All stars fade
Even the brightest stars eventually burn out. Sometimes celebrities peak too soon and then their names are forgotten in record time. But who are some big-name stars whose careers burned out too soon? Here are 40 forgotten Hollywood actors whose careers fizzled out before they could peak.
Clancy Brown
That tall figure with the wavy hair and the deep American accent in The Shawshank Redemption? That’s Clancy Brown, whose role in the classic prison escape film could have set him up for larger roles. As it was, Brown starred in Starship Troopers and was the voice of Mr. Krabs in Spongebob Squarepants.
Castle Rock, The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Sinbad
Better known by his professional name Sinbad, David Adkins once had a bright career. Unfortunately, Adkins’ health stopped any career momentum he had going on back in the 2000s. He is most famous for starring in Jingle All The Way and having a sitcom, The Sinbad Show.
Twentieth Century, Jingle All the Way (1996)
Larisa Oleynik
Larisa Oleynik starred as Alex Mack in The Secret World of Alex Mack in 1994 and later as Bianca Stratford in 10 Things I Hate About You in 1999. She’s had a recurring role in Mad Men since the turn of the century and has been a voice actor for Nickelodeon.
Touchstone, 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
Billy Baldwin
The younger brother of Alec Baldwin, Billy Baldwin starred in several popular shows in the 1990s and early 2000s. Despite playing minor roles in film and television productions since the 2010s.
Joe Turkel
Joe Turkel is well-known for his roles in Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing, Paths of Glory, and The Shining. His later role in Blade Runner as Dr. Eldon Tyrell would be one of his last major performances. Turkel passed away in 2024 at the age of 94.
Warner Bros., Blade Runner (1982)
Matthew Lillard
Matthew Lillard is perhaps best known for his role in Scooby-Doo as “Shaggy”, Scooby’s faithful companion. Lillard has also done all of the voice acting for Scooby Doo animated films and television since 2009 and singular episodes in a few TV series as of recent. However, to many, he’ll always be Shaggy Rogers.
Stacy Keach
Stacy Keach began his career on stage as a Shakespearean actor (with great success, I might add). Although his acting career took a sharp turn in the 1980s when he spent six months in prison in the United Kingdom, following an arrest for importing cocaine into the country. Keach has starred in American History X (1998) and Prison Break (2005).
Susanne, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Eddie Furlong
Eddie Furlong was destined for great things in the 1990s, landing roles in big hit films such as American History X and Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Unfortunately, Eddie’s life would be plagued by trouble with the law in the early 2000s.
Carolco Pictures, Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Thora Birch
Another darling of the 1990s was Thora Birch. She had roles in Patriot Games, Hocus Pocus and Now and Then and even won a BAFTA for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for American Beauty. Her last major production was in 2004 and then took a 12-year hiatus from acting. She did star as Mary in AMC’s The Walking Dead as Mary.
LeeLee Sobieski
Well known for her roles in Deep Impact (1998) and Joan of Arc (1999), LeeLee Sobieski’s film career unfortunately never really took off, despite those leading roles. Since the late 90s, Sobieski has appeared in a few independent productions, but retired in 2012 to focus on her family.
David Shankbone, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Pauly Shore
You’d be forgiven for not knowing the name Pauly Shore today. He had a few minor roles in TV series and films in the mid 1990s, even having his own show on MTV Totally Pauly. He has also made many voice appearances throughout the 2010s.
Super Festivals, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Moira Kelly
Moira Kelly was a hit star of the 1990s, starring in many TV series from the political The West Wing to the kids’ TV series One Tree Hill. She also starred as Kate Moseley in The Cutting Edge and has been the voice of Nala, in The Lion King. Her last TV appearance was in 2014.in Twin Peaks and she played Laura Cortez in Panic in 2021 for seven episodes.
Keith Gordon
Keith Gordon is best known as the affable, goofy Doug Fetterman in Jaws 2 in 1978. Despite his major roles in film acting coming in the latter part of the 20th century, Keith Gordon is presently an accomplished director, directing periodically on Dexter from 2006 to 2013 and Homeland from 2013 to 2020.
Mia Sara
After starring in the cult classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in 1986, Mia Sara has taken on many roles in smaller productions since then, starring last in the 2013 short Pretty Pretty and in The Life of Chuck (2024) as Sarah Krantz. However if you hadn’t seen her in Ferris Bueller, you might not know who she is.
Paramount, Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Leslie Nielsen
Leslie Nielsen had a fantastic run in Hollywood, beginning in the late 1970s when his slapstick comedy talents were on full display in Airplane! And in The Naked Gun, which made its final run in 1994. Unfortunately, Nielsen passed away in 2010, but for those who’ve seen Airplane!, he’ll always be famous for that film.
