Hannah Montana actress, Morgan York, recently opened up on TikTok about why she quit acting as a teenager. York was known mostly for her role as Sarah, one of Miley’s classmates, on the Disney Channel show, Hannah Montana. In the show, Sarah was known as “Saint Sarah,” as she was always doing good deeds and was also an environmentalist. York appeared in 11 episodes of the show over the 4 seasons that the show ran. After Hannah Montana, York has no more acting credits.
York is also known for her portrayal as Kim Baker in 2003’s Cheaper by the Dozen and its sequel. Since she stopped acting, York has gone on to pursue her passion for writing. She graduated from University of Redlands in 2015, and now works for a publishing house. She also runs a blog called Morgan York Writes, where she describes herself as a publisher by day and “a novelist by night.” In her blog, she jokes about her time on Hannah Montana and Cheaper by the Dozen, while also discussing her thoughts on writing, gaming, and diversity in fiction.
As reported by ET Online, in a recent post on TikTok, York answered a user’s comment asking her if she missed acting, with a simple “no” before going on to explain why she decided to quit acting as a teen. In the video, York stated that the question she gets the most is why she quit acting. She goes on to say that she “never expected” acting to be a lifetime thing for her and that her mom would always tell her to quit the second that it stopped being fun. After her time on Hannah Montana, it seems that she hit the point where acting was no longer fun for her. In her TikTok, she explains:
My passion for acting did not outweigh all the costs, like all the time you have to spend away from loved ones on sets and the constant scrutiny from people watching you.
York is not the first child star to take to social media and other platforms to discuss the impact of the scrutiny that comes at such a young age in Hollywood. Even the star of Hannah Montana, Miley Cyrus, has gone one to re-examine her time on the show and the impact that it had on her childhood. Though Cyrus clearly did not quit acting after her time on Hannah Montana, it’s not uncommon for child stars to go on to pursue entirely different careers after deciding that the on-screen limelight wasn’t right for them. Other notable child-stars-turned-regular-joes include iCarly’s Jennette McCurdy, who wont be returning for the show’s revival on Paramount+ and Matilda‘s Mara Wilson, who now works for a non-profit.
It’s certainly not easy to be a professional actor at any age, but for young kids, the job comes with even more hardships. For some, it can just be better to follow other passions, especially if acting was never one’s main goal. York seems happy to have left the profession, and certainly doesn’t miss it, though she still supports her fellow cast mates on social media and beyond.
