{"id":36493,"date":"2026-08-10T13:28:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T08:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=36493"},"modified":"2026-08-10T13:28:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T08:28:02","slug":"00s-child-star-who-left-hollywood-behind-to-become-a-zookeeper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=36493","title":{"rendered":"00s child star who left Hollywood behind to become a zookeeper"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">\n<p id=\"ek5tClMxjik\" data-wc=\"47\">From <span class=\"fr-deletable gd-content-undefined\" contenteditable=\"false\" data-type=\"mention\/taxonomy\"><a class=\"hm-link he-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hellomagazine.com\/tags\/miley-cyrus\/\">Miley Cyrus<\/a><\/span> to <span class=\"fr-deletable gd-content-undefined\" contenteditable=\"false\" data-type=\"mention\/taxonomy\"><a class=\"hm-link he-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hellomagazine.com\/tags\/selena-gomez\/\">Selena Gomez<\/a><\/span> and Zendaya, <span class=\"fr-deletable gd-content-undefined\" contenteditable=\"false\" data-type=\"mention\/taxonomy\"><a class=\"hm-link he-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hellomagazine.com\/tags\/disney\/\">Disney<\/a><\/span> Channel has spawned an impressive number of today&#8217;s mega stars. But some who were thrust into the spotlight at such a young age ultimately decided to <span class=\"fr-deletable gd-content-undefined\" contenteditable=\"false\" data-type=\"mention\/article\"><a class=\"hm-link he-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hellomagazine.com\/film\/834546\/child-stars-with-surprisingly-normal-day-jobs-revealed\/\">turn their back on fame in pursuit of a more normal life<\/a><\/span>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><ev-engagement id=\"horizon_hello\" group-name=\"horizon_hello\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"enB5ME16IwC\" data-wc=\"47\">Among them is Kay Panabaker, who shot to stardom playing Debbie Berwick in Disney&#8217;s sci-fi comedy<em>\u00a0Phil of the Future<\/em>. The former actress, now 36, spent ten years in the industry before <span class=\"fr-deletable\">taking a step back from the spotlight<\/span>, turning her talents to a very different career.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"efGvWGIq9xV\" data-wc=\"13\">Keep reading to find out more about Kay&#8217;s life away from the limelight.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" data-wc=\"4\" id=\"h2-4msmyy5uz\">Kay Panabaker&#8217;s acting career<\/h2>\n<p id=\"exwYMS5nDDG\" data-wc=\"30\">Kay began working in the acting industry in the early 2000s, with minor roles in shows like <em>ER\u00a0<\/em>and <em>7th Heave<\/em><em>n<\/em>, and film roles in <em>Monsters Inc.<\/em> and <em>Dead Heat.<\/em><\/p>\n<p id=\"egua43-FzNA\" data-wc=\"48\">Her big break came in 2004, when she landed a leading role in <em>Phil of the Future<\/em>. This led to roles in two Disney Channel original films,<em>\u00a0Life is Ruff<\/em> (2005) and <em>Read It and Weep<\/em> (2006), and an appearance on <em>The Suite Life of Zack &amp; Cody.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"fr-embedded\">\n<div data-wc=\"200\" id=\"ek91U5vt4N\">\n<figure class=\"he-meIm-995f02\">\n<div class=\"he-imCo-14461c5\"><img src=\"https:\/\/images.hellomagazine.com\/horizon\/original_aspect_ratio\/4c41da843153-phil-of-the-future.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width:1360px) 630px, (min-width:960px) 60vw, (min-width:320px) calc(100vw - (var(--page-gutter) * 2)), calc(100vw - (var(--page-gutter) * 2))\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.hellomagazine.com\/horizon\/original_aspect_ratio\/4c41da843153-phil-of-the-future.jpg?tx=c_limit,w_960 960w, https:\/\/images.hellomagazine.com\/horizon\/original_aspect_ratio\/4c41da843153-phil-of-the-future.jpg?tx=c_limit,w_640 640w, https:\/\/images.hellomagazine.com\/horizon\/original_aspect_ratio\/4c41da843153-phil-of-the-future.jpg?tx=c_limit,w_360 360w\" width=\"827\" height=\"1024\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Ricky Ullman and Kay Panabaker stand in a locker room, smiling.\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" class=\"image he-image\" data-flatplan=\"fp_photoCaption\"\/><span class=\"he-imCr-1233683\">\u00a9 Alamy Stock Photo<\/span><\/div><figcaption class=\"he-meImCa-17135c3\">Kay Panabaker landed her breakout role starring opposite Ricky Ullman in Phil of the Future<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"eXWwehAPm3_\" data-wc=\"30\">At thirteen, she began starring in the hit drama<em>\u00a0Summerland<\/em>, sharing the screen with teen idols Zac Efron, who played her love interest, and Jesse McCartney, who played her brother.<\/p>\n<p id=\"ehw_p9vz6Ul\" data-wc=\"39\">What followed was a string of one-episode appearances in TV hits such as <em>Grey&#8217;s Anatomy, Boston Legal<\/em> and<em>\u00a0Two and a Half Men<\/em>, before she was cast in the sci-fi drama series, <em>No Ordinary Family<\/em>, playing telepathic teenager Daphne.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"e2BLUF5BNGg\" data-wc=\"23\">Her final acting role came in 2012, when she voiced a Chihuahua in the comedy film <em>Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3: Viva la Fiesta!.