1.
Nate Parker racked up several film roles in the 2000s and 2010s before directing and starring in The Birth of a Nation, which seemed poised to become a mega-hit and Oscars bait. After its premiere at Sundance in 2016, Fox Searchlight paid $17.5 million — a record-high — for distribution rights to the film. And then, in 2017, before the film’s wide release, old rape allegations against Parker resurfaced.
When Parker was in college, a female student had accused him and his friend Jean McGianni Celestin (who was also credited in The Birth of a Nation) of rape while she was intoxicated and unconscious. Parker was ultimately found not guilty, and Celestin was found guilty, though this was overturned on appeal. The woman also claimed Parker and Celestin had harassed and intimidated her after her accusations; she later died by suicide. As Parker’s fame grew, reporters began to ask about the details of his past in interviews, and many felt Parker’s responses insufficient. He often referred to the accusations as a “painful moment” in his life.
Controversy over Parker’s past and comments led the film’s momentum to fizzle out. It performed far below expectations at the box office and did not receive any Oscar nominations. Since then, Parker has only appeared in one film — which he wrote and directed — and one short.
2.
Doug Hutchison began his career in the ’80s, starring in movies such as A Time to Kill, Con Air, and The Green Mile. By 2010, it seemed like he had transitioned more into TV, but his career was still going strong, with recurring roles in Lost and 24…and then he married 16-year-old Courtney Stodden. Hutchinson was 51 at the time, and the marriage generated significant controversy.
While Hutchinson initially claimed that the marriage had actually given him more career opportunities, in reality, he’s only appeared in three one-episode TV roles and a Christian film since his marriage 13 years ago (though he has made several reality show appearances). In recent years, Hutchinson has faced even further backlash due to Stodden calling him a “predator” and claiming he groomed them.
3.
Randy Quaid worked steadily from the 1970s into the 2000s, but several legal issues in the 2000s and 2010s brought his career to a quick halt. In 2010, after skipping a court appearance regarding felony vandalism charges, Quaid moved to Canada with his wife and sought asylum and later permanent residency. His wife gained citizenship, but Quaid did not and was later set to be deported. Re-entering the US before he could be sent there, Quaid and his wife were arrested in Vermont. They’ve since been released, but the only project starring Quaid that’s been released since then is the low-budget film All You Can Eat.
4.
Jeffrey Jones also worked steadily from the ’70s to the early 2000s — he was probably best known for starring in the films Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Beetlejuice — but that all came to a halt in 2002, when he was hit with child sex abuse images charges and with using a minor for sex acts, having allegedly hired a 14-year-old to take nude photos. Jones denied the charges and ultimately pled no contest. He was sentenced to five years of probation and was forced to join the sex offenders registry. Jones was later arrested and charged with a felony after not registering as a sex offender when he moved to Florida.
While Jones did manage to continue working in TV (notably, in the HBO series Deadwood), his work in children’s media was entirely ended, and he’s only had a single theatrically released film since then. His small 2019 appearance in Deadwood: The Movie (his most recent role — a TV film) was called “jarring” by Vox in light of the convictions.
5.
As a former child star, Shia LaBeouf seemed set to become a major star in the 2010s. Not only had he starred in major blockbuster franchises like Transformers and Indiana Jones, but he’d broken into the indie scene with Honey Boy, which was loosely based on his own childhood. While he was a polarizing figure with many run-ins with the law, he was still enjoying critical success.
However, things took a turn for LaBeouf in 2020 when ex-girlfriend FKA twigs accused him of sexual assault, battery, and infliction of emotional distress. She sued him in a lawsuit that also claimed he had knowingly given her an STD. Other past girlfriends echoed FKA twigs’s claims with stories of similar behavior. LaBeouf originally claimed that “many of these allegations are not true,” though in 2022, he acknowledged, “I hurt that woman. And in the process of doing that, I hurt many other people, and many other people before that woman.”
Just before the allegations came to light, LaBeouf was dropped from Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling, with Wilde claiming after the allegations that he had a “combative energy” and did not create a safe and trusting work environment. “A lot came to light after this happened that really troubled me, in terms of his behavior,” she added. LaBeouf later claimed he had left the production on his own. He was replaced with Harry Styles.
The only project LaBeouf has acted in since 2020 was the minuscule budget Italian-German film Padre Pio. While LaBeouf is slated to appear in Francis Ford Coppola’s ensemble film Megalopolis, public perception of the once beloved child star has drastically changed. His case with twigs is set to go to trial at the end of this year.
6.
