Celebs Who Almost Quit Hollywood Before Landing Their Big Break
Jason Bateman has revealed that he contemplated quitting Hollywood before going on to appear in films such as Juno and Hancock
'I remember calling my parents and saying, 'I'm done': Celebs Who Almost Quit Hollywood Before Landing Their Big Break
Jason Bateman has revealed that he contemplated quitting Hollywood before going on to appear in films such as Juno and Hancock.
However, the Arrested Development star is far from the only star to consider giving up their Hollywood dream before fortune smiled on them – as this gallery proves!
John Krasinski
The A Quiet Place star was close to quitting Hollywood until his mother convinced him to stay a little while longer – allowing him to land his breakthrough role as Jim Halpert in comedy series The Office.
He told Stephen Colbert in 2018: "I was like, 'So, I'm out. This is terrible. It's so scary. This is the worst. Waiting tables, not as fun as they say.
"And she said, 'You know, it's September. Just wait it out. Just wait 'til the end of the year. Don't give up just yet.' I was telling her to come get me. ... And three weeks later I got The Office."
Gal Gadot
The Wonder Woman actress revealed that she told her husband Jaron Varsano that she wasn't sure that the film industry was for her shortly before she landed the role of the iconic superhero in the DC Extended Universe films.
Gadot told Access Hollywood in 2020: "There's so much rejection in this profession, and it came to a point where I was just like, 'Is it really worth it?
"We were in LA for a trip, and I was telling my husband, 'Look, we're here now, but we're leaving in two weeks...I don't know if we'll ever come again. I don't know if I want to pursue [acting].' And then, during those two weeks, I had the Wonder Woman audition... Isn't it crazy the way the world, the universe, works?"
Melissa McCarthy
The Mike and Molly star decided that she would switch career paths if she hadn't made it in Hollywood before she turned 30.
Fortunately for her, she secured the part of Sookie St. James in the series Gilmore Girls shortly before her milestone birthday.
McCarthy told Howard Stern in 2019: "[Gilmore Girls] ran for seven years. It was the first time I felt like I could say I was an actress because...I quit my nanny jobs, I quit all the production jobs."
Cole Sprouse
Sprouse took a five-year hiatus from acting after starring in the Disney Channel The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and spin-off The Suite Life on Deck where he studied archaeology at New York University.
Whilst there, he was encouraged to audition for the role of Jughead Jones in Riverdale.
He told The Late Show With Stephen Colbert: "My manager begged me to come out for pilot week, and I was doing photography and archaeology, and I said, 'If I don't get anything...I don't think I'm gonna come back.
"And then, sure enough, I booked Riverdale, and it just sort of fell into place."
Milo Ventimiglia
Just like Melissa, it was getting a part in Gilmore Girls that made Milo scrap his plans to give up on acting.
He told Entertainment Weekly in 2017: "I think right before Gilmore was one moment where I questioned if I wanted to stay in acting.
"I've had three [moments] in my 22 years where I was gonna quit. ... I was gonna go be an auto mechanic."
