Mara Wilson, the beloved child star of festive classic Miracle on 34th Street, has revealed a life transformed 31 years after the film shot her to fame. Now 38, the former actress, who also starred in Matilda and Mrs Doubtfire, has stepped away from Hollywood's glare to pursue a successful career as a writer.
A Rare Public Appearance
The star recently made a rare public appearance, delighting fans at Comic Con in Liverpool. Dressed in a striking pink jacket with black trim, the brunette looked markedly different from the golden-haired child audiences remember. The event saw her greet die-hard admirers, including a young girl dressed as Matilda, a role that cemented Wilson's status as a 90s icon.
Her appearance in Liverpool followed a similar meet-and-greet earlier this year at Comic Con in Scotland, where she shared on Instagram her joy at meeting "so many adorable little girls dressed as Matilda". These conventions offer a glimpse of the former star who has consciously retreated from the acting world.
Choosing the Pen Over the Script
So why did Mara Wilson turn her back on Hollywood? In a past interview with the Daily Mail, she explained that writing was always her "secret desire". "It was always something that in the back of my head I wanted to do. I wrote a lot of stories on the sets of movies. On Matilda, I wrote several," she revealed.
She has since built an impressive portfolio, with bylines in Elle magazine, The New York Times, and Vanity Fair. In 2016, she published a memoir titled Where Am I Now?, candidly exploring her life after childhood fame. She admitted that the rejection common in acting was painful after it had been such a defining part of her identity for so long.
"Writing I'd always loved. There's a saying - 'If you can live without it, you should'. And I found that I could," Wilson stated, explaining her decisive career shift. This came after a notable rejection for the role in Parent Trap, which ultimately went to Lindsay Lohan because Wilson was considered too young.
A Grown-Up Look That Stunned Fans
Wilson's transformation has not gone unnoticed. A 2021 appearance on This Morning left viewers speechless, with many taking to social media to express their surprise. One Twitter user wrote: "Wow Look at Mara Wilson. She looks so different to when she was in Mrs Doubtfire. You wouldn't even recognise her at all."
Another simply declared the interview the "best present", highlighting the enduring affection the public holds for the star of Miracle on 34th Street. While her smile remains the same, Mara Wilson has confidently carved out a new chapter far from the Hollywood sets where she grew up, embracing a quieter life defined by her passion for the written word.
