Getting your big break in Hollywood can take years of toiling, filled with constant rejection and heartbreak. There are countless stories of actors who finally made it big after decades of trying. Once they're on top of the food chain, the grim reality is that it's also hard to maintain your A-list status. The years of hard work can end in the blink of an eye, and you can find yourself irrelevant again. Hollywood is a hard mountain to stay on top of because everyone wants a crack at the peak. The actors on this list have reached the top, but have been knocked off and can't seem to get back up. To find out who they are, watch the video!
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00:00In the fickle world of Hollywood, it's hard for a star to rise to fame, and exceptionally
00:05easy for them to fall out of the public's good graces.
00:08A couple of box office flops, some personal issues, or even a decision to take time off
00:12could spell career disaster.
00:14For these actors, their towering celebrity status just isn't what it used to be.
00:18Here's why.
00:19Dane Cook
00:20Back in the early aughts, you couldn't go anywhere without hearing how Dane Cook was
00:25the funniest dude alive.
00:26But those days are long gone now, and he has a few bad films and joke choices to blame
00:31for his rapid loss of luster.
00:32For starters, his first major outing on the big screen was a serious flop, with 2006's
00:37Employee of the Month being funny for all the wrong reasons.
00:40His next attempt at being the leading man in Good Luck Chuck was also widely maligned.
00:44Uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh, raise the habitat!
00:48And despite dropping his loud, funny guy shtick for a more dramatic role in Mr. Brooks, his
00:52attempt at reinvention didn't impress enough to keep his silver screen career afloat.
00:56He might have been able to sell tickets for his stand-up routines, but audiences just
01:00weren't interested in his acting.
01:02Meanwhile, his comedic reputation also took a major hit when he was the subject of multiple
01:06joke-theft accusations, and even worse, made an untimely joke about a mass shooting.
01:10That's really great.
01:11Good for you, man.
01:12He's recently had some progress turning things around with a voice role in Disney's Planes
01:16movies and a brief stint on American Gods, so don't count him out just yet.
01:20If it's gonna swing far and high this way, then you kind of know that it's gonna swing
01:26back the other.
01:27It's gonna settle.
01:28Jim Carrey
01:29Back in his heyday, Jim Carrey was the undisputed king of the box office.
01:33Films like The Mask, Dumb and Dumber, and Liar Liar regularly made bank and solidified
01:37his status as a star.
01:39He even had some success on the dramatic scene, with films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless
01:43Mind and The Number 23, making an impression with audiences.
01:47After a while, however, his on-screen wit alone wasn't enough, and Carrey started disappearing
01:51into roles that went heavy on the special effects, like How the Grinch Stole Christmas
01:55and Horton Hears a Who.
01:56Eventually, his star power started to fade, and films like Mr. Popper's Penguins and The
02:00Incredible Burt Wonderstone proved he wasn't as secure a box office draw as everyone expected
02:04him to be.
02:05This concludes our broadcast day."
02:08His decline in demand also seemed to coincide with some personal issues Carrey was experiencing,
02:13including the suicide of his ex-girlfriend Katrina White, which spawned an ugly legal
02:17battle.
02:18Nowadays, he's taken up painting, and it seems he's quite good at it.
02:20As he says in his new documentary, I Needed Color,
02:23"...you know, the bottom line with all of this, whether it's performance or it's art
02:27or it's sculpture, is love."
02:32Matthew Fox
02:33Since Lost, uh, got Lost in 2010, Matthew Fox's Hollywood career has taken a nosedive,
02:39for reasons both professional and personal.
02:41On the professional side, his movie career never quite took off.
02:44His cinematic outing as the villain in Alex Cross failed to establish him as a big-screen
02:48staple, and his promising role in World War Z was basically scrapped and left to collect
02:53dust in the editing room.
02:54On the personal side, Fox has also been battling nasty headlines in recent years, including
02:58allegations that he hit a female bus driver.
03:00"...you know, it's been a very tough year for myself and my family, I mean, it's difficult
03:05to be accused of something that you did not do."
03:07And he was also busted for a DUI that he fully admitted to.
03:11If that wasn't enough, Fox also hinted to Men's Fitness in 2012 that he may be ready
03:15to give up acting anyway, saying,
03:16"...if I don't get quality opportunities, you probably won't see much of me.
03:20I'll probably be doing something else."
03:22Considering he hasn't been seen on screen for several years, well, it looks like he's
03:26making good on that promise.
03:28Jessica Alba
03:29At one point, Jessica Alba was a budding it-girl in Hollywood, with her own TV show and franchise
03:34roles to boot.
03:35But that all fell apart once people started to wonder whether she was actually even a
03:39good actress.
