Actresses who got a lot of buzz then nothing

Gretchen Mol was supposed to be the next big thing. While she's worked steadily, she never became a big thing.

G.

Monica Potter. She literally had that one movie, which saw her touted as the new Julia Roberts...then nothing.

Claire Forlani

Yes, R3, and I kept thinking she was Sarah Paulson from AHS. She looks like Julia Roberts too.

Yo Mama

Vasquez (Jenette Goldstein) gets a lot of love to this day. And she's always popped up in other Cameron projects. Remember, she got her head split down by a Terminator. She's a real chameleon, so sometimes the public can't get a bead on them.

Kristy Swanson.

Which movie R7?

I still don't understand why I'm not huge.

I was gonna be huge.

I should be HUGE.

Renee Zellweger

Precious is huge but not a very good actress.

"Vasquez" played the mom in Terminator 2. Almost unrecognizable!

She got her head split open while on the phone. A big silver blade from the new Terminator.

I remember there being some buzz around the time of Star Trek Generations that Vasquez was in it. It was a blink and you'll miss her role. I think she was in the Sulu/Chekhov seat - navigator or whatever.

Sigh....

Chloe Sevigny

That model in planet of the apes.

There are the "It Girls" who get buzz and then disappear.

Then there are others who always go on working, but never really achieve star status. Rachel McAdams, for example.

I wonder if "American Sniper" is finally going to give Sienna Miller the bump up she's needed. Somehow I doubt it.

I found a similar thread (see link) on a different board as I was looking for the name of the planet of the apes model/actress I referenced. Her name is Estella Warren, btw.

Samantha Mathis

Emily Lloyd owns this thread

Wow sorry that thread I referenced quickly devolves into being all about male actors. Sexism is alive and well, even when considering actors who didn't live up to the hype.

Alicia Silverstone

Mena Suvari

Thora Birch

Molly Ringwald

Ally Sheedy

Anna Faris (at least she's got her lousy sitcom)

Chloe Grace Moretz

Abigail Breslin

Fanning sisters

Rooney Mara

Lily Allen

Megan Fox

Jennifer Garner

Jessica Freaking Biel

I am hoping the charisma-free Dakota Johnson falls into this category quickly

Didn't Thora Birch's crazy porn star parents have something to do with her career downfall?

R27 - Yes! Specifically, it was her dad.

What a creep R28. What kind of Dad hangs around watching and directing his daughter's sex scenes? She could tell him to fuck off.

Linda Fiorentino

Linda sank her own ship by being a cunt on set according to the rumors.

Hilary Duff

For sure Gretchen Mol and Clair Forlani. I was surprised to see Mol show up in Boardwalk Empire and she was actually very good in her part.

I watched Dakota Johnson last night on SNL and she actually has some charisma, so she might get some work.

In the late 1960s, Karen Valentine was touted as the next great TV star. In the early 1970s, it was Sandy Duncan. Both women have worked sporadically ever since

About every other up-and-coming actress on the Fanfair page of Vanity Fair.

OMG, I remember Karen Valentine from Room 222 when I was a wee tot and my mom would watch it.

But Precious has been working and hopefully, she'll be able to work until she gets her weight lose surgery, which I hope she gets soon.

Rosario Dawson

Young Barriefellow.

Does Kate Upton count ?

Dakota Johnson also made the most of her very limited material in 50 Shades.

To add to the list: Freida Pinto

Ho'Nique

"You can't sleep your way to the top. You can only sleep your way to the middle."

although... Olivia Munn is putting the thesis to the test

Neve Campbell

Faith Prince

Tatum O'Neal

Marisa Tomei

Mira Sorvino

Annalyne McCord

[quote]For sure Gretchen Mol and Clair Forlani. I was surprised to see Mol show up in Boardwalk Empire and she was actually very good in her part.

I was also surprised by Mol in Boardwalk Empire.

Rachael Leigh Cook

Kate Hudson

Marisa Tomei....three Oscar nominations with one win..and a respected actor now in the industry ...constantly working...and you say she is nothing? Molly Ringwald wishes she was that type of nothing.

Justine Bateman

Meg Tilly had a decent run of almost a decade and then disappeared completely.

A few highlights:

Psycho 2

The Big Chill

Agnes Of God

Masquerade

Valmont

Leaving Normal

Mo'Nique

Penelope Ann Miller.

Somehow I ended up at Meg Tilly's website the other day. She's quit acting. She's either an artist or a kid's book writer, I forget. It was kind of a weird site.

Someone who belongs on this list is the Cuntess Sean Young.

