# Actors you were sure would make it big, and they didn't **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 26, 2013, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194 "2013-12-26T03:47:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/41 "2013-12-26T17:18:21Z")
It’s not unusual for a performer to have That Big Break and then find out that this just isn’t for them, but the money they earned from it enabled them to take smaller or more local roles, thus enabling them to have a private and family life but still make a living as a performer. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/42 "2013-12-26T17:26:03Z")
I suppose even if an actor does get the big break and appears in a massively popular movie, it doesn’t mean he is going to be a big star. There are only so many Big Stars to go around. Harrison Ford? yes, he had ‘it’. Mark Hammill and Carrie Fisher were also in Star Wars, but even if they did continue to work in show biz, no reason for either of them to be big stars. The Lord of the Rings movies - there are no Big Stars to come out of that at all, are there? Even though the actors are still working in show biz. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/43 "2013-12-26T17:44:29Z")
I never heard of most of the people in this thread. That kinda reinforces the thread’s premise. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/44 "2013-12-26T18:35:42Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > The Lord of the Rings movies - there are no Big Stars to come out of that at all, are there? Even though the actors are still working in show biz. Viggo Mortenson, maybe? He’s had a couple starring roles since then, the horse movie and the one where he was nekkid. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/45 "2013-12-26T18:45:48Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > I liked Victoria Pratt in Cleopatra 2525, in fact, all three leads in that series were smoking hot – Jennifer Sky and Gina Torres were the other two – and none of them is exactly a household name. Pratt and Torres seem to be getting regular work but not in big movies or big roles, and Sky appears to have vanished from the radar. Sky actually had an op-ed published in the [New York Times](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/10/opinion/my-life-as-a-warrior-princess.html) a few months ago in which she talked about her experiences as both a model and an actress. She mentions that she doesn’t work in either field either anymore, and her [Wikipedia page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Sky#Career) suggests that this is due to serious health problems. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/46 "2013-12-26T18:46:21Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > Clancy Brown You have to be shitting me. You pretty much cannot name a single cartoon over the last 30 years that man wasn’t in, plus a helluva lot of TV guest shots, series and movies. [The man has 217 entries under Acting on his IMDB page.](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000317/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1) Mr. Krabs? Lex Luthor (in a number of different series) ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/47 "2013-12-26T18:47:50Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > The Lord of the Rings movies - there are no Big Stars to come out of that at all, are there? Even though the actors are still working in show biz. > [@AuntiePam](#): > > Viggo Mortenson, maybe? He’s had a couple starring roles since then, the horse movie and the one where he was nekkid. Karl Urban (Doom, Dredd, Star Trek) many of the others were already established stars. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/48 "2013-12-26T19:02:06Z")
Matthew Mcconaughey. He is busy fixing that though. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/49 "2013-12-26T19:10:00Z")
Jaye Davidson was brilliant in _The Crying Game_, interesting to look at in _Stargate_, and then he just disappeared. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/50 "2013-12-26T23:46:01Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Viggo Mortenson, maybe? He’s had a couple starring roles since then, the horse movie and the one where he was nekkid. Before he was famous, Viggo Mortenson was married to Exene Cervenka, the lead singer for the early 1980s punk band X. He’s the father of her son, who looks just like her; IRL she uses her legal name, Christine Mortenson. ---
**Author:** ![Bellhorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Bellhorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bellhorn)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/51 "2013-12-27T00:07:08Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > Judge Reinhold…I thought he was great in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, but, he didn’t really fly. Amusingly, Forrest Whitaker, who had little more than a mumbling big-gorilla jock role in the same movie, really got more of the attention. > … I always wonder about Judge Reinhold, myself, since he always gave a good to great performance in the few roles he’s had since Fast Times. Apparently, he was just not a nice person to work with, so producers, directors and the like chose not to work with him. But _Fast Times at Ridgemont High_ has so many young actors and actresses in it, that it makes a great case study of who went on to be big, and who didn’t. You mentioned Forrest Whitaker, but what about Sean Penn. **Jennifer Jason Leigh** has gone to have a critically-acclaimed career, while **Phoebe Cates** decided to become Mrs. Kevin Kline. **Nicholas Cage** (as Nicholas Coppola) had a small role and went on to have a huge career, while **Eric Stoltz** has a very low-profile career, in spite of pretty good performances, IMO. Why the funny looking Cage, instead of Stoltz? Back in 1982, I would have bet on Reinhold, Cates and Stoltz to have big careers and figured Penn, Whitaker and Leigh for careers as character actors. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/52 "2013-12-27T00:47:01Z")
> [@Bellhorn](#): > > But _Fast Times at Ridgemont High_ has so many young actors and actresses in it, that it makes a great case study of who went on to be big, and who didn’t. _American Graffiti_ would be a good case study too. Most of the main characters went on to bigger things, except maybe Candy Clark, and the aforementioned Paul LeMat. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/53 "2013-12-27T00:51:51Z")
Susan Anton. She certainly seemed to be getting every opportunity at one time but for some reason the bottom fell out of her career. Stephanie Zimbalist, despite her gorgeous appearance and family connections, hasn’t seemed to have gotten a lot of work since Remington Steele. ---
