Why Hollywood Won't Cast These Actors Anymore

In the fickle world of Hollywood, it's just as easy for a star to rise to fame as it is for them to fall out of the public's good graces. A couple of box office flops, some personal issues, or just the decision to take time off could spell career disaster.

Is it possible that things like: Tobey Maguire's involvement in a high stakes and highly illegal poker ring; or Jim Carrey's ugly legal battle over the suicide of his ex-girlfriend; or Freddie Prinze Jr. openly trash-talking Kiefer Sutherland could actually be reasons that Tinseltown turned its back on these box office boomers?   

Without more email hacks like the one that exposed the inner workings of high level executives at Sony, it's impossible to know for sure. But some combination of these factors have led these actors to experience life in the cold shadow of their once towering celebrity status. Let's explore some of the reasons why Hollywood won't cast these actors anymore.

Two words: The prequels. Even if his performance was award-winning — spoiler alert: it wasn't — just the association with the universally panned "Star Wars Trilogy: Episodes 1-3" would have been enough to stain Hayden Christensen's resume. Just ask Natalie Portman.

Christensen was actually doing some of the best work of his career in between shooting the prequels, like his moving performance in "Life as a House" and his emotionally complex portrayal as disgraced reporter Stephen Glass in "Shattered Glass," but nobody cared about any of that after listening to Anakin Skywalker whine about how much he hates sand. When his turn to the dark side was complete, Christensen's string of duds began.

After three years of eviscerating reviews and even worse box office results, Christensen pulled the plug, bought a farm, got married, and had a kid. To his credit, he told the Los Angeles Times that he felt he owed too much of his stardom to the "Star Wars" movies and that he knew the potential career risks of taking time off, but he did it anyway to see if he could "come back afterward and claw [his] way back in." After five years, he made his return with "90 Minutes in Heaven," which currently sits at a 24% on Rotten Tomatoes and has a box office return of just under its $5 million budget. Does that farm Christensen bought have any sort of claw sharpening equipment? Because he's going to need it.

The star-making role of Steve Stifler in the "American Pie" movie franchise is something of a double-edged sword for Seann William Scott. On one hand, he made a career out of playing a character who by all rights should have been reviled, but somehow became beloved. On the other hand, anytime he tried to do anything else, audiences couldn't figure out why Stifler wasn't just being Stifler. It's the classic type-casting conundrum that many actors face, so Scott turned to a perfectly logical solution: voice-over work. He's got four "Ice Age" movies under his belt, as well as the video game tie-ins that go along with them. They are by far his most successful post-"American Pie" films, and their low visibility status dovetails nicely into his preference for staying out of the spotlight.

Never being one to excessively party or chase fame, Scott checked into a 30-day rehab stint in 2011 for still vaguely unspecific reasons. Maybe he's trying to work out some personal issues, or maybe he prefers to quietly stack cash without having to tiptoe around the tabloid game. Either way, his Hollywood hiatus actually seems to be on his terms.

Everyone likes to point directly at Tobey Maguire's cringe-worthy turn as emo Peter Parker in "Spider-Man 3" and say, "That. Whatever that was is what killed his career." While that's a fair assessment of that truly awkward performance, it's not the whole story.

According to "Spider-Man" director Sam Raimi's 2013 Vulture interview, Sony was more than willing to give him and Maguire a chance at redemption. It just took Raimi too long to get a script together for "Spider-Man 4." That delay, combined with Maguire turning 35 the year production would begin, caused Sony to pivot to what eventually became 2012's "The Amazing Spider-Man" reboot, starring Andrew Garfield.

By this time, Maguire had already started producing films, and with critical darlings like "25th Hour" and "Seabiscuit" as credits, that seemed like a natural move for him. Unfortunately, his follow-up producing efforts — "Rock of Ages," "Pawn Sacrifice," and "The 5th Wave " – all fell way short of earning money. He also suffered a bit of a public image crisis when he was implicated in, and ultimately paid a settlement for his involvement in, an illegal poker club. Either he's decided to focus on family — he is married with two children — or Hollywood has no more interest in anteing up for another Maguire move.

After the success of 2003's "Old School" and "Wedding Crashers" in 2005, Vince Vaughn seemed keenly aware of where his appeal came from, so he essentially just repeated his cocksure, quickest-guy-in-the-room character. Unfortunately, Hollywood thought this persona would connect no matter what genre he was placed in, and Vaughn's formerly reliable performances were underserved by the dismal and predictable writing of romantic comedies like "Four Christmases" and "Couples Retreat."

