Pushkar Ambekar
Every actor goes through a period of lull. The careers of almost all actors have crest and trough. So, if you find an actor not in the limelight that doesn’t mean his or her career is over. It might just mean that he or she is going through a bad professional phase. But then, there are also actors who suddenly find themselves out of favor. That could be because of several reasons, but the most common one that you hear is the “attitude”. There could be other reasons as well. Today’s list deals with actors whose best days are certainly behind them. It is not that these actors are no longer getting any work. They are. But not what they used to. With that said, here’s the list of 10 famous actors whose careers are nearly over.
10. Eddie Murphy
It is surprising to see someone like Eddie Murphy’s name in a ‘has been’ list. His debut film 48 Hrs. (1982) is one of the best films of that year. Most known for his roles in Nutty Professor (1996) and Dr. Dolittle (1998), his career took a hit during a face-off with the law and a string of flops. His choice of movies hasn’t been great since and even though he tried to revive his career with sequels of the previously mentioned films, they failed to make a mark at the box office. It’s a pity that someone who is accredited to have revived ‘Saturday Night Live’ single handedly should fall from grace.
9. Adam Sandler
On a personal level, I love Adam Sandler. Movies like Billy Madison (1995), Big Daddy (1999) and Mr. Deeds (2002) are famous for the light comedy and sensitivity they evoke. But comedy as a genre is a very evolving one and it is this evolution that Sandler was unable to keep up with. Though he did try his hand at versatility in Spanglish (2004), Reign Over Me (2007) and The Meyerowitz Stories (2017), he has failed to reinvent himself and even his childhood fans are better off not seeing him do anything lately.
8. Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage is an actor that has been around the industry for more than three decades now. Probably having won an Academy Award for Leaving Las Vegas (1995) would have guaranteed him a successful career; but not to be. A perfectly good actor by all means, he has starred in commercially successful films and still does but most of the films he does are a hit and miss. Given the talent he has, after doing films like Ghost Rider and Bangkok Dangerous, he is definitely not a very bankable actor anymore and has studios falling out of favor with him by the score.
7. Tobey Maguire
Who doesn’t know the baby-faced Peter Parker in the Spiderman movies Tobey Maguire. It was probably the poorly received third Spiderman movie that broke the last thread he might have been hanging onto for a good career in Hollywood. Even after he managed to bag a role in Brother (2009) and The Great Gatsby (2013), unfortunately he has not done anything notable since then and is pretty much a forgotten name even in Spiderman fan households especially after Marvel decided not to cast him in their latter, more commercially successful films.
6. Katherine Heigl
Criticizing openly about projects and even people she is associated with hasn’t really turned out well for Heigl. When she criticized Knocked Up publicly, widespread media reaction turned her into an instant no do-gooder in Hollywood. Though not a bad career by any means, film makers are just bit anxious when signing up with her and she isn’t the most favored actor around the industry.
5. Cameron Diaz
Once known to be one of the highest paid female actors in Hollywood, Cameron Diaz hasn’t had a movie since 2014, and rightly so. Though she has a few notable mention to her name like The Mask (1994), My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997) and the more recent Knight and Day (2010) with Tom Cruise, it is a clear case of ‘good looks don’t take you too far’ because her acting abilities are all too limited. She even apparently confessed to another has been, Gwyneth Paltrow, that she has left Hollywood for good after having a two decade long career.
4. Lindsay Lohan
The irresistibly sexy Lindsay Lohan had a blooming Hollywood career in front of her. After having done commercially successful films like Freaky Friday (2003) and Mean Girls (2004) she became a tabloid and paparazzi favorite. Lohan is known to be infamous amongst her peers for brash behavior and unpreparedness. To add to that she has been in and out of rehabilitation programs a bunch of times and has also had serious run ins with the law that has doomed her once blossoming career.
3. Charlie Sheen
The bad boy of Hollywood has always made headlines for all the wrong reasons with the latest being that he has tested positive for HIV. Even after having done substantial roles in films like Platoon (1986), Wall Street (1987) and Hot Shots (1991), his substance abuse, legal and health issues have always made him a nightmare to work with. Right from assaulting his wife, threatening to kill Brooke Mueller and even allegedly having unprotected sex after having tested positive, his career has long been dusted culminating in his ouster from Two and a Half Men.
2. Russell Crowe
Famous for his excellent portrayal of a Roman General in The Gladiator, little do people know of his boorish, drunken and threatening behavior on the sets. His off camera behavior hasn’t done him any favors either when in 2005 he was charged with second degree assault by the New York police and is, by his own admission, “the most shameful situation” he’s ever gotten himself in. Apart from a few memorable roles in films like American Gangster (2007) and Les Miserables (2012) to name a few, his career is going downhill as fast as a rock.
1. Val Kilmer
Being the youngest student ever to be admitted into the Julliard School, Kilmer had quite an astonishing start to his career. With notable films like Top Gun, The Tombstone, The Saint and Batman Forever, he was a prodigy and was a sex symbol in the 80’s. But his on-set erratic behavior and diva attitude made him infamous with directors and even the staff and cameramen. His off the sets brawl with Tom Cruise during the filming of Top Gun was a famous tabloid presentation at that time. It’s a shame that his career has come to crawl after having burned too many bridges with co-stars and directors.