Vasquez is unrecognizable as the Irish mother who tells her kids a story before they drown in Titanic.

I think she owns a boutique in LA that was featured on some reality show.

Laura San Giacomo--I thought "sex, lies, and videotape" would make her a bigger star than she turned out to be.

Isn't Laura Giacomo the narrator for the true crime series Snapped?

R56, I think it was the unibrow that doomed her.

Soleil Moon Frye?

Justine Bateman?

Morgan Fairchild?

Karen Allen.

Mia Sara

Shannon Sissamon

Neve Campbell

Renee Zellweger

Sarah Michelle Gellar

Carrie Snodgrass? Candy Clark?

Margot Kidder?

Patricia Wettig?

Cynda Williams?

Lori Petty?

Jennifer Tilly?

Lori Petty, for sure.

Cathy Moriarty

Anjanette Comer

Skye Aubrey

Kitty Wynn

Pam Dawber

Marj Dusay

Yes, I am that old

Tanya Roberts?

Judy Landers?

Karen Kopins?

Mary Crosby?

Paz de la Huerta.

Lori Singer.

There were several foreign actresses in the early/mid-nineties: Greta Scacchi, Valerie Kaprisky, Nastassia Kinski, Maryam D'abo, Emmanuelle Seigner, Joanna Pacula, Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin, Emmanuelle Beart, and Isabella Idjani who had a tremendous amount of buzz around them. But nearly every one of them just seemed to vanish from Hollywood altogether.

Franka Potente.

Julia Ormond. Julie Warner (from Doc Hollywood - I think she went to Dalton with Jennifer Grey).

[quote]Her name is Estella Warren, btw.

Warren has had drug and drink problems over the years. That would interfere with getting a foothold in Hollywood.

Samantha Mathis also had a lot of problems after initially hitting the scene. Zellweger seems to have had personal probs too but is making a comeback. Gretchen Mol was rumored to be a "Harvey girl" but supposedly fell afoul of him, ending her streak abruptly.

Some of the women mentioned left to raise families.

Vasquez was also the Irish mom in Titanic who was tucking in her kids right before the boat went down.

Yes, r41...with her hands.

Looking back, I'm surprised that Penelope Ann Miller was in practically everything in the early '90s.

R16 she wasn't good at blow jobs so she couldn't forward her career. Even worse she could have caught something icky from Vincent Gallo.

From 2000 onward, Penelope Ann Miller has been sort of a litmus test for me of how mediocre the movie is going to be.

Poor Alicia. She became famous for playing one role perfectly. Then she gained weight, wouldn't stop talking about saving the animals and being a vegan (one-note repeated over and over again -- a sign she had no intelligence, education, or humor).

R13, I don't remember her death scene, just her turning out to be the T-1000 and killing the husband while "she" was on the phone with John. I aways assumed she was killed offscreen.

[quote] Greta Scacchi, Valerie Kaprisky, Nastassia Kinski, Maryam D'abo, Emmanuelle Seigner, Joanna Pacula, Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin, Emmanuelle Beart, and Isabella Idjani

Kinski, Kaprisky, and Adjani are more of the early-to-mid 80's buzz.

Ormond went nowhere because she was/is truly mediocre.

That blowjob with sevigny is such a farce. Love how Gallo licks his lips when she begins sucking on it, and he shoves her off it when he’s sensitive after he’s cum into her mouth.

Binoche is one of France’s biggest stars so she doesn’t really fall into this category. I don’t think making it in Hollywood was one of her priorities.

Chloe Sevigny has been in movies and TV shows for over two decades without a break - not exactly "then nothing."

June Squibb

Bridget Fonda

Susan Anton

OP is crazy claiming that Jenette Goldstein and Rachel Ticotin got buzz. (What???) But to answer the question:

Debra Winger. I seem to remember her being hyped up like crazy because of An Officer and a Gentleman, and then she seemed to disappear into the ether.

Lili Taylor. Totally blew everyone away in I Shot Andy Warhol and had everyone talking, but then fell into obscurity.

Julianna Margulies Yes, she's had a successful career but I remember her being hyped up as the next bombshell who was going to take Hollywood by storm like George Clooney did and become a major A Lister. Never happened.

Parminder Nagra. Made a huge splash with Bend It Like Beckham. Started slumming it on ER when it was on a downward trajectory. Starred in a failed series (Alcatraz), then later as a glorified extra in a series or two. Now is as good as obscure.

Jennifer Grey, and ironically because of that nose job that made her look better but removed her girl next door look.

