Child Actors Who Went On To Have Successful Non-Acting Careers

What she starred in: Her most notable role was Winnie Cooper on The Wonder Years from 1988 until 1993. She's made numerous appearances in television and film, but she's best known for the work she did as a teenager.

What she does now: Through she remains a public figure, McKellar is famously a mathematician. She's authored several papers and is known for her work on what became known as the Chayes-McKellar-Winn theorem. Additionally, she has published four books, including Girls Get Curves: Geometry Takes Shape and Math Doesn't Suck: How to Survive Middle-School Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail. In 2014, she was recognized for her contributions to the field of mathematics with the Joint Policy Board for Mathematics (JPBM) Communications Award. 

She has continued to act, appearing on How I Met Your Mother and starring in a series of Hallmark Channel holiday films, and has also competed on Dancing With the Stars and been a judge on the Fox series Domino Masters. She generally cultivates a public profile as a means to encourage young women in STEM fields.

What he starred in: Peter Ostrum's acting career began and ended with a single performance. He played Charlie Bucket in the 1971 film, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. He wasn't too interested in pursuing acting following his experience. "The film industry just wasn’t for me,” he said in 2016.

What he does now: While filming the movie, Ostrum became interested in horses and the veterinarians who treat them. This led him to pursue a career as a veterinarian. He earned his doctorate from Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1984. He's a practicing vet in Lowville, New York. For the most part, he doesn't associate himself with Hollywood.

What he starred in: Ask anyone if they've ever seen The Goonies, and odds are, the "Truffle Shuffle" will come up at least once in the conversation. One of the best characters from that film, Chunk, was played by Jeff Cohen, but he's not acting anymore.

What he does now: After The Goonies, Cohen continued to act off and on, with most of his time spent on various television episodes, but his real passion was for the law. Cohen earned his undergrad at Berkeley and continued his education to receive his Juris Doctorate from the UCLA School of Law. He cofounded the Cohen & Garnder firm in Beverly Hills, where he practices entertainment law. 

His Goonies co-star and longtime friend Ke Huy Quan shouted Cohen out in his best supporting actor acceptance speech at the Oscars in 2023, and for good reason: Cohen negotiated his contract for Everything Everywhere All At Once. “When the producer of our movie was trying to make my deal, he said he never imagined that he’d have to talk to Chunk and Data for his movie,” Quan said.

What he starred in: Frankie Muniz stole the show that was named after his lead character in Malcolm in the Middle, and it was looking like he would remain in Hollywood forever as the series came to an end. Instead, he chose to retire from acting, having earned more than enough money to sustain himself.

What he does now: Muniz didn't retire completely; he continues to work, but has nothing to do with acting anymore. He became a race car driver and has competed seriously since around 2007. He was also the drummer in the band Kingsfoil for a while. Sadly, Muniz suffered from multiple mini-strokes over the years, which resulted in significant memory loss, but that hasn't impacted his job on the racetrack significantly: he raced a Ford Mustang in 2023's ARCA Menards Series championship at the Daytona International Speedway and maintains a consistent racing schedule.

What he starred in: Charlie Korsmo began acting at an early age, having starred in several movies including Dick Tracy and What About Bob?, but he's best known for playing Jack Banning in Hook. Following that film, Korsmo played William Lichter in Can't Hardly Wait. He retired from acting following that performance.

What he does now: After leaving acting, Korsmo earned a degree in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He followed this with a Juris Doctorate from Yale Law School, which he used to practice law in New York at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. He was also a visiting assistant professor at Brooklyn Law School. In 2011, he was nominated by President Obama to become a member of the Board of Trustees of the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation. Also in 2011, he became a professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland, where he teaches corporate finance, business associations, and torts. 

“As I recall, I mostly wanted to get out of school and make enough money to buy a Nintendo,” Korsmo explained in 2021. “I never saw acting as a lifelong career ambition.”

What he starred in: Danny Lloyd began acting with the role most everyone recognizes him for: He played Danny Torrance in Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining.

What he does now: Since leaving the world of acting behind, he went on to live a relatively normal life. He is a very private person and doesn't spend much time discussing his acting these days. in 2004, he began teaching biology as an associate professor at a community college in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. 

In 2019, he briefly appeared in the Shining sequel Doctor Sleep after a 19-year break from show business. “He’s a schoolteacher, and a very successful one at that, like making the world better," said producer Trevor Macy. "He came back for a day, and we were thrilled to have him.”