Actresses who were going to be the next big thing...but weren't

Hillary Swank? She won 2 oscars but she'sbeen very low profile since then.

I remember a huge roll out in multiple platforms about Julia Ormond being the next big star, I think compared to Audrey Hepburn of all people. It never happene.

I own this thread.

Thread closed.

Yuck. In the photo at r3 you can see her dirty pillows.

I believe that the correct anatomical term is "bazoongas".

Lynn Redgrave after Georgy Girl (1966)

Charlize Theron

Margot Robbie

Paz Vega was supposed to be the new Penelope Cruz but then Spanglish bombed and no one cared.

Madeline Stowe.

Here’s a recent one: Melissa Barrera was assumed to be the breakout star of In The Heights and landed the franchise lead part in the new Scream series based on that.

In The Heights bombed and her lead performance in Scream has been universally panned by critics and fans to the point where they’re expected to shift the focus onto other characters moving forward.

Rachel Zegler

G

And big as in her fat ass.

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonino deserved better. She's great in Scarface and to a lesser extent The Abyss.

(I guess she was good in The Color of Money since she was nominated for it but I've never seen that.)

R10 One of the big problems with In the Heights was I didn’t even know there were two lead girls until about 20 minutes into the movie, so they both canceled each other out because they looked too similar.

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio had decent success from 1983 to 1991 (Scarface, The Color of Money, The Abyss, Robin Hood) but poor choices and she seemed to prioritize family over films. And maybe her name was too long.

Maria Bello seemed to be getting ready to be launched, and then she came out as a lesbian and they seemed to give up.

R15 Funny that. I know some of her family here in Chicago; they're the very close knit old-school Italian type, so family may very well have been a factor:

Stephanie Zimbalist. Gorgeous, as well as connected, but I suppose she was never a great actress.

Maria Bello popped up as a lesbian for attention some time after she cooled. She did get serious acclaim for The Cooler and A History of Violence. I think it’s that she’s sucked in the 9/11 movie. To some I believe she’s still an actress of some stature.

Maria went on to do a few seasons of NCIS, a show that is inexplicably popular but is shown 24/7 so she was smart to do a few seasons for the residuals.

Christine Elyse.

Sienna miller who doesn’t even have one memorable movie…..

Lolita Davidovich

Kate Hudson

Julia Stiles.. by the time she had an actual part in a Bourne film no one cared about her anymore. Wow then the nothing part in Silver Linings Playbook? Forgot about that. Why can’t she get arrested anymore?

Liv Tyler, although she definitely had a "moment" in the 90's.

Christine Elyse?!

Nikki Reed was touted as an up-and-coming It Girl with Thirteen. Then crickets.

Maria Callender

Shannyn Sossamon had an early 2000's It Girl moment, then nothing.

Are there really any true movie stars anymore?

Neely O'Hara

Elizabeth Pena

Pretty much any of the 'Entertainment Weekly' "It Girls" of the 90s. Someone already mentioned Gretchen "Weinstein" Moll. Heather Graham also comes to mind.

Shailene "No Deodorant" Woodley also horrendously bombed when the 'Divergent' series wasn't the next 'Hunger Games'. But she's about to be Mrs. Aaron Rodgers, so what do I know.

Whenever anyone is branded as "the next big thing", "The next Brando", "The next Marilyn", that's pretty much the kiss of death, because not one of those "nexts" ever was

@r34 " But she's about to be Mrs. Aaron Rodgers, so what do I know. "

I'd bet everything I own that she won't even be on Aaron Rodgers Christmas card list this year

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio was too ethnic, thus hard to cast (that amazing hair!). Then she married that Irish director and moved to the UK.

I think Kelly McGillis's personal demons were a big factor in her failure to go further.

Anne Heche got lucky in the first place. Not surprised she didn't last. Unremarkable actress, unremarkable looks.

Diana Scarwid had a string of strong supporting roles in quality projects throughout the nineties and into the 2000s. But she never had the charisma of a leading lady.

The hype surrounding Julia Ormond was based on two things: the industry obsession with finding another Julia Roberts while JR was off on her strung-out sabbatical, and the fact that Ormond was Mike Ovitz's mistress. She's a good actress who has done solid work for years now, but she never had the makings of a real Hollywood star. That was all Ovitz.

Shailene Woodley is another one who just got lucky. When I watched Big Little Lies I couldn't get over her presence in that cast. She is totally average in every way.

R37 Well no, Anne Heche is actually a good actress. She did ‘other things’ that lost her favor with the public…

Diana Scarwid? Bitch please.

I never said Anne Heche was a BAD actress. I said she was unremarkable, and she is. She didn't help herself with Celestia and all the rest.

R34 Imagine the aroma of the Woodley-Rodgers combo. The idea makes me think Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis + Jake Gyllenhaal have nothing on them. Those three at least look a lot cleaner, and especially less oily than Woodley-Rodgers.

Sheree North was supposed to be one of those Marilyn Monroe challengers. Although she had a pretty impressive, long career, I don't think she ever became the next big thing.

I love her in No Down Payment.

There really haven't been any big things in some time. Jennifer Lawrence is the last that comes to mind.

I wonder how many of these careers didn’t take-off as expected because the actresses wouldn’t ‘play ball’ with Harvey or his ilk.

Mary Stuart Masterson

Tara Reid

Mary Stuart Masterson lasted a lot longer than she should have with that mouse-like gay gerbil look. She’s doing just fine now btw and sends her love. Has shot her 50yo+ ass up with god knows what multiple times and gotten herself pregnant.

Linda Fiorentino

Carrie Snodgress

R8 I remember Penelope herself flopping in Hollywood pretty hard, she did a string of Hollywood films in the early 2000s with a long list of hot leading men and nada. Not that she needs Hollywood anyway, she's a reina of Spanish/European cinema and she's married to Javier Bardem, so I would say she's done oretty well for herself.

R47. She was excellent as Antonio Banderas’ wife in the Broadway revival of “Nine.”

Gayle Hunnicutt

Julia Ormond was great in the BBC version of Traffik. In the US, she never got roles that played to her strengths. (I blame Ovitz.)

Kate Hudson has limited range and Almost Famous gave the only role that exploited that.

Julia Stiles got labelled a "teen queen" in the early-2000s and it's hard to break our from that.

Gwyneth Paltrow : She was so hyped in the 90s, she was supposed to be the next Grace Kelly Katie Holmes : She was so popular especially after her marriage to Tom Cruise, but her career lasted less than her marriage.

"Julia Ormond was great in the BBC version of Traffik. In the US, she never got roles that played to her strengths. (I blame Ovitz.)"

She played January Jones' mother on "Mad Men".

*slutty

Patty Deutsch

Julia Ormond played Jessica Pare's (Megan) mother on Mad Men, not January Jones (Betty)

JO was also in the last Walking Dead spin off series.

@r54, "Gwyneth Paltrow"

I'm big, kind of, sort of

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio never did it for me. Gretchen Mol was very good in a small role in one of the Lonesome Dove spin offs. Jennifer Garner was also in that one and was very annoying.

R6 - didn't Lynn Redgrave get nominated for a supporting Oscar for playing the maid in "Gods & Monsters"? According to Wiki, "Lynn Redgrave is the only person to have been nominated for all of the 'Big Four' American entertainment awards (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony, collectively known when all four have been won as "EGOT") without winning any of them".

What happened to Mercedes Ruehl?

Brittany Murphy. Her death didn't help, but she had been in a string of flops before she croaked.

And, of course, Madonna.

Mol has an alright career, mostly in television though. She probably got the most attention for The Notorious Bettie Page for her movie work. She got some good reviews for the theater work she did as well.

And good for her for going on with her career after the rumors that were spread about her. Some were pretty vile.

Look, I conscientiously uncoupled from my career, okay

@r63, Madonna is actually quite big, just not much of an actress

[quote] Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio

Probably too similar to geena Davis.

Helenita Lawson, Helen's late daughter with Harry Hamlin.

R62 Yes but in the 3 decades between Georgy Girl (1966) and Gods and Monsters (1998) she made few films The Happy Hooker, The Last of the Mobile Hot Shots, The Virgin Soldiers, Every Little Crook and Nanny and mostly did TV and stage.

Catherine Zeta Jones

I think R48 wins this thread. After The Last Seduction appeared, I was pleasantly stunned at Linda’s ballsy character and thought she’d be the next Streep. Alas no.

I love Anne Heche, think she’s had a great career, and will watch anything she is in. She’s an amazing actress who conveys what the director wants. Some people panned her performance in The Vanished, but if you know the end twist her oddness makes sense.

jayne mansfield

emily lloyd

virginia madsen

Emily Lloyd’s story is a very sad one.

Simone Simon.

Anna Sten.

R64 Lol if you think they're "rumors." That poor slut fucked that pig and got nothing out of it but a Vanity Fair cover.

R19, she's bisexual. She had a low key relationship with a non-famous woman...how does that equate to wanting attention?

Linda Fiorentino.

Jordana Brewster

Leelee Sobieski

Penelope Ann Miller.

Janeane Garofalo

Thora Birch

Mena Suvari

Patti Davis

Who are these women?!

Oh, yeah, I forgot

Mol was actually very effective in Boardwalk Empire as a venal piece of work. The lucky bitch got to fuck Billy Magnussen in every room of her house before she finished him off in the bathtub.

I second Penelope Ann Miller.

R50 Yeah that WAS Penelope’s American story until like 2006 when she got her first (American) Oscar nomination, then the WIN, and more. Look at the year she’s having this year with the Almodovar film and the best actress prize from LAFCA, NSOFC. Penelope’s story didn’t only continue in Europe and it couldn’t be more different than the reception of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin or whatever it is she started with over here.

