10 Actors You Didn't Know Have Retired

2. Daniel Day-Lewis

Daniel Day Lewis Gangs Of New York
Miramax

Daniel Day-Lewis is one of the greatest actors of his generation and is generally viewed as one of very best performers in the history of film, period. Known for his meticulous, methodical ways, Day-Lewis has a staggering three Academy Awards for Best Actor to his name.

For those wondering why one of the all-time greats hasn't been seen on our screens for a little while now, that's because the London-born actor actually called it quits in 2017.

This is actually the second time that Day-Lewis has retired from acting, with him catching many off-guard when he announced his exit from the industry in 1997 to instead become a shoe-maker in Italy. Yes, for real.

Martin Scorsese - with whom Day-Lewis had worked with on The Age of Innocence in '93 - managed to coerce the actor back into the game in 2000 for his upcoming Gangs of New York, for which Day-Lewis received an Oscar nomination.

Mesmerising performances followed in There Will Be Blood, Nine, and Lincoln, before Day-Lewis once again entered retirement after the release of Paul Thomas Anderson's Phantom Thread in 2017 - citing to W Magazine how he no longer found value in his work, and that he wanted to explore the world.

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