Vaughn went back to the dude-bro formula with 2013's "The Internship" and "Delivery Man," as well as "Unfinished Business" in 2015, but it was too late. The shine had rubbed off. Then came the disastrous second season of "True Detective." Even if Vaughn could have managed to pull off a career 180 with an effective dramatic turn — which he clearly did not — it would not have saved that series from careening off the rails so badly that HBO wants to revamp it entirely, according to Indiewire.

At this point, Vaughn is too old to return to the sophomoric well from whence he came, so he's left eyeballing another rebranding of himself. For what it's worth, even if Vaughn and Owen Wilson are 70 years old before they finally agree to do that "Funeral Crashers" spin-off, we'll still pay good money to see it.

Although he showed plenty of promise in the '90s, thanks to a bit part on "Saturday Night Live" and a breakthrough performance in "Jerry Maguire," Jay Mohr's career in recent years has been more "miss" than "hit." Despite critical raves and a cult following, his second attempt at becoming a sitcom star flopped when the Fox comedy "Action" tanked in the ratings. His next attempt, "Gary Unmarried," lasted two seasons, but also received the kind of reviews that would kill any actor's TV career today.

He found slightly better luck as a host, which has resulted in stints on "Last Comic Standing" and, more recently, "Jay Mohr Sports." But even that path has had some bumps along the way, including a deal with Disney that ostensibly got canceled.

If that wasn't enough, Mohr's personal life has been a bit of a mess, to say the least. In July 2016, he filed for divorce from his actress-wife, Nikki Cox, and asked for an emergency petition for full custody of their son after alleging that Cox suffered from depression and self-medicated. Although he dropped the petition just six days later, Mohr filed for divorce again in 2016. It later took another nasty turn, with more allegations of drug use.

Back in the '00s, you couldn't go to a party or lunch with co-workers without someone declaring that Dane Cook was the funniest dude on the planet. Those days are long gone. What happened? 

Well, for starters, his big attempt at becoming a big movie star was a big ol' flop, thanks to a string of critically panned comedies that included the Razzie-nominated "Employee of the Month" in 2006 and "Good Luck Chuck" in 2007. His dramatic films didn't fare all that better, either; "Mr. Brooks" came and went without much fanfare, while his sci-fi passion project, "400 Days," earned just $58 overseas. (He also claimed at one point that he was auditioning to star in "Captain America," which obviously didn't pan out.) Cook later tried to go the route of television, which blew up in his face after NBC canceled his show before it even aired.

Meanwhile, Cook's career as a stand-up comedian took a turn for the worse, including multiple accusations of joke theft, shade from fellow comedians, weakening comedy album sales, and controversial jokes that got him in a whole lot of trouble.

Truth be told: John Cusack has been steadily working in recent years. It's just that a lot of his films haven't caught on the way they used to. 

While he reportedly made almost 20 movies between 2012 and 2016, a good chunk of those titles went straight to DVD or VOD. (Don't act like you actually saw "The Factory" in 2012 or "The Carrier" in 2014.) Even his higher quality movies, such as "Love & Mercy," failed to ignite passion in Hollywood, despite brief Oscar buzz for co-star Elizabeth Banks.

Of course, if this were 15 years ago, Cusack would be able to fall back on the occasional rom-com, like he did to moderate success in 2001's "Serendipity" and "Must Love Dogs" in 2005. But now that he's in his 50s, that tried and true formula in flicks such as "Say Anything ..."  and "High Fidelity" is starting to feel, well, old.

On the bright side, Cusack has kept busy with a number of passion projects, including writing a book about NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and co-founding the Freedom of the Press Foundation.

Having a crummy resume can make it difficult to land a job anywhere, especially in Hollywood. Take Jessica Alba, for example, who racked up five Razzie nominations and one win in her mostly disappointing career, thanks to flops such as "Fantastic Four," "Awake," and "The Eye." She later tried to place some of the blame on bad scripts and first-time directors, but when high-profile publications such as The New York Times start referring to your acting as "vapid," surely that's not a screenwriter's fault.

Still, the experience of working on bad movies seems to have weighed heavily on Alba. In 2010, she admitted to Elle magazine (via Vulture) that she almost quit acting after a director told her to "cry pretty." She's also admitted she "really stopped acting at 27" and has said in recent interviews that acting isn't really her top priority.

