Rick Moranis breaks 13-year acting hiatus to appear with Ryan Reynolds in phone advert

Beloved ‘Ghostbusters’ star withdrew from the film industry in the 1990s

Rick Moranis has finally broken an acting hiatus that has seen him go without a live-action on-screen role since 2007.

The Ghostbusters and Little Shop of Horrors star featured alongside Ryan Reynolds in an advertisement for a US mobile phone company.

Reynolds begins the clip by saying: “It’s hard to believe that Mint Mobile has gone so long without an unlimited plan. So, to introduce it, we brought in an actor we’ve all gone too long without: Rick Moranis.”

Moranis then walks into frame, under the subtitle “comedy legend”. 

“So why am I here?" asks Moranis, to which Reynolds simply responds, “I’m a huge fan.”

After the death of his wife, costume designer Ann Belsky , in 1991, Moranis slowly withdrew from his acting career to focus on life as a single parent.

In the years since, he has starred as a voice actor in a smattering of animated projects and TV specials. Moranis’s most recent on-screen acting role was in 2007, for the Bob & Doug McKenzie's Two-Four Anniversary  TV special.

His last live-action film role came in 1997, with the direct-to-video franchise sequel Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves. 

Moranis in the 1986 musical comedy 'Little Shop of Horrors' (Warner Bros)

Moranis confirmed in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in 2017 that he had not retired from acting, but was simply selective about choosing roles.

He is currently set to return to cinemas with a new sequel to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, which will see him reprise one of his most famous roles, that of eccentric inventor and pater familias Wayne Szalinski.