When celebrities “disappear” from the public eye, they don’t really disappear. They still have lives and have to figure out ways to fill out their days. But since they’re not getting the same kind of work they had during the height of their acting or singing careers, they’ve got to find creative ways to fill out their schedules – and Leelee Sobieski was one of the most popular stars in the 1990s and early 2000s – but basically disappeared from public view in an instant after that.
While movie stars cannot be around forever, we expect them to be around more than they are. But one reason that Leelee might have disappeared from the limelight – at least for most of America – is because that’s not even her real name.
The actor’s real name is actually Liliane Rudabet Floria Elsvea Sobieski. Because that name is far too long for a career in Hollywood, she had it shortened so it would fit on a movie poster. Her career began when she was young after she got cast in a movie for television called Reunion. She was just eleven-years-old when that movie was produced, and it helped get her to better jobs all over Hollywood.
Soon she was working with actors like Tim Allen in Jungle 2 Jungle, and the extremely successful Deep Impact and the critically-acclaimed A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries. And she did it all before she reached her sixteenth birthday. Talk about success!
Sobieski acted alongside many great A-list Hollywood stars. Besides Tim Allen, she also worked with Drew Barrymore in the romantic comedy, Never Been Kissed, as well as Tom Cruise in the hit movie Eyes Wide Shut. Because she was starring alongside these A-listers, her career was a rocket ship that was taking her to the moon. But it just didn’t happen for her. Things fizzled out, and now she’s disappeared from our world – until now.
Her withdrawal from the Hollywood mainstream took some time. She pulled out slowly, and as she was still producing some movies. She appeared in Joy Ride and then The Glass House in 2001. Then she shunned the big industry of Hollywood focusing on smaller projects, including independent films like one that mocked Hollywood A-list celebrity Nicholas Cage – the film called The Wicker Man, which came out in 2006.
Although her movie bombed, Sobieski pursued a bachelor’s degree at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. She studied literature and fine art, a degree that usually wouldn’t result in a career, but for a Hollywood actor who had experience with Tim Allen and Tom Cruise, that didn’t really matter.
Since 2006, Sobieski has been married twice. She first married actor Matthew Davis but divorced him promptly in 2009. In 2010, she married designer Adam Kimmel and produced two children with the man.
Her kids prevent her from acting, she claims.
“I am totally an outsider (in Hollywood),” she barked. “I am just a mom and an outsider. I am just focused on my kids. I think that’s mainly why I stopped.”
Instead of pursuing her career, Sobieski pursued life as a full-time mom, which is a profession that any mom will admit takes a lot of work.