&gt; There are plenty of successful middle-age actresses.<p>Mel Gibson took time off? Or he can&#x27;t find good projects anymore?<p>Middle age actresses that aren&#x27;t getting the parts they used to, fairly or not: Elizabeth Shue, Elizabeth Hurley, Catherine Zeta Jones, Nicole Kidman. It&#x27;s plausible that many just left the business, but they all still act, just in much smaller projects.<p>There&#x27;s some of that on the actor side as well. Michael Keaton has had a hard time of it for the most part. I just picked actresses because it&#x27;s more apparent to me non-acting qualities carry more weight when it comes to actresses.