Nancy Travis — How come she never got as big as Julia Roberts or Sandra Bullock?

She was great in Internal Affairs. Great fight/fuck scene with Andy Garcia.

Heard she was “difficult” back then.

She was always meh.

She looks like Mimi Rogers but doesn't do that talking out of the side of her mouth thing.

She fades into the background. She's completely unmemorable in Three Men and Axe Murderer even though she had big roles in both big movies.

She's on that awful show with Tim Allen and no one cares.

It really does seem like an actor needs to have that one role where lightning strikes.

If not for Risky Business, would Tammy be here? Same for Pretty Woman and Julia?

Most actors seem to have that one "breakout role" that launches them to the next level. Debra Messing played "grace" several times before Will and Grace, but didn't hit until that show. She was in a show called Ned and Stay which with Thomas Hayden Church...and nothing.

She was no Anne Twomey.

She's no Anne Archer.

She's no Gretchen Mol...Nancy actually has a career.

I’ve always liked her. She’s like Maura Tierney for me. They’re solid performers in everything they’re in.

Dull as dishwater.

I always thought she was British.

Well a name like “Nancy Travis” isn’t exactly a big marquee attraction. The dumb bitch could have picked something else

R12, she had a fake British accent in the Three Men movies.

R5, I thought she was absolutely striking in 3 Men and a Little Lady, but rather forgettable in the first movie.

Who?

I remember when I first saw Cocktail, I thought Elisabeth Shue was Nancy Travis.

[Quote] she had a fake British accent in the Three Men movies.

An awful one. I did like her in Becker though.

[Quote] Debra Messing played "grace" several times before Will and Grace,

And Ryan Reynolds has been playing Deadpool for most of his career.

She's a good actress but she's not a star. Julia Roberts is a star and stood out even in early dreck like Satisfaction. Travis is a good actress and I agree with r1 that she was great in Internal Affairs (I love that movie). But she has never been an exciting actress. And she got some good roles in the late '80s/early '90s but never sparked.

Now she’s in “The Kominsky Method” with Michael Douglas.

Because the bitch stole my fuckin' job. No one wants to work with such a backstabbing bitch

She goes on the pile with Debra Winger, Lorraine Bracco, Pamela Adlon.

^ I love internal affairs. She wasn’t really memorable in the movie except for her beautiful curly hair.

Too many bombs from which she could never recover.

[quote]Other notable films include the 1995 box office bomb Fluke, 1996 Whoopi Goldberg's comedy Bogus, political comedy/drama Running Mates with Three Men and a Baby co-star Tom Selleck, 2001 drama film Auggie Rose, 2005 comedy The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and 2007 ensemble cast romantic drama The Jane Austen Book Club adapted from the 2004 novel of the same name by Karen Joy Fowler. She was featured in Chaplin opposite Robert Downey, Jr., portraying Joan Barry, the woman who filed a paternity suit against Chaplin.

Fun fact: she was originally cast as Tereza opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in The Unbearable Lightness of Being, but the director Philip Kaufman fired her before filming began and replaced her with Juliette Binoche. (It was Binoche's English-language debut, and launched her career in the US.) According to Kaufman, he thought she had an 'interesting quality' but was unsure of his choice. Then he met Binoche and felt she was perfect, so poor Nancy got the boot. Seems like her career might have gone in a totally different direction if she'd actually gotten to make that film.

I’ll always have a soft spot for her voice-over work as Bernice, the sister-in-law nemesis of Jason Alexander’s “Duckman.”

She was great in Something to Talk About

She was in Married to the Mob too.

I vaguely remember her from that show Less than Perfect, but not really. She was never memorable in anything.

She has a bit part in The Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants as a southern frau.

Don't forget me, r21!

Julia and Sandra slept their way up. Nancy didn't do that.

R31 who did Sandy sleep with?

I knew her in college. Really sweet person, but could not act her way out of a paper bag.

She was good in one of those tv twilight zone type anthologies. She played an asshole who gets her comeuppance.

She does Blue Steele very well. Of course, I could be wrong and, like Andi McDowell pulling a one-cheek-sneak, there’s a lot less going on in there.

People who have worked with her rave about her. She’s very well liked and respected from what I’ve heard,.

She should have changed her name. People have negative associations with both 'Nancy' and 'Travis'.

[QUOTE] She's no Gretchen Mol...Nancy actually has a career.

