Actors whose careers went downhill after winning an Oscar

[TMC1982]

So which celebrities won an Oscar, and then eventually saw their careers end up on the crap heap from making bad career choices?

Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Mira Sorvino seem to often be the two main immediate "go to choices" among this subject for instance.

 

[Drizzle]

Kim Basinger's another one.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

Adrien Brody. Not exactly "on the crap heap", but not where I think most people thought his career would be.

 

[Incarnadine]

Roberto Benigni. He's barely worked at all in the 20 years since he won.

Helen Hunt and Kim Basinger in 1997 both kind of went downhill. The late 90's seem pretty bad for winners.

 

[terry78]

What has Halle Berry been in lately? Really.

 

[titansupes]

Hilary Swank? I mean, she's won two, so you can't say she went downhill right away but she hasn't been in anything major for a good while now.

 

[Osiris-Rex]

What has Halle Berry been in lately? Really.

How recent do you mean by lately? She was in X-Men: Days of Future Past in 2014. It had the highest box-office of any X-Men movie unless you count Deadpool.

 

[chamber-music]

Oscar wins usually only give actors who aren't already established names a temporary career bump.

An Oscar win is not a guarantee of continued success.

 

[I Am The Knight]

Ah, another thread where TMC gets to talk about Kim Basinger! Guess the last one ran it's course already

Anyway CGJR was in The People v OJ Simpson last year.

How recent do you mean by lately? She was in X-Men: Days of Future Past in 2014. It had the highest box-office of any X-Men movie unless you count Deadpool.

I think they mean in a starring role. All I can remember from DOFP is her character getting killed by CGI robots

 

[Drizzle]

How recent do you mean by lately? She was in X-Men: Days of Future Past in 2014. It had the highest box-office of any X-Men movie unless you count Deadpool.

And she had what, two minutes of screen time in that movie?

 

[Bats123]

Al Pacino, unless you count Jack and Jill as some kind of career milestone...

also, what has Sean Penn been up to besides being friends with El Chapo?

 

[BlueLanternKal]

Producing the El Chapo biopic.

 

[Boom]

Jean Dujardin dropped off the face of the earth.

 

[Electrix]

What has Halle Berry been in lately? Really.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle is out this year. Just shot 'Kings' with Daniel Craig.

Her Oscar win was in 2001, followed by being a Bond Girl in 2002. It's hard to keep that kind of momentum going after 15 years but she's still working despite her age/race/gender.

 

[scarlet-witch]

Mo'Nique

And to some extent - Renee Zellweger. All she has is Bridget Jones.

 

[I Am The Knight]

Al Pacino, unless you count Jack and Jill as some kind of career milestone...

also, what has Sean Penn been up to besides being friends with El Chapo?

Pacino is in Scorsese's latest, The Irishman.

He's had a long and legendary career so I don't think he applies.

 

[Samuron]

Peter Finch

 

[Breogan]

Emil Jannings

Although after winning, going on to star in a number of Nazi propaganda films probably didn't help.

 

[TMC1982]

Ah, another thread where TMC gets to talk about Kim Basinger! Guess the last one ran it's course already

Anyway CGJR was in The People v OJ Simpson last year.



I think they mean in a starring role. All I can remember from DOFP is her character getting killed by CGI robots

If I wanted to, then I would've mentioned her right from the very jump! And don't come in and immediately sound like that I intentionally set this up just so that I could strictly speak about one particular performer, who just so happened to win an Oscar along the way!

 

[Drizzle]

Jean Dujardin dropped off the face of the earth.

I love Ewan McGregor, but Dujardin really should have been Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast. I assume he's in more French films than anything. The only other Hollywood film I recall seeing him in was Wolf of Wall Street.

 

[Kaleb]

Kevin Spacey (if you dont include House of Cards)
Nicolas Cage
Mira Sorvino

 

[2kt09]

First name that came to mind: Jennifer Lawrence

 

[Octoberist]

First name that came to mind: Jennifer Lawrence

Yes and no. Many actors have gone through slogs but in Jennifer's case, we forget how YOUNG she is. She'll recover of course, but I think she needs to reinvent herself a bit.

The issue when you're a kid/teen actor is that if you're good, you'll stand out. But as you get older, then you'll end up just being another pretty face in your 20's and 30's.

 

[Golgo-13]

Halle Berry
Daniel Day Lewis

 

[Incarnadine]

Halle Berry
Daniel Day Lewis

I wouldn't put DDL on the list, he's never done "commercial" movies, all he ever does is the most oscar bait-y movies, including the one he's making right now so his career is pretty much a straight line, no real peaks or valleys.
I swear they modeled Robert Downey Jr.'s character in Tropic Thunder after DDL.