James Franco was similarly no stranger to controversy by the time allegations of him having sex with his students came to light in 2018 (he had previously admitted to sending texts to a 17-year-old asking her to come to his hotel room), but the scandal marked the start of a sharp decline in his career. He was removed from a Vanity Fair cover, but he did remain in the show The Deuce (though viewers were left confused and disappointed by this decision).
In 2019, several of his former students sued him for “widespread inappropriate and sexually charged behavior toward female students by sexualizing their power as a teacher and an employer by dangling the opportunity for roles in their projects.” Franco’s lawyer called these claims “false and inflammatory” and “legally baseless”; the case was eventually settled. Franco did eventually admit to having sex with his students, but claimed sex addiction left him “blind to power dynamics” and that he hadn’t created his acting school, Studio 4, as a “master plan” to sleep with students.
He hasn’t had a project come out since 2019. While he has been cast in two upcoming projects, it still seems unlikely his career will ever recover to the levels it was at — longtime collaborator and friend Seth Rogen has even said he would not work with Franco again.
7.
Jason Mitchell rose to prominence over the 2010s in films like Straight Outta Compton, Keanu, and Kong: Skull Island. He was set to star in the Netflix movie Desperados but was fired after allegations of misconduct (including, according to the Hollywood Reporter, making “highly inappropriate remarks” to two female costars while “lingering close to their quarters”). He was then fired from the third season of Lena Waithe’s series The Chi (also due to claims of misconduct on set) and dropped by his agency.
Mitchell’s career stagnated, and then, in 2020, he was arrested after being found with firearms and drugs. However, in 2021, he appeared in one small film, and he executive produced Everything Is Both in 2023 as well as appearing in a BET original film. Time will tell if he’s able to make a full comeback.
8.
Mel Gibson took a break from Hollywood after his 2006 DUI. As he was being arrested, he went on a tirade against Jewish people, which was leaked to TMZ. A few years later, a phone call of him making racist, misogynistic comments to his ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva was also leaked. He was later charged with misdemeanor domestic violence against Grigorieva.
However, just six years after this second incident, he returned in 2016 with Hacksaw Ridge, which he directed. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, winning two. Gibson himself was even nominated for Best Director.
9.
Emile Hirsch seemed like he was going to be the next big thing after starring in Into the Wild. Afterwards, his career was a bit more shaky — he had several starring roles, but not all were successes. Still, there seemed no reason he would not continue to become an even bigger star until he assaulted a female Paramount executive at Sundance in 2015. The executive told police Hirsch “choked me up, threw me across the table, and I felt the front of my throat hit the back of my throat,” calling the attack “insanely painful and absolutely terrifying.”
Hirsch pled guilty to assault charges and was sentenced to 15 days in jail. He later revealed he didn’t remember what had happened and had been binge drinking. In the years following, Hirsch participated almost entirely in voiceover projects and small indie films, as well as a Chinese film. However, things took a turn when he appeared in a small role in Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, which provoked controversy, including from Jameela Jamil.
While the role seemed to indicate a comeback for Hirsch, this never came to fruition. He’s worked steadily since, but besides his voice work, his films have almost entirely been small indies premiering at film festivals or in select theaters and VOD, and many have poor ratings, including one with a 0% Rotten Tomatoes score.
10.
While this example has nothing to do with bad behavior, it still stands out as one where a budding star’s career was ruined overnight. Elizabeth Berkley became a teenage heartthrob as “girl next door” Jessie in Saved by the Bell, but her first big movie role after the series basically singlehandedly sank her career. The film was Showgirls, which garnered a Rotten Tomatoes Score of 23 percent. Not only did the NC-17 film tank, but Berkley’s performance was panned, causing Berkley’s career to flounder just as soon as it had begun. Berkley continued to work in film for the next decade or so, but her career never quite recovered.
11.
Another sad career dive happened to Jennifer Grey. After filming Dirty Dancing and not getting any more movie role offers, Grey decided to get a nose job, hoping to widen her casting options. Dirty Dancing ended up catapulting her into fame, and her initial nose job seemed a success. However, halfway into shooting Wind, she decided to go under the knife again when she saw white cartilage poking through at her nose tip. Her nose looked vastly different after this second surgery, and as Grey herself said, “Overnight I lost my identity and my career.”
At a movie premiere soon after her cast was removed, she said Michael Douglas didn’t recognize her. “That was the first time I had gone out in public,” she said. “And it became the thing, the idea of being completely invisible, from one day to the next. In the world’s eyes, I was no longer me.” She would not appear in another wide-scale theatrical release until a small role in 2000’s Bounce and does not appear to have had one since, which is shocking considering the career one may have expected post-Dirty Dancing.
12.
