# Worst actor/actress that still manages to get work?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-actor-actress-that-still-manages-to-get-work/240385
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 16, 2004, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-actor-actress-that-still-manages-to-get-work/240385 "2004-04-16T16:43:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-actor-actress-that-still-manages-to-get-work/240385/1 "2004-04-16T16:43:33Z")
My vote goes for [Casper Van Dien](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000680/), but I’m pretty sure that’s only because I just saw [this stupid thing](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0250390/).
Who are the actors and actresses that are A) suck so bad you can’t believe they get work, yet B) still continue to get work? 😕
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### Author:  [@DaveX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveX)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-actor-actress-that-still-manages-to-get-work/240385/2 "2004-04-16T16:53:23Z")
I believe there is only one correct answer this question, and it’s not only an actor, but an “academy award winning” actor.
Cuba Gooding, Jr.
Ugh!
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### Author:  [@HumptysHamhole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HumptysHamhole)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-actor-actress-that-still-manages-to-get-work/240385/3 "2004-04-16T17:08:28Z")
**Charlize Theron
Halle Berry
Keanu Reeves
Jennifer Lopez**
All really nice to look at – until they start “acting”.
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### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-actor-actress-that-still-manages-to-get-work/240385/4 "2004-04-16T17:12:10Z")
[Patrick Swayze](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000664/) he’s just plain bad.
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### Author:  [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-actor-actress-that-still-manages-to-get-work/240385/5 "2004-04-16T17:12:43Z")
> [@HumptysHamhole](#):
>
> **Charlize Theron
> Halle Berry
> Keanu Reeves
> Jennifer Lopez**
> All really nice to look at – until they start “acting”.
Wow, two Oscar winners and a Golden Globe nominee? Really?
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-actor-actress-that-still-manages-to-get-work/240385/6 "2004-04-16T17:13:02Z")
Melanie Griffith
Kevin Costner
Hayden Christensen\*
Josh Hartnett
Ben Affleck
Juliette Lewis
\*I’ve heard that his performance in [Shattered Glass](http://imdb.com/title/tt0323944/) takes him off this list, but I haven’t seen it.
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### Author:  [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-actor-actress-that-still-manages-to-get-work/240385/7 "2004-04-16T17:14:06Z")
Ashley Judd.
When my best friend and I walked out of the theater where we saw _Double Jeopardy_, I said; “That was the worst acting I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen _Madonna_ movies.”
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### Author:  [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-actor-actress-that-still-manages-to-get-work/240385/8 "2004-04-16T17:21:28Z")
> [@HumptysHamhole](#):
>
> **Charlize Theron
> Halle Berry
> Keanu Reeves
> Jennifer Lopez**
> \*\*All really nice to look at \*\* – until they start “acting”.
I think that explains Casper, too. He’s purrty.
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-actor-actress-that-still-manages-to-get-work/240385/9 "2004-04-16T17:22:42Z")
> [@HumptysHamhole](#):
>
> **Charlize Theron
> Halle Berry
> Keanu Reeves
> Jennifer Lopez**
> All really nice to look at – until they start “acting”.
Did you see ‘Monster’? You might feel differently about Charlize Theron.
Although, I don’t think it was a perfect performance like many seem to think, just very good. Far, far, better than anything else she’s done that I’ve seen, that’s for sure. Certainly, she at the very least deserves to get roles now.
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-actor-actress-that-still-manages-to-get-work/240385/10 "2004-04-16T17:26:40Z")
> [@Sampiro](#):
>
> Juliette Lewis
C’mon, who’s gonna play those trailer-trash girl roles if she doesn’t?
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### Author:  [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-actor-actress-that-still-manages-to-get-work/240385/11 "2004-04-16T17:29:04Z")
I’ve always said that Keanu Reeves must have the greatest agent in the history of Hollywood. How he keeps landing all those great rolls just boggles my mind.
“Whoa!”
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### Author:  [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-actor-actress-that-still-manages-to-get-work/240385/12 "2004-04-16T17:29:16Z")
**HumptysHamhole** has obviously not seen _Monster_.
And **Revtim** needs to see it again, if he thinks Charlize’s performance was only “very good.”
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-actor-actress-that-still-manages-to-get-work/240385/13 "2004-04-16T17:30:04Z")
Oh, and my vote goes to Keanu Reeves. Is he really that good-looking that he deserves the roles he gets? OK, I have to give him credit for learning enough martial arts to fight convincingly in the Matrix flicks. But man, he is not a good or even decent actor.
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### Author:  [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-actor-actress-that-still-manages-to-get-work/240385/14 "2004-04-16T17:30:21Z")
Adam Sandler
Will Farrell
Rob Schneider
etc.
.
.
.
But if you want to talk someone with pretensions to seriousness, the king of them all is Bill (“Game Over, Man!”) Paxton.
The queen is Fran Sternahgen (Carter’s grandmother on ER).
I would have put Hayden Christensen on the list until I saw Shattered Glass. Not that he’s some genius, but he displayed far more talent there than in Attack of the Clones.
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### Author:  [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-actor-actress-that-still-manages-to-get-work/240385/15 "2004-04-16T17:31:32Z")
Andie MacDowell- Ew. Ew. Ew. I want to like her, I really do. But her acting does painful things to me.
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-actor-actress-that-still-manages-to-get-work/240385/16 "2004-04-16T17:34:19Z")
> [@Fiver](#):
>
> And **Revtim** needs to see it again, if he thinks Charlize’s performance was only “very good.”
Eh, in some scenes I found her a little unconvincing. I don’t remember well enough to describe exactly what was happening, but one or two times I could see “acting”.
It is possible I was paying too close attention, because of the hype about her performance.
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### Author:  [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-actor-actress-that-still-manages-to-get-work/240385/17 "2004-04-16T17:34:56Z")
Gotta go with the Queen of Nepotism, Tori Spelling.
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### Author:  [@Poonther](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poonther)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-actor-actress-that-still-manages-to-get-work/240385/18 "2004-04-16T17:36:00Z")
Julia “bucky” Roberts
Sandra “buttocks” Bullock
Kevin Cosner
Mel Gibson
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### Author:  [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-actor-actress-that-still-manages-to-get-work/240385/19 "2004-04-16T17:36:50Z")
> [@kung fu lola](#):
>
> Ashley Judd.
>
> When my best friend and I walked out of the theater where we saw _Double Jeopardy_, I said; “That was the worst acting I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen _Madonna_ movies.”
Not that I’m a Judd fan exactly, but do you think you’d like her better if she didn’t consistently pick such shitty movies? She has staked a pretty fair claim to the title, “Queen of the Implausible Thriller.” And, of course, she was in the “Ya-Ya” movie, which is a whole different kettle of suck.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2004, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-actor-actress-that-still-manages-to-get-work/240385/20 "2004-04-16T17:42:07Z")
**Ben Afleck**
Anybody from SNL since Bill Murray
**Kevin Costner**
Anybody in any movie made by George Lucas since The Last Crusade
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