27 Actors Who Were Supposed To Be Hollywood’s Next Big Star, But Faded Away Instead

Recently, Reddit user CreepyYogurtcloset39 posed the question, “Who was supposed to be Hollywood’s next big star but faded away?” to the people of r/moviecritic. Here are their top responses:

1. “Carl Weathers should have been what Sly and Arnold were. He oozed charisma and had an amazing presence on the big screen.”

United Artists / Getty, Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images

—Bubzszs

“Carl was so good they specifically cast him in Predator to mentor Arnold in his first actual acting role (the Conan stuff required no acting)”

—PrimalNumber

2. “Michael Biehn. To be fair, not many actors have such an iconic resume — Aliens, The Terminator, The Abyss, Tombstone, Navy Seals, The Rock. Not only are they all great films, he’s great in them.”

Orion Pictures/Everett, 20th Century Fox/Everett

—ohnofluffy

“I didn’t know much about Michael Biehn but I def remember him as Johnny Ringo. His Wiki page says: James Cameron suggested that ‘what held Michael back was that he didn’t like playing the Hollywood game — schmoozing people and all that. For him it was all about the work.’ Biehn has never hired a publicist and was reportedly never interested in the ‘fame aspect of the business, even though his agent — and Cameron — both believed he had what it took to be a major star.’ I prefer this version of why he didn’t become a ‘superstar.'”

—CriscoMelon

3. “Stuart Townsend. He was replaced by Viggo Mortensen in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.”

4. “Biggest star that never became a star? I’d say Aaron Eckhart. The guy has it all, just never became a big headliner.”

5. “Hayden Christensen. He co-starred in Life is a House with Kevin Kline years ago, but that’s kind of it (other than playing Anakin again in the Obi-Wan Kenobi show). He actually can act, but he was just never going to escape that role.”

6. “Mickey Rourke had immense talent, but his off-screen antics overshadowed his performances.”

7. “Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Bro was rolling off The Tudors and an acclaimed performance in Match Point. Then addiction got him, and now he’s doing B-movies with Bruce Willis and John Travolta.”

8. “Casper van Dien. He didn’t need to do anything else. He peaked with Starship Troopers and has never come off that throne.”

9. “Chris O’Donnell. I remember he did Scent of a Woman, The Three Musketeers, and Batman Forever, and thinking he was going to be huge.”

10. “Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, he’s got it all but never really launched into stardom after Game of Thrones.”

11. “Taylor Kitsch. I mean, don’t get me wrong, he has a very respectable career and is a talented actor. I just mean that his career hasn’t lived up to the early trade hype about him, blame for which I don’t attribute to the actors themselves.”

12. “Skeet Ulrich. He was so good in Scream. Like hybrid Johnny Depp/Jack Nicolson, that is good. Then nothing…”

13. “I like Anna Farris, and I feel like she never got a big-time shot at her moments because of her involvement with the Scary Movie series. She’s in a lot of B movies, and they’re okay, but the writing is bad in most of them since she’s cast as the ditzy blonde in 99% of things she was in.”

14. “Shia LaBeouf. I mean, he did Disturbia and then the Transformers movie, which I absolutely loved — that movie made me feel like a kid again for a few hours. Then Spielberg made him Indy’s son and hinted at a future with him in that role. And then he faded away, I know he had issues, but so many were able to come back. Wonder what was different about him.”

15. “Sam Worthington. He’s set for life with his Avatar gigs. But back in 2009, people, especially people in Australia, were expecting him to become the next Heath Ledger.”

16. “Rutger Hauer. He’s my fave; I love his movies, even the cheesiest of them, but after Blade Runner, it seemed like he’d be one to watch out for but ended up fading into cult status.”

17. “Deep cut from the women’s side: Alison Lohman. Big Fish and Matchstick Men in the same year. She was so good in both.”

18. “Nick Stahl comes to mind. I’m still salty about Carnivale’s cancellation.”

19. “Jason Patric. Although, let’s be honest, Speed 2 was never going to launch him… I mean, it’s kind of hard to follow Keanu in a franchise, and even more so when the movie is just plain awful.”

20. “Bruce Campbell. Ash vs Evil Dead is hands down a hidden gem of a show and Bruce gets to go full ham in it as Ash. I wish it had been more popular.”

21. “Ron Livingston had such a great shot after Office Space, but he kinda faded back into obscurity.”

22. “Dougray Scott. Was originally cast as Wolverine, but he was filming Mission: Impossible 2, and filming ran long. So he had to back out of X-Men.”

23. “Gretchen Mol. She had a ‘New IT Girl’ Vanity Fair cover and did a few things here and there, but she didn’t want to play the game. Apparently, she refused to travel away from NYC because of her young kids, etc. She said in Cookie Magazine, ‘I told my agent I didn’t want to work in L.A., even if it was the greatest job in the world. I didn’t want to compromise.’ You gotta strike while the iron is hot. I was happy to see her in Broadwalk Empire and Yellowstone, though.”

24. “Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I am 100% still waiting for a Robin movie!”

25. “David Duchovny. He didn’t fade away after leaving the X-Files, but every industry rag predicted he’d be the next Hollywood leading man following his departure. He obviously found success in TV again, and he’s had a few film roles, including Return to Me with Minnie Driver, which I really liked. His career isn’t a failure, but he’s not the ‘George Clooney Version 2’ many were expecting.”

26. “Edward Furlong. Typical child actor story. I think Cameron had more to do with Furlong’s success in T2 than Eddie himself did, and he probably wasn’t playing a role that was deeply different from himself, so he didn’t need to do a lot of real character work.”

27. Finally, “Djimon Hounsou. LOVE HIM! I definitely think this is a case of Hollywood not writing interesting and compelling roles for an actor like him. Hollywood has a very narrow view of Black actors (which is stupid and shameful and hopefully something audiences can change), and he’s not a Will Smith or Denzel Washington-type.”

What do you think? Do you agree with what the people above said, or is there anyone you’d add to the list? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below or via the anonymous form here:

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.