10 Movies That Ended The Careers Of These Actors And 10 Great Movies That Gave These Actors Life
It's only natural that we all make mistakes, but for an actor, even the smallest error in judgment could have catastrophic effects on their career. It can often be hard to predict whether a film is going to be a flop or a hit, but these gambles can be what makes or breaks an actor's future employability. It seems like every actor has to go through some fails to finally get their break, but often it can be hard getting back on track once you've stumbled a few times.
So here we take a look at some of the actors who have had their careers ruined by a bad movie choice and some others who have redeemed themselves through taking a particular acting role. Some of the films listed are so bad, you may never have even heard of them. And for others listed here, you'll be wondering whatever happened to them. There are also some pretty inspirational tales of rising from job ashes, and you'll be wowed by the luck and determination some of these actors experienced. Hollywood is a tough old town, and only the strongest make it through!
20 The Love Guru Summoned A Career End For Mike Myers AND Jessica Alba
At one point in time, Mike Myers was at the top of his game. He was the shagadelic British spy everyone loved, and his Austin Powers movies made him a hit with audiences worldwide. Sadly, though, aside from his Shrek voice-overs that continue to keep the actor employed, it seems that Myers' career is pretty much washed up, and he has his abominable film The Love Guru to blame.
Playing a painfully unfunny character called Guru Maurice, Mike Myers stumbled into some pretty racist territory in The Love Guru and attempted to get laughs with potty humor and crass, vulgar gags.
The movie bombed at the box office and was pretty much the kiss of death for Myers' live-action movie career. Who knows, maybe there will be an Austin Powers 4, but it's doubtful audiences or critics will be keen to see Myers back in action on the big screen. Not only was it a career flop for him, but he took down Jessica Alba with him.
19 Iron Man Solidified Robert Downey Jr.'s Comeback
One of the greatest comeback stories in Hollywood involves Robert Downey Jr. We now associate the actor with being the superhero billionaire Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, but not that long ago, Downey Jr. was pretty much unhireable in showbiz. Although he had had success in the 1980s and 1990s, Robert Downey Jr. unraveled as his problems with addiction and substance abuse overtook his life.
For a number of years, Downey Jr. was in and out of prison but made a full and sound recovery in 2003 when he decided to turn his life around.
His career progressively gained momentum and really struck gold when he starred in his first stint as Tony Stark in Iron Man in 2008. Robert Downey Jr.'s journey is pretty inspirational, and it's definitely largely thanks to his Iron Man role that he is now one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.
18 Catwoman Clawed Away Halle Berry's Movie Career
Catwoman has gone down in history as being one of the worst superhero movies to ever come about, and its main star Halle Berry has borne the brunt of the movie's ridicule. It's crazy to think that just two years after winning an Oscar for her performance in Monster's Ball, Halle starred in this catastrophic DC Universe movie that not only brought shame to Catwoman but pretty much doomed Berry's career forever. While the film itself is terrible, it's Halle Berry's ridiculous acting that really made people hate the movie. It's no wonder then that the actress won a Razzie for Catwoman, cementing her role in this horrendous movie as being one of the worst in film history. Since Catwoman, Halle Berry hasn't had much success in securing prominent roles for herself and hasn't done much movie work, especially considering she is an Academy Award-winning actress.
17 Christoph Waltz Made A Glorious Name For Himself In Inglourious Basterds
Christoph Waltz had been acting for many years before landing his incredible role as Hans Landa, the Nazi villain in Inglourious Basterds, but it was only after appearing in this Quentin Tarantino movie that the actor actually became a household name.
It's safe to say that this starring role truly launched Waltz's career and he even won an Oscar for his amazing performance in it. It's amazing that the actor found his footing whilst being middle-aged, as we don't often think that actors find huge success later on in life.
But clearly, Waltz is one of the few exceptions. And, after getting mass recognition for his role in Inglourious Basterds, Waltz went on to feature in many more notable blockbuster films, including Django Unchained, The Legend of Tarzan, and Downsizing among many others.