Kate Winslet, who never really took off after Titanic.

Keira Knightley, who disappeared after Pirates.

Chloe Moretz, the modern day Alicia Silverstone/Drew Barrymore. I think people really thought she was going to be a big thing when she got older but she just kind of fizzled after Kick Ass.

Minnie Driver.

Toni Colette.

[quote] Kate Winslet, who never really took off after Titanic.

Not really her fan but this is nonsense. She got nominated a gazillion times after that and finally muscled out that Academy Award.

Lori Petty

Throwing some love for Gretchen Mol in the American version of Life on Mars. The show was average-to-good, she was great. Probably better than Liz White was on the British original.

Hilary Duff’s uglier and less talented sister Haylie Duff.

Mariah Carey.

Only because of Barbra Streisand and Steven Spielberg...

Hate to say it, because I like her, but Rose Byrne.

Margot Kidder

Jeanne Tripplehorn and Renee Russo.

Rose McG*wan,

Nonconsensual cunnilingus victim.

Jessica Alba

Frieda Pinto

Allison Elliot. Was featured on Vanity Fair's cover of hot young actresses. Got nice reviews in Wings of the Dove with Helena Bonham Carter and Linus Roache and literally fell off the face of the earth.

R99 I guess her oral skills weren't good enough .......

[quote]Kate Winslet, who never really took off after Titanic.

Nonsense.

R71 Fell what? Gretchen Mol had a bad rep for her sexual openness.Marion Cotillard played a slutty character in the film Mary who was called Gretchen Mol.

R76, You read my mind about Penelope Ann Miller. I have nothing against her. She seems perfectly likable but she STARRED in a lot of movies opposite actors like Alec Baldwin, Al Pacino, Marlon Brando, Matthew Broderick and for the life of me I can't figure out why. She wasn't beautiful or even particularly pretty; she was a decent but nothing special actress. Her career baffles me and then she finally just disappeared. I always think of Tobey Maguire as the male Penelope Ann Miller: he's not handsome, not sexy, not what you would call a chameleon in the acting department yet he has STARRED in a lot of movies. And now he seems to be gone. I guess eventually Hollywood comes to its senses.

Ruth Buzzi

Hillary Swank. 2 Oscars , dinner at in n out, Then zilch.

Did Jenette Goldstein really have buzz around her when Aliens came out or is it just that people remember her character fondly?

Penelope Anne Miller at least converted her buzz into roles and stuck around for years. There are some actresses (see Vinessa Shaw) for whom no roles materialize.

Mary Stuart Masterson.

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio.

Catherine Mary Stewart

Mary Louise Parker

Linda Fiorentino

Introducing Miss Kay Lenz.

Disagree about Rose Byrne and Hillary Swank.

Byrne still gets good parts and Swank is in Danny Boyle's new TV series, Trust.

R112 Mary- Louise had a biig show Weeds that lasted 8 season.

Sherilyn Fenn - always seemed to be ripe for a comeback that never happened

Cher

Rachel Ticotin fucked Schwarzenegger while making Total Recall - didn't help her career. Had a small role in Falling Down - then zilch.

Are some of the above actresses getting pap attention in Vanity Fair due to hiring fab PR Teams?

Rose Byrne is doing great. The problem with Hilary Swank was that they tried to make her a mainstream Hollywood superstar. She's more of an indie level character actor. Or I don't know. She seems like a great actress but then you notice some weird disconnection with her and the character she's playing. It's like she has trouble making her characters feel real.

Someone brought up Lili Taylor and I like her as well, but the reality is that when you don't do comedy it's fairly hard to become a superstar if you don't look like a model or a beauty queen. There are only that many Meryl Streeps around, and Lili is definitely way more low key than her. That said she's worked constantly and has had a fabulous career. I adored her in American Crime when she played Connor Jessup's mother. BTW, Lily played 'an ugly girl' in Dogfight, where River Phoenix plays a Marine who's competing with his army buddies who brings the ugliest date to the party. That was probably the first time I saw her and I remember wondering what it was like for her to be playing a character like that. I remember the film being quite touching.

[quote]Vasquez (Jenette Goldstein) gets a lot of love to this day. And she's always popped up in other Cameron projects. Remember, she got her head split down by a Terminator. She's a real chameleon, so sometimes the public can't get a bead on them.

Wow, I never realized the woman who played Edward Furlong's stepmom is Vasquez from Aliens.

[quote]Linda Fiorentino

When I saw this thread the first name that came to mind was Linda Fiorentino. I actually remember buying Interview with her on the cover back in '95 and wondering who the hell is this.

