Why Jonathan Taylor Thomas Disappeared From Hollywood

Kids of the 1990s know Jonathan Taylor Thomas quite well. The actor began his professional career at age eight, playing the title puppy in the animated series "The Adventures of Spot." He first appeared on-screen playing Kevin Brady in a failed "Brady Bunch" spinoff called "The Bradys" in 1990. The following year, he was cast as the ultra-cool and super-precocious Randy on the hit sitcom "Home Improvement." That series was a massive success, and made Thomas a household name. Thomas appeared in 178 of the show's 204 episodes, and he became a teenybopper icon, regularly gracing the cover of oversaturated tweener mags like Bop and Tiger Beat. 

During his time on "Home Improvement," Thomas also stepped away to appear in multiple high-profile feature films, perhaps most notably playing the voice of the young Simba in 1994's "The Lion King." He was a take-charge youth in "Man of the House," and also played Tom Sawyer in 1995's "Tom and Huck." Some might even remember his 1996 Christmas comedy "I'll Be Home for Christmas." Thomas reigned in Hollywood for the better part of a decade, a teen idol of the highest order.

After 1998, however, Thomas largely stepped away from acting. This was baffling to his many fans, as his career seemed to have ended quite abruptly. Many at the time assumed Thomas had trouble finding work, as he was growing up and no longer could be cast as a cool, precocious youth. 

As it happens, despite his fame and wealth, Thomas was never enamored of the Hollywood life. He preferred reading books, playing outdoors, and staying far away from people who referred to him by all three names. In 2013, Thomas conducted an interview with People Magazine to catch people up on what he had been doing since leaving "Home Improvement" in 1998. It turns out he merely went to college, and was trying to find showbiz jobs as a writer or a director. 

Even as early as 1996, when he was still in high school, Thomas talked about the phoniness of Hollywood. He spoke to Premiere Magazine at the time and said:

"You can't be trapped in this bubble called the acting industry. [...] The industry is neurotic and weird, and so when I go home and I play basketball with my friends, I'm not Jonathan Taylor Thomas. I'm just Jonathan. I don't like hanging out with other actors and actresses."

When People caught up with Thomas in 2013, the actor, then 31, said he had no regrets, saying that he never took fame too seriously. "It was a great period in my life," he said, "but it doesn't define me. When I think back on the time, I look at it with a wink. I focus on the good moments I had, not that I was on a lot of magazine covers." That's the healthiest possible way to look at it; Thomas luckily survived Hollywood without accruing any horror stories about being exploited. 

After leaving "Home Improvement" (and we doubt that reboot will ever actually happen), Thomas went to Harvard where he studied philosophy and history. He studied abroad for a year, attending the University of St. Andrews in Scotland before going to Columbia to get his BA. He graduated in 2010, and his world was all about study. 

"I'd been going nonstop since I was eight years old. [...] I wanted to go to school, to travel and have a bit of a break. [...] To sit in a big library amongst books and students, that was pretty cool. It was a novel experience for me."

It sounds very peaceful. 

Thomas also admitted that he felt overworked. He was never forced to stay on set after hours, but he did have to split his days between acting, going to school, and whatever friendships he was able to foster. He admitted to being a little sick at all times, just because he was so stressed out. Thomas said to People Magazine way back in 1994 that the work was giving him too much actual pain: "I can't tell you how many shows I've done with full-blown migraine headaches," he said. 

Thomas may have survived fame because he always assumed he would eventually retire from the craft. Going back to the Premiere interview, Thomas noted that too many child actors aren't mature enough to realize that they are allowed to stop acting at any time. There are other opportunities and careers out there, and there's nothing dictating that one remain a famous movie star indefinitely. In keeping with that mentality, Thomas has remained largely out of the Hollywood limelight, keeping to himself and presumably living the life he loves. 

But this doesn't mean he eschewed acting altogether. He would occasionally take a break from studies to occasionally perform voice roles on "The Wild Thornberrys," or on camera, as he did 2002 and 2004 episodes of "Smallville." He was in an episode of "Veronica Mars" in 2005. 

In 2013, Thomas returned to Hollywood as an actor/director, appearing in and helming a few episodes of the sitcom "Last Man Standing," reuniting with his former "Home Improvement" co-star Tim Allen. It seems that he still has an interest in his childhood craft, but has no intention of exploiting his 1990s fame. He left Hollywood because he wanted to, and he was as good as his word. From the outside looking in, it seems like he did everything right.