16 Elizabeth Berkley Didn't Show Off Her Skills In Showgirls
Although this trashy 1995 movie directed by Paul Verhoeven has become somewhat of a cult classic, Showgirls is universally considered one of the all-time worst movies ever to be made. It failed massively at the box office and definitely wasn't the career-making hit former Saved by the Bell actress Elizabeth Berkley was hoping it would be. In the movie, Berkley plays an aspiring dancer who gets caught up in the seedy underworld of Las Vegas show business. It can't be denied that Berkley gives the role all she's got, but sadly even her best efforts couldn't mask an overall poor performance on her part and a ridiculous script that made the whole film an utter catastrophe. After this dire film, Berkley went from being a big-budget star to only getting roles in TV movies and a few televised series.
15 Michael Keaton's Career Soared Once More Thanks To Birdman
Another actor who has recently undergone a career rebirth is Michael Keaton, many thanks to his role in the Oscar-winning film Birdman.
It's been generally agreed that there are a lot of similarities between Keaton and the character he plays in the movie: an actor attempting to make a comeback after being known most of his life for playing a superhero.
Um, yeah, that's definitely Keaton. The actor was most known for starring in Tim Burton's Batman movie in 1989, and although he had some subsequent roles afterward, he was never able to maintain the kind of stardom he had gained with Batman. Birdman was therefore very much a renaissance for Keaton and put him back on the Hollywood map and into our cinematic consciousness once more.
14 John Travolta Couldn't Fight Off The Bad Reviews In Battlefield Earth
Another one of the most famous awful movies is the 2000 catastrophe that is Battlefield Earth, starring John Travolta. Most of us like to think of Travolta in his Grease and Pulp Fiction eras, but as much as we love to keep this image of the actor alive in our hearts and minds, the sad truth is John Travolta has been in some pretty terrible movies - and none more so than Battlefield Earth. The film was universally panned by the critics and has a mere 3% approval rating on review website Rotten Tomatoes. Although Travolta was in a number of subsequent films in the following years, including Swordfish, Be Cool, and Hairspray, the actor was never quite able to regain his dignity after his horrible performance in Battlefield Earth and largely seems missing from the big blockbuster films released by Hollywood.
13 Keanu Reeves Is Killing It With John Wick
Keanu Reeves is most famous for his role in the iconic Matrix franchise, but after his colossal success with these films, Reeves kind of disappeared from the limelight. Although he did a string of movies post-Matrix, none really stood out as being particularly great.
Then came John Wick, the full-throttle action movie about a hitman seeking revenge. And boy, did people start paying attention to Keanu again.
John Wick and John Wick 2 were crucial in reminding people just how great an actor Reeves is and how intensely he can play a role. The John Wick films were greeted incredibly positively by the critics, and it can be safely said that it's thanks to this franchise that Reeves has successfully regained his notoriety as a fantastic actor.
12 Hayden Christensen Met His Demise In Star Wars: Attack Of The Clones
We can all safely agree that Star Wars is the most iconic film franchise to exist. It has a mega-following and an army of loyal fans. Even so, most people will agree that the Star Wars prequels don't live up to the original films. At the time of his casting, Christensen was still relatively unknown. He probably thought that joining the mega-franchise that is Star Wars would be the thing to truly launch his acting career, but sadly for Christian, he instead became one of the most mocked and reviled characters in the franchise's history. Whether it was his bad acting or the poor dialogue he was given which made his performance stink is up for debate. But one thing's for sure, Hayden Christensen's career died with Attack of the Clones.
11 People Went “Wild” for Reese Witherspoon
Before she starred in Wild, Reese Witherspoon was known for being a rom-com actress. Of course, we all loved her in her iconic role as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde and she wowed us with her performance in Walk the Line. However, even these two roles didn't really showcase Reese as being a “serious” actress.
This all changed though when she took on a more complex, and arguably more challenging role, as Cheryl Strayed in Wild.
