Ryan Paevey is stepping back into the spotlight following a two-year acting hiatus, revealing he’d become “reclusive” ahead of the much-needed break.
“Anybody who’s worked in this industry will tell you it’s harder than it looks from the outside, particularly psychologically,” Paevey, 41, exclusively told Us while promoting his upcoming Great American Media film The Ornament Library, premiering this holiday season. “It’s heavy on the mind. There’s a significant amount of rejection involved. There’s a significant amount of intrusion into privacy involved.”
The actor — who is best known for his Hallmark rom-com roles and playing Nathan West on General Hospital — noted that his mother was diagnosed with cancer around the time he decided to step away from Hollywood in spring 2024.
“Even before that, I wanted to — I wasn’t happy in Los Angeles. I was kind of just shut away in my apartment, and my lifestyle was not terribly healthy at the time,” Paevey recalled. “[It] made me very reclusive, and I was kind of depressed.”
The California native, who will star in two Great American Media films this Christmas, added that the work stress complied with his family health scare led him to make a big “change.”
“I left the city. I moved down here [to San Diego]. I’m a couple miles away from mom. Spent more time outside exercising. I own a jewelry business on the side. I kind of focused on that,” Paevey shared with Us. “I just needed a break. I needed to be in something different. I needed, like, a total palate cleanse. So I moved.”
The Under the Christmas Sky star joked that because he has a “nice garden” at his new house he’s become “the neighborhood hobbit.”
Looking back, Paevey told Us, “I needed a total change. Everything, mailing address, surroundings, work. I just needed everything to be different, and so I did. I moved. I came down here close to mom. Got an old truck.”
He confirmed, “I changed everything. And it was cleansing. It was healing. It was good.”
Paevey announced in April 2024 that after two decades in the entertainment industry he felt burned out.
“The last 8 months of life in this industry have left a pretty bitter taste in my mouth, and I need some time away from a world so full of fake friends and empty promises,” he said via Instagram, explaining that he wasn’t working on anything new that year.
Two months later, Paevey told Heavy that he didn’t mean to worry his fans with his social media declaration, but confessed, “The industry hasn’t felt like the place for me in quite some time now, and my mental health has suffered from it.”
The actor called Hollywood a “bit of a dark place” for him at the moment and said the industry “made me into a version of myself I don’t like very much.”
Paevey insisted at the time that it wasn’t all bad news — in addition to his mother’s cancer diagnosis, his bank accounts were “hacked” and his money “embezzled” — as he expressed gratitude for his long career.
“I am grateful to this industry as a whole, I am grateful to General Hospital for giving a green actor a chance and tolerating his learning curve, to Hallmark for changing my life and taking me to places that have become my favorite on Earth,” he told the outlet.
More than a year later, Paevey dipped his toe back into acting, reprising his role as Nathan on General Hospital in September 2025.
It would take another year before fans learned that Paevey was filming rom-coms again, this time for Great American Media. (Both Christmas at Moose Lake and The Ornament Library premiere later this year.)
“For a variety of reasons, it was time to go back to work. [It was] financial but also motivational too,” Paevey explained of why he’s fully back to acting. “In the beginning, the calm was great, but after a while, it drove me insane.”
After diving into his jewelry line, Fortunate Wanderer, Paevey eventually accepted an offer to return to General Hospital, and then Great American Media came knocking.
“Then there were film offers, and there were scripts, and I started reading them, and I was like, ‘Well, I guess we’re back now, aren’t we? So let’s get to work, kids. Let’s do it,’” he said with a laugh. “I like work. I really do. I don’t think I’ll ever retire.”
Christmas at Moose Lake premieres on Great American Pure Flix Thursday, November 19, before debuting on Great American Family and GFAM+ Saturday, November 21.
The Ornament Library premieres first on Great American Pure Flix Thursday, December 3, and then on Great American Family and GFAM+ on Saturday, December 5.