Kelly McGillis

Emily Lloyd

I removed Estella warren. I saw the planet of the apes remake. Horrible movie and she was horrible in it. The I saw her in a law and order episode. Like night and day.

^remember not removed

Mary-Kate and Ashley.

Linda Fiorentino had an edginess that was directly from another era. If only she had been around a decade earlier! Lukewarm actresses like Liv Tyler, Gwyneth Paltrow and Michelle Williams were perfect fits for the Harvey age.

Lisa Eichhorn Theresa Russell Lea Thompson Allison Lohman Blair Brown

Ms. Tomb raider, Alicia Viklander. So boring I had to look up her name.

This is so sad. Just saw this thread - and looking over the lists of actresses - sonme of whom were really very talented and you felt sure they’d go on to bigger things -

In the light of all the Weinstein revelations - you just know that a huge number of the women mentioned here either wouldn’t put out - or got sick of having to put out and refused to stop doing it anymore.

Amd I really wonder if some men f them who had breakdowns and mental health issues after their brief brushes with Hollywood - like poor Emily Lloyd - just were traumatised and broken. There might well have been alcohol or drugs involved too - but suspect that some of the usage involved was a form of self medicating.

Imagine wanting to act. In many cases studying and really applying yourself to the task - only to learn that you’re also expected to be a sex worker for the men in charge. That’s fucking appalling. Heartbreaking.

Now whenever I see a movie or show from years ago and there’s a bright young actress who pretty much disappeared - I always wonder what they went through.

And the ones who went on to longer careers - you always wonder what hey had to do - how compromised they were - to achieve that level of success.

Here's the thing, there's acting, then there's wanting to be a star. Some of these women were lousy actresses who wouldn't have been hired if they weren't good looking. Some did fuck for roles,. Alicia whatever? Some like Mara Rooney and Goop were ok actors and ok looking but nothing special. Due too money, power they got their shot but were too mediocre to stay on top.

Jessica Lange -- It happened twice really: prior to the release of the ultimately critically panned KING KONG there was a push about how she was the next new star. But the film kinda knocked that on the head. Then, a few years later, armed with press releases about how she took a sabbatical in the Actor's Studio to perfect her critically questioned craft, she returned in FRANCES. There was an artificial press onslaught. Not uncommon today, but it was for the time.

She won the Oscar for it -- although technically for a different unremarkable role as a love interest in a comedy -- and although she actually picked up another one (by default really) she never really had any memorable roles or big films after FRANCES. She's worked steadily, like most of the aforementioned actresses, yes, but never in line with the buzz her team created for that role which is now mostly forgotten unlike Streep's turn in SOPHIE'S CHOICE that same year.

There was never any doubt that Streep would win on the night, of course; but there was a feeling that Lange's career might at least come close to Streep's -- the annual Oscar noms, the titles, the stature -- but that was as close as it ever came between them.

There's another interesting one: actors who won an Oscar or two and still never quite 'made it'.

Jessica Lange

Hillary Swank

Luise Rainer -- has she been mentioned yet? Am I the first? She's a good example. Two Oscars then zilch.

Lange does not belong in this discussion. Two Oscars, six nominations and a career resonance on TV and stage.

And people started noticing her before Frances, in 1981 with The Postman Always Rings Twice.

Also, one of the reasons she didn't work after King Kong for a couple of years was that Dino de Laurentiis had her under contract and preventing her from working.

What a bunch of drunken doublespeak bullshit R131. Lange had plenty of high profile roles and six Oscar noms. She is a more awarded actress than Streep with two Oscars, 5 Golden Globes, 3 Emmys, a Drama Desk and Tony award for a performance in Long Day's Journey Into Night that Streep could never even attempt. Stupid post R131.

[quote]Lange does not belong in this discussion.

She does, if you read the context of my post objectively. (You won't)

[quote]Two Oscars, six nominations and a career resonance on TV and stage.

Yes, like Hilary Swank and Luise Rainer

[quote] And people started noticing her before Frances, in 1981 with The Postman Always Rings Twice.

She was first 'noticed' in KING KONG, but it wasn't until her PR team starting a push for FRANCES that anyone regarded her as being 'a talent'.

[quote]Also, one of the reasons she didn't work after King Kong for a couple of years was that Dino de Laurentiis had her under contract and preventing her from working.

Yes, though that wasn't how she was framing it circa. 1982/3.

[quote]She is a more awarded actress than Streep

Like Brenda Dickson. Two Soap Opera Digest Awards for Outstanding Villainess in a Daytime Serial. Streep can't beat that.