Indeed, much of Alba's focus has shifted to raising her children. She announced in August 2017 that she was expecting a third child. She also runs her consumer-goods brand The Honest Company. Unfortunately, despite being valued at more than $1 billion in 2015, Alba's Honest brand has taken a hit over the years, thanks to numerous lawsuits over its products. One particular class-action lawsuit, over ingredients featured in its laundry detergent, dish soap, and multipurpose cleaner, resulted in a $1.55 million settlement.

When you star on a television show for 10 years, as Tom Welling did on "Smallville" (which ran from 2001-2011), odds are you're going to get exhausted by the end of your run. It should come with little surprise that after the hit WB series ended, Welling took a self-imposed break from Hollywood.

It probably shouldn't surprise you, either, that his return to Hollywood has been incredibly limited, fueled in part by being more selective in the roles that he wants to play. At the time of this writing, he has starred in just three movies since "Smallville" went off the air in 2011, all of which came and went without much fanfare. 

In recent years, Welling made a few attempts at returning to the small screen. CBS declined to pick up a pilot starring Welling as a CIA black ops agent. On the bright side: he joined the third season of the Fox drama "Lucifer" in fall 2017, and made other TV appearances in the series "Professionals" and "The Winchesters."

Judge Reinhold was one of Hollywood's quintessential "that guy!" actors in the '80s, with memorable roles in hits such as "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and "Beverly Hills Cop." These days, people might not remember "that guy" at all. In the last 20 years or so, his only notable roles were a cameo on "Arrested Development" and a stint on the short-lived TV series "The O'Keefe's," which got yanked after one month on the air. Other projects, including a TV reboot of "Beverly Hills Cop" and a sitcom by Judd Apatow, never made it to air.

To make matters worse, Reinhold was charged with disorderly conduct after an altercation with TSA agents at Dallas Love Field airport in December 2016. He later admitted to being "just embarrassed" by the incident, according to Page Six (which, by the way, referred to him as the guy from '80s movies like "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," which sorta proves our point).

If there's a glimmer of hope: Reinhold may finally be able to capitalize on Hollywood's current obsession with nostalgia. In June 2016, Variety reported that the long-awaited sequel "Beverly Hills Cop IV" had landed two directors, breathing life into a project that has been delayed for seemingly ever. As of this writing, however, the project still is yet to be released.

As a principal player in the massively successful The Twilight Saga (2008-2012), Taylor Lautner was poised for superstardom. But unlike his costars, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, who immediately began branching out from the teen vampire drama, Lautner coasted on the success of the franchise, logging only a small bit part in 2010's "Valentine's Day" while he made his money playing Jacob.

When it was time for Lautner's leading-man turn, the combination of typecasting, his lackluster acting abilities, and his overestimated value spelled disaster. His first star vehicle, "Abduction," was a critical and commercial bomb. "Tracers" didn't do much better. After that, his asking price for future roles — a reported $7.5 to $10 million per picture — seemed laughably high.  

Lautner has, however, found some success within the comedy genre. He attracted good reviews with the BBC series "Cuckoo," and he's become a member of Adam Sandler's crew with roles in "Grown Ups 2" and "The Ridiculous Six." Those won't put him in Oscar contention, but they are fan favorites. Even if Lautner's never going to become a critical darling, he still has a chance to be on a winning team.  

Though one might think his downfall was triggered by his infamous scandal of 1995 — the one where he was caught with a sex worker in his car off of the Sunset Strip — Hugh Grant went on to mile-high fame afterward. The smash romantic hits "Notting Hill," "Love Actually," and "Bridget Jones's Diary" all featured Grant as a leading man. Perhaps it was all that massive success within the same genre that sparked Hugh Grant overkill.

Speaking with The Telegraph in 2014, Grant said he was "over" rom-coms. "Nowadays I pretty much turn everything down anyway, because I just feel too old, certainly for romantic comedy and certainly for showbusiness [sic] in general. Occasionally, they wheel me out," he said. When he has been wheeled out as of late, it hasn't been all that great. There were big, blockbuster expectations for both "Cloud Atlas" and "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.," yet both under-performed at the box office. 

Not to mention, Grant's personal life has been pretty busy. Between 2011 and 2015, he fathered four children among two women. According to the Daily Mail, two of the children are only three months apart, meaning both of Grant's baby mamas were pregnant at the same time. Say whatever you want about his film career, but it appears this guy may have been too busy to even make it to a movie set.