Is this supposed to be some kind of a diss of Gretchen Mol? She might not have much of a career now (Charlize kind of swooped in and took over any parts for which Mol might have been considered), but Mol is very talented. I think her performance in “Boardwalk Empire” throughout that series as the doomed Gillian Darmody is superb and should have been an awards magnet. I still think about her scenes occasionally and her big moments in the show. Such a tragic character with a truly awful backstory (which is explored in the show’s final season with a younger actress playing the teenage version of Mol’s character).

She married the CEO of some film company so she didn't need to work so hard.

She was as bland as an Idaho housewife.

She's latched onto Tim Allen so let's hope she's not an "America First" asshole like him.

She's one of many bland forgettable leading ladies of the 90's like Penelope Ann Miller, Julia Ormond, Madelyn Stowe

Julia Ormond just did a show with DL fave Ben Barnes.

Agree with the majority who've said she was fine but never dazzling in anything. No spark, nothing to lift her above the pack.

Julia Ormond was great on Mad Men.

Shes worked consistently since 1985....CONSISTENTLY.....so I doubt she gives a shit if shes "a STAH". Shes made bank.

Very boring. No charisma. Very average looking. I think she's done very well for herself especially all things considered.

R26 She wasn't in Something To Talk About. Are you thinking of Kyra Sedgwick?

I thought that was Lea Thompson r47

OP - Have you seen her face?

Not one for candy or mints, Nancy always preferred gum.

Nancy had wild hair.

I always found her very cute, and tbh expected her to star in more things from the late 80s - early 90s. I guess others did instead.

It was always very difficult to remember her name, so that wasn't going to help.

I always liked her a lot. True, she's doesn't exactly have star quality, but at least she's never been offensively awful like a lot of other actors. I'll take mediocre, middle of the road any day over the bland and downright mentally challenged actors we have these days.

Her career was never the same after she had a showdown with Laura Linney in a ladies room where Laura promised to ruin her.

Well I thi-- excuse me, r55?!

..and now I'll have to watch Running Mates

She’s more appealing than either Sandra Bullock or julia Roberts.

You can’t make this about tits. I’m pretty sure she has tits.

She never had a breakout role, simple as that. Also, some of her most notable roles you mentioned were flops (The Vanishing, Axe Murderer) were flops, still, she’s had a decent career on television

She was naked in Married to the Mob. Nice body but even that didn't do much to spark her career.

And the lucky bitch got to be in a scene with Alec Baldwin in his black briefs.

I have always mixed her up with another actress who looks very much like her. I don't remember her name. or maybe I am thinking of 2 other actresses I mix up amd now she'll be the third.

Shawnee Smith is the actress but I do think there's a 3rd one i mix up with both of them in the only remembered because she was in The Stand miniseries as Julie

I thought she was really good in So I Married An Ax Murderer with Mike Myers.

Listen to this podcast, OP. You'll love it. Ken Levine, sitcom writer for MASH, Cheers and Frasier, interviews Nancy Travis. He is holding her in high regard as an actress and person. And in the interview she comes across as the most genuine best friend you can have. Levine also created Almost Perfect with her as a lead.

I thought she sang in Destiny Turns on the Radio but it appears she was dubbed.

R47 - 😉

Shawnee was hilarious as Linda on Becker.

Nancy’s a maintenance actor. She just gets the job done.

[Quote] Nancy’s a maintenance actor. She just gets the job done.

#Relatable

It’s not like she plays the xylophone with her feet.

I mean

[quote]She's latched onto Tim Allen so let's hope she's not an "America First" asshole like him.

I've wondered if she's a Trump supporter. She seems to stay mostly quiet on politics on twitter.

R65 ahhh that’s right Almost Perfect, not Less than Perfect that was with that chubby actress in the early 2000s. But indicative of how unmemorable she was/is.

Yes, I’m reviving an old thread and I don’t care.

She is in too many goofy projects not to keep her on my thread list.

I’m in a Rose Red film clip rabbit hole and she is wonderful.

She defended the politics of "Last Man Standing" by doing a "both sides" thing that did not sit well with me.

She also said the politics were a really small part of the show, but literally every time I've wandered into a shop with reruns on their television, it's been some rightwing offensive crap. I know I've said this before but I saw one joke where Nancy's character was up doing some cleaning and a black friend was sitting having coffee and Tim Allen comes in and says "What's wrong with this picture?" because to him the black lady should be cleaning while the white lady chills out.

Maybe Nancy is just really fucking stupid or really happy to be a shill.

Did not know about that, R76.