Entertainment
10 Celebs Who Now Have a Normal Job
The life of a celebrity is not always fame, glamour, and riches beyond imagination. Despite what we see every day with famous personalities in Hollywood, amazing athletes, and world-renowned entrepreneurs and experts in their fields, sometimes the shine of being famous is too bright for some of them. The lifestyle of a celebrity is just not for everyone. Whether it’s by choice or by chance, the following people are now living a life as mundane and normal as the next person. Some of them were really famous celebrities with great careers in film, TV and/or sports. Some of them were short- lived, not extremely famous celebrities, but still celebrities nonetheless.
10. Jeff Cohen
Everybody knows Chunk. Chunk was really Lawrence Cohen in the eighties film The Goonies. This film was directed by Richard Donner, you know, the guy who directed Superman, the Lethal Weapon quadrilogy, The Omen, and Free Willy. The Goonies was one of the most popular films during its time and has quite a healthy cult following. Chunk’s real name is actually close to his character’s name. This child actor’s name is Jeff Cohen. He was only 10-years old when they filmed The Goonies. Another bit of trivia, two of Jeff’s co-stars in the film were Josh Brolin (Deadpool 2) and Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings trilogy).
Jeff has had only one other role in a film, a voice role in the 1988 animated Scooby-Doo feature film. His other acting credits were for TV movies, and he had no more films after 1991. He’s also had small roles in TV shows like Family Ties and Amazing Stories, but no acting project on TV after 1987.
Jeff Cohen is now living a non-celebrity life as a lawyer. He is actually doing quite well as an attorney. He became an entertainment lawyer, then co-founded his own firm in Beverly Hills.
9. Freddie Prinze, Jr.
Freddie Prinze, Jr. is one of the most famous celebrities in this list, and definitely the most good-looking! If twenty years ago someone said that he would stop acting and become a regular person instead, nobody would have believed it.
Freddie Prinze got his first taste of fame in the slasher film I Know What You Did Last Summer. Shown in 1997, he was in an ensemble cast that was so good, they made a sequel. His co-stars included Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Ryan Phillippe. The second I Know film was shown immediately the following year and was smartly titled I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. In this sequel, Prinze and Hewitt are joined by co-stars Mekhi Phifer and Brandy. Freddie was very popular among girls, ladies, and women because of his boy-next-door demeanor and ‘cause he is one handsome man. It was also because in the three years after I Still Know, he has made five romantic comedy films. He’s made some more films throughout the years until 2012, but the most popular of them was the Scooby-Doo real live action film version. Freddie Prinze’s glory days happened early in his career from 1997 to 2002. His last projects were voice-overs for animated features in 2012.
Freddie is now a chef, Gordon Ramsay would look like an OG (old guy) and much less attractive cooking beside him. His cookbook is called Back to the Kitchen: 75 Delicious, Real Recipes (& True Stories) from a Food-Obsessed Actor.
8. Dylan Sprouse
Dylan is one-half of a brilliant child-talent pair with his identical twin, Cole Sprouse. They rose to fame and recognition as Adam Sandler’s kid in the film Big Daddy. They then catapulted to superstardom with their role as Ben, Ross Geller’s son in the TV show Friends.
The twins appeared on Disney Channel with lead roles in the sitcom The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and onto the spin-off The Suite Life On Deck. The shows ran from 2005 to 2011. During the same time, they made mostly direct-to-video films and guestings on other Disney shows. Cole actually has a sweet role at the moment in the CW’s series Riverdale as every Archie comic fan’s favorite, Jughead Jones.
Dylan is now busy with his own business, All-Wise Meadery. This is a brew called mead, an all-natural and unfiltered dry honey wine. A promising venture, worthy of 100 percent of his attention. It started as a hobby when Dylan set his dorm up into a brewery and everything was concocted from there. Now, his products ship to 42 states in the U.S. with two mead flavors: All-Wise Show Mead and All-Wise Oolong Mead.
7. Frankie Muniz
Frankie Muniz was most famous for his lead role on Fox’s Malcolm in the Middle. It’s a sitcom about a genius boy (Malcolm) and his hilarious family. An overprotective mom and an immature dad mixed with four eccentric and contrasting boys is just the right formula for a fun and unpredictable family. The series had a good run of six seasons and Frankie quickly became Hollywood’s darling young star.
Born in New Jersey by a nurse mom and a restaurateur father, Frankie Muniz is half-Puerto Rican and a fourth Italian and Irish. He grew up in North Carolina then moved to California. He first appeared in the film My Dog Skip, with a stellar cast that included Kevin Bacon, Luke Wilson, and Diane Lane.
One can say that Frankie’s first love is really racing. He’s been seriously interested since 2001 and actually participated in the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race in 2004. Then in 2007, he joined the Atlantic Championship, a rather serious race car series and placed 22nd overall for the season, that’s not so bad. Frankie also dabbled in music, joining bands from 2012 to 2014 as a drummer. But he never really got the groove of it.
6. Vanilla Ice
Some people say that if Eminem is the real Slim Shady, then Vanilla Ice is the original Slim Shady. Nope, nobody says that! Vanilla Ice had the spotlight shine on him so bright in the early nineties with the release of his all-time classic hit song Ice Ice Baby. It reached number 1 on all kinds of Billboard Lists in the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. He was all the rave then and even got to have a go at acting with his own film Cool As Ice. But everything started to cool down in the mid-nineties. The defrost button was pushed in the celebrity story of the rapper Vanilla Ice. Where is he now?