I think it’s fairly safe to assume we’ll be adding Louisa Jacobson to the list next year.

The thing is Mol actually rejected Weinstein. That's what happened to her career. Same with Mira Sorvino.

Now, can we add Blake Lively to the list of hyped up?

I remember the hype over Julia Ormond when Sabrina came out. The movie should never have been remade but Ormond did not have the gamine beauty or glamor of Hepburn.

Blake Lively is actually pretty good.

Julia Ormond is beautiful but not in an Audrey kind of way.

Jeanne Tripplehorn. As I mentioned in a Tom Cruise-related thread, her costarring turn with him in "The Firm" appears to have been the opposite of a career break. And she dated (but later broke up with) Ben Stiller--I thought they were a cute industry pair, but who knows?

I think Samantha Mathis had some hype/momentum for a while, but being the girlfriend of River Phoenix at the time (and on the night) of his death sounds like it contributed to some trauma that had career ramifications.

I suspect a large percentage of the actresses listed simply had a degree of success but weren't willing to fight tooth and nail to stay in the spotlight. Obviously ageism and blacklisting can be factors but I believe that not every famous person is desperate to be famous forever. Some performers are happy to have a few big roles then retire.

Claire Forlani

[quote]Thora Birch

[quote]Mena Suvari

Amy Smart was another 90s/early 00s actress who was pushed for a bit as well.

One time Lee Lee Sobueski hosted a episode of SNL and I was part of the cast and we did a skit where she jetskied around solving crimes. What about Rebecca De Mornay? Did Leonard Cohen destroy her career?

It’s interesting that most black actresses have had longer careers than many of these Next Big Things.

Florence Pugh is another one.

Yes, my career has stalled and I fear it will only get worse once I turn 35.

R7 - Don't agree about Charlize. she is still doing A projects and is a producer. She got an Oscar nomination for Bombshell.

Kristen Wiig - when nowhere in movies or series

Halle Berry has fizzled out a few times. She has the Oscar so keeps coming back and every time its zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Mira Sorvino, Rose McGowan.

Vera Farmiga and Jessica Chastain.

I think they just started their careers way too late

Speaking of Paz, Paz de la Huerta was the it girl for 30 seconds.

I checked IMDb, she’s actually still working, albeit small projects

Mena Survari

The Gummer girls

Paz de la Huerta is batshit crazy, just ask any of the crew on Boardwalk Empire. She probably was indeed raped by Weinstein. Didn’t her testimony get thrown out because she’s batshit crazy?

Malin Åkerman.

Eva Mendes

Embeth Davidtz. That name!

Vicky Krieps. That name!

Shannon Elizabeth

Sarah Wynter

Gabrielle Anwar

Shelley Long

Jeanne Tripplehorn was so great on Big Love. Sometimes, it's about finding the right role that best suits the actor.

Delta Burke

Karen Lynn Gorney owns this thread.

A majority of these other actresses still worked steadily even though they never hit it big, but Gorney went from starring in one of the biggest movies of the 70's to not getting another acting role until 1991 with a cameo in The Hard Way.

R92 Tripplehorn got a lot of hype when she landed the "love interest" part in Waterworld, which was supposed to be a big hit. It (obviously) wasn't. THAT'S what killed her momentum.

R7 and R99 Robbie also got into producing. She produced Promising Young Woman.

R103 Someone Chastain went to high school with revealed her real age.

Roby

Sherry Stringfield

Bo Derek

Bernadette Stanis

Jasmine Guy

Emma Sams was on Entertainment Tonight virtually every night during the middle 80s

Shari Belifonte

So far Ana de Armis is crashing and burning. Her role in No Time to Die was whittled down to nothing, Deep Water is getting buried, and Blonde has been derailed.

Ally McBeal

R99 Not one of Theron's recent films clicked with audiences except 2015s Mad Max Fury Road. Despite an Oscar nom Bombshell pretty much bombed. Hilary Swank listed above received 2 Oscars in a 5-year period but nothing since 2004s Million Dollar Baby found an audience certainly not Amelia

Theresa Saldona

Kate Nelligan. She's a fantastic actress.

I feel bad for Hilary Swank. She had 2 Oscars by 30, and her career absolutely tanked after that. I’ve actually enjoyed her in a few things over the past several years, but her roles were basically cameos (Joey Pogo on Bojack Horseman and an FBI Agent in Logan Lucky).

Swank's most notable recent role was playing the main villain in The Hunt.

R18- She appeared on a 1979 episode of Family as a ballerina named Josie who had the HOTS for Willie.

Everybody had the HOTS for Willie. Didn’t a Gay fiend hit on him too?

Kay Lenz

Hilary Swank as the female lead in the Fatal Attraction-type Fatale which she also produced.

Many of these posts are absurd, for example R7. Charlize Theron is huge, multi award winning and has had lead roles for over 2 decades. If that's not "making it" I don't know what is. Margot Robbie has her own production company and has been blasting off for nearly a decade. She's one of the few that can have her pick of roles right now. Everyone wants her. Not exactly hurting for a career.

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio never would have made it as a leading lady. She was too bizarre looking and that tightly-permed hairstyle of hers was distracting and out of style.

It's the PICTURES that got small.

Roz Kelly

Kathleen Quinlan. She has a lovely soft poetic quality but had few leading roles. she did score the highly sought after at the time lead in I Never Promised You a Rose Garden.

Pinky Tuscadero

Moira Kelly

Meg Foster

[quote] Roz Kelly

She was supposed to be a series regular on Happy Days as Fonzie's girlfriend but after filming one episode Henry Winkler couldn't stand working with her and she was immediately fired. I remember magazines making a big deal out of her as if she was going to be the new female Fonzie. She even appeared on the cover of Dynamite magazine.

Love Moira Kelly! Wish she had been in more. Wonder what happened to her?

Joanie Bradford

The cover of Dynamite R145? Try VOGUE 5 times by 2011 bitches, and that was just getting started.

Have you little gay boys forgotten what a star looks like?

Pia Zadora (I had to say it).

Also, R44, speaking of Harvey Weinstein and his ilk possibly being responsible for many career launch failures, I wonder if that's why the last really big Hollywood actress (imo) was Julia Roberts. Her career took off and was sustaining momentum before Miramax was much of a force.

Dakota Fanning

Elle Fanning

Britt Ekland

Elizabeth Olsen

Earlene Mandrell.

Piper Perabo

Neve Campbell

Saoirse Ronan

Milla Jovovich.

Brie Larson

Lucy Liu.

Danielle Brisebois

Mara Wilson

Tootie

The hype surrounding Julia Ormond was based on two things: the industry obsession with finding another Julia Roberts while JR was off on her strung-out sabbatical, and the fact that Ormond was Mike Ovitz's mistress. She's a good actress who has done solid work for years now, but she never had the makings of a real Hollywood star. That was all Ovitz.

Now r37 knows how to dish! Thank you and I almost wish you hadn't posted this because it's a big reminder that this is what the DL used to be like much, much more than it is now.

I remember that Sunday NY Times Magazine cover story on Ormand before the release of the ill-fated "Sabrina" and thinking, "Wow. It's rare for the magazine to have a celebrity cover."

Now I know why - Ovitz then unmatched clout and that they were bed partners. The story basically described him as her gopher, to boot.

oops meant to "Quote" that first paragraph at r163 which is r37's post.

I don't think anyone could have lived up to playing the title role in any of Audrey Hepburn's films, frankly. She was professional but not magical. Harrison was his usual fine self, and Greg Kinnear got himself a film career by being unexpectedly quite good in a non-title role in support.

Kelly McGillis had the perfect face of a man. A very masculine man. No way was his career gone go far.

Viveca Van Loren.

Alicia Vikander.

Agreed, r165.

I have nothing against Ormond and it's nice to read she went on to a steady career, but Audrey Hepburn, whether one is a fan or not (I am) left such a unique stamp on her characters in her hit films that it's unfair to put another actor in the same role.

Ormond was also too much like another up-and-comer, Juliette Binoche. It's not lucky to have a doppelganger in the business, as there is only room for one of you. Two of you can split the parts and neither makes it: One has to go and go quickly. I don't know what voodoo Emma Stone cast on Lindsay Lohan, but it worked.

Mädchen Amick

R168 Well, she got an Oscar and Michael Fassbender….

Whomever mentioned Malin Akerman also hit the nail on the head. I remember watching the first season of 'The Comeback' and thinking she'd be the new Cameron Diaz. They spoofed her being a huge, international sensation in the 2nd season of 'The Comeback'; I feel like she's in on the joke and is just glad to be steadily working.

Lola Heatherton

Was Pinky really in only one episode?

I remember the demolition one. Was that the only one?

Akerman was let go from Billions for being a cunt. There’s a reason certain starlets don’t progress beyond a certain point.

Angelina Jolie

The butch chick from the first Magic Mike

Who?

Sarah Jessica Parker

Linda Blair

R145 So instead they brought on Suzi Quatro who played Pinky's lesbian sister, Leather Tuscadero.

Blaming all of these falls on Harvey makes no sense because so many of these women GOT the boost because of him in the first place - I do not for a second buy that Mol got a Vanity Fair cover without fucking the whale. She denies it now because it’s horribly embarrassing to admit it! Who wants to admit in a post feminist/MeToo world that they willingly fucked for a role or for exposure? See Jennifer Lawrence - we all know what she did for her oh-so-sudden fame explosion and inexplicable Oscar win.

Unlike the studio heads of olden says, Swinestein had horrible taste in stars and his girls who failed mostly flamed out of their own accord. Except for Nicole Kidman, Renee Zellwegger, and a few others I can’t name off the top of my head. His horrible pushing of these barely there talents as stars and middlebrow schlock as “prestige” is really is to blame for the total fall of the Oscars and perhaps the movie industry. .