Emilio Estevez
Being the son of Martin Sheen and the brother of Charlie Sheen always meant that Emilio Estevez was going to have to work hard for his Hollywood notoriety. However, he did so and his early career works of The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo’s Fire would see him blaze that trail. Along with his recurring role in The Mighty Ducks from 1992 to 1996, Estevez had set himself apart from the legacies of his father and brother. He would turn his attention to directing throughout the 2000s and 2010s.
Twentieth Century, Young Guns II(1999)
Steve Guttenberg
Steve Guttenberg was one of the heartthrob actors of the 1980s that landed him his starring role in Police Academy in 1984 which would go on to grab $80M at the box office. Three years later, his role in Three Men and a Baby, starring alongside Tom Selleck, would land nearly $170M at the box office, making it his highest-grossing film. Guttenberg has become a character actor in the decades since.
Mondadori Portfolio, Getty Images
Chris Tucker
Infamous as Jackie Chan’s sidekick in the early 2000s and headlining in The Fifth Element, Jackie Brown and Friday in the 1990s, Tucker receded from the Hollywood scene from 2012 to 2023, when he starred in Air. His last major motion picture from 2012 was The Silver Lining’s Playbook.
Daniel Stern
Daniel Stern’s appearances in Home Alone and Home Alone 2 as the sidekick of the main antagonist to Joe Pesci’s character solidified his legacy and while he has enjoyed that success for many years, outside of the mid to late 90s, Stern’s career longevity has been somewhat strained.
Twentieth Century, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)
Andie MacDowell
Andie MacDowell began her acting career with St. Elmo’s Fire and continued with Groundhog Day, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and Muse, MacDowell dropped off the main star radar in the 2000s and has mainly had supporting roles since her hayday of the turn of the century.
PolyGram, Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
Ashley Judd
Ashley Judd’s huge successes came in the mid-1990s with Ruby in Paradise, Norma Jean and Marilyn, Double Jeapoardy, and Kiss the Girls. Arguably her breakout performance came in the Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood in 2002. Since that role, she has played many smaller supporting roles but hasn’t reclaimed a leading role as she did in the early 2000s.
Everett Collection, Shutterstock
Steven Seagal
Steven Seagal, along with a host of other action-movie actors defined the action genre in the late 1980s and 1990s. With hits such as Hard to Kill, Out for Justice and Under Seige in 1993. This would prove to be Seagal’s apex as an action star and despite numerous other, smaller roles throughout the late 90s, Seagal would turn his talents to directorship and direct-to-DVD films.
Warner Bros.,Hard To Kill (1990)
Tia Carrere
Playing Cassandra in Wayne’s World was one of the defining moments of the 1990s star’s film career. Other large 90s films included True Lies and Lilo and Stitch, with the latter half of her career in the 2000s and 2010s made up of smaller roles.
Paramount, Wayne's World (1992)
Richard Grieco
If you’re not a child of the 1980s, you might not know the name Richard Grieco. However, you like have heard of 21 Jump Street with Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill? Well, Grieco was the co-star of the TV series alongside Johnny Depp. He was so popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s that he was named the Male Star of Tomorrow by Sho/West in 1991, accepting the award alongside Julia Roberts, who was the Female Star of Tomorrow for the same year.
Twentieth Century, 21 Jump Street (TV Series 1987–1991)
Sarah Polley
You could be forgiven for not knowing her name. Sarah Polley is a Canadian actress who starred as a child actor in CBC’s The Road to Avonlea, leading to a role a few years later in Doug Liman’s Go!, a Tarantino-wannabe film from the 1990s that wasn’t wholeheartedly terrible. Since then, Polley hasn’t been seen much in the major motion pictures of the decades since Go!
Linda Hunt
Before she was a star as Henrietta Lange or “Hetty” in NCIS: Los Angeles, Linda Hunt was best known for The Year of Living Dangerously (1982), Silverado (1985), Kindergarten Cop (1990) and as a voice actor in Pocahontas in 1995. Her career as a film actress may have died out since the mid-1990s, but she took on numerous voice acting jobs throughout the 2000s and 2010s, and began starring in NCIS: Los Angeles in 2009 till 2023.
Lara Flynn Boyle
Lara Flynn Boyle’s breakout role was in the 1990s cultural phenomenon Twin Peaks, before starring in Wayne’s World and Baby’s Day Out. She would also spend six years on the TV series, “The Practice,” earning an Emmy. She hasn’t had a major acting role since 2008.