**Author:** ![Bellhorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Bellhorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bellhorn)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/54 "2013-12-27T01:04:21Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > _American Graffiti_ would be a good case study too. Most of the main characters went on to bigger things, except maybe Candy Clark, and the aforementioned Paul LeMat. A great movie with great performances from a cast of unknowns, save for Opie. A great achievement by Lucas. Dreyfus and Ford go on to be major stars. Opie goes on to be a major film director. And even though LeMat’s career went in the dumper, I loved him in Melvin and Howard. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/55 "2013-12-27T02:19:43Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > The other guy from Animal House that I was sure would make it big was [Tim Matheson](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001513/?ref_=tt_cl_t14), who played Eric Stratton, they frat guy who seduced Dean Wermer’s wife. > > He had that easy Jack Lemmon (in his prime), cocktail-party, polo-shirt smooth manner. If Tim had come on the scene after _Mad Men_ became popular, he probably \*would \*have made it big. Instead he wound up as the cheated-on husband in a bunch of Lifetime movies IIRC. > > I loved it when he took Mrs. Wermer up to his room, and he loosened his tie in that James Bond way… and all he was wearing was a toga and a tie. He was cast in the _Van Wilder_ movies on the basis of his _Animal House_ role. ---
**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:** [December 27, 2013, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/56 "2013-12-27T02:28:21Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > …I thought both Ed Marinaro and Helen Thomas would hit it big after Hill Street Blues, but it never happened. Same for that matter with Captain Furillo and the woman who played his wife. You mean Betty Thomas, of course, who has gone on to direct movies (The Brady Bunch Movie, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/57 "2013-12-27T04:28:50Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > He’s working steadily, but I really thought Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson would be the go-to action movie guy by now - this generation’s Schwarzenegger/Stallone-type. I immediately thought of Dwayne Johnson when I saw the thread title. I feel a bit silly saying that that he hasn’t “made it big” given that he’s a bona fide movie star and household name,\* but I thought he’d be a much bigger star than he is. I was never a wrestling fan, but I had known who he was before I saw The Rundown. After seeing it, I remember thinking to myself that it was a good little “transition” movie and assumed he would immediately go on to be a wildly successful star of gigantic blockbusters. Didn’t happen. So I figured he was kind of biding his time. But it’s been 10 years already, so I don’t think it’s that either. I just don’t get it. - Well, I guess The Rock is really the household name, but hey, everybody knows who the guy is. ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/58 "2013-12-27T05:14:22Z")
Dwayne Johnson/The Rock is arguably the biggest action star working right now. It’s not his fault that action movies aren’t what they were in the 80s and 90s, in the heyday of Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, Terminator, etc. He works steadily, headlines major movies, main-events Wrestlemania on the side, and does very, very well for himself. The only way for him to get bigger is to sign on for a superhero franchise. Jaye Davidson never wanted to be an actor or a big star and only did Stargate for the paycheck. Viggo Mortensen is the type who does it For The Art. He is absolutely capable of headlining a major movie whenever he feels like it – as he did for Eastern Promises, The Road, A History of Violence, and Hidalgo, all post-LOTR – and when he does so, he WILL pick up multiple awards and nominations. You really can’t compare his career to, say, Stephanie Zimbalist. Tom Hulce was nominated for an Oscar for Amadeus, voiced Quasimodo in Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame, and could’ve worked steadily in film had he not preferred the stage and producing more. The guy has an A++ theater career. Sometimes actors shoot themselves in the foot. Val Kilmer had a great career – he was Batman, he was Jim Morrison, he had lots of leading man roles – but he’s notorious temperamental and difficult to work with. Now his looks are gone. The guy made nine movies in 2008 and seven in 2009, so I can only assume either he’s learned the value of hard work, or just as likely, he’s got major bills. ---
**Author:** ![maplekiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@maplekiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maplekiwi)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/59 "2013-12-27T05:14:58Z")
> [@Mississippienne](#): > > My pick is Rufus Sewell. He was excellent in _Dark City_, or even in the thankless bad guy role in _A Knight’s Tale_. It seems he got typecast in typical villain roles, and went back to the stage for the most part. Good choice - I also thought he was destined for greatness. Maybe he prefers theatre. > [@salinqmind](#): > > Paul Mercurio, an Australian actor. Back in the early 90’s, was in a movie, “Strictly Ballroom”. Later, was ‘Joseph’ in an excellent TV mini-series about that Biblical character. After that…I guess he’s been working steadily, but nothing I recognize. He was SO darned cute. (maybe still is, lol). Hes been a judge on some of the celebrity dancing shows - even the NZ version of Dancing With the Stars! Incredibly he is 50 now (he looks a lot younger than that) > [@salinqmind](#): > > The Lord of the Rings movies - there are no Big Stars to come out of that at all, are there? Even though the actors are still working in show biz. I’d describe Orlando Bloom as a big star as he was also in the Pirates of the Carribean movies. I’d rate his acting ability as average at best though. > [@AK84](#): > > Matthew Mcconaughey. He is busy fixing that though. I was about to leap to McConnaughney’s defence - but reading his list of parts on IMdB - well, really not that impressive. The actors that also appeared in Dazed & Confused that I thought would hit it big were Jason London & Wiley Wiggins. Wiggins was just a local kid luck enough to score a part though. London has worked steadily but is by no means a star. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2013, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194/60 "2013-12-27T05:21:24Z")
Thought of another one: Craig Bierko. In the late 90s he appeared in a few big movies, but A Long Kiss Goodnight (where he plays the villain) and Thirteenth Floor (the protagonist) didn’t do well, and that seems to have ended his burgeoning leading man career. He’s also very good-looking, but has a bit of villainous charisma to him, which probably worked against him if he went for romantic leading man or “everyguy” roles. He’s done TV and Broadway since. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-you-were-sure-would-make-it-big-and-they-didnt/677194.md?page=4)