03:40Thanks to films like The Killer Inside Me and Little Fockers, Alba won a Razzie for
03:43Worst Supporting Actress in 2011, right around when the offer started drying up.
03:48She ultimately began distancing herself from the cameras when she became a mother and began
03:52a business empire with The Honest Company instead.
03:54That company has honestly grown into a billion-dollar industry, and Alba hasn't had to do much screenwork
03:59to support her growing family as a result.
04:01She's made a couple of on-screen appearances in recent years, like a cameo in Taylor Swift's
04:05Bad Blood video, and as herself in the film follow-up to Entourage.
04:09But we probably won't be seeing Jessica Alba scrawl across the marquee again any time soon.
04:13The only thing you got right was my name.
04:17Sarah Michelle Gellar
04:19Although she's probably best known for her starring role in TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer,
04:23Sarah Michelle Gellar also earned Scream Queen status thanks to her work in films like I
04:27Know What You Did Last Summer and Scream 2.
04:29After her vampire-slaying days were finished, Gellar went on to reclaim her horror movie
04:33moment with a starring role in the Grudge series.
04:35But by then, she'd endured a few flops like Simply Irresistible and the critically-maligned
04:39live-action adaptation of Scooby-Doo, so soon enough she found herself starring in genre
04:43schlock like The Return and Possession.
04:46Around the same time, her small-screen career started going south as well, with back-to-back
04:50cancellations of her shows Ringer and The Crazy Ones.
04:53Even the attempted small-screen revival of Cruel Intentions didn't pan out.
04:56You don't stand a chance.
04:59Even this is out of your league.
05:01But it hasn't been all bad news for Gellar.
05:03She's found some success doing voiceover work for TV's Star Wars Rebels series and launched
05:07a cooking-and-lifestyle brand called Foodsters.
05:10She's also the proud mother of two kids, whom she had with actor and fellow 90s sensation
05:14Freddie Prinze Jr.
05:16Billy Zane
05:17Playing the villain in what was then the biggest movie of all time proved to be difficult for
05:21Billy Zane, who spent years trying to convince audiences that he isn't always the snooty
05:25guy who tormented Kate Winslet in Titanic.
05:27Unfortunately, Zane hasn't had all that much luck accomplishing that goal.
05:31Instead, he's starred in a whole string of movies you've probably never heard of.
05:35Even his TV stints haven't stayed on the air long enough to keep his career afloat.
05:38For example, Freeform canceled Guilt after just one season, and he's starred in just
05:42a single episode of Community.
05:44However, Zane hasn't had any trouble keeping the lights on over the years.
05:47Despite his lower profile, the actor has still been working steadily in smaller roles over
05:51the years since his Cal Hockley days.
05:54Tom Welling
05:55After starring as a high school Superman in TV's Smallville for ten years, Tom Welling
05:59earned himself a break from Hollywood.
06:01The actor retreated from the screen scene for a few years, occasionally popping up in
06:05movies along the way like Parkland, Draft Day, and The Choice.
06:08In recent years, however, Welling seems poised for a comeback on the small screen.
06:12Although CBS declined to pick up a pilot starring Welling as a CIA black ops agent, he is expected
06:17to join the third season of Fox's Lucifer.
06:19Chances are good the gig won't last as long as his last television turn, but it may help
06:23put his name back into the mainstream again sooner than later.
06:26Christopher Mintz Plus
06:28It's been a full decade since Superbad was released, but for many, Christopher Mintz
06:32Plus is still best known as the nerdy McLovin.
06:34The good news is that notoriety helped him score roles in picks like Role Models, Kick-Ass,
06:38and Pitch Perfect.
06:39The bad news is that he was totally typecast, and his appearances felt like a rehash of
06:43his fame-making role.
06:44In recent years, Mintz Plus has branched out to other genres, including voiceover work,
06:50music, and television, with some of those endeavors proving to be more successful than
06:54others.
06:55Celebrating his 28th birthday in 2017, some Mintz Plus is also growing out of his nerdy
06:59youth and into a legitimately dapper dude, which could finally help him shed his Superbad
07:04image once and for all.
07:06Katherine Heigl
07:07The dramatic downfall of Katherine Heigl can be boiled down to two words — burned bridges.
07:12In 2008, she infamously slammed Knocked Up, the Judd Apatow comedy that launched her film
07:17career.
07:18She told Vanity Fair the film was a little sexist and paints the women as shrews and
07:21humorless and uptight, adding,
07:22"...I had a hard time with it, on some days.
07:25I'm playing such a bitch.
07:26It was hard for me to love the movie."