Lynch/Frost Productions, Twin Peaks (1990–1991)
Bridget Fonda
Bridget Fonda, yes from the Hollywood rockstar Fonda Family, may not have reached the fame heights of Julia Roberts in the 1990s, or her aunt Jane Fonda, but she did star in nearly 30 films in the 1990s, although hasn’t had a major acting role since the late '90s and early 2000s, despite being a heartthrob of the era on-par with Julia Roberts.
Christian Slater
Christian Slater was well-known in the 90s for his supporting roles in several big-budget films during that decade, such as Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Broken Arrow and Interview With The Vampire. Slater also starred in Pump Up the Volume and True Romance from the same decade. Slater has had a sustained acting career since the 1990s, but if you didn’t know who he was from that decade, you may not remember the name too well today.
Warner Bros., Interview With The Vampire(1994),
Jobeth Williams
Jobeth Williams’ breakout role in Kramer vs Kramer in 1979, Steven Spielberg’s Poltergeist in 1982 and Poltergeist II in 1986. However, she hasn’t had a major film role since 2018, but has kept up appearances in the TV world.
Alicia Silverstone
Alicia Silverstone was something of a cornerstone of the 1990s film scene, starring in Clueless, Batman and Robin, and Blast from the Past. In the 2000s, she was never able to reach such heights and began a career in voiceover and made-for-TV series.
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Gellar was the face of Buffy Summers for much of the 90s and starred in Scream 2 and Southland Tales. However, Sarah Gellar hasn’t been able to recapture her stardom of the 90s and early 2000s.
20th Century , Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003)
David Patrick Kelly
David Kelly’s breakout role in The Warriors in 1979 would lead him to a highly successful acting career in both film and television, with prominent roles throughout the 1980s, 90s and early 2000s. The now 73-year old is still acting, though playing fairly minor roles, but did have a recurring role in The Blacklist in 2015 and has starred in both John Wick and John Wick 2.
Arliss Howard
Arliss Howard enjoyed great success in the early decades of his career throughout the 1980s and 1990s. While not always playing a starring role, Howard is perhaps best remembered as Sergeant Evans in Full Metal Jacket (1983) and Nick Dunbar in Plain Clothes (1988). Since the late 1990s, Arliss has had a few big gaps in his acting career, although has picked up a few minor and supporting roles throughout the 2000s and 2010s.
Elizabeth Berkley
Elizabeth Berkley was cast as the lead role in Showgirls in 1995, however, the film did not do well at the box office. Since then, Berkley moved to the independent film scene and has had many supporting roles, including Saved By the Bell and it’s sequel, but never reached her star potential.
Matthew Lawrence
Matthew Lawrence’s career began and (some would say) ended in the 1990s. Widely known for his roles in Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Boy Meets World (1993) and (along with his two real-life brothers) in Brotherly Love (1995, 1996). Lawrence has since had minor roles in television and film in the early 2000s, but nothing major.
Twentieth Century, Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
Rider Strong
Alongside his co-star Matthew Lawrence, Rider Strong found fame in Boy Meets World (1995) but had to wait seven years for his next feature film in the cult-classic Cabin Fever (2002) and then wrote and starred in an independent film called Irish Twins in 2008. Despite his acting becoming relatively sporadic since the days of Boy Meets World, he did reprise his role in the production for the sequel Girl Meets World (2014-2017).
William Devane
William Devane began his acting career as a theatre actor playing Shakespeare, in the New York Theatre Shakespeare Festival, where he appeared in 15 plays. His on-screen acting career took off in the mid-1970s when he portrayed President John F. Kennedy in the 1974 documentary, The Missiles of October and won an Emmy for Fear on Trial (1975). He also had a recurring role in the thriller/drama/spy series 24 on FOX, starring alongside Kiefer Sutherland.
NBC, The Missiles of October (TV Movie 1974)
Michael Paré
Michael Paré might not be a household Hollywood name anymore, however the French-Canadian actor does have an extensive resume and filmography in the indie scene and as a supporting actor. His main roles came in the 1980s with Eddie and the Cruisers (1983), Streets of Fire (1984) and The Philadaelphia Experiment (1985) and the early 2000s on Starhunter (2000-2004).
Aurora, Eddie and the Cruisers (1983)
Molly Ringwald
Molly Ringwald achieved her breakthrough success in John Hughes’ Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink throughout the 1980s. However, her career took a downward turn after she turned down big movies such as Pretty Woman and Ghost. While Ringwald continued to act during that decade and the 1990s, her roles became smaller and smaller. She has since appeared in a few TV shows in the 2010s, her breakout roles in the 1980s is the work she’s best known for.
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