LOL. Where do they get these people?

I'll add SJP to the list: Post-SATC she was supposed to become a Jennifer Aniston type romcom queen, and then presumably progress to perhaps some more serious roles and maybe even an Oscar nom.

Didn't happen.

People didn't seem to warm to her. Whatever goodwill the general public had towards her when the show started had evaporated by the time it ended as she and Carrie seemed to morph into one vapid, shrill person. She's well-off, which is nice. But no one takes her seriously now and her career was sufficiently barren after the show ended that just four years later the film she kept pushing for arrived on screen.

And not that long ago she was talking about a third one!

Linda Fiorentino sabotaged her own career by being a nightmare to deal with.

Kristiana Loken; after Terminator, I thought for sure she would be in everything. Nope, fell by the wayside, sadly.....she's gorgeous.

It happened to quite a few as the old studio system began to fall apart. They took on a few stars, promoted then... then it stopped.

Karen Allen.

Nancy Allen.

Joan Allen.

R140, to be fair I don't remember people being too excited about Loken in Terminator. I mean she was totally fine in her role but did anyone really expect her to become a big star after that?

Lara Flynn Boyle

I agree that despite all the hoopla and awards, Lange never really took off as a star, especially in the public's eyes. She never really was considered a star, nor a box-office draw. On the other hand, she's a very connected person and her career seems to get bolstered by relationships, like the one she has with Ryan Murphy and Bob Fosse or with Graeme Clifford, the editor of The Postman Always Rings Twice and that later directed Frances. They're all her friends or lovers, as in Fosse's case.

Jessica Lange not a star?

Puleeeeeeeeze.

As a young gayster growing up in South Carolina, I kept a scrapbook of pics of Lange cause I thought she was so fabulous. And she is.

Anyone who has two Oscars can't be said to have had a lot of buzz, then nothing. One, maybe. But a second Oscar doesn't quality as nothing. So silly.

Lange won a Tony fairly recently and was nominated for everything for FEUD. How many actresses her age are still getting such great roles?

And her resume includes ALL THAT JAZZ, FRANCES, TOOTSIE, MUSIC BOX, CRIMES OF THE HEART. Even in films that didn't work, like A THOUSAND ACRES, she is often superb.

[quote] Jessica Lange not a star? Puleeeeeeeeze.

As per her own admission: "Box office success has never meant anything. I couldn't get a film made if I paid for it myself. So I'm not 'box office' and never have been, and that's never entered into my kind of mind set. It is the kind of acknowledgment by other actors, really. That's really what is most meaningful."

The status -- both in commercial and artistic appeal -- her campy histrionics have granted her on DL isn't shared by any community of film fans outside of this website.

[quote]As a young gayster growing up in South Carolina, I kept a scrapbook of pics of Lange cause I thought she was so fabulous.

You are aware this is atypical though? I enjoyed Joan Collins when I was younger myself, for what it's worth.

[quote]Anyone who has two Oscars can't be said to have had a lot of buzz, then nothing. One, maybe. But a second Oscar doesn't quality as nothing. So silly.

Except for the aforementioned Swank and Rainer -- both of whom quite neatly fit this category.

[quote]How many actresses her age are still getting such great roles?

Take away the roles she gets through the grace of Ryan Murphy and her recent career is decidedly barren of any sizeable screen roles, let alone "great" ones.

[quote]And her resume includes ALL THAT JAZZ, FRANCES, TOOTSIE, MUSIC BOX, CRIMES OF THE HEART. Even in films that didn't work, like A THOUSAND ACRES, she is often superb.

Proving the case. The first three are the 'buzz', the other two weren't huge at the time and are all but forgotten today. And, of course that's the point: A THOUSAND ACRES was a commercial and critical flop in which she couldn't even muster first billing a few years after her second Oscar win. Whether or not you think she's "superb" in it is irrelevant.

I get buzzed a lot and I get a lot of nothing so I win this goddamn thread.

The classic one was the immortal Shelley D. A creature created by Robert Altman and the New Yorker with no box office appeal whatsoever. And look what happened to her.

Whilst she is still getting a lot of work I don't think she has become a 'star' and if she disappeared tomorrow nobody would notice: Mia Wasikowska

Anna Sten

Anna Sten Is Dead; Film Actress Touted As Another Garbo

Nov 15, 1993 · Anna Sten, a melting-eyed but star-crossed Russian actress whom Samuel Goldwyn hoped to ballyhoo into another Garbo or Dietrich in the 1930's, died on Friday.

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