I’m honestly surprised the Buffy and Angel casts, as a whole, haven’t done more. Sarah Michelle Gellar has been in plenty of horror movies since Buffy, as well as the Scooby Doo movies and the occasional weird project like Southland Tales, Alyson Hannigan had the American Pie teen comedies and is now a star on How I Met Your Mother on TV, and David Boreanaz co-stars on Bones. But what about the rest of them?
I don’t think I’m exaggerating that these two shows had the most attractive ensemble casts, males and females alike, in recent memory, and their acting ranged from passable to outstanding, with no real duds on either show. Charisma Carpenter, Amy Acker, and Eliza Dushku are complete knockouts, but where have they been since Angel ended? (I know Dushku has another series in the works with Joss Whedon, but it’s still been a few years in between.) Nicholas Brendon, J. August Richards, Alexis Denisof, and Anthony Stewart Head are all good-looking dudes by this straight guy’s standards, and all very charismatic as well. I know James Marsters has done some more genre work like a recurring role on *Smallville * and a part in the *Dragon Ball * movie, but I’m really stunned Buffy and Angel didn’t catapult their stars – even the leads – to greater success.
Numerous mentions of Thora Birch from “American Beauty”, but none about Wes Bentley from the same flick? He should have done more interesting things than “Ghost Rider.”
And how about Rufus Sewell of “Dark City”? What became of him?
It isn’t too late for Fillion yet. Apparently he had a good romantic role in Waitress last year, but also played a heroic small town sheriff in the horror-comedy Slither in 2006. He needs to watch the roles he chooses, because his next few movies could turn him into either the next Harrison Ford or the next Bruce Campbell.
My understanding is that the car accident he had that disfigured his face a bit hurt his chances. Plus, is there any evidence that he’s a good actor? The Luke Skywalker roles weren’t exactly challenging, and the level of acting (other than Sir Alec Guiness) wasn’t really all that high.
He gets lots and lots of voice work, and is doing fine.
I was going to mention Nathan Fillion, but then I looked him up, and I don’t think you can judge his career yet. He has a new movie coming out next year in which he’s co-starring with Rene Zellwigger. He got a starring role in a TV series last year - it just didn’t succeed. However, IMDB doesn’t show any other upcoming projects for him, other than some voice work in an animated ‘Wonder Woman’ movie (not the Whedon Wonder Woman movie - another one).
Dirk Benedict is an actor that never got his career off the ground. He was quite charismatic in the original “Battlestar Galactica”, and I remember him being touted as the next big thing after he got good reviews co-starring in “The A-Team”. He had to battle cancer, which may have scuttled his career, but he’s still alive 30 years later, so I guess he whipped it.
I was going to mention Wes Bentley. He was fantastic in American Beauty, every bit Spacey’s equal.
Granted, he (and Thora Birch) are still young and could go on to major careers. It’s odd that a featured role in such a well-received movie didn’t lead to more big time roles.
You’d think after Animal House and Raiders of the Lost Ark, a talented and charismatic beauty like Karen Allen would have been on her way; apparently, she simply lost interest.
Good one. Plus it’s not as if she lost her looks–she looked great in “Scrooged” which was years later. I definitely would’ve figured her for a bigger star.
There’s a quote of his on IMDB in which he said that the reports that he was “disfigured” were highly exaggerated.
But I agree, despite the versatiltiy he seems to have with his voice in animation, his acting is on par with Hayden Sand-in-His-Butt Christensen’s. Even so, given the box office return of the Star Wars trilogy, I’d have thought someone would at least have tried casting him in something.
Anthony Stewart Head and James Marsters have long standing careers in theatre that pre-date Buffy (Head’s been a very successful stage actor since the 1970s). Since Buffy, Head has been working like crazy (including playing Frank n Furter) and he’s got a BBC series based on Merlin, he’s not Merlin though.
I think Marsters has been playing around with a band. Doing an album and whatnot.
Denisof has Bell’s Palsy and the left side of his face has lost a lot of mobility (Whedon compensated for this by shooting him from the other side). It’s possible he’s lost enough expressiveness in his face for it to be a serious acting liability.
Like many people mentioned in this thread, he’s still working. But mention the name Rufus Sewell to a crowd of folks, and you’ll most likely get puzzled looks and lots of ‘who’s he?’ responses.
She is also a successful author. Many people leave acting for other careers, the two most famous being Rob Reiner and Ron Howard. They might have become big stars in acting, but nobody can doubt their talents as producers.
This is true and I didn’t mean to suggest she is a “has-been” for having chosen a different career path. I think she could have gone on to make more movies, but writing was much more her thing. Her first book came out in mid-to-late 80s, so she’s had a solid career since the end of Star Wars.
But there were additional challenges to working in an industry that can be a harsh environment for anyone trying to kick a drug habit and producers don’t like the risk it represents. I was building sets on a show that had a lead who was often too messed up to work. Even when it’s kept out of the media, industry people know about it and it can be a career killer. (Kind of like the semi-autobiographical stuff in Postcards from the Edge when the producers come by to have the rehabbed actress pee in a cup.)