Freddie Prinze Jr. was the Hollywood "it guy" for nearly a decade, starting with "I Know What You Did Last Summer" in 1997 and extending through his sitcom "Freddie," from 2005-2006. After the failure of "Freddie" came a few go-nowhere roles, followed by the infamous disaster "Delgo" in 2008, which would go down in history as one of the lowest-grossing box office openings of all time.  

Pivoting back to TV, Prinze Jr. seemed to pick a winner again with a solid role on "24," except that turned out to be a nightmare. According to ABC News, Prinze Jr. said, "I did 24, it was terrible. I hated every moment of it. Kiefer [Sutherland] was the most unprofessional dude in the world. That's not me talking trash, I'd say it to his face, I think everyone that's worked with him has said that." He continued, "I just wanted to quit the business after that. So, I just sort of stopped." 

And he really did. Aside from a few bit parts, Prinze Jr. has mostly pursued voicework since his ill-fated run-in with Jack Bauer. He also did some behind-the-scenes work for the WWE, released a cookbook, and started a second book specifically geared toward gaming, which is apparently Prinze Jr.'s true passion. "I'm a partner in this company called Twitch and they have 9.7 million active viewers watching these people play video games," he told People. 

So did Hollywood turn his back on Prinze Jr., or was it the other way around?

Katherine Heigl's Hollywood downfall can be boiled down to two words: burned bridges. In 2008, she infamously slammed 2007's "Knocked Up," the Judd Apatow comedy that launched her film career. She told Vanity Fair the film was "a little sexist," and "paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight." As if that wasn't enough, she added, "I had a hard time with it, on some days. I'm playing such a b***h ... It was hard for me to love the movie." That same year, Heigl heavily shaded "Grey's Anatomy" and its showrunner, Shonda Rhimes, when she withdrew from the race for Emmy nominations, stating, "I did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination and in an effort to maintain the integrity of the academy organization, I withdrew my name from contention." Oof.

Both Apatow and Rhimes have since made no effort to reconcile with Heigl, who continued churning out stale, increasingly unsuccessful romantic comedies until her name became synonymous with the worst of the genre. Through it all, rumors about her on-set difficulty swirled, which may or may not have led to some high-profile shakeups within her management and PR teams. 

Her last widely released film, 2017's "Unforgettable," still hasn't made back its $12 million budget on the domestic side.

Jennifer Love Hewitt's rise to fame ran almost parallel to that of her "I Know What You Did Last Summer" co-star, Freddie Prinze Jr. Unfortunately, their Hollywood fates seem to have taken the same turn. After an explosive mid-'90s and early 2000s, Hewitt's career started to cool off with the Jackie Chan action-comedy flop, "The Tuxedo," as well as the sequel to the live-action "Garfield" film, because why not make two of those? Then came "Delgo." Yes, the same "Delgo" that proved to be a harbinger for Prinze Jr.'s career.

Hewitt rallied with a five-year run on "The Ghost Whisperer" from 2005-2010, followed by the Lifetime movie "The Client List," which was spun off into a series, but that's where things took a turn. Rumors of Hewitt's on-set difficulty — including allegations that she demanded her real life baby daddy be cast in the show — supposedly caused the whole series to get axed. Then came "Criminal Minds" in 2014, another seemingly lucky pivot for Hewitt, until fans literally started a petition to have her written off the show after just one season. Ouch.

Since exiting "Criminal Minds" in 2015, Hewitt hasn't been very active on screen. Granted, she's a mom to three kids now, so there's a possibility she's purposefully putting her career on hold to spend quality time with them. Either way, it doesn't seem like we'll be seeing her on the red carpet anytime soon.

By the time Taylor Momsen was 17, she'd already been in the entertainment business for 15 years. Her parents started her in the modeling industry at just 2 years old, an experience Momsen doesn't fondly recall. "My parents signed me up with Ford (modeling agency) at the age of two. No two year old wants to be working, but I had no choice," she told Starpulse. From there, it was a breakout role as Cindy Lou Who in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," several more choice kid roles, and then a big break as Jenny "Little J" Humphrey on "Gossip Girl." But that would be where Momsen's acting career ended.

