It’s called hitting 30.
From IMdB Was originally cast as Chandler in Friends (1994) but turned down the role and was replaced by Matthew Perry.
A serious career mistake I guess 
Colin Firth got his breakout role as Darcy on Pride & Prejudice, but what of the velvet voiced Adrian Lukis? (Wickham) Another one who has worked steadily but isn’t a star. Crispin Bonham-Carter (Bingley) is now a teacher.
Like I said, he’s successful, but I wouldn’t say he’s the biggest action star right now for several reasons: I seriously doubt he’s getting $20m/picture plus points of the gross like the top guys do/did that indicates you’re bankable, he doesn’t have a franchise role like Rambo or The Terminator, and I don’t think he’s even near the point where he can pick up a script, say “I want to do this” and everyone makes it happen, regardless of any misgivings.
And before you say “No one gets that anymore” I’ll point out Johnson’s co-stars for F&F7 meet most of those requirements: Vin Diesel (F&F, Riddick) and Jason Statham (Transporter). I think they might be shy of the $20m up front but should be close. Diesel makes $15m/movie plus points, and Statham makes close to that, oo over $20m flat fee.
He’s currently the highest grossing in Hollywood, made 15 million for walking tall and is working on his third Fast and Furious movie.
All a matter of perspective. A lot of people would think Vin Diesel should qualify since he hasn’t done much after his initial F&F buzz, outside of that franchise. He had a lot of other opportunities 10 years ago. He was definitely more visible during the FF/XXX/A Man Apart/Riddick era. Then he did The Pacifer before The Rock was The Tooth Fairy, did “Find Me Guilty” as a departure, and I haven’t really seen him since- I stopped watching the F&F franchise after the 2nd one. He wasn’t in the 2nd one- seemed like he was too big a star at that point and was going to lead 2 other franchises that went nowhere (XXX/Riddick). I think the fact that he got back on board as of the 4th or 5th F&F was an indication that he didn’t really take off outside of that franchise.
Sure, Diesel makes big money in the F&F franchise, but for about a decade Chris Tucker made huge money doing Rush Hour movies but completely disappeared otherwise.
The Rock does action, comedy, kids movies, headlines, ensembles, cameos, tv , sequels, and is all over the place without any noticeable dip in his career. Yeah, I don’t think he has the A-list greenlight power and he’s probably settled down into a slightly lower tier. But guys like Diesel and Statham are not A-list power guys, either. They are either attached to franchises almost exclusively or/and doing lower budget niche stuff like a modern day Steven Seagal doing his best Nic Cage.
I thought** Strange Invaders** was a good movie.
Googling around a bit, it looks like he’s getting a $10 million paycheck to play Hercules next year. So, yeah, not top-tier, but pretty solid.
I heard that Dwayne Johnson has a Hercules movie in the works. Done right, like, say, the Spartacus series on Starz, it could be a franchise. Done Disney … not so much.
No, it’s called making a shit ton of money doing steady gigs in Las Vegas.
Harry Hamlin was big in “LA Law”.
he hasn’t been big since then.
A lot of good call-outs here.
Macaulay Culkin. My kids just finished watching the Home Alone series and I thought Macaulay Culkin could be added to the list. Since that series (the first two of three), I cannot recall if he has done anything in showbiz of note.
I think Orlando Bloom is INCREDIBLY lucky to have been in two huge movie franchises, plus other movies, but it’s just dumb luck, IMO. No one says, “I have to drop everything and go see the new Orlando Bloom movie.” Elijah Wood has worked pretty consistently and has also been the star of some TV show, but even so, no one considers him a ‘big star’. I just read an interview with Viggo Mortenson who spelled out clearly that a life as a ‘celebrity’ is not something he wants to live. (I admire that. Of course he has other irons in the fire, poetry, photography, and other creative stuff he likes to do, no doubt financed by his occasional movie roles. I think he is the best actor to come out of the LotR. But still, he’s not a ‘star’ a la Harrison Ford.)
The entire cast of Fame, the original. I was especially impressed with Maureen Teefy.
Curiously, the biggest names to come out of that movie had some of the smallest roles, like Richard Belzer, Debbie Allen (who I believe had a one word line) and Meg Tilly who I’ve never seen in with the dancers.
Apparently, you have never heard of the Pizza Underground.
Charmian Carr, who played Liesl in The Sound of Music.
Now an interior designer.
Dwayne Johnson no longer goes by “The Rock” when acting.
WWE owns “The Rock” and the price of using that name professionally is that Vince McMahon gets an Executive Producer credit and a bucket of money. Hence Dwayne only used it the first few times to get established and then walked away from it. He only uses it now when he makes WWE appearances.
And if you didn’t hear, he was the highest grossing star of 2013, beating out Robert Downey Jr. Of course, he did it with four movies and RDJ had only the monster Iron Man III.
So yeah, he’s pretty ‘A’ list now, although yeah, his niche is powering franchises. Pretty good work if you can get it.
With all of the talk about Jake Lloyd, I’m suprised no one’s mentioned Hayden Christiensen yet.
Going back to the 80s, about Steve Guttenberg?
You know how I know you’re not a teenage girl?
Stacy Haiduk from Seaquest. Of all the actors on that show, she seemed the one that would get noticed, by the somewhat sexist virtue of being hot, which is usually how it seems to work.
Though I also thought that of Terry Farrell, who is apparently difficult to work with, and Michelle Forbes. So I guess there’s more to it.
How about The Outsiders.
Of the seven “Outsiders” the star of the movie, C. Thomas Howell, had the least impressive career, while the guy with the smallest role in the movie, atom Cruise, went on to be one of the biggest movie stars of all time.