Brendan Fraser Says His Recent Success Didn’t Feel Like a ‘Comeback’: ‘I Never Went That Far Away’
- - Brendan Fraser Says His Recent Success Didn’t Feel Like a ‘Comeback’: ‘I Never Went That Far Away’
Tommy McArdleJanuary 21, 2026 at 4:00 AM
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Brendan Fraser reflects on his 2023 Oscar win and recent years of success, which he does not see as "a comeback"
In 2022's The Whale, Fraser won a Critics Choice Award and SAG Award on top of his first Academy Award
The actor most recently appeared in the movie Rental Family
Brendan Fraser doesn't see his 2023 Oscar win for The Whale as a comeback story.
“I understood why people were framing it as a comeback, but the truth is I never went that far away," Fraser, 57, tells AARP The Magazine in its February edition, as he looks back on more than 30 years in Hollywood.
The star rose to fame with '90s movies like School Ties, Airheads and The Mummy and enjoyed a long run of success through the mid-2000s.
After a years-long period in which he spent some time out of the spotlight, he rose to the top of the 2023 awards race by playing a 600-lb. man reflecting on his life in director Darren Aronofsky's movie The Whale, for which he won his Oscar, a well as a Critics Choice Awards and SAG Award.
Mike Marsland/WireImage
Brendan Fraser on Dec. 10, 2025
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"That acknowledgment was the culmination of a great number of people's efforts on my behalf and it made me feel even more grateful for the good fortune I've had to have been able to do this job for the last 30 years," Fraser tells AARP The Magazine.
"It also made me feel like I mustn't become too comfortable now. I still need to pay attention to that instinct I have, which is to continue, to keep working, keep reaching for interesting projects," he says.
AARP The Magazine
Since The Whale, Fraser has appeared in movies like Killers of The Flower Moon, Brothers and, most recently, Rental Family, in which he portrays an American actor living in Tokyo.
Fraser admits in his interview that he felt he "had everything to prove" before he won the Oscar. "And now, to be honest, not so much," he says.
He shares his three sons — Griffin, 23, Holden, 21, and Leland, 19 — with ex-wife Afton Smith, whom he was married to from 1998 to 2007. He has been in a relationship with makeup artist Jeanne Moore since at least 2022.
"I feel a sense of calm and confidence now at this time in life. I also feel like there's so much left to do," he adds. "And I also have a keener sense of time now and appreciation for it and how important it is, how valuable it is. That's something I'm learning more and more as we go along, as I see my own kids growing up, as I see the opportunity to start again and do better. If I can do it, we all can."
Rental Family is now available on digital. The latest issue of AARP The Magazine featuring Fraser is available in homes starting in February and online now.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
