12 Actors Lost Their Roles Because They Were "Too Ugly", While 8 That Were Turned Down For Being "Too Pretty"

In Hollywood, actors or actresses who have attractive beauty have many pluses. Because they can quickly draw attention, bringing the movie success. That’s why directors and producers tend to look for hot beauties that can nail their movie roles. For that reason, many actors are turned down for the role as their beauty doesn't live up to producers' expectations. Even some of the most attractive icons such as Andrew Garfield, Kate Beckinsale, or Aidan Turner have failed to land roles as not “pretty” or “handsome” enough. The beautiful star Meryl Streep even gets the blunt comment “how ugly” when going to a casting.
In contrast, some actors are considered “too pretty” to get the role. Due to her notorious beauty, Jenifer Lawrence was initially passed up for the role in Winter's Bone. In another case, Hugh Grant is too handsome to get his role in the movie “Four Weddings and a Funeral.” All in all, “prettiness” or “ugliness” is actually not a big deal. Actors just need to be a great match for the role. It’s obvious that beautiful actresses find it hard to portray a villain character, or actors having a rough visual aren’t compatible with the lovable functions. Scroll down to explore 12 actors and actresses who lost roles for being “too ugly”, and 8 others who are considered “too pretty” to get roles.

#1 TOO UGLY: Meryl Streep was deemed "too ugly" to star in King Kong. When she came to audition, producer Dino De Laurentiis even commented: "che brutta," ("how ugly")

Source: BBC / Courtesy Everett Collection

#2 TOO PRETTY: Jennifer Lawrence had to demonstrate that she was "not cute" after being first rejected for the part of Winter's Bone because she was "too pretty."

Source: Paul Archuleta / FilmMagic via Getty Images

#3 TOO UGLY: Andrew Garfield was passed up for the role of Prince Caspian in the Chronicles of Narnia series because he "wasn't handsome enough."

Source: Gregg DeGuire / FilmMagic via Getty Images

#4 TOO PRETTY: Emmy Rossum almost didn't get to play Fiona in Shameless because producers thought she couldn't be ugly. "They didn't want to see me; they wouldn't even [let me] audition," she explained. "They thought my image was too glamorous, that I couldn't not be pretty."

Source: Touchstone Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection

#5 TOO UGLY: Winona Ryder recently shared about being told she wasn't attractive enough to be a star in the '80s. She's even mentioned in the past that a casting director stopped her mid-sentence and told her at a specific '80s audition: "You should not be an actress. You are not pretty enough. You should go back to wherever you came from and you should go to school. You don’t have it."

Source: Mark Sagliocco / WireImage via Getty Images

"She was very blunt — I honestly think that she thought she was doing me a favor," Ryder shared about the casting director at the unnamed audition.

#6 TOO PRETTY: According to Alison Brie, she nearly didn't get the role of Ruth in Glow because she's well-known for polished and "sweet" roles before.

Source: Laurie Sparham / BBC/Red Productions / Courtesy: Everett Collection

Brie stated in an interview with Vulture that the character was not meant to be "conventionally attractive," the actress shared: "they didn’t think I was right for the role." She stated that for her auditions, she would wear gym clothes, no makeup, and tie her hair back, stating that she wanted to prove to them that she was capable of playing the role.Lawrence flew overnight (the casting had just been moved to New York) and then went back for another audition. Regarding landing the part, she stated, "That always helps. Red-eye. Not showering. No makeup. Eventually, they went, 'Oh, she's right. She's not cute!'"

#7 TOO UGLY: David Harbour, who is Winona's Stranger Things co-star and on-screen love interest, has similarly talked about not being thought of as being attractive enough for parts. He claims that director Ang Lee told him to be more attractive during a take when he had a tiny part in the movie Brokeback Mountain.

Source: George Kraychyk / Miramax / Courtesy Everett Collection

#8 TOO UGLY: Actor Mark Webber took to social media to discuss how he was supposedly fired for not being attractive enough after being recast after the Stumptown pilot.

