# Actors who surprise you by the brevity of their career **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 24, 2011, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772 "2011-06-24T22:58:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/41 "2011-06-25T18:27:07Z")
I always think Mia Sara, too, every time I watch Ferris Bueller. But what you guys say seems to make sense. Jill Schoelen, the girl in the original Stepfather, also came to mind when I first saw it. She was also in Babes in Toyland (along with Drew Barrymore). She was (is?) very pretty with sort of a Winnie Cooper vibe to her. > [@kaylasdad99](#): > > I’m disappointed that Hayley Mills didn’t keep making movies. But she did go on to be Miss Bliss early on in Saved by the Bell! (Or what would become Saved by the Bell.) ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/42 "2011-06-25T19:07:35Z")
[Michelle Meyrink](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Meyrink) from Real Genius and Revenge of the Nerds. Gave up Hollywood and got into Zen Buddhism. She and her family are almost certainly better off for her career change, but as a fan I’m sorry she didn’t have a longer career in films. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/43 "2011-06-25T19:23:31Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > That was Sean Young. :smack: I knew that too. But they’re both rather forgettable blondes from the 80s, I think I can be forgiven for confusing them. > [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Bridget Fonda is an actress whose career seemed to get abrubtly abbreviated. Her career was going strong, she was getting a lot of work in big movies (and doing _good_ work), then she just vanished off the face of the earth. The last thing I remember her being in was _Jackie Brown_. Add her to the tally of actresses who retired to spend more time with their families. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/44 "2011-06-25T19:56:33Z")
I am no expert, but in the two movies that I can remember seeing Sean Young in (Stripes, No Way Out) she certainly wasn’t a blonde. Is she usually blonde in her personal life? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/45 "2011-06-25T20:01:20Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > I am no expert, but in the two movies that I can remember seeing Sean Young in (Stripes, No Way Out) she certainly wasn’t a blonde. :smack::smack: Forget I said anything. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/46 "2011-06-25T22:27:09Z")
[Peter Ostrum](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0652578/) was excellent as Charlie Bucket in the original “Willie Wonka & the Chocolate Factory”, but never made another movie. He works as a large-animal vet in upstate NY. His patients are mostly cows from regional dairy farms. As for adults, well teenage actors who might’ve gone onto more than they did: Wes Bentley, Thora Birch & Mena Suvari from “American Beauty” were all poised to go to great things after this film became a major blockbuster. Surprisingly, not one out of three of them did anything nearly as noteworthy as that film. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2011, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/47 "2011-06-25T23:35:47Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > Wes Bentley, Thora Birch & Mena Suvari from “American Beauty” were all poised to go to great things after this film became a major blockbuster. Surprisingly, not one out of three of them did anything nearly as noteworthy as that film. Thora Birch did _Ghost World_ two years after _American Beauty_ and I’d consider that a better film in every way ( and it won her a Golden Globe ). But I’ll grant you her career has been a bit more anemic since then, though it appears she is still working. However of greater interest to me is that while checking the date of the above films to confirm one followed the other, I discovered both of her parents were porn actors :eek:. Who’d of thunk? ---
**Author:** ![DxZero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DxZero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DxZero)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/48 "2011-06-26T00:57:33Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Michael O’Keefe is, to me, the geatest of Law & Order’s “Repeat Offenders” - he’s played six different characters in five episodes of all three shows. Holy hell. That was the kid from _Caddyshack_?!? He was awesome in the various L&O roles.(Personal favorite: The Irish gangster and his professor twin brother). He was also in _Michael Clayton_ as one of George Clooney’s bosses. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/49 "2011-06-26T02:19:21Z")
[Tami Stronach](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000660/), the Childlike Empress from The Neverending Story only ever did that one film, and IMDB says one TV movie a couple of years ago. Looks like she’s a dancer now. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/50 "2011-06-26T02:51:19Z")
> [@DxZero](#): > > Holy hell. That was the kid from _Caddyshack_?!? He was awesome in the various L&O roles.(Personal favorite: The Irish gangster and his professor twin brother). > > He was also in _Michael Clayton_ as one of George Clooney’s bosses. He was a recurring character on _Roseanne_ as well, I think the father of Jackie’s baby, got written out after a scene when Jackie realized there was zero passion in their relationship. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/51 "2011-06-26T03:07:55Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > As for adults, well teenage actors who might’ve gone onto more than they did: Wes Bentley, Thora Birch & Mena Suvari from “American Beauty” were all poised to go to great things after this film became a major blockbuster. Surprisingly, not one out of three of them did anything nearly as noteworthy as that film. I’ve mentioned this before in a similar thread, but American Beauty is actually the anomaly in all of their careers. Aside from Thora Birch in Ghost World, everything else Bentley, Birch and Suvari did can be considered “just alright” at best. Although after American Beauty, Wes Bentley got really into drugs and Thora Birch had a breakdown, so it’s not completely poor script choices. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/52 "2011-06-26T06:02:23Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > One classic example is [Peter Ostrum](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0652578/bio), who played Charlie Bucket in the Gene Wilder version of _Willy Wonka_ and then never acted again. He says his parents were not stage parents and encouraged him to look at it as an experience, after which he went back to being a regular kid. He’s now a large-animal veterinarian and loves his work. > [@Don\_Draper](#): > > [Peter Ostrum](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0652578/) was excellent as Charlie Bucket in the original “Willie Wonka & the Chocolate Factory”, but never made another movie. He works as a large-animal vet in upstate NY. His patients are mostly cows from regional dairy farms. Great minds think alike. 🆒 I initially read yours as saying, “His parents are mostly cows…” > [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > I’ve mentioned this before in a similar thread, but American Beauty is actually the anomaly in all of their careers. Aside from Thora Birch in Ghost World, everything else Bentley, Birch and Suvari did can be considered “just alright” at best. > > Although after American Beauty, Wes Bentley got really into drugs and Thora Birch had a breakdown, so it’s not completely poor script choices. Suvari was also in _American Pie_. That may be her niche. If they ever remake _American Graffiti_ or _American Psycho_, she’d be one to cast. > [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > I would say that Mark Hamill would count in my opinion, as after staring in three of the biggest movies of all time, he never followed up with any major roles of note, certainly nothing close to the caliber of the Star Wars movies. > > (That doesn’t mean that he NEVER acted again, but realistically, he was a huge star from the SW trilogy, and then…) Wasn’t he in a major car wreck that messed up his face? Kind of adds a certain resonance to his being cast as the Joker. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/53 "2011-06-26T06:10:14Z")
I recall Thora Birch on the short-lived sitcom _Day By Day_, mainly because she was rather presumptuously billed as just “Thora.” ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/54 "2011-06-26T06:14:11Z")
A contribution from me: [Meg Tilly](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000672/). She was a big star in the 80s. She continued working through the mid 90s in little-seen movies. Then around 1995 she dropped out of the industry entirely. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/55 "2011-06-26T09:21:32Z")
> [@Edward\_The\_Head](#): > > [Tami Stronach](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000660/), the Childlike Empress from The Neverending Story only ever did that one film, and IMDB says one TV movie a couple of years ago. Looks like she’s a dancer now. I used to know someone who went to school with her. She never wanted to be an actress in the first place, it just sort of happened. I wonder whatever happened to William Katt and Connie Sellecca. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/56 "2011-06-26T13:16:24Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Suvari was also in _American Pie_. That may be her niche. If they ever remake _American Graffiti_ or _American Psycho_, she’d be one to cast. It gets worse, she was also in a movie called _American Virgin_. But yes, _American Pie_ was a big movie, but it’s also just a dumb teenager movie and is much more in line with the types of movies Mena Suvari did for the rest of her career compared with _American Beauty_. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/57 "2011-06-26T13:19:57Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > But Leelee Sobieski is an interesting case. She was NEVER a big star and most of the movies she’s been in are either terrible (The Wicker Man, 88 Minutes) or B-grade cheeseball stuff that’s pretty fun (Joy Ride, Deep Impact, Night Train). Basically, she was hyped to the heavens because she appeared in her underwear in Eyes Wide Shut making “Fuck me” eyes at Tom Cruise. Oh yeah, she was 13 at the time. My recollection is that she was a rising star as the result of Deep Impact in part because she was so frequently compared to Helen Hunt. They do sort of look like each other, at least in the face. Which, of course, leads us to Helen Hunt. She was a hugely successful actress, a TV and movie veteran, and then she won an Oscar, and then… she just sort of pulled away. She had some good supporting roles a few years after that and has slipped away since. ---
**Author:** ![mikeargo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/858c86/32.png) [@mikeargo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikeargo)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/58 "2011-06-26T14:11:40Z")
Timothy Bottoms had a promising film career in the '70s with major roles in _The Last Picture Show_ and _The Paper Chase_ but never came close to his early successes. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/59 "2011-06-26T15:44:14Z")
> [@mikeargo](#): > > Timothy Bottoms had a promising film career in the '70s with major roles in _The Last Picture Show_ and _The Paper Chase_ but never came close to his early successes. Well, he does have the distinction of playing George W. Bush both as a buffoon (in the Parker/Stone sitcom “That’s My Bush”) and heroically (in the made-for-cable flick “DC 9/11”). That’s got to count for something. Anyway, I’ll echo what a couple of other people here have said by mentioning the “American Beauty” kids, Wes Bentley especially. When I saw him in that movie I thought to myself, “This guy’s going on to great things” and was not at all surprised when he was mentioned as being on the shortlist of actors to play Spider-Man (which of course he ended up not getting). ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2011, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772/60 "2011-06-26T16:04:52Z")
I’m actually surprised Topher Grace hasn’t gotten more roles since leaving That 70s Show. I don’t remember him in anything after Spiderman 3. Also, from way back, I remember every girl in middle school have a crush on the Jake Ryan character from 16 Candles and thought he’d go on to be the next Tom Cruise but he just disapeared. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-surprise-you-by-the-brevity-of-their-career/586772.md?page=4)