R172, And his big dick.

"See Jennifer Lawrence - we all know what she did for her oh-so-sudden fame explosion and inexplicable Oscar win."

Her win wasn't inexplicable at all - she won the SAG that year too as well as a Golden Globe. You are just trying to discredit her because you don't like her. It's pretty common for people to try to take actresses down by claiming they used the casting couch. If the casting couch guaranteed you an Oscar or great roles then why didn't Charlotte Kirke get off the D-list?

R185 Part of the point of my post is that the casting couch mostly doesn’t work. Gretchen Mol is a perfect example.

And the film she won for was produced and distributed by the Weinstein company, that’s how she got the Globe and the SAG and the Oscar. Harvey’s had a chokehold over the Oscars since GOOP won big.

Sela Ward

Isabella Rossellini

Cybill Shepherd after The Last Picture Show and The Heartbreak Kid

Joey Lauren Adams

Really R190 with bad skin and that voice!

Selma Diamond

I just saw Joey Lauren Adams in Exorcist 2 as one of Louise Fletcher's kids. That gives her some DL cred.

Asia Argento

Mary Steenburgen (she's worked steadily but that Oscar for a small film seemed to mean she would become a major star. She didn't.)

Cher

Is it too early to count Dakota Johnson in, or out?

I beg to differ.

Katie Holmes

yes Cher but you seemed to quit movies after that Oscar.

We miss you. Come back to the 5 and Dime.

Mary-Louise Parker

I think Cher is busy recording an album of TV theme songs, I heard her Golden Girls rendition on TikTok. I hope she does Bosom Buddies.

Cher like Barbra had her music career to fall back on which is probably why they both made so few film in comparison to others. I wouldn't say either was clouted to be the next big thing as actresses or directors for that matter. Yes Cher directed too.

Lay off, I was touring and making albums.

R145- The cover of Dynamite -WOW , she was really going places.

Was Dynamite even available on the news stand, I only recall getting it through school from Scholastic or somewhere?

Jane Badler.....

Sarah Douglas

You could get it at school or get a subscription r206. Not sure about newstands.

Fairuzia Balk

Dynamite only had the biggest stars.

Lara Flynn Boyle

Sherilyn Fenn

Cheers R134 I've watched the episode a few years back. Huge Family fan here. I rather liked Zimbalist in the Horror film genre, especially [italic] The Awakening [/italic], 1980, and [italic] The Babysitter [/italic] 1980. .

She looked a lot like my sister at the time, they had the same hair as well.

R210- Even then Shields did not look particularly heterosexual.

I think Emily Lloyd is the best example PF the next big thing that fizzled. She was getting raves for Wish You Were Here, the. did In Country with Brixe Willis when he was still a big star, then A River Runs Throigh It with Brad Pitt. A couple other decent movies then nothing.

Let’s hope Florence Pugh doesn’t take the Emily Lloyd path to stardom.

Emily Lloyd suffered from severe mental illness so she had a pretty good reason to drop out of the business.

R189, "Moonlighting" and her sitcom were successes.

Amanda Peterson was a sad case. A child actress, who had a big breakout with the hit "Can't Buy Me Love" in the mid-80s. A popular actress with teenagers of the era. She suffered from chronic shyness and had some traumatic experiences in the business, which apparently left her unable to function on movie sets, and she passed away at 43.

Has Lisa Gerritsen worked since playing Beth Lindstrom?

[quote] Diana Scarwid (for reasons we are aware of)

Please explain.

It's a joke based on the final scene of Mommie Dearest.

r219 I was trying to quote the final scene of Mommie Dearest where she gets nothing in the will "for reasons known to them" I think is the quote. Correct me someone if I'm wrong.

Off topic: do you think that there are people on Datalounge who haven't seen Mommie Dearest? Serious question.

Tea Leoni.

Actually r197 she’s much more “here to stay” than I ever would have predicted.

R217, Amanda is a sad story. This picture of her downward spiral into drugs is heartbreaking.

Ione Skye. She admits that she wasn’t very aggressive when it came to going after roles- missing out on a role in “mystic pizza” and not bothering to audition for “heathers”. In the mid 90s she was receiving advice from gwyneth’s agent (gwyneth was dating donovan leitch at the time and he arranged for Skye to meet with gp’s agent who did not take Skye on as a client) about how to improve her career.

Emily Lloyd is a different case, she really was going places before coming down with the health issues that have been reported. That’s very sad as going off of “wish you were here” she had so much charisma and potential.

Claire forlani as some have said, she’s worked steadily but I think starring opposite Brad Pitt in “meet joe black” would have led to a bigger film career. I think I read that she was seriously considered for the role of Alicia in “a beautiful mind”, maybe that would have done her film career some good. But I love Jennifer Connelly so I’m happy it worked out for her.

Well Alicia silverstone is an obvious one after “clueless” big things were expected of her.

Samantha Mathis, Moira Kelly and quite a few others seem to have been similar types. It’s as though if Winona said no then they would be the next choices.

I second Penelope Ann Miller for all the people who've mentioned her. NEVER understood how she got SO many leading roles: Carlito's Way, Other People's Money, The Freshman, Awakenings, Kindergarten Cop. Her own starring films: The Relic, The Gun In Betty Lou's Handbag. While far from unattractive, she was no beauty and as an actress she had some talent but hardly gifted. For all her film roles she never got talked about in the same breath as Julia or Michelle or Melanie or even Diane Lane. WHY did she work so much? I don't mean to pick on her but it really is inexplicable to me that someone could be the leading lady in so many high profile films and still elicit a "who?" from most people when you say her name now.

R224 is there a comprehensive article anywhere that goes into her trajectory and downfall? I’ve heard bits and pieces but would love to read the full deal somewhere.

Leslie Jones.

Kerry Green.

Laverne Cox.

The Heartbreaking Downfall of a Hollywood Golden Girl: Amanda Peterson's Troubled Past Before Her Death at Age 43

Can't Buy Me Love '80s Star Arrested four times between 2000 and 2012 By Caitlin Keating

Since the sudden death of actress Amanda Peterson, best known for her role in Can’t Buy Me Love, PEOPLE has confirmed that the ’80s star struggled after falling out of the spotlight and was arrested numerous times between 2000 and 2012. According to the Weld County Sheriff’s Office in Greeley, Colorado, she was most recently arrested for a DUI and possession of narcotic equipment on May 3, 2012. On March 10, 2010, Peterson was arrested for third-degree assault following a fight with another woman in Fort Collins, Colorado, according to a police report. Peterson “appeared intoxicated” and “was slurring her speech,” the officer wrote, and had been drinking earlier at a bar with her young daughter and then-boyfriend. Her boyfriend told police Peterson was taking medication for bipolar disorder and ADD and was not supposed to be drinking.

The troubled starlet was also arrested in 2000, 2003 and 2005. Her mugshots show the actress almost unrecognizable, and in one picture, she has a black eye. According to Sheriff’s Office records obtained by PEOPLE, she spent nearly three months in jail in 2005. She was arrested in September and released in December. On Sunday, she was found dead at 43 in her Greeley, Colorado, home, but her cause of death has yet to be determined, pending an autopsy report. Her mother, Sylvia Peterson, tells Entertainment Tonight that her daughter struggled with drugs when she was younger, but had been clean for a long time and this “this was not, in any way, a drug thing.” Sylvia also spoke with PEOPLE and said that she suspects her daughter’s sleep apnea may have contributed to her death. She also shared some of her daughters final moments.

“She was in bed, and she’d had a wonderful day, and we were planning on a dinner the next day,” Sylvia says of her daughter, “so it was just a very, very big surprise.” She also remembers her daughter, who made her big-screen debut in Annie, as someone who “was just so much fun.” “She was so great,” she says. “She had a cute sense of humor and a love of history – just a very, very cute person.” Fellow stars, including Patrick Dempsey, have paid a tribute to her. The actor took to Twitter and wrote, “In my memory, she will always be vibrant and young. Gone too soon. Sending my thoughts and prayers to Amanda’s family.”

Photographer Ryan Hartsock, who worked with Peterson on a 2012 photo shoot, tells PEOPLE that she was “kindhearted.” They remained in touch and would often meet up at Starbucks. “She had the greatest smile. I know it brightened her day when she got all the emails and fan mail from everybody,” he says. “Really any time that we were together she was a kindhearted, great person.”

R227, the above article is from PEOPLE Magazine.

R95, yeah, Amy was good in the butterfly effect, the movie is one of my favorites

Speaking of Claires, can we count Claire Foy as having become a next big thing who made it and an A lister, or is it still too early?

R227, I remember seeing her in a really sleazy direct to video thriller with Christopher Atkins not long after Can’t Buy Me Love. I was surprised she steeped so low so quickly. It made me think that maybe she had some family motivating her career and pressuring her to take whatever job paid the most the quickest over what could sustain a long term career. Or maybe she was already having problems and resorting to desperate means to make money. She looked like she was possibly using drugs at the time.

Ironically enough, the movie was shot inside the same house that they used for Buffy’s home for seven seasons so the whole movie is a weird mindfuck to watch.

