When we think of actors, we think of life filled with fame, glam, and glitz. We think of actors like Al Pachino, Meryl Streep, or Tom Cruise, who’ve had long careers spanning decades and continue to act irrespective of age. Yet, some actors have had short careers in Hollywood, some voluntarily and some involuntarily. Here is a list of fourteen actors with the shortest Hollywood career.
James Dean
James Dean is one of those actors who had very short but very successful careers. Dean was an American actor during the 50s; his acting career lasted only five years, during which he acted in only three films. His three films were hits, giving him a 100% success rate. Dean is the only actor to receive posthumous Oscar nominations.
James Dean was typecast as a troubled young man, a rebel. His brooding looks and method of acting won people’s hearts. His acting career was cut short due to his death in a tragic car accident.
Luise Rainer
Luise Rainer was a German-born American actress in the 1930s. She was the first person to win the Academy Award for Best Actress in consecutive years, 1936 and 1937. Rainer’s acting career only lasted three years, during which she acted in seven big films and a few small films.
She retired from acting within three years and said that winning consecutive Oscars was the worst thing that had happened to her because it led to high expectations from audiences and unimportant roles from studios.
Mara Wilson
Mara Wilson was a child actress in the 1990s best known for Matilda and Mrs. Doubtfire. She got critical acclaim for her performance in Matilda, a movie adaptation of Roald Dahl’s novel. Despite her success, Wilson retired from acting in the year 2000. She quoted many reasons for her retirement, the major being puberty and her mental health issues. Despite her acting lasting less than a decade, Wilson left her mark on the viewers and is fondly remembered by many millennials. She quit acting and became a writer.
Eminem
Marshall Mathers, known by his pen name Eminem, is one of the most successful rappers of all time. He sold more than 220 million records worldwide and won fifteen Grammy awards. What many don’t know is that the rapper is also an actor, although his acting career is short and limited to a few films.
Eminem’s most prominent film is “8 Mile”, a film loosely based on his life. It was a box office success and won an Oscar for its soundtrack, “Lose Yourself.” After that, Eminem made cameo appearances in a few other films but has largely stopped acting.
Donna Mullane
Donna Mullane perhaps has the shortest acting career in Hollywood. She has only acted in one film, “The Optimists,” in 1973. She starred opposite Peter Sellers in the movie. Impressed by her acting, Sellers wanted her to attend acting school, but Donna’s parents were against it. Donna Mullane disappeared from Hollywood after her first and last movies.
Sarah Pickering
Sarah Pickering is yet another actress with an extremely short acting career. Pickering only appeared in one movie, “Little Dorrit,” in 1987. The movie is an adaptation of Charles Dickens’s novel of the same name and was critically acclaimed. Despite this success, Pickering didn’t appear in other films and left Hollywood altogether.
Quinn Cummings
Quinn Cummings is an actress known for movies like “The Goodbye Girl” and TV shows like “Family”, and “Hail to the Chief.” She was ranked fifty-fourth in VH1’s list of “100 Greatest Kid Stars.” Cummings received the Young Artist Award and was nominated for the Academy Awards five times.
She appeared as a guest star on TV series for a few years but decided to leave acting to pursue her education.
Charmian Carr
Charmian Carr, known for her piercing blue eyes, had an extremely short Hollywood career. She played Liesl von Trapp in the famous movie “The Sound Of Music.” She also starred in a pilot episode of a TV musical, Evening Primrose, before leaving Hollywood.
After quitting Hollywood she started her own interior design firm, which was a successful venture. She also authored two books, Forever Liesl and Letters to Liesl.
Charmian Carr left the world in 2016 and is survived by her two daughters.
Dr. Peter Ostrum
Dr. Peter Ostrum also tops the list of actors with the shortest Hollywood career. He is a child actor known for his role as Charlie Bucket in the 1971 cult-classic film “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.” Ostrum was twelve when he acted in the movie and got numerous offers for other films, but he realized that acting wasn’t for him and quit the industry. Ostrum became a veterinarian after falling in love with animals.
Carrie Henn
Carrie Henn is an American child actress known for her role as Newt in the hit film Alien. She captured the audience’s attention with her acting when she was only ten. Henn won the Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor for her role in Aliens. Despite her success and the film being a hit, Henn never acted in any other movies.
Amber Scott
Amber Scott is a child actress known for her role as Maggie Banning in Steven Spielberg’s hit movie Hook. She was loved by audiences and critics alike for her performance but decided to quit acting post Hook. Scott was nominated as best actress for the Young Artist Awards for her performance in Hook. Despite her success, Scott chose to leave acting behind and is currently a screenwriter and producer.
Grace Kelly
Grace Kelly was an American actress turned princess. Kelly made her film debut in 1951 and quickly rose to fame, earning an Oscar for Best Actress for her performance in The Country Girl in 1954. She became a muse for director Alfred Hitchcock, starring in three of his classic thrillers – Dial M for Murder, Rear Window, and To Catch a Thief. At the height of her acting career, when she was just twenty-six, Kelly married Prince Rainier III of Monaco, retiring from Hollywood to become Princess Grace.
John Cazale
John Cazale is an actor who had a relatively short acting career where he acted in only five films, The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon, and The Deer Hunter, all of which are super-hits and considered masterpieces. All of his movies were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, with two winnings. Cazale’s emotionally raw performances as characters like Fredo Corleone and Sal earned him critical acclaim and a Golden Globe nomination.
Cazale died in 1978 due to lung cancer.
Heather O’Rourke
Heather O’Rourke was a child actress in the 1980s, known for her role as Carol Anne Freeling in the Poltergeist movie series. She also starred in hit sitcoms like Happy Days and Webster. O’Rourke was nominated for six Young Artist Awards and won the award once. Her career was cut short when she passed away in 1988 due to cardiac arrest.