Aileen Quinn, who starred as the little, red-haired orphan girl in the John Huston-directed family film, attained international recognition in 1982. She ultimately decided that she didn’t want to be a kid star and that she wanted a better “Tomorrow.” Quinn, who is now 50, made the decision to leave Hollywood when she became 18 years old

When Quinn was barely 9 years old, she won the role of Annie after competing against more than 8,000 other girls for the opportunity. The movie also stars Bernadette Peters, Carol Burnett, Tim Curry, Albert Finney, and Bernadette Finney. In a Fox News interview, she explained why she decided against going to Hollywood, adding that she wanted to travel. She acknowledged that her parents were very concerned about education and that they were

“But after that, I wanted to get back to some normalcy. I wanted to go to college and explore my other options,” Quinn explained. “I wanted to learn about the world. I lived in a foreign country and got to experience that for a while. I got to learn a different language and explore another part of the world that was different. So in a way, it was a blessing in disguise. I was able to grow up, have a normal life, date and see the world, which felt right to me.

”After she graduated from college, she started to do more stage work. She also said she found it “hard” to separate herself from her character years after the movie wrapped.