Sorry that was meant for R217

CDAN had a couple of choice things to say about Amanda Peterson and how traumatic filming Can't Buy Me Love was for her, lilkely contributing to her tragic downward trajectory thereafter:

I sometimes wish this former A- list mostly movie actress was still alive. She didn't make a movie the last two decades of her life but everyone still loved her. I think she would have called out that A list actor in the movie that made her famous. She always told those close to her about his assault on her and the constant harassment from the director who wanted her to get as close to naked as possible. She was underage so couldn't get naked on camera, but he pressured her all day every day to take off her clothes and would be rude when she refused and then wrote away some of her part to the actress who was willing to get naked for the director and the movie.

r17 & r134 Stephanie Zimbalist starred in several made-for-tv movies and is best known for her role as "Laura Holt" on the 80s NBC's Remington Steele also starring Pierce Brosnan.

I put a curse on Penelope for piggybacking on me.

Lol Elizabeth Olsen and Brie Larson don’t being on here. They’re both maybe 30 and each have done 2 very good performances/films each, they only need another good performance each then they can’t really be hasbeens in my opinion anyway

R157 Poor Neve could never really act but there’s certainly something appealing and natural about her (then and now). She went very high in film and TV for a while, did a Robert Altman film about her love of Ballet. The woman is iconic. But a powerful actress? Well…

Amanda Peterson did one middlebrow teen film, get out of here. You can’t compare what she did to even Neve Campbell. No one expected shit from Amanda.

R193 Are you on drugs? Has she admitted to this or something? IMDb says she started in her late teens type of thing.

r241 According to Wikipedia, she was in Exorcist II.

R242 Lol nice

Has Jennifer Hudson figured out how to talk without sounding stupid?

I’ve met Neve and Gretchen working as a hair colorist at their NYC salon, they both put up a front of being nonchalant but you could sense a whiff of desperation about them.

Monica Bellucci and Valeria Golino. I think the biz has been desperate to find a "Sophia Loren"-type icon, and people get hyped now and again, but it never pans out.

Also - a second for Fairuza Balk. She was fantastic in "Almost Famous," and has the kind of edge that you'd think would make her perfect for the types of roles Angelina Jolie was associated with during her blood-in-a-vial phase. Fairuza should have had Jolie's career. She would have been cooler about it.

Robin Tunney got a lot of buzz from that The Craft but seems to have pretty much disappeared. She always had the Connecticut Clench thing going on.

Joanna Going

What about putting Natalie Portman on this list? It seems to me that winning the Best Actor/Actress Oscar has traditionally been the vehicle that propels a performer to the next industry level of bigger roles, greater choice, and greater influence on projects, and who wouldn't seize that hard-won opportunity after enduring years of the Hollywood grind?

But Portman seems to have gone the opposite direction, her career swan-diving since "Black Swan" - yes, she had kids, but that was like a decade ago. She's had the small role in the "Thor" movies and that's pretty much it. Weird.

Emily Watson. TWO Academy Award nominations for Best Actress (for "Breaking the Waves" and "Hilary and Jackie") and she was pretty good in "Gosford Park," too. She was poised for something like a Helen Mirren/Meryl Streep-type trajectory. But now apparently stuck doing only British TV shows. WTF?

Could they not have found a part for her in the Potter films? Seriously.

Annette Bening. I think hooking up with Beatty was supposed to catapult her into a self-sustaining A-list stratosphere, despite her being on the older side by Hollywood's unforgiving standards when "Bugsy" came out, but losing the Oscar to Hillary Swank *twice* did a real number on that plan.

Why isn't Flo from the Progressive commercials a Superstar? She plays all her relatives in the commercials, why hasn't she gotten an Oscar?

Meryl Streep. She made that movie where she made that choice and then she just disappeared.

Mo'Nique

Susan Powter. She stopped the insanity and then stopped working. Shouldn't she play Annie Lenox in the Eurhythmics biopic? I demand answers!

Lori Petty

Erika Slezak

Pat Priest

Clara Peller

Natalie Portman got a second Oscar nomination for Jackie so i think that gets her past the I won an Oscar and now I'm cursed group. Also she gets kudos in my book for transitioning from child to adult actor.

Natalie Portman made it big. She does not qualify for this thread.

I don't think Annette Bening qualifies either, despite what r251 says,

Keira Knightley.

Knightley has been big for quite a while. She’s had her pick of roles out of the English actresses of her age and has reached heights that actresses like Claire forlani and Gabrielle anwar and even Minnie driver didn’t. I’m not a big fan but I can see that she’s had a very good career considering.

Like the actors list, there are many very successful actresses listed here. Starring in a handful of films IS big. Some of us get, like, ONE.

Coleen Camp

Mischa Barton.

R246 Fairuza looks absolutely wrecked by drugs for years now.

R249 That’s not true about Portman. She did Jackie and was nominated then Annihilation is a cult hit. Forget about those?

Annihilation was a straight up bomb, it wasn't a cult hit

Natalie is celeb spokesperson for Dior.

R247 She won Best Actress in Venice Film Festival the year after The Craft but yeah, that was 25yrs ago. She’s also an older lady now. Worked on that TV show ‘The Mentalist’.

R270 Not true at all. Do your research missy.

What research? No research needed to prove that no one saw Annihilation. Do you have any research to prove tons of people saw it?

R274 Do you understand what ‘cult’ means? And you’re bizarrely angry. Is what you’re trying to say is the film did no box office? That’s the measure of a successful picture? t’s 88% fresh and like I said, a cult hit. Do your research. Try and learn.

R275, good reviews from the critics don't make a movie a hit. The public makes a movie a hit. The public stayed away from Annihilation in droves. You sound bizarrely defensive

A bomb or flop that the critics like doesn’t qualify as a cult hit.

I can't wait to see Natalie's tour de force as "Jackée".

Seriously though, she's about to blow up as the female Thor, yes?

R276 WTF you’re fucking STUPID. Cult as in specialized audience. As in some love it very much. You’re a complete dumb fuck dude.

Björk was tipped (and even Oscar-nominated) as a breakthrough actress/multihyphenate for "Dancer in the Dark," but it went nowhere. Her clashes with LVT were well-known, but I'm surprised that was enough to put her off acting. And odd, because she began her career as a child actress in Iceland, so it was not unfamiliar terrain for her.

R280 Oscar nominated for a song. But anyway.. she’s in the upcoming Robert Egger’s Viking movie.

Bryce Dallas Howard.

And weird, because she had Hollywood pedigree. I wonder if it was the curse of Lars von Trier.

Emmy Rossum

Zendaya

Emmy Rossum is notorious for being a raging cunt.

Lick the hole

R186 Did GOOP fuck Harvey for her Oscar?

Vera Miles

Ally Sheedy and Jami Gertz.

At least Jami Gertz is worth billions, seems perfectly normal, and is still attractive.

I'd like to nominate Ellen Barkin, She had some good roles for a while - even leads in Siesta and Switch - but I don't think she ever really became a big thing. To me she's like a less pretty and less successful Debra Winger.

Ellen Barkin is one of those people whose name I recognize but only have vague idea that they exist without knowing why.

Re Neve Campbell. She seems more comfortable on TV - her 3 part guest on Medium is some of her best work. It seems she never made it in films despite being in the Scream franchise much like Courteney Cox.

Zendaya? That hysterical r284.

I love Ellen Barkin but in the last 10 years she has become a raging cunt on social media and she seems to have had a less-than-amicable exit on Animal Kingdom.

R294, She walked away with a fortune when she divorced Ron Perelman.

Most of you are just posting actresses you don't like. Re-read the assignment, ladies.

Margaret Ladd

Anjanette comer, Joanna pettet. Does sally kellerman belong here? After MASH she turned down a lot of roles and never really became a big star like Jane Fonda for example.

Carroll baker? Her career went downhill in the 60s and she ended up escaping Hollywood to make movies in Europe, but they were not prestige pictures.

Rene Russo had a good run in the 90s

Abbie Cornish, Wasn’t she in line to becoming the next Kidman? She’s working but I never hear about her anymore.

R298 along with the 1960s theme, Samantha eggar. I think someone up thread already mentioned that in the 60s there was an abundance of beautiful starlets and so many just seemed to disappear. Eggar was probably one of the more enduring but even her trip didn’t last long.

Pia Zadora. After seducing her dad & getting raped with a garden hose nozzle in her first 2 films, her subsequent acting career had nowhere to go. Thank god she can sing…

Elizabeth McGovern is enjoying success now but in the 90s she was a long way from where she started in the 80s with “ordinary people”… she seemed to be destined for a big movie career in the early 80s but it just didn’t happen.

Lily Collins

Alicia Silverstone. Rachel Leigh Cook. Phoebe Cates. Vanessa Hudgens. Katie Holmes. Mischa Barton. Sara Micelle Gellar.

Molly Ringwald, Sandy Duncan, Luise Rainer, Hedy Lamarr, Jeanne Crain, Vera Zorina, Lucille Bremer.

Lindsay Lohan, Bella Thorne, Kate Bosworth.

Didi Conn, Melinda Dillon, Mabel Normand, Vikki Carr, Joyce Bulifant, Mary Ann Mobley, Patti Deutsch, LaWanda Page, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Totie Feilds, I hope you're all taking notes...

Lynda Day George, Susan Anton, Peggy Fleming, Downtown Julie Brown, Ruta Lee

There were certain actresses that were going to have a limited shell life no matter what, and Hollywood with their considerable understanding of cycles should have known that and should not have tried to hype them as the next big thing. Point in case Molly Ringwald, who shockingly figured it out herself and handled it with great aplomb, moving to France and having a great life and then coming back for a nice second act decades later. Quite impressive to say the least.

Alex Sternbergen

Sara Micelle Gellar

Mischa Drug Barton

R264, Keira Knightley is not "big" by any stretch of the word. Her name on a movie marquee means absolutely nothing at the box office. She's the female Orlando Bloom, another Brit celeb who may be highly regarded in England but couldn't draw a single person into a movie in America, which is where the movie industry begins and ends.

