Actors who were going to be The Next Big Thing—then fell off the face of the earth

[Anonymous]

Justine Bateman is a good answer. She took the SAT at 47 & got a computer science degree from UCLA from 2012-2016.

That’s so cool!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alicia Silverstone

Yes, she was the golden child after Clueless, but seemed incapable of really capitalizing on this for some reason.

I remember. She followed up Clueless with Batman and Robin, and was given a really hard time about her weight. Hollywood lost interest pretty fast after that. She had a cute show on NBC called Miss Match, which was unfortunately canceled right away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Leighton Meester from Gossip Girl

I think this is a good answer. For someone so lauded, she's been quiet since GG.
She didn't fall off the face of the earth by any means, but her post gossip girl acting work has been pretty sparse. It seems like she or her team don't always pick well. Or maybe she just doesn't want to be a "huge" star.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Leighton Meester from Gossip Girl

I think this is a good answer. For someone so lauded, she's been quiet since GG.
She didn't fall off the face of the earth by any means, but her post gossip girl acting work has been pretty sparse. It seems like she or her team don't always pick well. Or maybe she just doesn't want to be a "huge" star.

I just posted this and have another thought -- these younger women who make big names for themselves in their twenties often "fall of the face of the earth" in their 30s and I wonder how much of that is because they're off building personal lives and having kids and stuff. It must be hard to get famous as an ingénue. Meester has had 2 kids since GG.

[Anonymous]

Most of the cast of Veronica Mars, except for Kristen Bell obviously. I think the guy who played Duncan eventually went to law school, but the rest have faded from the public eye.

[Anonymous]

Michael Vartan. I loved him in Alias and his career since then has drizzled away to nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Alicia Vikander

Looks like she's still busy. She's Swedish so we may not get as much of her as they do over there.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2539953/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Richard Armitage after North and South. He seems to just make bad Netflix films occasionally.

Well his was in a small project called The Hobbit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Evangeline Lilly

Um, Ant Man? Wasp Woman or whatever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alicia Vikander

Looks like she's still busy. She's Swedish so we may not get as much of her as they do over there.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2539953/

She's still boring as all get out. Her best role was that of a robot. She nailed it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Leighton Meester from Gossip Girl

I think this is a good answer. For someone so lauded, she's been quiet since GG.
She didn't fall off the face of the earth by any means, but her post gossip girl acting work has been pretty sparse. It seems like she or her team don't always pick well. Or maybe she just doesn't want to be a "huge" star.

I just posted this and have another thought -- these younger women who make big names for themselves in their twenties often "fall of the face of the earth" in their 30s and I wonder how much of that is because they're off building personal lives and having kids and stuff. It must be hard to get famous as an ingénue. Meester has had 2 kids since GG.

+1
A) Personal lives
B) Vastly fewer roles for women in their 30s and 40s than for women in their 20s
C) Blacklisted by Harvey Weinstein or similar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Richard Armitage after North and South. He seems to just make bad Netflix films occasionally.

Great actor. He was in the hobbit, but agree that he’s had terrible roles.

I recently listened to the audiobook version of David Copperfield narrated by Richard Armitage, and it was a marvelous performance.

[Anonymous]

Jonathan Taylor Thomas. He purposefully left acting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Richard Armitage after North and South. He seems to just make bad Netflix films occasionally.

Great actor. He was in the hobbit, but agree that he’s had terrible roles.

I recently listened to the audiobook version of David Copperfield narrated by Richard Armitage, and it was a marvelous performance.

Armitage is in a new Netflix series called Obsession. Apparently he's nude most of the time, although the series got terrible reviews.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Michael Vartan. I loved him in Alias and his career since then has drizzled away to nothing.

I loved him too. I don't think he was ever expected to be the "next big thing" however. He was good in Bates Motel though he was a bad guy instead of a hero and I found that hard to swallow.