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Buzz Feed
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
19 Young Celebrities Who Left Fame Behind
Child stardom is a tricky beast — while a rare few manage to transition to on-camera careers as adults, most actually retire from acting before they've even hit their 20s (sometimes, for good reason). Here's a look at some of the most iconic child stars who low-key disappeared once they reached adulthood... Jonathan Taylor Thomas was a huge star as a kid, with roles in Home Improvement, The Lion King, The Adventures of Pinocchio, Man of the House, I'll Be Home for Christmas and much, much more. Although he's had intermittent guest roles as an adult, he's largely stopped acting, focusing on his education and working behind the scenes in film. Ariana Richards was iconic in the role of Lex in Jurassic Park. She had some other acting roles as a kid and teen, but nothing quite so memorable, and as an adult she's focused on her art career. As a young actor, Charlie Korsmo had several huge roles, most notably in Hook and Can't Hardly Wait, and as an adult he studied at MIT and Yale and is now a professor of corporate law and finance. Raushan Hammond had the memorable role of Thud Butt in Hook. He doesn't seem to have acted professionally onscreen as an adult, but he describes himself on Instagram as an "international actor, producer, director, screenplay writer, and illusionist". Liesel Matthews, aka Liesel Pritzker Simmons, is best known as Sara Crewe in 1995's A Little Princess, but she's actually an heiress in real life. She appeared in two more movies, including Air Force One, but as an adult has focused on impact investing and whatever else heiresses do. Miko Hughes was a central part of any movie and TV-watching '90s kid's childhood, starring in Pet Sematary, Kindergarten Cop, and Full House, amongst other roles. He still seems to work in entertainment, now in the camera department. Sarah Rose Karr was another staple of '90s kids entertainment, with roles in Kindergarten Cop, Father of the Bride, and the Beethoven series. She retired from acting at age 10 and is now extremely private, although according to Reddit sleuths, she allegedly works as a psychologist. Justin Cooper and his iconic '90s bowl cut/mullet are probably best remembered for his role as Jim Carrey's son in Liar Liar, but he also had a bunch of other roles, mostly in TV shows like Boy Meets World and Brother's Keeper. He stopped acting before adulthood and is now a radio producer. Lisa Jakub had a pretty prolific acting career as a kid and teen, starring in movies like Mrs. Doubtfire, Independence Day, and The Beautician and the Beast. She retired from acting in her early 20s and now works as a writer and yoga teacher. Chauncey Leopardi starred as Squints in The Sandlot and had a bunch of other more minor roles, most notably in Freaks and Geeks and Gilmore Girls. He now runs a cannabis business. Ross Bagley famously played Buckwheat in 1994's The Little Rascals and Nicky in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and although he did go on to do several more roles, he said in 2020 he left Hollywood because he wanted a more "normal" life. Kevin Jamal Woods starred as Stymie in The Little Rascals and also had a role in Blossom. As an adult he appears to work mostly in non-entertainment jobs, but he does pursue music under the name The Brazz Kru. Blake McIver Ewing played villain Waldo in The Little Rascals as well as Michelle's friend Derek on Full House, and now describes himself as a "recovering child actor" who works as a vocal coach and personal trainer. Mason Gamble is most known for his first role as the titular Dennis in 1993's Dennis the Menace, although he had several more, including one in Rushmore. He now appears to be a PhD student at the UCLA Institute of Environment and Sustainability. Kiami Davael most famously played Lavender in Matilda, and now works as an acting teacher and writer. Jason James Richter played the main (human) character Jesse across three movies in the blockbuster '90s kids franchise Free Willy. He took a long hiatus from acting before returning to it in more recent years. Hallie Eisenberg was famous as the "Pepsi Girl" in a series of Pepsi ads, and she also starred in movies like Paulie and Bicentennial Man. She stopped acting to focus on college in her late teens, and now she's perhaps most known as the sister of Jesse Eisenberg (yes, that one). Austin O'Brien had a number of roles that were a key part of '90s childhood, including in Last Action Hero, My Girl 2, and The Baby-Sitters Club. He now works as a photographer and seems pretty private. Zelda Harris is best known for starring in Crooklyn and The Baby-Sitters Club. She now works as a singer and teacher. Did we miss any '90s child stars? Let us know in the comments!
South China Morning Post
02-04-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
What happened to Home Improvement's Jonathan Taylor Thomas? The 90s tween heartthrob also voiced Simba in The Lion King before trading Hollywood for Harvard – but could he be coming back?