Source: Jim Spellman / WireImage via Getty Images

"Look, I’m a straight white male so I know my journey has been way less painful in this warped industry," Webber wrote, "but I’m being recast in a network television show because I’m not handsome enough for the executives," describing his treatment as "degrading." Jake Johnson was cast in the role instead.

#9 TOO PRETTY: Author of Funeral Writer and Four Weddings - Richard Curtis didn't want to cast Hugh Grant in the film because he thought Grant was too handsome.

Source: Gramercy Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection

Grant stated that Curtis did everything in his power to stop me from getting the part."  Later, Curtis would say, "The absolutely key thing for that film when I was writing it was that the person who was playing the lead would not be good-looking. That was the absolute starting thesis of the film"  as his explanation for why.

#10 TOO UGLY: Early in her career, Mindy Kaling wasn't deemed pretty enough to portray herself on an unnamed sketch show. According to Kaling, the network gave her the show but then made her go through an audition for the role of herself and turned her down.

Source: Jaguar PS/Shutterstock

#11 TOO UGLY: According to composer Anne Dudley, the executive producer of "Poldark" - Damien Timmer reportedly worried that actor Aidan Turner wouldn't be enough attractive for women.

Source: Cubankite / Shutterstock.com

Timmer was reassured by Dudley that they would — and she was correct. Turner immediately rose to prominence as a huge heartthrob.

#12 TOO PRETTY: Because of her beautiful looks, director Joe Wright first refused to cast Keira Knightley in his film Pride and Prejudice.

Source: Shutterstock/DFree

Knightley joked: "Then he met me and said, 'Oh no, you're fine!'"

#13 TOO UGLY: Executives at BBC initially thought Benedict Cumberbatch was "not attractive enough" to play Sherlock in the show Sherlock.

Source: Shutterstock/Tinseltown

"You promised us a sexy Sherlock, not him," according to Sherlock showrunner Steven Moffat.

#14 TOO UGLY: BBC executives apparently felt the same way about David Tennant's performance as Casanova in Casanova, and urged Moffat to cast someone sexier.

Source: Shutterstock/lev radin

#15 TOO PRETTY: Scarlett Johansson, on the other hand, was "too sexy" to play the lead in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

Source: Shutterstock/Kathy Hutchins

According to director David Fincher, "Scarlett Johansson was great. It was a great audition, I'm telling you. But the thing with Scarlett is, you can't wait for her to take her clothes off." Instead, Rooney Mara was cast in the role.

#16 TOO UGLY: Kate Beckinsale claims that Pearl Harbor director Michael Bay rejected her because he didn't find her attractive enough for the part. She "wasn't blonde and [her] boobs weren't bigger than [her] head."

Source: Featureflash Photo Agency/Shutterstock

"I didn’t make sense to him as an attractive woman,” Beckinsale told Yahoo Entertainment.   Beckinsale was put on a strict diet and exercise regimen.

#17 TOO UGLY: Emma Thompson claims that she lost her role because male bosses thought she wasn't "pretty enough" to perform in naked scenes. "I have also never conformed to the shape or look of someone they might want to see naked."

Source: Tinseltown/Shutterstock

#18 TOO PRETTY: Melissa De Sousa was deemed "too attractive" to portray a "down-on-her-luck stripper." in Hustle & Flow.

Source: Shutterstock/lev radin

De Sousa claimed that after pleading for a chance to be interviewed, she was finally chosen for a screen test even though Paula Jai Parker ultimately won the part.

#19 TOO UGLY: Minnie Driver nearly didn't appear in Good Will Hunting because the producer thought she wasn't "hot enough."

Source: Shutterstock/Tinseltown

Driver described it as the rudest thing anyone had ever said to her in Hollywood, and she later revealed that it was said by Harvey Weinstein. Fortunately, authors Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, as well as director Gus Van Sant, battled for her to obtain the part, for which she received an Oscar nomination.

#20 TOO PRETTY: Jessica Biel claimed she had trouble finding work after being dubbed Esquire's "sexiest woman alive" in 2005 and that one director told her, "I’m not looking for the sexiest woman; I’m looking for the girl next door."

Source: Shutterstock/DFree

She didn't give the name of the specific movie, but she did mention The Other Boleyn Girl as a role she applied for but didn't get.