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People Break Down Which Actors Ruined An Otherwise Promising Career

People Break Down Which Actors Ruined An Otherwise Promising Career
Luis Morera/Unsplash

Actors are some of our favorite celebrities. We get to watch their rise to fame on the big and small screen. We can watch them grow up, and grow into their careers over time.

On occasion, there's a celebrity who will do something so scandalous that Hollywood closes their doors on them and their careers are over. Sometimes it's an affair that comes out later after their rise to fame, sometimes it's a rumor we could never confirm ourselves but it's enough to cause a stir.

Hollywood wants to keep a "good image" so they won't hire people with a shady backstory. Even if it's not true, it can ruin an actors career.

We went to Reddit to hear about what actors careers in film and TV are totally in the trash.


Redditor ElpidioPoitras1962 asked:

"Which actor most squandered an otherwise promising career?"

Some of these stories and accusations are truly wild and, honestly, unforgiving. Hold onto your hats, this is a wild list.

TJ Miller.

"TJ Miller f*cked up real real bad right when Silicon Valley was reaching its peak popularity."

- MafugginChungus

"Mike Judge has implied it heavily in interviews that he just lost patience with TJ Miller after giving him many chances. I think his summary was a guy can only tolerate so much and left it at that. The guy is one of the most chill and understanding people I've seen and even he knew that Miller needs to address his issues."

- Noggin-a-Floggin

"We saw him at a Comedy Club a few years ago and he showed up late drunk as hell and spent his entire time on stage hitting on a girl, after an hour or so he finally found out she wasn't single. It was so bad that the comedy club gave us free tickets to any one show in the next year."

- Dinkino

Jussie Smollett.

"Jussie Smollett has to be in the running on this one. One crazy act and he'll never work in the industry again...in addition to the legal issues it has brought him. He was working since 1990 and has been in some pretty big productions...he was hot stuff for a while."

"All those years of building his career, all that work and that promising future just wiped away in an evening of pure and utter insanity. WTF was he thinking? Completely squandered everything he had worked for, in addition to making life that bit harder for real victims of hate crimes."

- LasRua

"I know family dinners are gonna be awkward. Like I can imagine how he feels hearing about his sister booking roles left and right, all while knowing he will never work in Hollywood again."

- accountforBSpurposes

"He was being snubbed screen time on his show. He was pouting and wanted attention. Probably went on a little bender. So he came up with this plan to get some sympathy points. The plan went Cohen brothers level bad and he ended up being one of the biggest laughingstocks of recent memory."

- davewtameloncamp

Armie Hammer.

"Armie Hammer."

- anonymidwest

"I hadn't heard anything about him, so I just googled it and holy sh*t - acting on BDSM/cannibalism fantasies without his partner's consent!? No wonder he got dropped from everything."

"All of the things I listed were non-consensual. 'm just highlighting the seriousness of acting on said kinks without the full and enthusiastic consent of all parties involved."

- GENERIC_VULGARNESS

"Just did the same, and good f*cking God, what a rabbit hole to go down. I remember him being decent in his role as the Winklevii in The Social Network, never would've expected this."

- Dahhhkness

"And I liked him in The Man from U.N.C.L.E."

"I even thought he'd be a good Batman/Bruce Wayne."

- flaccomcorangy

Terrance Howard.

"Terrance Howard not continuing his role as James Rhodes/War Machine in Iron Man. To be fair Marvel was lowballing him on money for Iron Man 2, but it would have probably paid off if he continued in subsequent Iron Man/Avengers films. He still seems pretty bitter about the whole thing."

- draiman

"He also thinks 1x1=2 through some super secret a**-backwards system he's 'discovered'. It's called Terryology."

"I wish this were a joke."

- artvandelay440

"'If one times one equals one that means that two is of no value because one times itself has no effect. One times one equals two because the square root of four is two, so what's the square root of two? Should be one, but we're told it's two, and that cannot be.'"

"This was 2015. Is he ever going to give an update with: 'ok guys never mind about all that math stuff I used to say,' or is it still true to him?"

- avashad

"That legit sounds like an early days Jaden Smith's tweet lmao."

- mindmendeur

"'How can mirrors be real if our eyes aren't real?'"

- ThatOtherGuy_CA

People Share The Most Selfless Thing They've Ever Secretly Done | George Takei’s Oh Myyy

Matthew Fox.

"Matthew Fox pretty much did nothing after LOST."

- green4355

"Dom Monaghan basically said in an interview, 'Just because you're on a show together doesn't mean you're friends,' about him."

- winnower8

Mischa Barton.

"Mischa Barton quit The O.C. because she didn't want to become type cast."

- sharpie456

"Now she can't get cast for any type."

- gangsta_baby

"I know she was young but can you imagine stepping away from hit show where they are paying you thousands an episode. No matter what she wanted out of her career she could of waited or worked around her schedule."

- karmagod13000

"She was having drug problems and suffering from depression. It's understandable, but still ruined her career."

- nerdy_latino

"I think we really underestimate just how toxic and corrosive working in acting is for young people especially if they enjoy some success:"

  • "Being your family's meal ticket."
  • "Having a staff that is primarily focused on getting you to perform no matter what."
  • "Being surrounded by bad influences also coping with the pressures."
  • "Being in the public eye and having countless strangers forming opinions about you"
    • "People who don't know you and hate you."
    • "People who don't know you and love you."
  • "Stalked by photographers"
  • "Always expected to be nice and appreciative to fans regardless of how you feel."
    • That's hard for anyone, but it's just going to just destroy teenagers, if not just secretly leave them scared."

- Rad_Spencer

One just for laughs.

"Harrison Ford could have gone on to be a really good finish carpenter, even a cabinetmaker!"

- klykerly

"After director Francis Ford Coppola's film The Godfather was a success, he hired Ford to expand his office and gave him small roles in his next two films, The Conversation (1974) and Apocalypse Now."

"That is the funniest damned thing I've heard all week."

- Dyolf_Knip

Celebrities are human, just like everyone else. They make mistakes. The unfortunate part is that their mistakes are aired out for the whole world to see and that must be devastating.

Though, sometimes we don't want to see them come back if what they did was especially heinous.

Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.

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