Brendan Fraser on resilience at work in your 50s: ‘The silences in a career can be deafening’
“Before The Whale, I had everything to prove. And now, to be honest, not so much,” Oscar winner Brendan Fraser, 57, told AARP The Magazine in an interview last month.
The 50-and-older segment is the fastest-growing demographic in the world, according to Myechia Minter-Jordan, AARP’s CEO. And three years ago, Fraser—a Hollywood mainstay for 35 years whose career has been marked by challenges like depression and work drought—was nominated for (and won) his first Academy Award for playing the lead in director Darren Aronofsky’s prestige drama The Whale. In his acceptance speech, Fraser thanked Aronofsky “for throwing me a creative lifeline.”
In the interview with AARP, he delves further into his professional journey, sharing high points and personal setbacks, as well ambitious persistence in middle age.
From Encino Man and George of the Jungle to The Mummy and The Whale, Fraser has long been a leading man. But he flashes back to his first paid gig as a mascot for a storage unit company in Seattle, making $14 an hour: “I’ve never been flipped off more in my life,” he said. Eventually, he got acting gigs and moved from roles like “Sailor Number One” to becoming a Hollywood megastar and blockbuster headliner.
Fraser also detailed struggling with depression after an incident in 2003, when he alleged that the president of the Foreign Press Association groped him at an event. He talked about the importance of safeguarding his mental health following the incident: “I’ve learned to check in with myself and constantly reevaluate what’s important. And you also need to ask for help when you need it. Early on, I didn’t know you could ask for help. I only saw the stigma of it. I was afraid to say, ‘I need a hand.’”
Fraser said he again found himself in a dark place when, despite being a Hollywood A-lister, he ended up in a prolonged career lull for the entire 2010s (despite the fact that he never actually stopped working). The AARP The Magazine article called it a “less star-studded” period in which “he wasn’t connecting with audiences the way he once had.”
“The silence in a career can be deafening,” Fraser told the magazine.
He expounded on his philosophy of perseverance: “For a long time there, I felt like I disappointed people because I hadn’t met their expectations,” he said. “But I’m still here, you know? This is what I do.”
This lesson in humility and gratitude can create confidence and better health. In fact, there’s research that shows gratitude’s heath perks, such as greater emotional and social well-being, improved sleep, lower depression risk, and even better heart heath markers, according to Harvard Health.
“In this job, you live in a constant state of panic, and you can’t get too comfortable,” Fraser revealed. “I’ve learned to check in with myself and constantly reevaluate what’s important.”
Staying true to your values and your core goals can keep you focused on your career path, too. The intersection of values, passion, and purpose can culminate across industries, whether that’s working as an actor, a software designer, an account executive, an attorney, or a small-business owner.
In a Harvard Business Review article titled “Values, Passion, or Purpose—Which Should Guide Your Career?,” writer Irina Cozma summarizes the principle: “We all know following this advice isn’t as easy as it sounds,” Cozma wrote. This commitment to self-reliance is a continual and evolving commitment. Incorporating these mantras can help you build a career that is a combination of feeling successful, but also deeply fulfilling, she said.
Finally, supporting each other’s mental health is crucial. Fraser touched on the importance of reaching out for help—and the same is true in professional contexts.
A 2024 study by the University of New Mexico’s Anderson School of Management, published in The Journal of Social Psychology, showcases how receiving help at work can mitigate exhaustion levels for workers. “This research points to the importance of us working together. Being able to find unique and creative ways to still foster those relationships, even virtually, is extremely important,” said associate professor Andrea Hetrick, the study’s lead author, in a press release.
Fraser’s most recent film, 2025’s Rental Family, has him starring as an American actor doing stand-in work for strangers for a Japanese talent agency. It’s the latest movie in his decades-long career—one marked by resilience in the face of prolonged dry spells and huge mental health roadblocks in a brutally competitive, age-conscious industry.
He said he relies on therapy, as well as “reaching out to friends, getting the exercise you need, even having a bit of breakfast. They’re small things, but when you’re dealing with those feelings, they can make a monumental difference.”