Actors You Never Cared For Who Changed Your Mind With One Role

Jim Carrey: "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind".

Christian Bale till Amsterdam....I loved that movie and him in it.

Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich. I didn't know she had it in her.

It's always personal.

Jessica Biel on The Sinner

Jim Carrey was so good in Eternal Sunshine. It's in my top 5 favorite movies, love the entire cast as well.

Yikes. Erin Brokovich was the movie that made me realize that Julia Roberts is always Julia Roberts, in any movie.

The blonde wig and the "sassy talk" was so obviously "acting." She never disappears, even slightly, into the role.

Completely agree, r6. She doesn't possess the skill to overshadow herself and her own ego/character in any role.

That's why she didn't get the role in Shakespeare in Love. That and apparently she made no effort whatsoever to attempt an accent.

Mark Ruffalo until "Poor Things".

Zac Efron The Paperboy

IMO, Tom Cruise was really good in Born on the Fourth of July.

Mimi Rogers until "The Rapture"

Robert Downey, Jr. until "Good Night and Good Luck" (he also showed how versatile he can be recently in "Oppenheimer"--all too often he plays the smartass fuckup, which he can do in his sleep)

Clare Danes in Homeland. She was the whole show.

Kevin Costner until The Upside of Anger. (which he followed up, to my pleasure - with Mr. Brooks.) YES

I was just going to add Mr Brooks and Kevin Costner. God I love that fucking movie.

Tori Spelling. I loved her in House of Yes.

Ashley Judd in [italic]Heat[/italic] - I didn't know she had it in her. And I don't know where she usually hides it.

R15 I thought Tori was hilarious in "So Notorious" and thought she might actually have a career in sit-com. I see some of the episodes are rated over 9 on IMDb and deservedly so.

Then, she met Dean.

Sienna Miller until "American Woman".

Sienna Miller in “Factory Girl.” She looks nothing like Edie but I remember bring really surprised by how good she turned out to be.

Michael Douglas = The Game

Yvonne Strahovski. Right she was a run-of-the-mill blonde thin actress. Thought she was boring on Dexter. Wasn't sure she be good in The Handmaid's Tale but she's really allowed herself to slow down and pull out some bitterness and dark stuff.

R17 - I've never seen "So Notorious." Will have to find and watch!

Joey Mills plowed by Pierce Paris, 2023. Including gapes.

JLo in Out of Sight

Natalie Portman was pretty good in "The Other Boleyn Girl." Scarlett Johansen was also in that. She looked dopey. She was supposed to be playing Anne Boleyn's (Portman's role) sister who fucked Henry the 8th and had a baby with him.

Ryan Reynolds until I saw The Change-Up.

John Cena. Never cared for him but thought he was hilarious in Ricky Stanicky.

Kristen Stewart AND Jesse Eisenberg in “American Ultra”. I’d avoided both actors because I wasn’t interested in their movies. Then, this popped up. I mean, I saw Eisenberg in “Cursed”, but the what hit me there was that Christina Ricci always needs bangs.

[quote]That's why she didn't get the role in Shakespeare in Love. That and apparently, she made no effort whatsoever to attempt an accent.

Also, why she didn't get Harriet Tubman.

Julia Roberts in Sleeping With the Enemy

The babyfaced, pretentious Helena Bonham Carter, who always seems miscast and stunk up the otherwise great Merchant Ivory films, used to be one of those actresses who ruined shows for me. Then in the weird, offbeat Nolly, she gives a startlingly excellent performance. Had no idea she actually do anything but twitch her nose and giggle. Perhaps her roles as an older woman will be much better.

Emma Stone in Poor Things. She deserved the Oscar a million times over

Brad Pitt in Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood

Helen Lawson in...

nevermind.

R19

Sienna was incredible in Factory Girl. Revelatory.

Matt Bomer in Fellow Travelers.

Demi Moore in GI Jane.

Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense

Sienna Miller sucked as Edie Sedgwick. She looked the part, but brought nothing to the role.

The definitive Edie Sedgwick biopic had yet to made.

Bruce Willis in "In Country." Not a lot of people saw it, but he played a Vietnam vet and was amazing.

