CSI star William Petersen, 72, is unrecognizable in rare outing after quitting Hollywood

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation star William Petersen was virtually unrecognizable as he stepped out in California for a casual outing, five years after leaving Hollywood for good following a health scare. The 72-year-old looked relaxed

William, who sported gray hair and a gray beard amid the outing, has not been seen in several years since moving to Chicago with his family. 

The actor was best known for portraying CSI graveyard shift supervisor Gil Grissom on the hit show for nine seasons, and he later returned for cameos in the 2015 TV movie Immortality and in CSI: Vegas in 2021. 

William endured a health scare on the set of CSI: Vegas, which spurred him to step back from acting and focus on his family. “[William] wasn’t feeling well,” said his representative in a statement at the time. “He is exhausted from long hours on set for the past 12 weeks and was taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure.”

The father of three later with People in 2025 that he chose to step away from acting and move back to Chicago as he had achieved all that he wanted in Hollywood and was focused on spending more time with his family. 

“I have an agent now that hasn’t done anything in 15 years, the poor guy. Because I’m like, ‘No – I’m not doing anything. I’m not going to do it,'” he explained. 

© CBS via Getty Images

“I don’t really want to do anything! Because at a certain point you realize…I’ve done 40 plays or whatever, I’ve done movies, I’ve done television. I managed to participate in all three mediums, in terms of what you can do as an actor.”

“For me, it’s just been a lark, really. It’s been fun,” he continued. “Because I never cared whether I got something or didn’t get something, because none of it was planned. It’s one of those things where if you don’t have great expectations, you don’t have disappointments.” 

© CBS via Getty Images

William added that he didn’t “have the ego to go get in front of cameras anymore” and preferred to shift his focus to his children, including Maite, 51, and his 23-year-old twins, whose names have been kept private. 

© WireImage

He shares Maite with his ex-wife, Joanne Brady, and his twins with his wife, Gina Cirone. The retiree told People that he couldn’t be happier after enjoying such career success and having the freedom to step back from it all. 

“I’ve just been lucky, and I’ve been able to do what I wanted, and that’s really remarkable in this…well, not just in this business, but in this current world we live in, just to be able to do what you want to do whenever you want to do it,” he said. “Yeah, I couldn’t be more fortunate as a human being, quite frankly.”