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" data-wc=\"5\" id=\"h2-4msmyy5v0\">Why Kay Panabaker left acting<\/h2>\n<p id=\"emB4pfjuX1U\" data-wc=\"38\">In a 2016 interview with <a class=\"hm-link he-link\" href=\"https:\/\/napervillemagazine.com\/dream-job-kay-panabaker\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"article-body-link\">Naperville Magazine<\/a>, Kay explained that she fell out of love with acting, specifically after a TV producer told her she needed to lose weight before a love interest was introduced for her character.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fr-embedded\">\n<div data-wc=\"75\" id=\"eb5h3HfW98J\">\n<figure class=\"he-meIm-995f02\">\n<div class=\"he-imCo-14461c5\"><img src=\"https:\/\/images.hellomagazine.com\/horizon\/original_aspect_ratio\/87caf9536577-kay-panabaker-summerland.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width:1360px) 630px, (min-width:960px) 60vw, (min-width:320px) calc(100vw - (var(--page-gutter) * 2)), calc(100vw - (var(--page-gutter) * 2))\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.hellomagazine.com\/horizon\/original_aspect_ratio\/87caf9536577-kay-panabaker-summerland.jpg?tx=c_limit,w_960 960w, https:\/\/images.hellomagazine.com\/horizon\/original_aspect_ratio\/87caf9536577-kay-panabaker-summerland.jpg?tx=c_limit,w_640 640w, https:\/\/images.hellomagazine.com\/horizon\/original_aspect_ratio\/87caf9536577-kay-panabaker-summerland.jpg?tx=c_limit,w_360 360w\" width=\"1024\" height=\"667\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Lori Loughlin and Kay Panabaker standing together, smiling, with arms around each other.\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" class=\"image he-image\" data-flatplan=\"fp_photoCaption\"\/><span class=\"he-imCr-1233683\">\u00a9 Alamy Stock Photo<\/span><\/div><figcaption class=\"he-meImCa-17135c3\">Kay starred alongside Lori Loughlin in Summerland<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"emPe4F4Sjxs\" data-wc=\"61\">&#8220;I was barely a hundred pounds,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t think this was a good reason for a character to lose weight. It&#8217;s not like my character was going to catch a life-threatening disease or anything. I was 21 at the time the show ended. I spent a couple years after that in LA, still auditioning, but the passion wasn&#8217;t there.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" data-wc=\"5\" id=\"h2-4msmyy5v1\">Kay Panabaker&#8217;s career in zookeeping\u00a0<\/h2>\n<p id=\"e4HApppyH_k\" data-wc=\"27\">Having already graduated from UCLA with a degree in history, Kay went back to school, enrolling on an eighteen-month animal program at Santa Fe College in Florida.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fr-embedded\">\n<div data-wc=\"125\" id=\"ew7T6E6jsI\">\n<figure class=\"he-meIm-995f02\">\n<div class=\"he-imCo-14461c5\"><img src=\"https:\/\/images.hellomagazine.com\/horizon\/original_aspect_ratio\/9a740dda47a5-kaypanabaker1548024253196129205323082689213870358.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width:1360px) 630px, (min-width:960px) 60vw, (min-width:320px) calc(100vw - (var(--page-gutter) * 2)), calc(100vw - (var(--page-gutter) * 2))\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.hellomagazine.com\/horizon\/original_aspect_ratio\/9a740dda47a5-kaypanabaker1548024253196129205323082689213870358.jpg?tx=c_limit,w_960 960w, https:\/\/images.hellomagazine.com\/horizon\/original_aspect_ratio\/9a740dda47a5-kaypanabaker1548024253196129205323082689213870358.jpg?tx=c_limit,w_640 640w, https:\/\/images.hellomagazine.com\/horizon\/original_aspect_ratio\/9a740dda47a5-kaypanabaker1548024253196129205323082689213870358.jpg?tx=c_limit,w_360 360w\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Kay Panabaker \" fetchpriority=\"auto\" class=\"image he-image\" data-flatplan=\"fp_photoCaption\"\/><span class=\"he-imCr-1233683\">\u00a9 Instagram<\/span><\/div><figcaption class=\"he-meImCa-17135c3\">Kay now works as a zookeeper<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"egUtbntF22W\" data-wc=\"18\">She then secured an internship at Disney World and was hired as an Associate Animal Keeper in 2014.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"eNtoASP980Cp\" data-wc=\"47\">Sharing some of the responsibilities of her role, she told <em>Naperville Magazine<\/em>: &#8220;I maintain the care, well-being, management, behavior conditioning, and enrichment of our animals and birds. I work with goats, sheep, elephants, porcupines, skunks, donkeys, cows, parrots, birds of prey, and opossums to name a few.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"fr-embedded\">\n<div data-wc=\"300\" id=\"eTOLGAE8kS\"><span class=\"inEmCa-2161b79\">Kay reflected on her career change in an Instagram post on 2022<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"eapJKV4WVA0O\" data-wc=\"14\">The actress added that she also conducts animal presentations and maintains the petting zoo.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From Miley Cyrus to Selena Gomez and Zendaya, Disney Channel has spawned an impressive number of today&#8217;s mega stars. But some who were thrust into the spotlight at such a young age ultimately decided to turn their back on fame in pursuit of a more normal life.\u00a0 Among them is Kay Panabaker, who shot to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.hellomagazine.com\/horizon\/landscape\/211905435f16-kay-panabaker.jpg?tx=c_fill,w_1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-gossip"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}