Matt Bomer in the movie Walking Out

Will Farrell in "Spirited".

And, now that I think about it, overall, "Spirited" is a pretty good Christmas movie.

Leonardo di Caprio in comedies. I always disliked him and still do in those ernest dramas and biopics he does but in Catch me if you can, Wolf of Walf Street and Once upon a time in Hollywood I LOVE him. He's better and much less annoying at comedy than drama.

R9 "Zac Efron The Paperboy "

For me it was Zac Efron in Me & Orson Welles. He carried the film quite well, and he showed real promise. The Paperboy was the only other film I liked him in.

I didn't care much for Jennifer Lien In the early 90s sit-com "Phenom" with Judith Light but when I saw her in the Kes role on "Star Trek Voyager" she blew me away.

Loved "Warlord", "Tuvix", "The Gift" and my fave "Before & After".

I thought she was the actor who most embodied her role on the show with Tim Russ coming in a close second.

Barbara Stanwyck, "Ball of Fire." And I agree with R17 about Tori Spelling and her sitcom.

Di Caprio in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

[quote]r7 That's why [Julia Roberts] didn't get the role in Shakespeare in Love.

She had the role - she just chose to walk out on it.

Matthew McConaughey in Magic Mike. Hysterically funny. I loved him in True Detective too though.

r47, yes you're right:

[quote] 'It Was a Disaster': Julia Roberts Quit 'Shakespeare in Love' After Awful Chemistry Reads and Cost the Studio $6 Million, Says Producer Ed Zwick.

Julia would not have shown her tits in that movie

R42 He was good in Don't Look Up.

Julie Andrews The Sound of Music

R48, Matt McConaughey was also good in "Bernie," with Shirley macLaine and Jack Black. MM played the elected prosecutor in a small town (true story). Matt was younger and way better-looking than the real prosecutor, who did not mind Matt's portrayal at all.

Anne Hathaway, "Brokeback Mountain"

Brad Pitt in Seven. Loved him in that. Heath ledger in the dark knight.

Nicole Kidman in To Die For. Then she made Moulin Rouge and The Others and I was a stan.

R12, I had the opposite reaction to Clare Danes. Thought she was very good in R+J, and I liked her a lot in the first season of Homeland, which was far better than the later seasons. After S1, I was disappointed to find Danes constantly over the top, to the point where I couldn't tell the character's mental health problems from the general tenor of the performance. I switched off two episodes into S3.

Tori Spelling as the evil cheerleader who gets offed by Kelly Martin in whatever that tv movie was. She was perfect.

R56 - absolutely agree! "To Die For" brought me out of my ambivalence regarding Nicole. I thought she was superb in The Others too.

Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool.

Robert Pattinson in “Good Time”.

Jack Black in Jumanji: The Next Level. Turns out he actually can play different characters from his usual obnoxious stoner/man-child, he just chooses not to 95% of the time.

Laura Linney, until the Netflix show "Ozark". She finally showed some oomph!!

R57, I agree with you about Calre Danes. I've recently tried to watch Homeland (based on many friends' recommendations). She's just one-note (hysterical and angry) the entire time. I don't think I got through season 1.

Anne in Brokeback. Nicole in to Die for. Tom cruise in magnolia.

Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting. Adam Sandler in Punch Drunk Love.

Meryl in The Devil Wears Prada

I didn’t dislike Emma Stone but found her dull until I saw her in Poor Things

For me it's gotta be Ron Perlman. Just never liked him in anything. Then I saw him in "Sons of Anarchy" and was blown away. Reportedly he's also a pretty nice guy to fans.

Robert Pattinson was in Good Times? I'm assuming he played J.J.

R24 = Jlo

Clooney and Lopez in Out of Sight

I never cared for actors.

A lot of DLers have said through the years they thought Anne Hathaway was really good in Brokeback and they saw her in a new light as an actress. I thought her performance was fine, but I don’t recall it being anything exceptional. Is anyone interested in explaining what it was about her performance that stood out to you?

Paul Newman Slap Shot

She conveyed the emotions of her character well, r73. Does that help you understand?