Amanda Bynes

Jennifer Jason Leigh owns this

R312 She’s more well regarded than Bloom is. 2 Oscar nominations and opens on Broadway and West End. He has what? 20 nude pics released and an Amazon fantasy show cancelled after a season. It’s not all numbers.

R314 Musty surgery faced old lady kind of makes you wonder why anyone ever thought so.

R310, Oh, bloody dear!

Gabourey Sidibe

Marion Cotillard. She got the Oscar for Edith Piaf, very marketable/high-fashion appeal, but the rumored on-set affair with Brad Pitt (exploited mercilessly by Jolie's team) really did some damage.

In fact, I would venture to say that it did worse damage to her career than to Pitt's, even after all this time, and whether or not it was even true.

r319 It was a hit job by Jolie.

[QUOTE] I'd like to nominate Ellen Barkin, She had some good roles for a while - even leads in Siesta and Switch - but I don't think she ever really became a big thing. To me she's like a less pretty and less successful Debra Winger.

Umm, not quite, honey. Barkin was sensational in “The Normal Heart” in 2011 and deservedly won a Tony. She’s also hysterical in the cult hit “Drop Dead Gorgeous.”

You’re another person who didn’t get the assignment.

R312 she still gets to work on interesting projects with interesting directors which will probably get award attention, while America is great for some, the uk film industry seems fine for her. Stars can get quite interesting roles in Europe and have good careers. Charlotte Rampling is a good example. Not all of them are motivated by money it seems.

R314, Jennifer Jason Leigh had and still maintains a long, interesting career. She was the next big thing in 1981 and got pretty big.

Molly was a big thing in the 80/

Stop or end the thread now it’s just random names being listed for no reason.

[QUOTE] Jennifer Jason Leigh had and still maintains a long, interesting career. She was the next big thing in 1981 and got pretty big.

JJL received her first Oscar nomination less than seven years ago and has been in several cult films including Single White Female.

R324 is yet another idiot who doesn’t understand the thread.

R326 has shit for brains

R327, care to elucidate how I have “shit for brains”? I assume you’re the idiot who we were both addressing who somehow thinks that Jennifer Jason Leigh never made it in Hollywood.

JLL's bizzare behavior on Revenge had her refusing to rehearse at the same table with her fellow actors. She went around saying she didn't own a tv, and didn't know why she agreed to do the stint. $ I would guess.

There is only one question that needs to be answered. Did the actress become The Next Big Thing, or not? Doesn't matter if they carved out a nice career or won awards at some point or other. Meryl Streep became the NBT, Jane Alexander did not. Carrie Snodgress did not. Jane Fonda did, Elizabeth Ashley did not. Etc,

R329 Would that be JJL, not JLL?

ME! The "it" girl from Poltergeist!

Elisabeth Shue after Leaving Las Vegas. She did all those teeny bopper movies and made a successful transition to a critically acclaimed, awards-bait film, and then practically nada (rather, her credits since roughly 2000 have all been in voice work, TV and/or very small, independent films where she had a limited role).

Maybe Harvey had something to do with it. Leaving Las Vegas came out in 95, so the timing would have been right for that kind of career-destroying encounter.

Shue should have won that year.

Zelda nearly stole the movie from Molly Ringwald in Sixteen Candles, but the added sound effects did a lot of the heavy lifting there.

Aussies Abbie Cornish, Teresa Palmer and Mia Wasikowska definitely qualify. Also the Aussie with the Russian name I can’t remember.

Vanessa Marcil. She was very popular on GH then went on to 90210. Was in a Prince video and was a Prince muse... then ? crickets? BAG curse?

Dyan Cannon. She was incredible in Honeysuckle Rose. WHET her roles? Was it Cary Grant's curse?

Whatever did or didn’t happen to Dyan Cannon’s career, I’ll always love her for the exuberance she demonstrated when announcing Linda Hunt as the Best Supporting Actress for The Year of Living Dangerously that year. It’s just so wonderful.

Peta Wilson’s another one. Also an Aussie.

In her day, Fairuza was a gorgeous edgy beauty. Linda Fiorentino as well.

Aaliyah

[quote]Shue should have won that year.

No, Sharon Stone should have.

Ann-Margret (no, she wasn't, don't argue). Pamela Tiffin.

Zooey Deschanel.

Samara Weaving

Imogen Poots

Finally remembered her name-Radha Mitchell.

R342 Sharon Stone, the fuck?? Rose McGowan could have played that role better.

Ingrid boulting won the sought after role opposite de Niro in “the last tycoon” and then nothing.

Helen slater was probably meant to be a big star but then “supergirl” was released.

Ann-Margret was a thing. She was hugely famous for about a decade, Bye Bye Birdie and Viva Las Vegas (whatever their level of quality) are still well remembered, and she had 2 Oscar nominations. Most actresses would KILL for her career. Pamela Tiffin applies more here.

[quote]Ann-Margret was a thing. She was hugely famous for about a decade, Bye Bye Birdie and Viva Las Vegas (whatever their level of quality) are still well remembered, and she had 2 Oscar nominations. Most actresses would KILL for her career.

See, people keep saying things like "most actresses would kill for her career" which is NOT the same as her being the Next Big Thing. I was referring to her movie career, which kind of bombed. She did have a career as a Vegas-y performer and she was a big name so I'll give you that, maybe I'm wrong. But to me a Big Thing of that era would be Barbara Streisand, or Julie Andrews, not little Ann-Margret.

*Barbra. Don't come after me.

R350, one way to think about Ann-Margret is that we're discussing her 60 years after her heyday. I think you'll have to take an L on that one.

Helen Slater, though. How did she miss? Her line reading of, "You have no friends, Selena!" was phenomenal.

[quote] I feel bad for Hilary Swank. She had 2 Oscars by 30, and her career absolutely tanked after that.

Don’t feel bad for that bitch! FUCK HER IN HER BONY HORSE FACED ASS!!!

[quote] one way to think about Ann-Margret is that we're discussing her 60 years after her heyday. I think you'll have to take an L on that one.

What does take an L mean? Isn't that the train to Brooklyn?

If she was the next big thing she wouldn't have had a heyday. She'd still be a superstar. Only she isn't a superstar, and never was, and that's why she was never the next big thing. However I'll agree she has always been famous and many people know of her.

Take a loss.

[quote] If she was the next big thing she wouldn't have had a heyday

Do you not think that Madonna had a heyday? Your guidelines and parameters are arbitrary and shared by no one else.

Peg Entwistle

Dyan Cannon after B&C&T&A and before Such Good Friends, Doctor's Wives, The Love Machine, Shamus, The last of Sheila

Straight horny men kept the careers of these sexy broads alive. Ann-Margret, etc.

Melissa Rivers

Talia Shire after the Godfather films and Rocky

R350 Excuse me but I was in Cat Ballou, Barefoot in the Park, Barbarella, They Shoot Horses, Don't They, Klute, Coming Home, The China Syndrome, California Suite, On Golden Pond won 2 Oscars with a total of 7 nominations and like Barbra worked with Redford, George Segal, Kristofferson, Sarrazin and Caan. And don't even mention that flash in the pan Julie!

R348 the critics were not fans of Ingrid Boulting! She was dull.

Margaux Hemingway

R203 and don't forget those informercials for hair products!

R361 Dear Jane: I didn't compare Ann-Margret to you because you're not a musical performer, while Barbra and Julie are musical performers.

[quote]Your guidelines and parameters are arbitrary and shared by no one else.

R355 They didn't make "Ann-Margret movies" the way they made Streisand movies, or Julie Andrews movies - or Judy Garland, Betty Grable, Doris Day movies. She was not that big a star. She usually didn't have huge box office appeal. The movies you mentioned were not even her vehicles. What Ann-Margret albums ever charted?

I like her and I think she's talented and she was a star who made it. But not at that level of huge popularity.

Why did Ellen Barkin get a fortune from Ron Perlman? Is he loaded?

Never mind, I just googled

Darlene Cates

Imogen Poots was well used in The Father like 5 minutes ago.

Imogene Coca

Barkin was married to Ron Perelman, the financial guy, not Ron Perlman, of Beauty and the Beast fame (shudder).

Madchen Amick

Kim Zimmer

Robin Strasser

R371 What a difference an “e” makes? Or maybe not. She would have gotten costly jewelry from both.

Speaking of Ann-Margret and Raquel Welch, while they were the sex symbols of the 1960s (along with aging fading bardot) and extremely famous, neither one of them were true able to open a movie by themselves, top of the title box office stars.....

the era of a sex symbol opening a movie and being big box office died with monroe...

Not true because Julia Roberts opened movies. I believe Barbra, Jane Fonda, Cher and Angelina Jolie opened movies.

R375... R374 here, i was referring to sex symbols like monroe, welch, ann-margret.. roberts, barbra, fonda, cher and jolie were never considered sex symbols...

i also think what helped monroe was not only being a sex symbol, she WAS a comedienne and vulnerable and could act (3 traits that totally were void by her wannabe "competitor" mansfield)....

R376, Fonda absolutely was a sex symbol, especially since Barbarella.

R377. okay, fonda was but for a very very short time, she wasn't seen as a sex symbol her entire career, she made 1 film okay maybe 2 with klute as a "sex symbol"..

Elizabeth Banks, who has fully owned that her acting career didn't work out the way she hoped it would, and instead (per the link to this NYT feature interview) decided to fight it from the other side of the camera.

