the talented star had indeed made the leap — The Guardian, among other publications, wrote a piece about his retirement following Phoenix's initial revelation at a Paul Newman-backed charity event in San Francisco.

We later found out that it was all a ruse done for the sake of a mockumentary title "I'm Still Here," which he created with his friend and brother-in-law Casey Affleck. "We wanted to do a film that explored celebrity, and the media, and consumers, and the celebrities themselves," Phoenix told Letterman in 2010. "We wanted something that would feel really authentic." "I'm Still Here" split critics upon release and accrued a meager $626,000 at the box office. 

Thankfully, Phoenix quickly moved on from the stunt performance and has since starred in some of the most critically acclaimed films of the last decade, including Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master," Spike Jonze's "Her," and Todd Phillips' blockbuster "Joker," which earned him the Oscar for Best Actor. 

Alec Baldwin is one of Hollywood's more recognizable stars, with a resume featuring roles in blockbusters such as Tim Burton's "Beetlejuice," John McTiernan's "The Hunt for Red October," Michael Bay's "Pearl Harbor," and a critically acclaimed run on the Tina Fey comedy series "30 Rock" from 2006 to 2013, among other notable gigs. 

Despite his success, the actor told Men's Journal in 2009 (via The Guardian) that he felt like his movie career was a "complete failure" and stated his intentions to retire. "Movies are a part of my past. It's been 30 years. I'm not young, but I have time to do something else," he said. The statement echoed one given to Playboy magazine (via CNN) earlier that year, where Baldwin revealed he would call it quits at the "30 Rock" wrap party in 2012.

Yet following his remarks, Baldwin has popped up in everything from "Saturday Night Live" to blockbusters such as "Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation" and its follow-up, "Mission: Impossible — Fallout." He even lent his voice to DreamWorks' "The Boss Baby" and its sequel. As to why he postponed his retirement plans, the actor told Extra in 2015: ”I thought I would be retiring from acting in about seven or eight years and now I'm going to work for the next 20 years. I've got kids — in New York!” 

In hindsight, Baldwin might have been better off tapping out as originally intended, considering the controversy that surrounded him following a fatal shooting on the set of his film "Rust."

Paul Bratter ("Barefoot in the Park"), the Sundance Kid ("Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"), Johnny Hooker ("The Sting"), Bob Woodward ("All the President's Men"), Roy Hobbs ("The Natural"), Martin Bishop ("Sneakers") ... these are just a handful of the memorable characters played by Robert Redford during his iconic, six-decade career. That doesn't include his time spent directing films such as the Academy Award-winning "Ordinary People," "Quiz Show," and "The Horse Whisperer." Which is why it was so heartbreaking to hear Redford call it quits from acting in 2018, following the completion of "The Old Man and the Gun."

"Never say never, but I pretty well concluded that this would be it for me in terms of acting, and [I'll] move towards retirement after this 'cause I've been doing it since I was 21," the legendary actor told Entertainment Weekly (via The Guardian). "I thought, 'Well, that's enough.' And why not go out with something that's very upbeat and positive?"

Following those comments, the actor still popped up for a surprise cameo in the blockbuster "Avengers: Endgame," where he reprised his "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" role as covert Hydra villain Alexander Pierce. He also lent his voice to the surreal Miami travelogue "Omniboat: A Fast Boat Fantasia": Redford plays a dolphin, a role he accepted for his grandson, Dylan, who serves as one of the 15 directors on the project. 

While Redford ultimately backtracked on his retirement statements in an interview with Variety, he has no projects on his radar for the foreseeable future. 

Iconic actor Jamie Lee Curtis has recently seen something of a career resurgence thanks to performances in 2018's "Halloween," a direct sequel to the 1978 shocker of the same name in which the actor made her big-screen debut, Rian Johnson's critically acclaimed whodunit "Knives Out," 2021's "Halloween Kills," and the A24 hit "Everything Everywhere All at Once." She will likewise reprise her role as Laurie Strode in "Halloween Ends" and is set to appear in Eli Roth's feature film adaptation of "Borderlands."

That's why it's so shocking to learn that Curtis nearly hung up her acting hat way back in 2006. During an interview with Access Hollywood to discuss her children's book, "Is There Really A Human Race?," Curtis said, "I'm not an actor anymore. I really don't imagine I'll do that again." When pressed further about her decision or if she would consider acting again, Curtis replied, "I don't think so. I just can't imagine, I'm just focused on my family and just can't imagine anything that's going to pull me away from them right now."   

We couldn't find a reason as to why Curtis returned to the world of acting, But suffice to say she will continue to add to her impressive resume for the time being. Now, can we get a "True Lies 2?"

Where does one go after appearing in monster hits such as Steven Spielberg's classic "Jaws," winning an Academy Award for "The Goodbye Girl," or battling Bill Murray in "What About Bob?" One steps away, of course. At least, that's what actor Richard Dreyfuss chose to do in the early 2000s after nearly 40 successful years in the Hollywood machine. So why step away from success?

"I feared for my country," Dreyfuss told The Hollywood Reporter in 2016, "because we had taken civics out of the curriculum and we no longer knew the values we stood for ... we didn't know anything about it anymore. So I went to England and I studied at St. Anthony's at Oxford." 

As it turns out, his hiatus was short — just four years — and he continued to pop up in supporting roles in everything from 2006's "Poseidon" to Oliver Stone's 2008 feature "W.," in which he plays Dick Cheney, to the 2010 trashy horror film "Piranha 3D." He has since returned to acting full-time, telling The Daily Mail in 2016 that he needed the money. "I went to Oxford for four years and changed the direction of my life," he explained. "Then I realized that I only had one talent to make a living, one talent to feed my family, and that was acting, so I needed to come back to it."

With a number of projects in the pipeline, it seems Dreyfuss is here to stay for the time being.

Everyone remembers Ke Huy Quan for his incredibly charismatic performances in the one-two punch of Steven Spielberg's "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" and the Spielberg-produced "The Goonies" in the mid-1980s. Then, without warning, the actor vanished from the limelight almost immediately. Quan found roles in the TV series "Nothing is Easy" and "Head of the Class," and on the big screen alongside fellow Goonie Sean Astin in "Encino Man," but none of his roles matched the heights achieved by his earlier vehicles.

As a result, in the early 2000s, Quan stepped away from acting and decided to pursue a career behind the camera as a stunt coordinator ("Enigma") and assistant director ("The One," "2046"). So it was a surprise to see Quan suddenly appear in A24's breakout 2022 hit "Everything Everywhere All at Once," where he stars alongside Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu and Jamie Lee Curtis. "It was the script that I wanted to read for decades that just didn't exist before," Quan told Cult MTL. "I loved the script so much and wanted this role so bad."

As of now, Quan has the TV series "American Born Chinese" in development. Hopefully, his return to acting will continue with bigger roles to come.