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.
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.
I never heard of most of the people in this thread. That kinda reinforces the thread’s premise.
Viggo Mortenson, maybe? He’s had a couple starring roles since then, the horse movie and the one where he was nekkid.
Sky actually had an op-ed published in the New York Times 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 suggests that this is due to serious health problems.
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.
Mr. Krabs?
Lex Luthor (in a number of different series)
Karl Urban (Doom, Dredd, Star Trek)
many of the others were already established stars.
Matthew Mcconaughey. He is busy fixing that though.
Jaye Davidson was brilliant in The Crying Game, interesting to look at in Stargate, and then he just disappeared.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
He was cast in the Van Wilder movies on the basis of his Animal House role.
You mean Betty Thomas, of course, who has gone on to direct movies (The Brady Bunch Movie, etc.).
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.
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.
Good choice - I also thought he was destined for greatness. Maybe he prefers theatre.
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)
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.
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. 
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.