Robert Matthew Van Winkle was a Texas native, born and raised. He started his career opening for the likes of MC Hammer and Ice-T. But his fame was short-lived, due to a combination of bad business record deals and drugs. Still, being a rap legend and the best white rapper to gain worldwide fame since Eminem, Vanilla Ice toughed it out in the music business, making albums and performing until 2009.
From being a handyman, an expert in light fixtures, real estate, and anything about your home, Vanilla Ice has become quite the savant on home improvement. Last time we saw him on TV was as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars back in 2016.
5. Tony Danza
He may be a little slow up there but Tony Banta has a big heart. A main character in the TV show Taxi, Tony Banta shared the screen with Alex, Bobby, Louie, Elaine, Jim, and Latka. Tony Danza slugged it out every day with comedy geniuses Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, Andy Kaufman, and one of the show’s creators James L. Brooks. His second and the only other successful TV show he’s had was Who’s the Boss?
Tony Danza is descended from Italians who immigrated to New York. Tony is a true-blooded Italian New Yorker. Born Antonio Salvatore Iadanza, Tony’s first career was in the sport of boxing. He had a dominating record, 7 knockouts in the first round, with only 3 losses, for a total win-loss record of 9-3. His boxing career started in 1976 and ended 1979. In 1978 he was cast as one of the lead characters in the TV show Taxi. The show ran for 5 seasons, a total of 114 episodes. It also collected 11 Emmy Awards and 2 Golden Globe Awards. Numerous nominations included Tony’s 1980 Golden Globe TV Best Supporting Actor nomination.
Tony’s dream, one of his dreams, of teaching came true. He even had a reality show and a book about it. Apart from teaching, there has been no news as to what Tony Danza is doing now.
4. Gene Hackman
Gene Hackman’s career is incomparable. He was acting in films since 1961 and played colorful and memorable characters through 2004. From Superman’s arch-enemy Lex Luthor to coach Norman Dale in Hoosiers, Mr. Hackman’s acting resume is one amazing read. Nobody on this list is more deserving of retirement than Gene Hackman, so after 43 years of working in front of the camera, what’s he up to now?
Mainly a fiction writer (and in a span of 14 years), Gene Hackman wrote and published 5 novels. In his first three, he worked with Daniel Lenihan, an underwater archaeologist. His first novel was a sea adventure story titled Wake of the Perdido Star, published in 1999. His second book was set in the Depression, Justice for None, written in 2004. His third was released in 2008, a Civil War version of a prison break called Escape from Andersonville. Writing alone, his fourth novel was called Payback at Morning Peak, clearly a western. His last novel to date was published in 2013, a police thriller titled Pursuit. His sixth novel could be set on Earth in the year 2050, or on a different planet or galaxy.
Gene has had zero movies since 2004, he seems happy with his current normal job as a fiction writer.
3. Hayden Christensen
Hayden Christensen got the role any actor his age coveted in 2000, the young Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker. It was a once-in-a-lifetime role, and he performed well. Landing a Star Wars character is the equivalent of being “made” in mafia lore. Hayden was on his way to blast through the stratosphere of the entertainment industry with this magnificent gig. But why is he on this list, then?
Hayden broke his cherry with his role as a paperboy in the John Carpenter film In the Mouth of Madness in 1995. He got critical attention in his first lead role, Life as a House, in 2001. He then became Anakin Skywalker in Episodes II and III of Star Wars. Notable films after Star Wars that he was in was Jumper (2008) and Shattered Glass (2003). He was in a relationship with Jumper co-star Rachel Bilson from 2007 until 2017 and had a child together.
Hayden is now a farmer, having bought a farm in Ontario, Canada. He is learning and doing everything a farmer does on his own patch of land. After a three-year hiatus, Hayden seems to be back in show business, having a film in post-production (Little Italy) opposite Emma Roberts.
2. Al Franken
If he hadn’t resigned, Al Franken would still have been a Minnesota Senator. He won in 2008 and was re-elected in 2014. But how did a Saturday Night Live writer become a United States Senator?
Al was hired for Saturday Night Live as a writer and was successful in performing through five seasons working for them. He returned to SNL in 1985 and left for good in 1995. His road to politics started with his controversial books and stirred up a feud with Fox News because of the book’s title and cover photo. The book is titled Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. He then hosted a talk show for Air America Radio, where he lambasted anything and everything he wanted in politics, even the President. To cap it off, he was at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government as a Fellow and toured with the United Service Organizations, Inc. for 20 years. He put a stop to everything in February 2017 when he announced his US Senate candidacy.
Al Franken’s resignation was due to allegations of sexual misconduct, and he resigned on January 2, 2018, and was succeeded by the now Minnesota Senator, Tina Smith.
1. Shaquille O’Neal
Shaq is one of the most dominating players to ever play in the NBA. With his physique, wide body (not lean like Dikembe Mutombo) and tall (was officially listed as 7’1”) stance, he is a towering presence on the hardwood. Search his earlier videos and you’ll see how ferocious he was on the court. From blocking shots to the stands, hammering down the ball into the hoop, to breaking the glass boards and literally bringing the whole court down, including the 24-second shot clock! He is an unstoppable force in offense and an immovable object on the defensive end.
Shaw was drafted first in 1992 and played with the Orlando Magic. He then signed with the Los Angeles Lakers and won three championships there. His fourth was with the Miami Heat.
Shaq is now a member of the show Inside the NBA. It’s NBA’s version of a talk show, all NBA talk from the experts in the sport. No matter how normal the job is, Shaq can never be seen as normal. The same goes with most of the celebrities in this list, people still see most of them for what they were famous for, no matter how normal they may be now.