Marthe Keller had a lot of publicity back in the 70s for a short time. Hidegarde Neff (or Knef) in the early 50's was touted as The New Garbo. But she didn't make it in US films. (Later was on Broadway as Ninotchka in Silk Stockings, with Don Ameche). As far as Hollywood is concerned, I think Liv Ullmann was supposed to be the next big thing as a dramatic star, but her American movie career died. Alida Valli (who David O. Selznick insisted be billed as just "Valli" - with her name spelled out in a ribbon effect) only made a handful of Hollywood movies - though she was excellent. Touted as the next Bergman, she didn't turn out to be big, and went back to Italy and had a good career. Pier Angeli had a lot of hype in the 50s and she was popular but for only a short time (her personal life had something to do with it...I think?)

* Viveca Lindfors was also supposed to be big but didn't catch on as a movie star in the late 40's-early 50s. Later was on Broadway and came back to films as a character actress.

C’mon Liv Ullmann is a legend. Doesn’t belong here. Any erudite American knows her work very well. Could she have been Julia Roberts.. is that the barometer here? Well the bitch doesn’t speak good English…

R382 There was an attempt to make Liv Ullmann into a Hollywood star - the next big foreign import - and it didn't work. At the time, she was not that well known to the average American (who didn't go to Ingmar Bergman movies). There was a lot of hype, but the movies she made in English did not make her an American star. Pope Joan (though I think that was an English film), Lost Horizon, 40 Karats, etc. didn't turn her into the new Garbo or Ingrid Bergman (she also tried Broadway - musical version of I Remember Mama). Pretty sure I'm right about this, I was around at the time.

I don’t have any NYT articles left, what’s Elizabeth Banks bitching about, she’s had a great career for her range?

I know about her English language career… so you’re saying the failure of her American films made it so she wasn’t really held in high stature? She’d already won so many American awards by that time…

How can someone star in the biggest Euro pics and be nominated for Oscars and win every American film and critics award but “not happen”? What is the definition of “happening”? Having a box office run like say, Katherine Heigl?

I don't think you have to be billed above the title to "happen" as a female star - Faye Dunaway was never billed above the title, but nobody would say she didn't happen.

Ann-Margret, Raquel Welch, and Brigitte Bardot (!) all absolutely "happened" because people still remember and talk about them today.

Jane Fonda also absolutely was a sex symbol, jesus christ. It's rare, but you can be seen as a sex/fashion symbol and a serious actress at the same time (Elizabeth Taylor, Susan Sarandon - not saying they were great actresses, but they were taken more seriously than a Welch/Bardot/Monroe type)

ZaSu Pitts

Susan Anton. I never knew what this woman did other than being a poster model in the late 70s and guest star on the Love Boat.

Susan Anton did exactly what you saw her do. She became famous as a tall glamazon television commercial model and light entertainer.

Claire Forlani is a good one upthread. WTF ever happened to her? A complete dud.

Mia Waskalowsi or however you spell that name (that should have been changed) was everywhere for a couple of years and then totally disappeared. She was in that movie with G when G was playing a trans-man.

R389 She was set to be the next big thing following Farrah Fawcett - a starring role in a TV series ("Stop Susan Williams") and a movie ("Goldengirl") released the same year both of which bombed.

I think very tall Susan Anton was also famous for a while for dating very short Dudley Moore.

It was said that a lot of men bought Jane Fonda's exercise tapes to ogle her body. and they made her a mint.

I always confused Susan Anton with Cathy Lee Crosby.

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio was breathtakingly beautiful in her teens and twenties and really came across well onstage. She's still quite lovely in person and a nice person. She did decide to devote more of her energies to her stage career (living in England with her Irish husband and their sons) and to being there for her children, pretty much out of the public eye. There was always a kind of reticence or shyness to her that dissolved once you got to know her--she could also be very warm and friendly. She also didn't have the pipeline of a Yale or Carnegie-Mellon or Northwestern. I think she has always worked when she wanted to. No, she did not become the next big thing--I have no idea if that was her goal.

Jill St. John -- didn't she have publicity of being a genius years ago?

Add to 396. She did have a consistent career on episodic TV--often not starting the series, but coming in to fill a "function" in later seasons (Law and Order, etc.). On Grimm she had a supporting but memorable role--she once said to me that that was probably what younger audiences knew her from, rather than The Color of Money, The Abyss, or Scarface--where she was quite good, but had the misfortune to be in a role definitely secondary to the emergence of Michelle Pfeiffer.

Mastrantonio really should have shortened her full name. It's really a mouthful. Very talented. A video emerged recently of an out-of-town performance in D.C. of "Oh! Brother!", and she and the rest of the excellent cast were really good. Very good score, too of a fun show that should have run longer.

Jill St. John was a no-talent bimbo starlet from the waning days of the old studio system.

What about Emily Lloyd? She was supposed to be the next big thing in the 80s after she starred in "Wish You Were Here." She followed it with "Cookie" and "In Country." But then... crickets. I wonder why she flamed out like she did.

Milizia Korjus - terrific in "The Great Waltz", getting an Oscar nomination, then fading away. I heard she had an auto accident and made some films in Mexico. She had an opera career in Germany and elsewhere in Europe before 1936, but nothing I ever heard was pro-Germany when she did "Great Waltz". It was always a mystery why her career stalled.

R401 Emily Lloyd had very severe mental problems apparently. Very sad.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Connie Francis -- as a movie star, though "Where the Boys Are" is still a classic of genre. I'd say it's do to the whole ensemble though. She did star in 2 or 3 other films though, but apparently they didn't do too well at the box-office.

"due" not "do", sorry

[quote] Madchen Amick

Most of those Twin Peaks stars never really went on to anything else. I though for sure we'd see more of Sherilyn Fenn.

R405 I’m sure the brutal rape didn’t help.

Connie's movie career had stalled long before that. But yes, she had a terrible time of it, with the rape and other misfortunes in her life after that. Plus her father had quashed her dream of marrying Bobby Darin years before that. Then he died around that time of her attack. Just like a perfect storm of crap. At least she was able to pull herself together to perform again years later.

R399. What’s funny about that is that all through high school (when I knew her best), she did go by Mary Mastrantonio, which is long enough. When she started acting professionally she added the Elizabeth to her billing (it is her middle name). A friend, much closer to her than I ever was, said she added the Elizabeth to her billing because her mother, who died when Mary was younger, was also named Mary and, out of respect, MEM wanted to leave her mother’s memory as “Mary Mastrantonio” in place and include the Elizabeth to distinguish the two. That never made a lot of sense to me, but I never felt I could ask her (we were friendly but not close). I also wonder if it was to avoid the close alliteration Mary Mastrantonio created or if that was just the period of three-named young actresses—Mary-Louise Parker, Mary Stuart Masterson, Mary Louise Streep 😄

R399, I saw Mastrantonio in the short lived Broadway run of Oh, Brother! And also in the flop Copperfield on Broadway and the flop The Human Comedy on Broadway. The latter did have a lovely score by the composer of Hair. The gay kid who played her little brother went on to do porno films.

The guy in "The Human Comedy" was Stephen Geoffreys, who got a Tony nomination, and yes, did do gay porno films at one point, but also did some legit films like "Fright Night" before that. Something must happened for him after an auspicious beginning for him to turn to porn for a while to make a living. He was very talented. I saw "The Human Comedy" at the Public; it was an interesting show with a good score and some talented performers in it. I thought it might run for a while, and he was surprised it closed so quickly on Broadway.

"I" was surprised, that is

R410 It's 11 syllables! What other actor with a big career had so long a name to say? Sarah Jessica Parker, Marcello Mastroianni, are long enough with 7.

r407I used to think both Madchen & Sherilyn were sooo gorgeous.

Dudley Moore joked he went up on Susan Anton.

why didn't mastrantonio just go by mary elizabeth?

Her last name alone is FIVE syllables.

It didn’t help Shannon Elizabeth, R417. And she definitely qualifies for this thread.

R391 wasikowsas career went down the crapper after the horrid alice in wonderland film. Burton has become a career killer.

R336 Palmer has a distinctly unlikable presence. Cold and haughty.

If she didn't want to be with all those Marys, Mastrantonio could have gone be Mare E. Mastro with or without a "w"

gone "by"

Good God, a hundred posts on the busted Afro having white chick from The Abyss. She wasn’t special then or now.

Was that an Afro? I just thought it was a lot of hair.

Mia Wasikowska doesn’t have the elements that draw me to an actress (or a woman). Weak, frail, pitiful, gothic, no personal glamour or beauty. It was a serious head scratcher that she had a run of pictures with major directors. She could have been a character actress but a star, never.

R425 If she brushed it up

[quote]Claire forlani as some have said, she’s worked steadily but I think starring opposite Brad Pitt in “meet joe black” would have led to a bigger film career.

I wonder if repeatedly dodging Weinstein had any affect on her career.

She's married to Dougray Scott.

[quote]Leelee Sobieski

Officially retired in 2012.

R429 As if anyone would have her, anyway. Good riddance.

Apropos of nothing, Bridgette Bardot is still alive.

R426, you left out her horrendous tits which were on full display in Bergman Island.

Cynda Williams.

She was amazing in one false move with Billy Bob Thornton and the late Bill Paxton.

I guess it never came to fruition. She should've had Halle Berry's career

[quote]I feel bad for Hilary Swank. She had 2 Oscars by 30, and her career absolutely tanked after that.

I know what you mean, R132, but she’ll always be the most successful person from the original 90210.

[quote]Phoebe Cates

Does she belong on this list, R305? She retired after having kids in the early 90s. The one exception is 2001’s “The Anniversary Party” which was written & directed by her best friend Jennifer Jason Leigh.

When did we move the goalposts in the thread and make it about "happening"? It's about actresses who were who were going to be the next big thing...but weren't.

