Actors Whose Careers Were Destroyed By One Movie

These Terrible Movies Almost Completely Destroyed These Famous Actors' Careers
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These Terrible Movies Almost Completely Destroyed These Famous Actors’ Careers
June Steele | More | 22 Apr 2026
Hollywood is a fickle place where one misstep can end a person's career. There are many actors who've made bad films here and there, but some have starred in such terrible movies that they struggled to recover and find work ever again.
From Hayden Christensen's unpopular role in Star Wars to Mike Myers' Love Guru flop, check out the movie that destroyed (or at least sidelined) A-listers' careers.
Chris O'Donnell Struggled Following Batman & Robin
Warner Bros./MovieStillsDb
Chris O'Donnell's career was on the upswing when he landed the role of Dick Grayson in Batman Forever . A few years earlier, he'd received a Golden Globe nomination for Scent of a Woman . The superhero film performed well at the box office, yet its sequel, 1997's Batman & Robin , was panned by critics.
While George Clooney managed to rebound without too much trouble, O'Donnell didn't have quite as much luck. He struggled for years to get back on track and appeared in various TV shows. In 2009, he finally found his groove on NCIS: Los Angeles .
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Striptease Stripped Demi Moore Of A Movie Career
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Columbia Pictures/MovieStillsDb
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Demi Moore became the highest paid female actress of all-time when she agreed to star in the movie Striptease for a whopping $12.5 million. Moore's huge paycheck drew a lot of attention but the movie, based on a clever book, failed to resonate with audiences.
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The movie was supposed to be funny and entertaining but failed on both fronts. Critics couldn't stand the movie and Demi Moore never managed to reclaim the type of A-list stardom she had previously gained by appearing in hits like Ghost and The Juror.
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Ben Affleck Should Not Have Starred Alongside Jennifer Lopez In Gigli
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Columbia Pictures/MovieStillsDb
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Ben Affleck had a pretty varied career by the time he appeared in Gigli . He had a few missteps ( Pearl Harbor and Daredevil ) but also some big hits ( Good Will Hunting and Armageddon — the first of which landed him an Oscar before the age of 25). Then he decided to star in a film with his then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez.
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People hated the project. And while it seemed like the movie should have been a career ender, Affleck managed to rebound. In 2012, he directed and starred in Argo , which won three Oscars. Gone Girl was also great, but his stint as Batman has received mixed reactions.
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Jake Lloyd Received Major Fan Backlash Following The Phantom Menace
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Twentieth Century Fox/MovieStillsDb
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Jake Lloyd was still a small boy when he was cast in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace in 1999. Yet, he had appeared in a few other projects beforehand, including Jingle All the Way opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger.
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Lloyd had to live up to huge fan expectations and ultimately disappointed moviegoers. His portrayal of a young Darth Vader was panned by fans and critics alike. After the film's release, Lloyd did some voice work but quit acting completely. He was bullied at school and was the target of fan backlash. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2015 and arrested for reckless driving.
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Showgirls Was Elizabeth Berkley's Undoing
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Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, United Artists, Carolco Pictures/MovieStillsDb
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Elizabeth Berkley charmed tweens in the late '80s and early '90s as Jesse Spano on the much-loved TV series Saved By The Bell . Her co-stars Mario Lopez, Tiffani Thiessen and Mark-Paul Gosselaar went on to have somewhat successful careers, but Berkley's career was cut short following a risky role.
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She made a big mistake when she took the role of an exotic dancer in director Paul Verhoeven's Showgirls in 1995. She spent quite a bit of screen time in the buff and gave a horrible, much-maligned performance that kept casting agents far, far away from her. She resorted to small roles in subsequent years but never fully regained her footing.
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Mike Myers' Love Guru Was No Laughing Matter
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Paramount Pictures/MovieStillsDb
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Mike Myers is known for his incredibly popular franchises Wayne's World , Austin Powers , and Shrek . He was hugely popular in the '90s and early '00s, but his popularity tanked after he made a poor career decision by creating The Love Guru in 2008. It centers on a guy named Pitka who tries to launch a self-help business.
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The movie failed to resonate with both moviegoers and critics, and since Myers was also the writer and producer, he was responsible for it all. While he made a cameo in Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds , the best he could manage afterward was voicing Shrek in several animated shorts.
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Terrence Howard Was Forced To Work Hard Following His Departure From Iron Man
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Kevin Winter/Getty Images
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While Iron Man catapulted Robert Downey Jr.'s career, it nearly tanked Terrence Howard's prospects. He previously shined in films such as Hustle And Flow and Crash , but when Howard was offered a severe pay cut for the Iron Man sequel, he chose not to return and was replaced by Don Cheadle.
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For years, Howard struggled in the industry, only appearing in minor films. Eventually, he dug his way back in and slowly started building up his resume once again. But it wasn't until 2015 that he finally got his groove back in the highly successful and critically acclaimed TV drama Empire .
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Christopher Reeves Should Have Stopped After S uperman III
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Warner Bros./MovieStillsDb
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Long before Brandon Routh slowed down his career with the Superman curse, it was Christopher Reeve who overstayed his welcome with the franchise. Superman proved to be a big win for the actor through three movies and he only agreed to Superman IV: The Quest For Peace after being given more creative freedom with the franchise.
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Reeves turned down leading roles in Body Heat, American Giglio, Fatal Attraction, Lethal Weapon , and other films in exchange for another Superman movie. Critics hated the movie and it bombed at the box office.
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Kevin Costner And The Postman Disaster
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Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images
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Kevin Costner should have been knocked off the A-list after Waterworld proved to be a massive waste of time and money. He attempted to step up his game with The Postman but audiences were no longer interested in his leading man status.
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He continued to take on roles that served a smaller market while earning the actor some much better reviews but his days of leading blockbuster action flicks are now far behind him. He did fare better than many of the actors and actresses on our flicks who have found it hard to find work in the years after their biggest box office flops.
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Cuba Gooding Jr.'s Career Took A Nosedive Following Boat Trip
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Artisan Entertainment/MovieStillsDb
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Cuba Gooding Jr. is most-known for his Academy-Award winning role in 1996's box office hit Jerry Maguire (his signature line being, "Show me the money!"). But even though he's appeared in over 30 films, his status in Hollywood dropped tremendously after appearing in 2002's Boat Trip .
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The film was awful and definitely one an Oscar winner should have never agreed to do. Only desperate up-and-coming actors appear in films like that. Gooding struggled for years to make a comeback and was marginally successful only recently. He appeared on the TV shows American Horro…

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