-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
Actors that you thought would have become more successful than they did
- Thread starter Dalek
- Start date
I came into this thread thinking I'd for sure be the only one to bring up Enver Gjokaj or Garrett Dillahunt, but leave pleasantly surprised in people's tastes in actors. These two are some of the strongest character actors around, and it's sucked that we just don't see them as much as we should. Dillahunt seemed like he was everywhere on TV after Deadwood, but then Raising Hope happened and it felt like he stopped doing all that great character work in favor of some pretty typical sitcom fare.
Enver on the other hand put forward one of the best performances on a show filled with great performances and was greated afterwards with...nothing. Not sure if his look just doesn't lend itself well to variable roles or what, but boy was I disappointed not to see him show up on more shows.
On top of this, there's the entire cast of TV's Greek, who popped up all over the damn place when that show ended, but have steadily fizzled out into not a whole lot. The primary leads especially I expected to see more places.
Enver on the other hand put forward one of the best performances on a show filled with great performances and was greated afterwards with...nothing. Not sure if his look just doesn't lend itself well to variable roles or what, but boy was I disappointed not to see him show up on more shows.
On top of this, there's the entire cast of TV's Greek, who popped up all over the damn place when that show ended, but have steadily fizzled out into not a whole lot. The primary leads especially I expected to see more places.
And then came Fantastic Four...
I don't know her, but I'm fine with an Asian Clea. It's not like her ethnic background plays a part in her character - just give whoever you cast white hair and you're good to go.
Tatiana really would've made an amazing Scarlet Witch though.
I feel like, outside of Thor, Chris Hemsworth's career was built on poor choices, which is sad because Thor Ragnarok, Infinity War and Endgame have proven how great of an actor he can be. That said, he's still somewhat young and it seems like he's going to be in the MCU for a while longer, so I guess he still got his chances.
I don't know why people keep bringing him up, I haven't watched The Crown, but he was quite awful as The Doctor. Overall an insufferable clown. Some of that is on Moffat's horrid writing, but most of the time he didn't even try to salvage it.
Not really a surprise given how weak of a Peter Parker/Spider-man he was. Raimi's movies were carried by the villains, not by Spider-man.
I don't know why people keep bringing him up, I haven't watched The Crown, but he was quite awful as The Doctor. Overall an insufferable clown. Some of that is on Moffat's horrid writing, but most of the time he didn't even try to salvage it.
Not really a surprise given how weak of a Peter Parker/Spider-man he was. Raimi's movies were carried by the villains, not by Spider-man.
Robert Patrick in Terminator 2
He was amazing in this movie, but that's all anyone really knows him for.
I know him as Davy, from the Sopranos. Dude that gets slapped around by Tony Soprano and has a bad gambling habit.
Last edited:
I'm amused by the idea of him googling his own name and discovering that on this random forum we all really like him
The guy seemed to be an asshole. He was blacklisted from Hollywood.
I hope he does! Dude deserves a whole lot more attention than he's gotten so far in his career.
Seeing his somewhat-renaissance in Cobra Kai, I'm surprised William Zabka isn't in big action movies. He's a great actor, knows enough martial arts to do his own stunts, and he looks absolutely great for his age.
Michael Biehn
he was in Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, Tombstone
then he just kinda fell off the map, hes great, he should have been in alot more things
he came in at the last minute to fill in for someone else on Aliens and he look completely comfortable made it look effortless, he had alot of potential
him being the main character in blood dragon was excellent
my man
Garrett Dillahunt. He can do everything from terrifying to being the most lovable buffoon you have ever seen.
He was so good in Deadwood that they killed him off and brought him back as a different character.
Him
also him from the same series as two different people.
I love Dillahunt but he's a character - he gets and continues to get the kinds of roles character actors get.
This thread could have been so much better with pictures. Soooooo many names have been dropped where I'm like "Who?" Instead of seeing a pic and being like "Ohhhhhh yeah, that guy. What the fuck happened there?"
Billy Campbell for me.