Her growing displeasure with Hollywood and gradual drift towards a music career essentially tucked Momsen's SAG card into a file folder. As her good-girl-next-door look morphed into a goth-inspired, raccoon-eyed rock frontwoman, "Gossip Girl" producers reduced her role on the show until she was eventually dropped as a series regular in Season 5.

Momsen then basically dove eyeliner first into a music career as the lead singer of The Pretty Reckless. In 2016, the band became the first in history to send its first four entries to the top of the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart. So no, Hollywood producers aren't banging down Momsen's door, but perhaps that's because they can't get through the crowd of record executives.

Like Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt before her, Julia Stiles' career crashed in the mid-2000s. After dismal returns for 2003's "A Guy Thing" and "Mona Lisa Smile," Stiles pivoted to smaller films, including the critically panned remake of "The Omen" in 2006 and a little-known David Mamet film called "Edmond," while relying on the "Jason Bourne" franchise to keep her afloat.

Throughout this period, Stiles did a bunch of behind-the-scenes work, which she refers to as the "second phase" of her career during a 2010 interview with The New York Times. Except, in the same interview, she also expressed her desire to return to the A-List. "I think audiences, producers and directors included, develop crushes on actors (actresses in particular) and then lose interest and move on to the next one," Stiles said. "There are a handful of actors who sustain interest because it's exciting to watch them get better at what they do. I want to be one of those actors."

Unfortunately, Stiles' only tent-pole credit came to an end in 2016 when her "Bourne" character was killed off in the opening moments of the fifth installment of the Matt Damon-led action franchise. This led to more forgettable film work and a critically-skewered miniseries for British TV called "Riviera."

But hey, if all else fails, Stiles could cash in on Hollywood's nostalgia wave. How about a "Save the Last Dance 2?" Or, wait, since that already exists, maybe a threequel?

Though Ashley Greene did not rest on her laurels throughout the success of "The Twilight Saga," what she chose to do outside of the blockbuster franchise barely grabbed any attention. Her biggest credit during that time was the indie flick "Butter" in 2011, which had a big-name cast but failed to impress critics and made zero money. Plus, Greene's role was tiny. Outside of that, her only non-"Twilight" screen credit to make more than $1 million at the box office — out of seven films — was "The Apparition," which earned just under $5 million domestically. With a budget of $17 million, that's not good. That also happened to be Greene's first star vehicle, making the film's failure a double whammy.

Her small screen attempts didn't fare much better. "Pan-Am," ABC's big budget drama centered on the airline industry heyday of the '60s, was permanently grounded after one season. Greene's two-season turn on the Canadian police drama "Rogue" ended with the show's cancellation. Is that Greene's fault? Of course not, but it was another career dead end.

Since then, she's gotten married and had a child, as well as taken on some roles in smaller productions.

For a solid two decades after her debut in "The Mask," Cameron Diaz maintained a status as one of Hollywood's go-to actors. However, her inconsistency at both the box office and in reviews have proven that although she's been extremely sought-after, she hasn't always taken the best offers or put in the best performances. Case in point: Her critically-acclaimed turns in "Being John Malkovich," "Vanilla Sky," and "Gangs of New York," which she immediately followed with the dismal sequel to "Charlie's Angels," — "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle."

Diaz's hit-or-miss career track stalled heavily in 2014 with the critical and commercial flops "Sex Tape" and "Annie." Around this time, however, Diaz was gearing up for some personal re-branding. In 2013, she co-authored "The Body Book: Feed, Move, Understand and Love Your Amazing Body," a best-selling lifestyle manual, which she followed up in 2016 with "The Longevity Book: The Science of Aging, the Biology of Strength, and the Privilege of Time."

Her pivot to authorship also coincided with her marriage to Good Charlotte rocker Benji Madden in 2015, all of which eventually contributed to a hiatus from the film industry. In June of 2017, Diaz addressed her Hollywood hiatus at Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop Wellness Summit (via E! News) by expressing that years of the jet-setting lifestyle had taken its toll, and that she "felt the need to make [herself] whole." It would seem, for now, that Diaz's absence from the silver screen is mostly due to an acute case of fame fatigue.

Jim Carrey's legendary career includes roles in hit movies like "The Mask," "The Truman Show," "Yes Man," and more. The star was once known for his back-to-back- blockbusters, but it looks like Carrey fans might have to accept the possibility that this success is a thing of the past. The "Dumb and Dumber" actor has walked away from Hollywood – and may never return.