[quote]Ullmann joked that she became a Hollywood star for a mere two years. “They thought I was so sweet – I did not look like Ingmar Bergman’s erotic women at all. Everybody wanted me in their movies. So I was a Hollywood star for two years. I did four Hollywood movies and I managed to almost close down two studios.”

Even SHE says she flopped in Hollywood. I said she was supposed to be the next big thing in Hollywood films, and she wasn't. This is not even debatable.

R378 Fonda was a sex symbol and/or sex kitten in Walk on the Wild Side, La Ronde, The Game is Over, Barefoot in the Park, Cat Ballou, Spirits of the Dead, Joy House and Barbarella and with They Shoot Horses, Don't They? her career went in a different direction.

I would even suggest that her first films like Sunday in New York had her playing the virginal but sexy ingenue.

Annabeth Gish. She played the lead in Mystic Pizza but it was her co-star who became the next big thing.

R435 She’s using it as an anecdote: You’re whole concept of “Hollywood Star” is antiquated. There are major actresses and then there are those who faded into obscurity.

[quote] Faye Dunaway was never billed above the title

Bunch of real Brainiacs on this thread, eh r387? She was above the title starting with Bonnie and Clyde, through the 80s.

[quote] jolie were never considered sex symbols...

More know-nothings. Please, just shut your yap, r376.

Shannon Tweed

Chesty Morgan

Patti Davis

Kim Kardashian

Chaz Bono

[quote] You’re whole concept

Oh, DEAR…

R436 Not to mention Tall Story, Hurry Sundown, Period Of Adjustment. Jane was a sex symbol, for sure. Her sexy body and pretty face got her through her early career - when she tended to overact (unlike Henry or Peter).

Jennifer Beals and Trini Alvarado.

Joan Leslie is a good example of this. Warner Bros seemed to be building her up, in a big way (see Hollywood Canteen, where she plays herself, the "ideal girl" Robert Hutton wants to meet). She was very young, at the time - in her first WB film she was maybe 16. Anyhow I forget what happened but once out of her contract he did okay, but not great. Though she became a better actress.. After the mid-50s she was mostly forgotten.

They didn’t know what to do with Beals because she’s biracial…

There's no point in citing Charlize Theron, she has a good career, maybe not A+ but still definitely in the teilight zone between A and B list actress.

Unlike Alicia Silverstone who was going to be the next huge thing and then disappeared... She must have ran away from the casting couch.

Perini Sclaroso

Jodi Thelen. Four Friends was supposed to make her a star and it didn’t. She’s worked since then but not in leading roles. Alana Haim in Licorice Pizza reminds me of her. And I’m pretty sure Haim will go the way of Thelen.

I believe Charlize Theron gets A List salaries

Charlize Theron, Natalie Portman and several others are ridiculous suggestions for this list. Absolutely ludicrous.

Madonna

R452 People want their stars ✰ ✮ ✬ for participation only! 👍

R453 She tried, but failed miserably every time. She was never ready for her close-up, nor for the silver screen.

[quote]Charlize Theron, Natalie Portman and several others are ridiculous suggestions for this list. Absolutely ludicrous.

And if I were you, I wouldn't stand for it!!

Madonna does have loads of charisma, I’ll say that much. What is it about her that doesn’t transfer to the big screen? For me, I can take her in small doses.

R457 She can't act.

Madonna has NO physical and visual subtlety but she's not naturally funny and can't do physical comedy.

R459 She can't do ANY kind of comedy. Or drama. She can't act.

That Jacobson woman from Gilded Age. Nepotism will only get you so far.

Paz de la Huerta.... otherwise known as a train wreck in heels..

Karen Valentine

Anne Heche, to be fair, was good in Donnie Brasco.

Was also meant to post that Heche's career nosedived when she hooked up with Ellen.

Rosanna Arquette. Upstaged in her "big-break" movie, "Desperately Seeking Susan" by Madonna, whose film career was also destined to become a never-was.

Quvenzhané Wallis

Pia Zadora

Lucie Arnaz

Mia Sara

Jennifer Grey

Joey Heatherton

Lola Falana

Samantha Eggar

Yvette Mimieux

Anita Ekberg

Rosemary Clooney (as a movie star). I don't know if she was supposed to be the "next big thing" in movies but she was very good in White Christmas and in a few others, but after the mid-50s she was done in films. As a recording artist she was very big. She had a TV show, and she had mental breakdowns. Somebody else can make a joke about how big she became, physically.

^^^^well, big musicals were on the wane r471, that wasn’t her fault.

I blame Mathew Broderick for undermining Jennifer Grey’s career and confidence by murdering those Irish women. She basically went into seclusion for decades afterward.

R473 A lot of people blame her nose job, but she doesn't look that different pre and post-rhinoplasty to me.

I want Jennifer to know. It was me.

I'm surprised Jennifer's dad, Joel Grey, didn't teacher her to tap and on on the road in a double act, a la Roxie and Velma. They could have revealed the real killer was Matthew.

didn't "teach" her, that is

JonBenet Ramsey. She was on top of the world with her cowgirl outfit and then she just disappeared.

R472 But White Christmas was the biggest grosser of the year. I guess they weren't on the wane just yet.

Jodi Wexler

Falconetti

Mara Hobel

Lupita

Poor, poor Lupita

Lupita should have been nominated for US.

People expected big things for JLo after her impressive turn in "U Turn", but she never evolved into an A-List actress.

Shirley Jones

R487, She had a very successful career.

R488 not after 1970

Anne Ditchburn

Marilyn Hassett

Marta Heflin

Donna Wilkes

Pamela Ludwig

Justine Bateman

Krista Errickson

"Anne Ditchburn"

Wasn't she a ballet dancer who was in a movie with Paul Sorvino years ago?

Lois Nettleton

The blonde in the original Ice Castles

[quote] Karen Valentine

She was in quite a few Disney movies after Room 222, then went onto game shows and The Love Boat.

[quote] The blonde in the original Ice Castles

Lynn-Holly Johnson. Became a total wash up after that Bond film.

What about Melissa Rivers?

Asking for a deceased friend of the family.

Shelley Hack

Nicolette Sheridan

Calista Flockhart

Melanie Mayron

Peg Entwistle thought she was going to be the next big thing, it all ended on the thirteenth letter of the Hollywoodland sign.

R497... AND Johnson didn't even fuck "conan" in where the boys are 84, because she was upset that he was a escort and wanted her to pay for it! laugh! dumb dumb, she could have at least fucked the even hotter and better built dark brown hair hunk in the white bikini shaking his ass and strutting his stuff in the hot beach bod contest!..

I’m sure going blind didn’t help Lynn-Holly Johnson’s career and curtailed it severely.

[quote]She was in quite a few Disney movies after Room 222, then went onto game shows and The Love Boat.

R496 Truly the definition of the next big thing

Katharine Houghton

Anna Sten Gwili Andre Annabella

^^^ or with correct formatting:

Anna Sten

Gwili Andre

Annabella

Haha, R505, you are just referring to her Ice Castles character, right?

It is well known that Lynn-Holly Johnson was a very committed method actress on the set of Ice Castles.

She was the Jeremy Strong of her day.

I bet she wanted them to throw flowers during fucking rehearsal but the ADs had to yell “SAVE THE FLOWERS FOR THE TAKE!”

We need a Lynn-Holly Johnson thread, and the truth about if she got to break off some of that Robby Benson.

Once was in line behind Karen Valentine in a bank in studio city about 20 years ago... She seemed shy and reserved.. I might have been the only person in that bank who knew who she was...

R515 I waited on her when I was working at a bookstore. I've watched so much TV in the 70s that I recognized her voice right away.

In retrospect she had such an Armenian face.

Rachel McAdams. She inexplicably turned down Devil Wears Prada. which was a big mistake. The excuse that she was trying to get away from stardom and big commercial movies makes zero sense.

I heard her pearl clutching over that famous 2006 Vanity Fair photoshoot with Scarlett and Keira may have hurt her career as well.

R517 Who had an Armenian face?

Thandie Newton.

...Had an Armenian face?

Joely Richardson

Alfre Woodard

David Thewlis, Rupert Everett, Rowan Atkinson, ... oh, but they're just some dirty dicks. NVMD.

What about Jennifer Beals? Flashdance was a huge hit and iconic 80s movie.

Lee Bouvier(Radziwill) circa 1968.

Karen Valentine had an Armenian face.

R92 Jeanne Tripplehorn's first two movies were Basic Instincts and The Firm. They were massive hits. Her third movie was Waterworld.

It ruined her, Kevin Costner, and Dennis Hopper.

I have always thought she was a beautiful and talented actress. Would love to see her play Lady Macbeth.

Rachel McAdams' bad project judgments (at a pivotal point in her career) combined with her unwillingness to "go along to get along" (the Vanity Fair photoshoot) kept her from going as far as actresses like Natalie Portman/Scarlett Johansson/Emma Stone/Jennifer Lawrence/Margot Robbie.

Back in the late 70s/early 80s Bess Armstrong got some buzz. After the Four Seasons, she was being hailed as promising.

I think Mol's career got blackballed because she wouldn't fuck Weinstein, contrary to rumor. Did anyone ever hear Lauren Hutton's Weinstein story?

Catherine Deneuve

[quote]Karen Valentine had an Armenian face.

R525 She's Portuguese.

R529 Catherine Deneuve doesn’t need Hollywood. She’s a legend in Europe.

R528 How did she get the Vanity Fair cover without fucking him? I think she's just denying it because it looks bad if you say you fucked a producer accused of rape for parts.

I never understood what you all see in Rachel McAdams. She was funny in Mean Girls, decent in Red Eye and The Notebook but has been boring in everything else I've seen her in. She's also decently younger than the Johansson/Knightly cohort, despite becoming famous around the same time. And she's probably on Keira's level, if not above it - Oscar nominated, a number of well known films. That's incredible for an actress.