07:28That same year, Heigl heavily shaded Grey's Anatomy and its showrunner Shonda Rhimes when
07:32she withdrew from the race for Emmy nominations, and said,
07:34"...I did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination,
07:38and in an effort to maintain the integrity of the Academy organization, I withdrew my
07:42name from contention."
07:43Oof.
07:44After that, Heigl continued churning out stale, increasingly unsuccessful romantic comedies
07:49until her name became synonymous with the worst of the genre.
07:51Through it all, rumors about her on-set difficulties swirled, which may or may not have led to
07:55some high-profile shake-ups within her management and PR teams.
07:58"...I'm not a rude person.
08:00I'm not an unkind or mean person.
08:02I would never go out of my way or consciously try to hurt anyone's feelings or make them
08:07feel bad or uncomfortable."
08:08She's still got a few more chances to prove her muster on the silver screen and television
08:12circuit, but she's continued to bomb out on both mediums just as spectacularly.
08:16Perhaps she should have kept any negative opinion she had about her projects to herself.
08:21Jennifer Love Hewitt
08:23After making a name for herself in the teen slasher series I Know What You Did Last Summer
08:26and her small-screen work in Party of Five, Jennifer Love Hewitt started enjoying regular
08:30starring roles in picks like Can't Hardly Wait and Heartbreakers.
08:33Unfortunately, her movie career started to slump with the Jackie Chan action comedy flop
08:37The Tuxedo and the Garfield movies.
08:39She managed to rally on the small screen with successful runs in The Ghost Whisperer and
08:43The Client List.
08:44But after she was accused of being difficult on set of the latter show, by reportedly insisting
08:47that her real-life baby daddy be cast in the series, the whole show was unceremoniously
08:52axed.
08:53She went on to nab a role in Criminal Minds, but when she became pregnant with her second
08:56child, Hewitt decided to leave the show after only one season.
08:59Since exiting Criminal Minds in 2015, Hewitt has yet to log another screen credit, or even
09:04have anything listed in production.
09:05Granted, she also gave birth to her second child, so she's clearly putting her career
09:09on some kind of hold to spend quality time with her kids.
09:12Regardless, it doesn't seem like we'll be seeing her on the red carpet anytime soon.
09:17Taylor Momsen
09:18By the time Taylor Momsen was 17, she'd already been in the entertainment business for 15
09:22years.
09:23Her parents started her in the modeling industry at just two, an experience Momsen doesn't
09:27fondly recall.
09:28She later said,
09:29"[My parents signed me up with Ford Modeling Agency at the age of two.
09:32No two-year-old wants to be working, but I had no choice."
09:35From there, it was a breakout role as Cindy Lou Who in How the Grinch Stole Christmas,
09:39and then a big break on Gossip Girl that informed her showbiz career.
09:42But that would be where Momsen's acting career ended.
09:45Her growing displeasure with Hollywood and a gradual drift towards a music career essentially
09:49tucked Momsen's SAG card into a file folder.
09:51As her good-girl-next-door look morphed into a goth-inspired, raccoon-eyed, rock-front
09:55woman, Gossip Girl producers reduced her role on the show until she was eventually dropped
09:59as a series regular in Season 5.
10:01There was no love lost for Momsen, who basically dove eyeliner-first into a music career as
10:06the lead singer of the Pretty Reckless.
10:08Julia Stiles
10:10After her breakthrough role in 10 Things I Hate About You, Julia Stiles had a real shot
10:14at the big time.
10:15However, her subsequent silver screen decisions did her no favors.
10:18After dismal returns for A Guy Thing and Mona Lisa's Smile, Stiles pivoted to smaller films
10:23including the critically-panned remake of The Omen and a little-known film called Edmund.
10:27I'm trying some stuff out.
10:28I'd rather do that than get stuck doing something I don't love."
10:31Fortunately for her, she's had a small but regular role in the Jason Bourne franchise
10:34to carry her through.
10:36Kat Stratford might not have been so concerned with A-list status…
10:39Where did you come from?
10:40Planet Loser?
10:41As opposed to Planet Look at Me, Look at Me.
10:44But Stiles herself does have a desire to stay relevant.
10:46She told The New York Times,
10:47"...I think audiences, producers and directors included, develop crushes on actors, actresses
10:52in particular, and then lose interest and move on to the next one.
10:55There are a handful of actors who sustain interest because it's exciting to watch them
10:59get better at what they do.
11:00I want to be one of those actors."
11:02Unfortunately, Stiles doesn't seem to be getting too many opportunities to improve anymore.
11:06Hopefully for Stiles and her fans, that'll turn around sooner rather than later.