I really wish people liked The Rocketeer when it came out, it was a true gem.
I really wish people liked The Rocketeer when it came out, it was a true gem.
When I watched Freaks & Geeks years ago I was surprised that Linda Cardellini's career didn't take off as much as Rogen, Franco or Segel's. She was in Scooby Doo and ER but not much of interest beyond that... until recently. Being in the MCU and starring in a Netflix show like Bloodline gave her a bit of a comeback.
When I used to deal blackjack in a casino in Palm Springs, the oldest Home Improvement kid used to come in and play. He was kind of a dick. I think he just made a bunch of money from that and coasted.
Billy Campbell was incredible on The 4400. In fact, that was another show with tons of great actors who weren't as famous as they probably deserve. Took waaaaayyy longer for Mahershala Ali to get famous than it should have.
Michael Biehn
he was in Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, Tombstone
then he just kinda fell off the map, hes great, he should have been in alot more things
he came in at the last minute to fill in for someone else on Aliens and he look completely comfortable made it look effortless, he had alot of potential
him being the main character in blood dragon was excellent
I nearly spit out my drink when I saw him in one of the Scorpion King movies (I forget which one, does it really matter?)
He was phoning it in so hard I think he might have been drunk during the take. What a sad path his career went down...
Brody doesn't surprise me at all. His looks are too unconventional to ever hit it big in Hollywood (dat nose...).
And Gooding is apparently a real asshole behind-the-scenes so he probably burned some bridges.
Yeah, Bloodline is dope. It took me way too long to figure out that was her. Like it probably wasn't until the end of the first season that I was like "Freaks and Geeks! That's where I know her from". She is really good in Bloodline and should be in more stuff.
How about Alex Winter? I know he wanted to get into the more behind the camera stuff, but it's crazy that the worse of the two actors in Bill & Ted's (by a small margin), is the one who ended up with a successful acting career.
He has just had some really bad luck. Some of the movies he did should have been sure fire hits, but they failed bad.
Zane mutated into the character actor he was always born to be. He's doing fine with small and bit parts in movies and on TV shows.
I'm probably not the only one that thought that Jon Hamm had a leading man future after Mad Men, but it has yet to materialize.
Barry Pepper got a LOT of offers and publicity after his breakout role as the religious sniper dude in Saving Private Ryan.
Sadly, this was the first of the new big offers that he chose:
Hamm prefers doing comedies and small parts. I don't think he ever really expected or wanted his career to go in the leading man direction.
I'd say I hope he lands a comedic lead, but I don't know if Hollywood has many of those roles left.
He was just one of the leads in Tag last year. Not a good movie, but he was funny in it.
Does Edward Norton count? He's arguably still A-list, but he barely does anything. It's like as soon as he hit "well regarded actor" status he immediately flatlined his career. I know he got himself blacklisted and all that, but it seems like he's happy where he is.
I like how they constantly look increasingly cheap until the end, but you just know that's the cheapest of them all.
It's also amusing that despite the fact that all of the movies have women on the covers, not ONE of them is credited. It's super, super noticeable.
Robert Sean Leonard.
Though, reading about him on the wiki it says he's been part of dramatic productions and even won a Tony.
Love his work.
Though, reading about him on the wiki it says he's been part of dramatic productions and even won a Tony.
Love his work.
In terms of actual talent and the shit or lack of roles they get, yeah this is a good answer. A bunch of shit and only 2 out of 4 good X-Men movies.
Karl Urban is like Sam Rockwell or Michael Shannon. Always a welcome presence in a film. They're probably not the star but you know they'll bring the goods every time.
Just thinking about this guy. Yeah, he had the look and everything. Could have potentially had Joseph Gordon Levitt's career, but I guess he just fell off.
Frank Grillo - I've always liked him and he was always a good secondary character and I was hoping with Marvel/Kingdom/Purge that he would get pushed to the next level but it has yet to happen. He has a lot of upcoming roles so we'll see.
James Badge Dale - Amazing actor but never had that breakout role.