Witherspoon played this part with such emotional vulnerability and it finally showed us all that there was more to this actress than just being a bubbly, sweet rom-com star. It just goes to show that sometimes you just need to get your hands dirty to prove you're up for the job.
10 Did Taylor Lautner Get Abducted? Nope, Just His Career
Remember Taylor Lautner? The handsome hunk from the Twilight series? While our hearts may have been fluttering over Lautner when the supernatural romance series came out, Taylor has been pretty absent from the big screen lately. Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson had their fair share of film flops post-Twilight, but somehow both have managed to make a name for themselves and have proven that they can actually act.
Stewart and Pattinson have been in some critically acclaimed films, but sadly for Lautner, his attempt at breaking free from the Twilight legacy only ended in failure.
And Abduction is very much to blame. This mystery-action film was slated by the critics and was such an overall failure, that Lautner has struggled to land any roles outside of some other flops like Grown Ups 2 and the much-reviled The Ridiculous 6. You know when you're counting on Adam Sandler for roles that things have gotten rough.
9 Natalie Portman Should Be V Grateful For V For Vendetta
Hayden Christensen wasn't the only one to get career-backlash for his role in the Star Wars prequel. Natalie Portman was also hit hard by the critics' reactions to the films. Portman played the role of Padme Amidala in the prequel trilogy, and though she also hoped this film gig would skyrocket her to fame, the role actually did her more harm than good. For a long time after the prequel trilogy, Portman couldn't land any more films because everyone pretty much thought she was a terrible actress. No directors wanted to work with her until the late director Mike Nichols vouched for her, and she was finally hired to work on V for Vendetta. This film reestablished Natalie as a leading actress with talent and was the springboard for her getting other subsequent roles, most notably in Black Swan for which she won an Oscar.
8 No More Acting For Jaden Smith After His After Earth Catastrophe
Not that long ago, Jaden Smith, the son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith, was on his way to a promising acting career. Having received positive feedback from audiences and critics for his roles in The Pursuit of Happiness and the Karate Kid remake with Jackie Chan, Jaden Smith seemed to be following in his father's acting footsteps in a pretty successful way. But then After Earth happened.
This future dystopian action flick stars both Will Smith as well as his son Jaden and was universally torn to pieces by the critics. Jaden's acting was deplorable and the movie as a whole just wasn't any good.
Jaden bagged himself the Worst Actor Razzie Award for his performance and has since been seen doing everything except acting. He's launched a clothing line and produced music, but has noticeably stayed away from the big screen.
7 Liam Neeson Stole His Career Back With Taken
Liam Neeson has always been on people's radars as he has had a steady career featuring in movies of varying greatness over the years. His acting pinnacle occurred when he won an Oscar for his performance in Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List, which pretty much thrust him into instant mega-stardom. However, as we've seen on this list before, there's one group of films that is an instant career-ruiner, and sadly Neeson was a part of it. That's right, we're talking about the Star Wars prequel trilogy. For many years, Liam Neeson would be associated with his role as Jedi master Qui-Gon Jinn, and unfortunately this clouded people's judgment of the actor's skills. Neeson starred in some films after Star Wars, but it wasn't until Taken was released that he got a career rebirth that put him back in people's good books.
6 Sean Connery Was Anything But Extraordinary In The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Sean Connery will forever be associated with his most famous role, that of the dashing, lothario British spy James Bond, aka 007. However, despite the fact that we may all uphold Sean Connery as being a talented star, he's had his fair share of film flops too, and none as big as The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Based on a comic series of the same name, this steampunk film was hated by critics and audiences alike.
Connery was apparently already gearing up for retirement, but when he received such a backlash for this movie, he decided to hang up his acting hat for good and has yet to star in another movie.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen truly marked the end of Connery's career, and sadly was a pretty poor exit for such a glowing and iconic actor.
