Elisha Cuthbert is back in Prime Video’s coming-of-age series Every Year After, and she’s explaining the four-year acting break that began when her family life shifted—especially after her second child.
Elisha Cuthbert didn’t just step away from acting quietly. She describes a moment when her “mom” life became impossible to separate from the work she’d been doing for years—so she chose home, even when her career was ready to keep moving.
The 43-year-old actress. best known for roles in 24 and Happy Endings. is now making her big return to the screen in Prime Video’s new coming-of-age series Every Year After. On Today on Wednesday (June 17). Cuthbert talked through what led to her four-year break and why Every Year After felt like the right landing spot.
“I realized I worked all four years through our first child. ” she said. adding that it was hard to draw a line between the “mom” she was and the working person she had been. “And it was hard to separate that mom from the working person I was,” she explained. When she and her retired NHL player husband Dion Phaneuf welcomed their second child. she said her priorities shifted even more sharply. “So. when we had our second [kid]. I just felt like I didn’t want to waste any second of it and I didn’t want to be on set.”.
Cuthbert also described the break as a change of pace that brought her and her family comfort. She made her acting debut at age 13 and said she’d been working for a quarter of a century before becoming a mom for the second time. With her children now in school full time. she felt ready to go back—not because she’d been pushed by work. but because she finally felt she had the room to leave. “I just felt like I needed to be at home with the kids, and I enjoyed every minute,” she shared. “They’re in school now full time. I feel like I have the space and the energy and the heart to kind of leave them and do it.”.
For Sue in Every Year After. Cuthbert said it wasn’t even a case of lifelong fandom—at least not at first. She admitted she hadn’t read the Every Year After books when the role came her way. “It’s crazy because I hadn’t read any of Carley [Fortune]‘s books and then when I got on the show. obviously had this script but I wanted to read the novel. ” she recalled. “And then I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m a superfan now.’”.
Her return also comes with a sense of timing that she compared to a natural fit. In a recent interview with People. she said the series felt particularly right as her first major role since starring in Netflix’s The Ranch. which aired from 2016 to 2020. “The show is so beautiful. and I get to play a mother. which felt correct on so many levels. ” she shared. “To come out and be back on a show like this that feels right for me — and Sue is just so joyful and loving and maternal — it all felt really organic and great.”.
“It was a nice, smooth transition back to work,” Cuthbert added. “It was refreshing.”
Elisha Cuthbert Every Year After Prime Video Dion Phaneuf 24 Happy Endings Today Carley Fortune Sue The Ranch Netflix acting break coming-of-age series