Unlike many of the stars on this list, Carrey didn't fail to maintain box office success or fade into irrelevancy. Instead, he seems to have quit acting mostly on his own terms. He revealed he's likely retiring during an interview with Access Hollywood in 2022. "Well, I'm retiring," Carrey said. "Yeah, probably. I'm being fairly serious. It depends. If the angels bring some sort of script that's written in gold ink that says to me that it's going to be really important for people to see, I might continue down the road, but I'm taking a break."

He went on to share he has other interests now, and these will likely be his focus moving forward. "I really like my quiet life and I really like putting paint on canvas and I really love my spiritual life and I feel like, and this is something you might never hear another celebrity say as long as time exists, I have enough," the actor continued. "I've done enough. I am enough." As of this writing, Carrey's last film was the 2022 film "Sonic the Hedgehog 2."

Two allegations tarnished former "Lost" star Matthew Fox's reputation. In 2011, Party bus driver Heather Bormann came forward to allege that Fox attacked her after she blocked him from boarding a bus that had been rented out by another party. She later filed a lawsuit against the star. Court documents revealed Bormann claimed Fox punched her, per TMZ.

Fox countersued for defamation but he dropped the suit after Bormann dropped hers. This wasn't the end of controversy for the actor because he faced a second allegation after his former "Lost" co-star, Dominic Monaghan, came forward the allege he was abusive toward women. The star took to Twitter to make the claim while replying to a fan. "@omggbeccaa how do you know we ever did? you don't know either of us. he beats women. not isolated incidents. often. not interested," he penned in 2012. This likely didn't help Fox's reputation, and he broke his silence during an appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." He claimed that he didn't attack Bormann and had actually gotten into an altercation with a man.

It seems that the star's version of the story wasn't enough to revive his career. During a press conference, the actor revealed he decided to take a hiatus after his 2014 film "Bone Tomahawk." Fox has since returned to acting in Peacock series "Last Light," so maybe Hollywood is welcoming him again. 

Sarah Michelle Gellar found instant success in the cult-classic, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." The successful show ran from 1997 to 2003, so you'd think Gellar would have no trouble snagging roles after it ended. The actor certainly landed roles, such as in the TV series "Ringer," but these projects weren't well received. "Ringer" ran for only one season due in part to a creative disagreement between Gellar and the show's producers. The actor wanted the show to be a limited series. "All the networks said, 'There's no money in limited," she told The Hollywood Reporter. "You need 22 episodes to make a profit."

There was also a huge life change that made a "Ringer" Season 2 impossible. "I got pregnant with my second child, which was a surprise, so I turned to CW like, 'I can't,'" Gellar said in the same interview. The star's next major TV role led her to take a break from acting. In 2013, she starred in "The Crazy Ones" alongside the late Robin Williams. The show was canceled after only one season following Williams' untimely death. The actor died by suicide in August 2014. "Everything hit me all at once — postpartum, two children, Robin's death," Gellar said of her decision to step away from acting. It seems that the star was willing to give acting a second try because she returned to TV in 2023 in the Paramount+ series "Wolf Pack."

Billy Zane was lucky enough to star in one of the highest-grossing movies of all time, but his career luck may have ended there. Having gotten his star in "Titanic," you'd think that Zane would have gone on to star in other blockbuster films. Unfortunately, he's taken on roles in quite a few poor-performing projects. For example, the star was cast in the lead role in the 1996 superhero flick "The Phantom" and the movie grossed only $17,323,326 worldwide.

Zane had the opportunity to revive his career in 2016 when he snagged a role in the Freeform drama "Guilt." The show opened with an audience of 486,000, which dropped down to a modest 396,000 by its Season 1 finale. The show was canceled after the first season likely due to its small audience. Poorly performing TV shows and movies aside, it likely doesn't help that Zane's projects are often overshadowed by his decades-old role in "Titanic." He revealed fans just can't let his character go during an interview with HuffPost Live. "'You're the a**hole from Titanic.' That one I get a lot which is really nice," he joked. "Nice to meet people that way." He went on to clarify that he's still grateful for the role.

Christopher Mintz-Plasse snagged numerous roles after portraying Fogell in the 2007 film "Superbad." He went on to appear in a number of successful movies like "Kick-Ass," "Pitch Perfect," and "Role Models." The actor's once seemingly promising career appears to have slowed down in recent years.

