What Happened?
BeansTalk Looks at Actors and Actresses Who Either Didn't Live Up to Their Potential (or Hype) or Who Seem to Making Odd, If Any, Choices for Their More Recent Acting Work
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| Kelly McDonald never matched her "Top Gun" success. |
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| Elisabeth Shue |
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| Kimberly Paisley-Williams |
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| Dean Cain -- flamed and burned after "Lois and Clark" |
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| Mykelti Williamson had such promise in "Forrest Gump" |
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| Rory Cochrane was so good in "Empire Records" |
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| Adorable Amy Dolenz looked a lot like Sarah Michelle Gellar when she started her career. |
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| Ethan Embry, so likable, should work more |
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| Joseph Finnes, couldn't match his acclaim in "Shakespeare in Love" -- he's a little O.A. but can still charm. |
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| Gorgeous Keisha Castle-Hughes, so pretty and talented in "Whale Rider;" no doubt her pregnancy at 16 put a damper on her very promising career. |
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| She was so good in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," but Kristy Swanson was another who never quite lived up to her potential. She has a fun turn as Carleton's love interest in USA's excellent and funny "Psych." |
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| What happened to Josh Harnett? He was so smokin' for awhile there -- and was awesome in "Lucky Number S7evin." |
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| Rebecca DeMornay was iconic in "Risky Business," but almost 30 years in the movie business never gave her role that garnered the kind of initial interest. |
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| Robin Tunney is indeed in a current TV series, but she seemed like someone who would truly take her sexy girl-next-door looks, and her raspy voice and be a movie star ("The Craft," anyone?) |
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| This is more about What Happened to her? We were watching "Rabbit Hole" with Nicole Kidman and the COO was so distracted by her (alleged) facial work, that we switched over to "My Mom's New Boyfriend" and not only were were so embarrassed for the phone-it-in performance Meg Ryan delivered, but her face was almost identical to Kidman's. It was too creepy and we turned the TV off. |
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| Love Colin Hanks -- he was soooo good in "Orange County,'" and equally good in "The Great Buck Howard" and for his turn on "Dexter," but he really had (has?) potentially to challenge his father Tom's star power, he's that good and likable. |
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| Cynda Williams |
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| Is Oscar-winner Helen Hunt a good example of how challenged women are in the movie business? After her big award win, she hasn't done much and certainly can't be considered as able to open a movie. |
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| So talented and so pretty, like you, we want to know why Bridget Fonda dropped out of the movie biz. |
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| We don't mean to lump the son-of-a-legacies together, but like Colin Hanks, Jason Ritter is aimable and charming. And should work more. |
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| Maybe it was Jesse Bradford's seeming cockiness that ultimately didn't translate to more "grown up" roles, but he was hot for a little bit, and then, not so much. Wonder what he's up to. |
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| Johnny Whitmore was so darling in "Empire Records" and "Bye Bye Love," we were genuinely surprised when he just didn't really go forward. We were happy to see him -- albeit in a small and tragic role -- in Bradley Cooper's "Limitless." |
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| Hailed a wonder -- and why not -- she exudes beauty and intelligence, Leelee Sobieski seemed so ripe for seriously big stardom. Is it because she's too tall for most of Hollywood's leading men? |
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| Lori Petty, so appealing in "Point Break," her raspy voice (yes, like Robin Tunney's) and lithe body, we just wonder what happened? |
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| "The Boy Who Could Fly's" Lucy Deakins was such a pretty, accessible actress. But she opted for real life and became an attorney and gave up the Hollywood life. |
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| "The Slums of Beverly Hills" seemed to introduce a new kind of star -- quirky and edgy and refreshingly normal. But Natasha Lyonne seems to have let her demons take over her and she's been passed over. |
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| "Almost Famous" and its hyped promotions really touted Patrick Fugit as an actor who was going places. They just didn't tell you that those "places" were roles in obscure or just-plain-bad films. |
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| She was everywhere and then .... she doesn't seem to be anywhere. Where is Rene Zellweger and what is she doing with her career? |
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| Wes Bentley, Skeet Ulrich, Johnny Whitmore, Jesse Bradford, Rory Cochrane -- all actors who had audiences wondering what they'd do next, and confirming that they'd show up for whatever movie they ended up in -- but it never seemed to come. Still, Bentley, seen here, had a fun role in this year's "The Hunger Games." |
