10 Actors Whose Careers Were Ruined By Just One Role

A movie can help launch one’s Hollywood career, but it is like a double-edged sword.
Sometimes, when an actor is on the rise, they quickly sign onto a role that supposedly will make them become of the biggest stars in Hollywood, but it backfires. In some cases, it is the actor’s fault, like Kevin Costner’s disastrous involvement in Waterworld. However, oftentimes through no fault of their own, an actor’s career is stopped in its tracks by a movie that fails to live up to its promise.
Indeed, a single movie can help an actor get to fame, but it also can do the opposite. There have been a lot of movie flops over the year. Some fell flat at the box office while others didn’t receive much in the way of positive reviews. In cases like this, it’s not just the film that suffers. Instead, actors attached to the project could also end up losing their careers.
We've come up with a list of actors whose careers are ruined because of one role.

#1 Natalie Portman - Star Wars

Source: Digital Spy

“Star Wars” was the reason that Natalie Portman couldn’t work for a white. In an interview with New York Magazine, the actress shared, “Star Wars had come out around the time of Seagull, and everyone thought I was a horrible actress. I was in the biggest-grossing movie of the decade, and no director wanted to work with me”.
Fortunately, her leading role in “Black Swan”, for which she won an Oscar, helped her career thrive again.

#2 Sean Connery - The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Source: Pinterest

Sean Connery starred in many movies like “Bond”, “The Untouchables”, “Entrapment”, and “The Rock”. However, after taking part in “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen”, he decided to retire. According to his friend, Sir Michael Caine, the movie retired him because he didn’t want to play small parts about old men. The character didn’t have any young parts in romantic leads.

#3 Alicia Silverstone - Batman & Robin

Source: Pinterest

Alicia Silverstone portrayed Batgirl in “Batman & Robin”, for which she got a Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress. Since then, she hasn’t appeared in any hit movie.

#4 Chris O’Donnell - Batman & Robin

Source: IMDb

Like Alicia Silverstone, Chris O’Donnell’s career started going downhill after “Batman & Robin”. Although well-known actors like George Clooney, Uma Thurman, and Arnold Schwarzenegger managed to move on and succeed. But O’Donnell was stuck. Luckily, he was famous on television.

#5 Taylor Kitsch - John Carter

Source: Pinterest

Taylor Kitsch was famous for starring in the hit TV “Fright Night Lights” but he was not lucky when being a part of a big box office flop, John Carter. The movie only made 284 million dollars while it was invested nearly 400 million dollars.

#6 Lindsay Lohan – I Know Who Killed Me

Source: IMDb

Lindsay Lohan became a part of “I Know Who Killed Me”. According to New York Times, “Given Lindsay Lohan’s colorful public behavior and continuing legal difficulties, playing a stripper . . . might not have been the best way to distract from her tabloid image.”

#7 Halle Berry – Catwoman

Source: Warner Brothers / courtesy Everett Collection

Because of the role in “Catwoman”, many viewers have forgotten that Halle Berry won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role in “Monster’s Ball”. The movie flopped and tainted Berry’s career.

#8 Hayden Christensen – Star Wars

Source: Syfy

“Star Wars” made the actor quit acting. In an interview with Los Angeles Times, he explained, “I guess I felt like I had this great thing in “Star Wars” that provided all these opportunities and gave me a career, but it all kind of felt a little too handed to me. I didn’t want to go through life feeling like I was just riding a wave”.

#9 Taylor Lautner – Abduction

Source: Slant magazine

Taylor Lautner rose his storm when become one of the most prominent stars in “Twilight”. However, his career quickly went down after he starred in “Abduction”, which received lots of negative reviews from critics.

#10 Nicolas Cage - Bangkok Dangerous

Source: IMDb

Nicolas Cage was a well-known actor when taking part in many big projects like “Leaving Las Vegas”, “Adaptation”, “Con Air”, “Face/Off”, “8MM”, “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin” and “Windtalkers”. But many viewers lost their respect for the actor after the movie “Bangkok Dangerous” he starred in received bad reviews.