Mintz-Plasse could have made a major comeback with his role in the sitcom "Friend Me," but a tragedy prevented the show from ever being aired. CBS decided to scrap "Friend Me" after its co-creator, Alan Kirschenbaum, died by suicide in October 2012. While this show never actually made it to TV, Mintz-Plasse got another shot at revamping his career with the CBS sitcom "The Great Indoors." Unfortunately, this series didn't last long and only ran from 2016 to 2017.

It looks like Mintz-Plasse didn't have much luck with TV acting. That might explain why he decided to branch out within the entertainment industry. The star found success as a voice actor and a musician. He has voiced characters in hit animated movies like "How to Train Your Dragon" and "Trolls." As for the actor's music endeavors, he's a bassist in a band he started with friends, called The Young Rapscallions. While Hollywood might not be knocking on Mintz-Plasse's door to hand him major acting roles, he seems to be doing just fine.

Some might say that Rob Schneider's acting career is defined by raunchy comedies like Deuce "Bigalow: Male Gigolo," and "The Hot Chick." With that in mind, it's perhaps no surprise that the actor doesn't appear to be Hollywood's first pick when it comes to major roles. Schneider's decision to team up with his buddy Adam Sandler to star in these comedies may have seemed like a great idea at first, but these roles might have harmed his career in the long run.

Schneider has racked up quite a few Razzie Award nominations over the years, including in the unfortunate category of Worst Actor of the Decade. It seems that the actor doesn't have the best luck because he was sued by movie investors for $1.5 million in 2012. They claim that Schneider and his brother never repaid them for investing in their movie, "The Chosen One." Schneider's representative defended him in a statement shared with The Wrap. "The claims are flatly contradicted by the language of the contracts," they said. "The Gambles made an investment in the movie, with no guarantee of success. The Schneider's are confident that they will be vindicated in court."

While Schneider was hit with that lawsuit and way too many Razzie Award nominations, he hasn't abandoned the entertainment industry entirely. The star ventured into voice acting with a series of animating children's movies like the poorly rated "Norm of the North" and the very slightly more well-received "The Adventures of Panda Warrior."

Disgraced former "House of Cards" actor Kevin Spacey seemingly disappeared from Hollywood after he faced numerous sexual assault allegations. His 15 accusers shared stories that spanned decades. "Star Trek: Discovery" actor Anthony Rapp, for example, alleged Spacey made unwanted advances when he was only 14 years old. The harassment reportedly took place in 1986.

This allegation resulted in a court case in which a jury sided with Spacey in October 2022, per NPR. Rapp's legal team argued that Spacey wasn't honest in court. "He lacks credibility," said the actor's lawyer, Richard Steigman, per NPR. "Sometimes the simple truth is the best. The simple truth is that this happened."

As previously mentioned, Spacey faces allegations from 15 different accusers, so he didn't exactly hop back into acting just because he won this trial. Instead, he not only lost his "House of Cards" role but was also required to pay back the show's production company for the money they lost because of him. According to Variety, a Los Angeles judge ordered Spacey to pay "House of Cards" production company MRC almost $31 million as part of a lawsuit.

The infamous star took a break from acting in 2017 and didn't return until 2021 when he took on a role in indie film "L'uomo Che Disegnò Dio." This might hint at the path Spacey's career will take moving forward. There's a chance he may only appear in small projects given major production studios are likely hesitant to work with him now.

Eddie Murphy starred in a number of blockbuster films in the '80s and beyond. The success of movies like "Coming to America," "Trading Places," and "The Nutty Professor" should have solidified Murphy as a top actor for the entirety of his career. Instead, Murphy unfortunately starred in a few box office flops that may have harmed his career.

"The Adventures of Pluto Nash," for example, grossed only $7,103,973 on a budget of $100,000,000 in 2002. "A Thousand Words," which was released in 2021, grossed a disappointing $22,044,277 on a $40,000,000 budget. It might be safe to guess that these numbers contributed to Murphy's decision to take a break from acting.

It turns out that Murphy spoke about his many poorly received movies during an interview on the "WTF" podcast, and they did in fact influence him to put his acting career on pause. "I was making these s***y movies," Murphy said (via ET Canada). "I was like, 'This s**t ain't fun. They're giving me Razzies. Motherf***er gave me the 'worst actor ever' Razzie.' It was like, 'Maybe it's time to take a break." After a six-year break, Eddie returned to acting with the 2019 movie "Dolemite" and "Coming 2 America" in 2021.

