Entertainment Weekly reports that 24-year-old Amanda Bynes is retiring from acting, supposedly because she doesn’t like it anymore. Bynes announced her retirement on her Twitter account, months after a pilot she filmed for ABC got the axe and posing on February’s cover of Maxim.
She has hinted she might go into writing and directing. Bynes isn’t the only young actor who has been frustrated by the profession. Wil Wheaton did the same thing after his days on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and has gradually come back into the fold by doing such things as voice acting for Ben 10: Alien Force. Something tells me that Amanda Bynes won’t be away from film or television for very long.
Career
Bynes got her start on Nickelodeon with The Amanda Show, where she hosted a variety routine with different skits that were supposed to be funny and geared toward teenagers. She also appeared in All That.
Her films include She’s the Man, where Bynes dressed up as a boy and falls in love with one of her fellow soccer teammates. Bynes also starred in What a Girl Wants, as the daughter of a British politician played by one of my favorite actors, Colin Firth. This was perhaps her best role, adding some respect to Bynes’ repertoire.
What Next
Hopefully, Amanda Bynes won’t be absent from the industry for long. Her career seemed poised to take off after she starred in What a Girl Wants, but, instead, she sputtered. With the cover of Maxim now behind her, it seems she was ready to take on more adult roles, but perhaps she wasn’t willing to debase herself like other Hollywood starlets.
I hope that, no matter what she does, Bynes follows her heart. I know it’s difficult when you’re at a career crossroads and the future might seem hard to determine. She clearly has a strong support network, as she quoted her father on her Twitter account, so hopefully she can take some direction from him. My daughter looked up to her when she was on Nickelodeon and in What a Girl Wants, so she clearly has influenced young girls. Perhaps Bynes could consider being a motivational speaker. She already enjoys the limelight, and can go around the country talking to high school girls about what it means to truly be happy with yourself or your image.
Whatever she chooses, I wish her all the best. While Bynes is no Miley Cyrus, she did have an impact on my daughter’s life in a small and positive way, and that can never be taken back.