After working steadily since the ’70s, Sean Young was cast as Vicki Vale in Batman (1989) but had to drop out due to an on-set injury. Disappointed at missing out on the film, Young tried to nab a role in the sequel — specifically, Catwoman — but was not invited to audition. So she leaked an audition tape to Entertainment Tonight and went to Tim Burton’s office to make her case — only for Burton to refuse to see her and to be asked to leave.
After the incident gained news coverage, Young went on The Joan Rivers Show to tell her side of the story. Except she showed up in a Catwoman costume — which many saw as another desperate attempt to nab the role (though the truth was a bit more complicated). Not only did Young not get the role, but the adverse reaction to her stunt adversely impacted her career, as some saw it as a little too desperate. The same year, she received two Razzie awards for A Kiss Before Dying.
Unlike most entries on this list, Young continued to work steadily but did not possess the star power she’d once had. At one point, she was passed up for Dancing With The Stars, and she publicly campaigned for acting work in an appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman.
13.
Ansel Elgort was already an established movie star, but Baby Driver catapulted him to the Hollywood A-List, making him one to watch to see what came next. When he was cast in Steven Speilberg’s West Side Story, it felt like Elgort’s moment — until he was accused in 2020 of a sexual assault of a 17-year-old that had allegedly occurred in 2014, when Elgort was 20.
More women soon came forward to share their stories of troubling behavior from Elgort, including a woman that went on two dates with him at 16 and a woman who said he sent her a dick picture when she was in eighth grade. Elgort responded with claims that “I have never and would never assault anyone” and said his relationship with the first accuser was consensual. He largely retreated from the public eye after this, and notably did very little press for West Side Story, the highly anticipated Steven Spielberg remake in which he had starred. Even the original trailer barely featured him, despite his casting as one of the two starring roles.
14.
Similarly, Armie Hammer had a pretty successful career that truly skyrocketed with Call Me By Your Name. He had a whole number of new projects lined up, and then he was fired from just about every one of them (including Billion Dollar Spy, Shotgun Wedding, and the TV series The Offer) after sexual assault allegations and alleged messages in which he called himself a cannibal became public. He was also dropped by his agency and publicist.
He retreated from Hollywood and wasn’t spotted for a long time until he was discovered to be seemingly working as a timeshare salesperson in the Cayman Islands. He has no projects lined up. He did finally publicly speak on the allegations last year, denying criminal wrongdoing but admitting to an “imbalance of power” with the woman he had relationships with, as well as to having been emotionally abusive. “I’m here to own my mistakes, take accountability for the fact that I was an asshole, that I was selfish, that I used people to make me feel better, and when I was done, moved on,” he said.
15.
Finally, we’ll end on four instances where the results have yet to be seen. Ezra Miller gathered critical acclaim from multiple roles in the 2000s and 2010s, and a starring role in The Flash seemed poised to catapult him to global superstardom. But then Miller was accused, among other things, of grooming, assault, burglary, and abuse. They have also been arrested multiple times. The Flash was still released, but it failed to reach expectations. Fantastic Beasts seems to have no plans to continue, and Miller does not appear to have any projects in production.
16.
Will Smith suffered a major fall from grace after slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars in 2022. He was barred from attending Academy events for a decade, and many of his upcoming projects were delayed or halted. Public perception of Smith drastically dropped, and his next film, Emancipation, came and went without much fanfare.
However, Smith does seem on the way to making a comeback. Bad Boys: Ride or Die is a box office hit, and he also just released his first single in years, which he recently performed at the BET Awards…though it doesn’t seem that everyone is happy with his comeback attempts.
17.
Tenoch Huerta seemed about to make it big after appearing as Namor in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, but after abuse allegations last summer, his career is up in the air. The alleged victim tweeted that Huerta was a “sexual predator” who had subjected her to emotional abuse and abuse of power.” Huerta denied the allegations but quickly dropped out of his upcoming Netflix film. He has not appeared in a project since, though he did appear in a non-lead role in a Netflix series filmed before the allegations.
18.
And lastly, Jonathan Majors’ career seems to be in limbo after he initially appeared to be Marvel’s (and Hollywood’s) new darling. Majors had his breakout role in Lovecraft Country, and Marvel generated buzz by casting the up-and-comer as the post-Thanos villain of the MCU. Majors appeared in Loki and the newest Ant-Man, but his time with Marvel seemed to be only getting started. Despite plans for many future films, Majors was fired by Marvel after he was arrested and later convicted of reckless assault and harassment in his ensuing domestic violence trial.
Majors, who continues to deny the allegations, was also dropped by his manager and publicist (and dropped from multiple projects and brand deals). He appeared in his first post-conviction interview earlier this year, maintaining his innocence, so we will see if his career is permanently damaged. Just last week, he was cast in his first post-conviction movie role, so he might yet make a comeback.