Catherine Zeta-Jones has not been seen in a notable big screen role in years. She seems to have shifted her focus to TV roles, but they're been controversial. The star appeared in the FX series "Feud: Bette and Joan" in 2017. She took on the role of Old Hollywood actor Olivia de Havilland. The problem was Havilland wasn't happy with how she was portrayed in the series. She was so upset that she filed a lawsuit against FX for "infringement of common law right of publicity" and " invasion of privacy and unjust enrichment," per The Hollywood Reporter.

Havilland's legal team also shared she also didn't appreciate the way her relationship with her sister was depicted. "Zeta-Jones' de Havilland refers to Joan Fontaine as her 'b***h sister,' an offensive term that stands in stark contrast with Olivia de Havilland's reputation for good manners, class and kindness," attorney Suzelle Smith said, per The Hollywood Reporter.

Zeta-Jones also faced controversy after she took on the role of Colombian drug lord Griselda Blanco in the Lifetime movie "Cocaine Godmother: The Griselda Blanco Story." Some argued that Blanco was being inaccurately portrayed given Zeta-Jones is not Latina. The actor also might not be in the spotlight as much these days because she's taking time to enjoy the life she worked for. "I enjoy the fruits of my labor," Zeta-Jones told The New Yorker in 2021. "I work hard and I reward myself."

Years of arrests and legal trouble might make it hard for Orlando Brown to land acting gigs. The star was first taken into custody in 2016 and charged with "domestic battery, obstructing an officer and possession of narcotics" after allegedly striking his then-girlfriend, per E! News. The star was also arrested for burglary in 2018, and later in the year, he faced charges for "felony drug possession plus misdemeanor charges of drug paraphernalia, resisting arrest and obstructing a public officer," per E! News. As of this writing, Brown's most recent arrest took place in December 2022. The star faced domestic violence charges after reportedly charging at a friend with a knife and hammer, per TMZ.

Brown's struggles were put on display during an intervention on "Dr. Phil." His manager, Soloman Barron, brought him onto the show. "Well I called in because Orlando is – I don't want to diagnose him because I'm not professional, but he's obviously delusional," Barron told Dr. Phil before he sat down with Brown later in the show. "He's financially in shambles. His living arrangements is in shambles. His whole life is in shambles right now, and he doesn't quite understand that." He went on to share that the actor was living with him until he was later sent to jail. Brown might not be reentering the entertainment industry anytime soon.

It's probably been a while since you last watched a movie that featured Jessica Biel. That might be because the actor seemingly has trouble landing gigs. She even reportedly lost the role of Catwoman in "The Dark Knight Rises" to Anne Hathaway. An anonymous source claimed Biel wasn't happy she lost out on this opportunity. "Jessica was fuming when she heard she didn't get the role of Catwoman," an insider told New York Daily News. "She really thought she was going to get it, but when Christopher Nolan [the film's director] handed the role to Hathaway, she was devastated." If this rumor is true, we totally understand Biel's frustration. This role would have done amazing things for her career. Unfortunately for the star, she also allegedly lost a role in the 2013 movie "The Wolverine."

Biel has shifted her focus in recent years. She's now a producer on projects like "The Sinner" and "Cruel Summer." The star spoke about her new profession during an interview with Forbes. "All of those experiences that I've had have culminated in this moment [for me] to step behind the cameras and really be a support system and a support team and really be much more part of the development and then, kind of, hand it off to these very capable young women [who are starring in the series]," she said of her Freeform mystery series "Cruel Summer."

Amanda Bynes was once a top teen star with a promising career ahead of her. A period of back-to-back arrests and controversial behavior led the star to eventually abandon the entertainment industry altogether. She announced her retirement at only 24 years old back in 2010. "If I don't love something anymore, I stop doing it," she wrote in a since-deleted tweet (via Entertainment Weekly). "I don't love acting anymore, so I've stopped doing it. I know 24 is a young age to retire, but you heard it here first."

It seems that Bynes turned her life around in recent years. In a 2018 interview with Paper, she revealed that while she was making headlines for outrageous tweets and legal troubles, she was struggling with substance abuse behind the scenes. "I've been sober for almost four years now," the star revealed to Paper. She also graduated from California's Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in 2019 and enrolled in cosmetology school in 2022. "Instructors love her," FIDM assistant dean of admissions Kathi Gilbert told Paper. "Love her." She added, "She's smart, she participates in class — she's an amazing student."