# Actors and actresses you're suprised didn't become bigger stars **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 16, 2010, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195 "2010-01-16T14:17:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/21 "2010-01-17T04:23:20Z")
> [@pbbth](#): > > [David Strathairn](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000657/) Whenever I see his name I think of Jason Statham, even though they actually only have a few letters in common. Hopefully casting directors are smarter than I am, but you never know. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/22 "2010-01-17T04:32:34Z")
I second Adrian Paul. Why is a man that fantastically good-looking being wasted in schlock? The man is a GOD! Although, I guess his looks might relegate him to supernatural action heroes. Other than James Bond, he’s be hard to believe in any human role. ---
**Author:** ![Run-of-the-mill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9de053/32.png) [@Run-of-the-mill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Run-of-the-mill)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/23 "2010-01-17T09:52:40Z")
Sarah Michelle Gellar seems to have disappeared. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Baldy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Gary\_Baldy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Baldy)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/24 "2010-01-17T10:33:03Z")
I always thought that [William Smith](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0810342/) would have had a bigger career. Sure, he’s stayed busy acting with lots of roles, but I thought he would end up somewhat like Bruce Campbell. On the same note, I thought Michael Ironside, after “V”, would have ended up being the Charles Bronson of the 1980s. Again, he stayed busy, but not at the level I thought he would reach. ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/25 "2010-01-17T11:13:37Z")
Here’s an obscure one: Aya Takanashi, Tom Selleck’s love interest from _Mr. Baseball_. Not only did she never make another movie again, but there aren’t even any pictures of her on Google or anything despite a quite good performance in that movie. Totally dropping off the face of the Earth after a big Hollywood production and not even doing TV work back (or even giving any info about your current whereabouts!) in Japan? Weird. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/26 "2010-01-17T15:53:45Z")
I remember when **[Michelle Forbes](http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGLL_enUS320US321&q=michelle+forbes)** (link to Google Image search results) first appeared as Ensign Ro on Star Trek. Man - I crushed on her hard. She comes across as intelligent and complex as well as beautiful - a next-gen Sigourney Weaver, if you will. An when she starred in Kalifornia with Brad Pitt, Duchovney and Juliette Lewis, it seems like she could transition to the big screen. Instead she has been somewhat typecast as the intense female authority on 24, BSG and other genre shows. Good work, but not the breakout I was envisioning… ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/27 "2010-01-17T16:01:38Z")
Two more from Nickelodeon, Melissa Joan Hart (Clarissa) and Michael Maronna (Adventures of Pete and Pete). She’s in a couple of upcoming things, but she kind of disappeared for a while. He is now an electrician! I did crush on the older Pete for a bit, something about a trembly lipped, skinny, red-headed boy sets my tired old heart into a mild flutter. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/28 "2010-01-17T18:29:02Z")
Going back to Golden Age Hollywood, Dorothy Comingore played the second wife of Charles Foster Kane in _Citizen Kane_ — the singer at a department store’s sheet music department whom the infatuated Kane promotes to an overwhelmed grand opera star. Retiring from that failure, she becomes despondent, shrill, and bored in the gilded cage of Xanadu; and after walking out on Kane, she’s reduced to an alcoholic singer in a nightclub, telling her story to the curious reporter. It was an Oscar-worthy supporting performance from an actress who was virtually unknown before then, and who had an oddly patchy and abbreviated career after then. Reportedly she had troubles in her private life. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/29 "2010-01-17T19:07:22Z")
[Sean Young](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000707/). She was going to be Vicki Vale in Tim Burton’s first Batman movie, but a horse injury took her out. Took out her entire career from the look of it. Damn shame. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/30 "2010-01-17T19:45:25Z")
Rumor has it Sean Young is very hard to work with so that might explain her lack of success. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Credible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/31 "2010-01-18T06:32:39Z")
Remember Farrah Forke? She played Alex on a couple seasons of Wings. She was really pretty and a good actress, and I was disappointed when she left the show. She’s barely done anything else since then, which is a shame. ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/32 "2010-01-18T06:54:46Z")