Jonathan Taylor Thomas was one of the biggest child stars of the 90s. Famous for his role as Randy Taylor on American sitcom Home Improvement and for providing the voice of young Simba in The Lion King, JTT, as he was known, was everywhere during his tween and teen years. But after a whirlwind of fame, he effectively quit Hollywood in the early 2000s, trading the limelight for a much quieter existence. Now, at 43, Thomas still keeps things low-key, rarely making public appearances. According to Page Six, his last public sighting was in 2023, when he went to a local convenience store to buy a coffee. It was a rare glimpse of the former heartthrob who has remained a mystery to fans for years. Advertisement As for his personal life? True to form, Thomas has kept those details firmly under wraps. Not one to engage with tabloid culture, there's no word on whether he's in a relationship or has children. So, who exactly is Jonathan Taylor Thomas, and what has he been up to since his screen days? Jonathan Taylor Thomas started acting when he was 10 Mission Impossible actor Martin Landau (left) with Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who starred together in 1996 film The Adventures of Pinocchio. Photo: AP Thomas first captured the hearts of TV audiences in 1991 when he joined the Home Improvement cast, aged just 10. Playing Randy Taylor, the middle son of Tim Allen's character Tim 'The Tool Man' Taylor, Thomas became a household name. Per his IMDB profile, he also lent his voice to young Simba in Disney's The Lion King in 1994. By the time he was in his teens, Thomas had starred in family-friendly films such as Man of the House (1995) with Chevy Chase and Farrah Fawcett, and I'll Be Home for Christmas (1998) alongside Jessica Biel , and appeared on the covers of countless teen magazines. He stepped back from the spotlight in the late 1990s
Forbes
21-03-2025
- Forbes
What AI Can't Do: The Human Skills That Will Define The Future
While AI computes and recombines, humans innovate through curiosity and collaboration. Note: This is the first piece in a series aimed at helping leaders identify and build the human skills we need to successfully navigate the AI era. In The Adventures of Pinocchio, Carlo Collodi's wooden puppet longs to be real. He walks, talks, and mimics a human boy. But without empathy, responsibility, agency, and free will he is doomed to remain a wooden facsimile. AI is no different. It can imitate conversation, logic and even behavior, but it lacks the intelligence that comes from experience, the insight that comes from struggle, and the wisdom that comes from being human. Ethicist Shannon Valor likens AI to a mirror, reflecting our intelligence while having none of its own. And yet, GenAI's speed, power and uncanny human likeness are unsettling. Workers talk to it like a friend while fearing the jobs it will replace. AI's promise is compelling—to free us from the repetitive, mindless tasks that keep us from our most creative work. But it also risks invoking our laziest selves, outsourcing not just our tasks, but our thinking. Effective human-AI collaboration isn't just about training people to use AI. It's about making sure AI doesn't train us out of what makes us uniquely valuable—our judgment, insight, and hard-won expertise. As we refine our understanding of what AI can (and can't) do, we must double down on the skills that only humans bring. Here are three critical capabilities that will define the future—one where silicon and carbon work in true partnership. AI doesn't create—it recombines. It looks backward, pulling from what we already know, analyzing past data, and predicting likely patterns. This is its greatest strength—and its fundamental limitation. AI can churn out Shakespearean-style sonnets and books that sound like Dr. Seuss, but it can't invent a new literary form. It's convergent, not divergent. Only humans create something truly new. In one study, researchers compared the creative output of amateur writers—half worked with AI, half without. The AI-assisted stories were judged to be better written, more enjoyable, and less boring. But here's the catch: they were also significantly less original. AI improved the surface quality of writing but flattened the depth of creativity—pushing toward predictable, familiar ideas rather than bold, unconventional ones. In short, GenAI doesn't innovate—it reinforces groupthink. It can get you closer to best practice, but it will never get you to next practice. Radical innovation requires human ingenuity—the ability to imagine the impossible, to connect ideas that have never been connected before. Creativity isn't a computational function—it's a human experience. It's lived, felt, and shaped by our emotions, instincts, and intuition. If we lean too heavily on AI to do this work, we don't just risk recycling old ideas—we risk forgetting how to think beyond them. If we allow our creative skills to atrophy, we freeze the status quo and risk the future of innovation altogether. Some of history's greatest discoveries happened entirely by curious accident. Take Velcro. A Swiss engineer went for a walk with his dog and came home covered in burrs. Instead of brushing them off, he examined them under a microscope and discovered their tiny hook-like structures—a natural blueprint for a revolutionary fastener. Or insulin. Researchers removed a dog's pancreas for an unrelated experiment and noticed flies swarming around the sugar-rich urine. This accidental observation led to the discovery of insulin, a breakthrough that has saved millions of lives. And then there's penicillin, one of the most important medical advances in history. In 1928, bacteriologist Alexander Fleming left a petri dish out by mistake. When he returned, he noticed that mold had killed the surrounding bacteria. That accident sparked the antibiotic revolution, extending the average human lifespan by 23 years. None of these discoveries came from following a prompt. They came from human curiosity—the instinct to notice, explore, and wonder why. Curiosity isn't just a trait—it's a competitive advantage. Studies show that curious teams are more collaborative, more engaged, and more resilient. Algorithms cannot replace serendipity. If we delegate too much to our AI colleagues, we deaden our natural curiosity and lose the chance to discover answers to questions we didn't even know to ask. AI is taking over routine tasks but the thorniest problems—the ones that demand judgment, creativity, and teamwork—are still ours to solve. In a world too complex for any one person to have all the answers, collaboration is no longer just a skill, it's survival. AI is not like human collaboration, it's a transaction. Prompt in, answer out. Human collaboration is relational, not digital. It takes time to build, practice to nurture, and space to grow. It's embodied and experiential, interpersonal and intangible. Our social skills are our most important tools to reveal the divergent thinking the AI era desperately needs. I once worked with a CEO who admitted: 'We hire for technical skills—but we fire for lack of soft skills.' It never occurred to him that collaboration, like coding, is something that must be taught. And AI can't teach it. It can't show us how to listen deeply, challenge assumptions, or navigate disagreement. Sitting in a room with a chatbot is never going to move the needle on human skills. We can only learn that from and with each other. As Pinocchio's journey comes to an end, he finally becomes a 'real boy' by living, loving, losing and learning. But we don't live in a fairytale and AI will never be human. It's simply a tool forged by human ingenuity. As we make space for its contributions, let's not forget: we decide who is the puppet and who is the puppeteer.