I meant decently OLDER.

Anyone remember Blair Brown and Katherine Harrold and Lolita Davidovich....

The late Carrie Snodgress.

Roxanne Hart

R536 I know people that worked with her. None had good things to say.

R448 I remember Alicia Silverstone appearance on some TV show with Joan Rivers left me wondering how she could function in life, let alone have any sort of Hollywood career with such drafty upstairs.

R527 it’s called integrity.

R537, yeah, I forget where but someone I know who worked with her in the BAM Theater Company said she was a massive cunt.

Kate Bosworth

R539 Her behavior on the set of Chicago Hope back in the 90s got her let go from that show.

R111 Critics are still trying to make her happen. Especially now that she's appearing in French films (with a thick German accent mixed with something else that makes it hard to believe her as a French character), and Anglophone critics have a hard on for French films no matter how bad they (and the acting) are, especially when they have unknown actors in it. She's also a nepotism baby from a wealthy family who funds most of her films with public money, and yet she pretends that she was poor before becoming an actress.

Carroll Baker

I would say Kate McKinnon is already in this category.

Inger Stevens

Kim Darby

What actress every really is? There are usually just one or two at a time and they “reign” for years.

Right now it’s Margot Robbie and Scarlett Johansson, although Scarlett’s success comes so much from Marvel that she may not have the same versatility as Margot.

Men have a lot more opportunities in Hollywood because they get to play more varied top roles.

^^^ ever really is

Suzan Ball - Lucy's cousin and Richard Long's wife. She overcame a leg amputation due to an accident, but succumbed to cancer at 21.

Oh come on, Vicky Krieps had her breakout role just five years ago, and she's likely going to be an arthouse darling for the rest of her life. Maybe a supporting Oscar eventually, like Juliette Binoche.

I doubt that, R550. Nothing dynamic about her. She’s very ordinary.

That's why I said arthouse movies, mostly with international directors, not American "prestige" junk. She's a great actress and pretty in a clean, European way.

Not with those crooked teeth she ain’t, R552.

R389, Former Miss California, Susan Anton got the big PR push with her big screen debut "Goldengirl" (1979), about a biologically engineered track & field athlete programmed to sweep all her events at the Moscow Olympics. The movie got a theatrical release, and then was to debut in extended form as two-part minseries on NBC, in conjunction with the NBC's coverage of the Olympics. But the US' boycott of the Moscow Olympics pushed the miniseries back a year and basically rendered the plotline pointless. The movie was a big bust and Anton spent most of her career in tv variety shows, guest tv spots, commercials, and movie stinkers.

Thots Burch - sorry if mentioned before

Mena Suvari too for that matter

Amanda Peterson from Can’t Buy Me Love

THORA lmfao

R554, She lived with Dudley Moore for several years in the 1980s.

R545 Inger Stevens was murdered....

The Hitchhiker is a great episode of The Twilight Zone, too.

[quote]Inger Stevens was murdered

That's news to us!

R560, Well she married a black man so she didn't rally matter

According to Vicky Pedia, it was an suicide/overdose

I'm going to agree with other posters that Jeanne Tripplehorn should have been bigger.

Waterworld isn't all that awful in spite of being a huge bomb.

Also, Jeannes' brief role as Jackie O in Grey Gardens is as close to the real thing as I have seen.

R563, Jeanne was a victim of the Ben Stiller curse.

Geneviève Bujold

Calista Flockhart

Katharine Houghton

Houghton had a problem with one of her hands (I think it was nerve damaged) but apparently several surgeries corrected it.

Kristen Wigg famously failed to capitalize on her "Bridesmaids" success. I get the feeling that the spotlight terrifies her?

Anyone remember that fiery red head actress who starred in a TV cop drama (for the life of me I can't remember her name) was it in the 1980's or 1990's? and she was hyped as the next great thing.. a tough, but sexy actress...

Beautiful French actress Annabella made a big hit in Suez with Tyrone Power, and was very popular, and a good actress, but Darryl Zanuck didn't like her marrying idol Tyrone Power, and mostly kept her off the screen.

Natasha Kinski. Everywhere for a brief hot seond then gone.

Ellen Greene. After Little Shop of Horrors, she disappeared.

Sandy Duncan

Theresa Russell

R24 Kate Hudson still hasn't stopped paying her PR person to keep her thinking she's still going to be the next big thing. What is it, over 20 years now, Goldie-lite?

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio's name is too long -- too many syllables. She could have gotten rid of the middle name at least and then perhaps shortened the last name. It's 11 syllables to say as it is, and that's a mouthful. Talented lady though.

Rachel Ticotin got some pretty good roles on her resume, but I don't recall how much of a PR buildup she got. Haven't seen her for a while though.

Lauren Velez

Kristen Stewart

R573 Ellen Green also had a Next Big Thing moment 10 years earlier than Little Shop Of Horrors - in Next Stop, Greenwich Village, Paul Mazurski's semi-autobiographical movie about his acting days. Lenny Baker - another next big thing - died young, and today I think the most memorable actor in it is Shelley Winters, as the crazy, overbearing but sympathetic Jewish mother to end all Jewish mothers.

Anyway Greene only made one movie between those two - I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can - starring Jill Clayburgh - another next big thing who wasn't - and I'd add Blythe Danner to the list of not already mentioned.

*if not already mentioned

Kami Cotler

Glenda Jackson???

Sandy Duncan, Sandy Duncan, and Sandy Duncan.

"Sandy Duncan, Sandy Duncan, and Sandy Duncan."

Sandy Duncan, Sandy Duncan, and Sandy Duncan and R574.

Zendaya

R586 And Sandy DUNCAN

Not really an known as an actress, but since she did act in movies: Rosemary Clooney.

Played the female lead in the biggest moneymaking film of 1954, White Christmas, and she was good. Most people still know her based on that movie. Yet it was virtually her last film, as a lead. Mental/emotional/personal problems sidelined her career in general, but I'm not sure why she didn't make more movies right away. Eventually as an actress she got an Emmy nom for a guest appearance on ER.

Sandy Duncan was pretty damn terrific in "Peter Pan".

Lindsay Lohan is more beautiful than Emma Stone, regardless of her troubles.

R590, Especially since she was flying with vision in only one eye.

Isabella Rosselini (sp?) was rightfully deemed the next big thing after Blue Velvet. But then after a few comments about her weight she went from normal size to model size and basically became interchangeable with dozens of other actresses and more or less disappeared. if Sophia Loren had turned herself into a svelte model at the beginning of her career no one would know her name today.

[quote]Oh come on, Vicky Krieps had her breakout role just five years ago, and she's likely going to be an arthouse darling for the rest of her life. Maybe a supporting Oscar eventually, like Juliette Binoche.

Oscar, R550? She gave several interviews saying she lit a candle at church everyday just NOT TO get an Oscar nomination for Phantom Thread because she thought it was a POISON. She's not right in the head! However, these religious freaks and "fake humble" types are often the worst kind of Oscar beggars who'd sell their own mothers or dead relatives for an Oscar (right, Jessica Chastain?), so I wouldn't be surprised to see her doing a desperate Oscar campaign in a near future. And even arthouse darlings have an expiration date, especially if their films keep flopping.

And the Binoche comparison is nonsense. Binoche started getting recognition in France since the beginning of her career, when she was in her early 20s. Her Oscar win and nominations are not even close to her best performances and after that, her career went downhill even in France, but she was able to revive it because she has the talent, charisma, connections and looks - she's almost 60 and still looks great and aged naturally, especially compared to other French "muses" whose entire careers revolved around their looks. Vicky was in a bunch of European films yet nobody had noticed her, not even in her own country until Phantom Thread (that most people only remember for being Daniel Day-Lewis' last film before retirement). She started late in the game. She might become a poor man's Audrey Tautou (without the worldwide hit and icon status) whose career stalled after Amelie and a few other box office hits in France. Tautou was very introvert and averse to fame though, which kind of explains her career choices and why she turned down Hollywood after The Da Vinci Code. Vicky is neither, she was in a [bad] M. Night Shyamalan movie not too long ago... she wants to be a celebrity and movie star and make as many Hollywood films as she can.

[quote]I doubt that, [R550]. Nothing dynamic about her. She’s very ordinary.

True. She has no charisma either. She's just European and has an accent that people find "exotic", that's all. Plus, she looks like a smashed potato and looks much older than her age (she's almost 40 already). Middle-aged foreign actresses that lack charisma (and especially looks) like Vicky don't have that many options in Hollywood. She's gonna be stuck with "boring wife of leading man" roles if she's lucky until she gets replaced by the next (and younger) critics' darling of the moment. Right now she's only getting lead roles in arthouse films directed by her friends that get funding thanks to her family (and taxpayers), and they're still flopping...

Krieps is from Luxembourg. LUXEMBOURG!

R595 We know. However, most of her films are German or French productions with tax money from her actual country. She's been living in Germany for over a decade and that's where her career started, and now she's trying to have a career in France. It's not like there is another actress from Luxembourg with an international career that she can be compared to (Krieps calls herself "the biggest star of Luxembourg"). That's probably why R550 brought up Binoche as an example of a foreign actress who made it internationally and is still relevant decades later, but that comparison was way off.

Anna Sten. The proto Next Big Thing.

Mia Sara

Tia Carrere

I own this thread

Mia Sara and Jennifer Connelly both were at saint Ann’s in Brooklyn. I always thought they had a similarity in their looks and way they spoke. Both deserved bigger careers. I know Connelly won an Oscar but she still seems to be cast in girlfriend roles.