It’s too early to tell, and certainly he’s been working steadily and even headlined an action movie – albeit a prequel – _Underworld: Rise of the Lycans_, but I think Michael Sheen has what it takes to be a tremendous star. Too bad he’s not more classically handsome, although I certainly think he has his appeal (Kate Beckinsale apparently agreed once upon a time, as they have a daughter together). ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/33 "2010-01-18T07:45:36Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > I remember when **[Michelle Forbes](http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGLL_enUS320US321&q=michelle+forbes)**(link to Google Image search results) first appeared as Ensign Ro on Star Trek. Man - I crushed on her hard. She comes across as intelligent and complex as well as beautiful - a next-gen Sigourney Weaver, if you will. An when she starred in Kalifornia with Brad Pitt, Duchovney and Juliette Lewis, it seems like she could transition to the big screen. Instead she has been somewhat typecast as the intense female authority on 24, BSG and other genre shows. Good work, but not the breakout I was envisioning… I just watched her in the second season of Durham County. She was excellent. > [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Rumor has it Sean Young is very hard to work with so that might explain her lack of success. Not only was she difficult to work with, but she behaved like a psycho. James Woods sued her for stalking him and leaving disfigured dolls at his doorstep. She went into rehab in 2008 after having to be forcibly removed from the 2008 Director’s Guild Awards ceremony for heckling. [Here’s a bio on her.](http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800026006/bio) ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/34 "2010-01-18T07:55:45Z")
> [@Justin\_Credible](#): > > Remember Farrah Forke? She played Alex on a couple seasons of Wings. She was really pretty and a good actress, and I was disappointed when she left the show. She’s barely done anything else since then, which is a shame. Oh yeah! Her _Wings_ character was a helicopter pilot, right? She was really hot. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/35 "2010-01-18T08:04:06Z")
Rand Kingsley was _amazing_ as Hugo Snyder in _Three Ninjas,_ and yet for some reason that movie is the ONLY other film he’s ever done besides some obscure movie in 1998 called _The Gardener._ The guy who played _Barry Lyndon_ - what the piss ever happened to him? I don’t even know what the hell his name is, and that’s one of my favorite movies of all time and I’ve seen it literally dozens of times. Sean something? Sean McSomething, some Irish name, I know that much (he is not actually a native Irishman in real life.) There’s someone who really dropped off the face of the earth. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/36 "2010-01-18T08:04:40Z")
Timothy Hutton wowed everybody with **Ordinary People** and **The Falcon and the Snowman** , and made a credible action flick, **Internal Affairs**. Then the movie roles got smaller. He played Aldrich Ames in a really good TV film, then he was **Nero Wolfe** ’s sidekick, now he’s stuck in basic cable with **Leverage**. Still a working actor, but his career seems to define “diminishing returns.” He could still bounce back, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/37 "2010-01-18T08:41:17Z")
> [@Mississippienne](#): > > It’s too early to tell, and certainly he’s been working steadily and even headlined an action movie – albeit a prequel – _Underworld: Rise of the Lycans_, but I think Michael Sheen has what it takes to be a tremendous star. Too bad he’s not more classically handsome, although I certainly think he has his appeal (Kate Beckinsale apparently agreed once upon a time, as they have a daughter together). Huh? He’s barely at the start of his sure to be long and illustrious career as one of the greatest actors of our time. I’m absolutely serious. Right as _Underworld: Rise of the Lycans_ was in the theater he was also in [_Frost/Nixon_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0870111/) as David Frost. At my favorite 21 screen theater, they were literally in auditoriums that were right next to each other. David Frost in one theater, werewolf in the other. That’s some muthafucking **range** boyo! The only thing not working in his favor is that he is so talented at playing real people that he disappears into the role and people just see Tony Blair or David Frost (or Brian Clough in the criminally underseen [_The Damned United_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1226271/)). In my moviewatching world, I’ll see anything Michael Sheen is in, even if, as above, he’s playing a coach I’ve never heard of from a sport I don’t care about. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/38 "2010-01-18T08:44:05Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > The guy who played _Barry Lyndon_ - what the piss ever happened to him? I don’t even know what the hell his name is, and that’s one of my favorite movies of all time and I’ve seen it literally dozens of times. Sean something? Sean McSomething, some Irish name, I know that much (he is not actually a native Irishman in real life.) There’s someone who really dropped off the face of the earth. So, what - now you’re doing _Barry Lyndon_-related whooshes? Is that your new thing? ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/39 "2010-01-18T08:48:11Z")
What do you mean? I did do two of them a while ago (and the second one was just supposed to be a joke to amuse all the people who “got” the first one - I never intended to make it some kind of recurring thing.) But, that said, I meant the above post in earnest. I genuinely have no idea what happened to Ryan O’Neal (I swear to God, I had to go look it up on Wikipedia - I really couldn’t remember his name) - you’d think someone starring as the protagonist in a Kubrick film would go on to bigger things. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2010, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195/40 "2010-01-18T08:49:21Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Timothy Hutton wowed everybody with **Ordinary People** and **The Falcon and the Snowman** , and made a credible action flick, **Internal Affairs**. Then the movie roles got smaller. He played Aldrich Ames in a really good TV film, then he was **Nero Wolfe** ’s sidekick, now he’s stuck in basic cable with **Leverage**. Still a working actor, but his career seems to define “diminishing returns.” He could still bounce back, I guess. I was surprised how much much older Hutton looks these days. It’s only been 3 years since he played Archie Goodwin. He’s changed a lot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-and-actresses-youre-suprised-didnt-become-bigger-stars/525195.md?page=3)