5 Matthew McConaughey Became A Hollywood Icon Thanks To Dallas Buyers Club
Perhaps the biggest and most notable career-rebirth we've witnessed in an actor happened to Matthew McConaughey. So great was this actor's comeback, that it even got its own special name: the McConnaissance. The Texan Hollywood heartthrob had a true career renaissance thanks to his Oscar-winning role in Texas Buyers Club.
Before landing this role, McConaughey was mainly known for starring in mediocre rom-coms and delighting in taking off his shirt. We all knew and loved him for his great physique and his swoon-worthy Southern drawl, but let's be honest, no one really took him seriously.
Texas Buyers Club really proved that McConaughey wasn't just a pretty face, and alerted us to the fact that this guy could really act. McConaughey is now considered a versatile, entertaining, and stellar actor, and we can't wait to see him appear in many more great films to come.
4 Eddie Murphy Lost All Hope Of An Acting Future With Norbit
You might not be able to remember this, but there was a time when Eddie Murphy was in everything. He was one of the biggest stars of the 1980s and continued to have success in the 1990s. He was known for being one of the funniest comedians in the world and having him headline in a movie was a guarantee for getting audiences to come see it. Although his career slowed down a little bit in the 2000s, he was still beloved, thanks in large part to his voicing Shrek's best friend Donkey. However, it all changed when Eddie Murphy starred in Norbit, a comedy movie that just went too far. In it, Murphy plays an overweight woman and a Chinese man, neither of which went down well, and caused more offense and upset than laughter. After a string of questionable acting choices, Norbit really was the movie that flushed Eddie's career away.
3 Tom Cruise Cruised Back Into Our Hearts In Tropic Thunder
About 12 years ago, it seemed like Tom Cruise's reign in Hollywood was coming to a close. The actor, known for some great performances in films such as Jerry Maguire and Mission Impossible, was going through a bit of a rough patch. No one can forget the Oprah couch incident, and of course, there was the whole Brooke Shields debacle over antidepressants.
People seemed to be falling out of love with Tom Cruise at an alarming rate. But then, the actor decided to do something brilliant. He took a cameo role in Ben Stiller's comedy movie Tropic Thunder, playing Les Grossman, a balding, overweight studio executive.
Not only was Tom Cruise hilarious in his role as Les, it was exactly the reminder we needed of why Tom Cruise is so great. He definitely won us back with this part, and continued gaining back his success thereafter with Ghost Protocol.
2 Freddie Prinze Jr. Lost His Way With Scooby Doo
Freddie Prinze Jr. was huge in the 1990s, appearing in many people's favorite 90s rom-coms such as She's All That and Down To You. With his squeaky-clean good looks and affinity for playing the leading man we all wanted to be with, Freddie was a rising star in Hollywood during that era. The 2000s weren't so kind to him, however.
While directors were still keen to cast him in rom-com roles, audiences inexplicably became less and less interested in seeing the actor on the big screen. Freddie Prinze Jr. decided to take a chance appearing in the live-action Scooby Doo movie, playing the role of Fred.
The film was slammed by the critics, and sadly Freddie Prinze Jr. was left trying to convince people he was still a credible actor. Unfortunately, though, no one really wanted to hire the actor after Scooby Doo, and Freddie Prinze Jr. was left disenchanted with the acting world, deciding shortly after to call it quits altogether.
1 Ryan Reynolds Got A New Lease Of Life With Deadpool
It's funny to think that a terminally ill superhero would be able to breathe new life into Ryan Reynolds' career, but that's exactly what happened when the actor decided to take on the role of Deadpool. Before taking this life-changing role, it seemed like Reynolds' career was headed in a one-way rom-com direction.
His performances in Van Wilder, The Proposal, and Definitely, Maybe proved that he wasn't bad as a leading man in these light, romantic comedies, but it seemed like he was stuck being typecast in these roles.
Deadpool, however, was the role that changed his career. Becoming the star of one of the most successful Marvel movies definitely made people pay more attention to him, and proved that he was more than just a hunk who could play a love-interest.
