18 Actors Who Revived Their Careers With One Role, Vs. 14 Stars That Literally Never Recovered From A Flop

As an actor, all it takes is one role to make or break your career, which is both incredible and very, very scary.

So, over on Reddit, movie-lovers have been compiling examples of stars whose careers were revived by roles, along with the less fortunate actors who — sometimes unfairly — never came back from certain projects. (Stay tuned until the end for an example of mine that I can't believe no one else mentioned!)

Note: These are people's own personal takes. Some of the text has been edited for clarity and length.

1. REIVIVED THEIR CAREER: Sean Connery in The Untouchables (1987)

"He had a fairly big resurgence in the '90s thanks to this movie and even got an Oscar for it. Not a big De Palma fan, but I love this movie to this day and would love a 4K disc to be released."

"Sean Connery's career in the early 1980s had just completely fallen off the rails. He was in some bad non-A-list films throughout the '70s. Couldn't shake the shadow of James Bond. Then Brian DePalma cast him in The Untouchables. He got nominated for his amazing role, and his career was back on track, doing films like Indiana Jones, The Hunt for Red October, and The Rock. Great Hollywood comeback."

2. RUINED THEIR CAREER: Mike Myers in The Cat in the Hat (2003)

"His most high-profile roles since were as a minor character in Bohemian Rhapsody and another minor character in Inglourious Basterds. Not only that, but it led to Dr. Seuss's widow revoking the rights to make live-action Dr. Seuss movies."

"Considering the success of the Austin Powers series not that long before, it was pretty dramatic. Just seemed like everyone got tired of the same humor."

"He was a king of comedy and then wasn't hired again."

3. REVIVED THEIR CAREER: Josh Brolin in No Country for Old Men (2007)

"Only Goonies fans knew who Josh Brolin was until he made a comeback 20 years later."

"Then he did No Country for Old Men. What a fucking home run that was!"

4. RUINED THEIR CAREER: Taylor Lautner in Abduction (2011)

"A rare one-and-done flop is possibly Taylor Lautner and Abduction. Admittedly, he wasn’t an A-list stand-alone leading man star before this (despite being a key character in a massive franchise), but it kind of immediately solidified that he was never going to be, despite all the hype."

"That movie really fucked up his ascension. The cast was sneaky good, too, but it was so boring and generic. He hasn't recovered."

"Abduction made it clear that Taylor Lautner wasn't going to have a post-Twilight acting career."

5. REVIVED THEIR CAREER: Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man (2008)

"He was popular during the '80s. Got lost with substance abuse. Came back with a vengeance. The rest is history."

"Robert Downey Jr. was pretty much blacklisted from Hollywood because of his drug habits. When John Favreau signed on to direct Iron Man, he insisted that RDJ play Tony Stark."

6. RUINED THEIR CAREER: Elizabeth Berkley in Showgirls (1995)

"Traded in her success on Saved by the Bell for a lead role in a VERY adult first feature role, and it was...not good is an understatement. You don't hear from her again."

"Elizabeth Berkley was basically ruined after Showgirls. I think she did a few TV roles, but certainly nothing major."

7. REVIVED THEIR CAREER: Jason Bateman in Arrested Development (2003-2019)

"Before he did Arrested Development, he pretty much was relegated to bit parts in movies and TV. Afterwards, he was getting leading roles again."

"Teen Wolf Too almost immediately killed Jason Bateman's film career, LOL, but then we all know he came back to prominence with Arrested Development."

8. RUINED THEIR CAREER: Chris O'Donnell in Batman & Robin (1997)

"Chris O’Donnell was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor with Scent of a Woman in 1992, but Batman & Robin basically stopped his career cold. He had a few movies afterwards, but he was cooked after that."

9. REVIVED THEIR CAREER: Neil Patrick Harris in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle (2004)

"Though I wouldn’t say Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle was a great role. But, it definitely put him back on the Hollywood radar and landed him on How I Met Your Mother."

"Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle literally put him back in the zeitgeist enough to land him the How I Met Your Mother part."

10. RUINED THEIR CAREER: Faye Dunaway in Mommie Dearest (1981)

"Talk about box office poison. I don’t know if the movie was a commercial success, but she was ridiculed for her wild performance at the time, which I adore and rewatch regularly."

"Faye Dunaway was the most in-demand actress of the 70s. From Bonnie and Clyde, through iconic roles in movies like Network and Chinatown, she was a huge star. Then Mommie Dearest came out. Her performance was ridiculed, and her career never recovered."

11. REVIVED THEIR CAREER: Leslie Nielsen in Airplane! (1980)

"His serious acting career was basically over, but the movie kick-started his comedy acting career."

"Not that he wasn't working before that film, but it really rejuvenated his career and sent it in a totally new direction."

12. RUINED THEIR CAREER: Daisy Ridley in Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

"Daisy Ridley's career pretty much crashed and burned after her wooden portrayal of Rey in the final Star Wars trilogy. She still hasn't recovered from what should have been a career-launching role."

"She seemed like a decently solid actress trying her ass off to sell it to people and make them happy about the new trilogy, and they hated her for being a female Jedi."

"There was a story where she told an interviewer that she was frustrated that she couldn't get work, which was sort of sad. Fair or unfair, the way her character was filmed in Star Wars made it look like she couldn't act, and now she has the daunting challenge of overcoming that."

13. REVIVED THEIR CAREER: Jessica Lange in American Horror Story (2011-present)

"Definitely brought her back into relevance with a new generation."

"AHS definitely brought her back into the forefront."

14. RUINED THEIR CAREER: Arnold Schwarzenegger in Last Action Hero (1993)

"Last Action Hero was devastating for Arnold’s movie career, even if True Lies came afterwards, and everyone liked that movie. The era was over for him, and everything afterwards was a bomb or just meh (tho I personally liked T3)."

15. REVIVED THEIR CAREER: Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

"He was doing all rom-coms and B-movies. Then he came out with Dallas Buyers Club, True Detective, and Interstellar. He had an interview on Howard Stern where he said he decided to reinvent himself or risk killing his career. So he turned down the easy-money rom-coms he was being offered. He didn't get a single movie offer for 14 months before he started getting more 'real' roles."

"He switched from handsome rom-com guy to heady, intellectually stimulating cinema. That’s a dramatic swap."

16. RUINED THEIR CAREER: Brie Larson in Captain Marvel (2019)

"I don't think Brie Larson can recover from Captain Marvel. She's been reduced to making YouTube videos, and I don't think her channel is even doing very well right now..."

17. REVIVED THEIR CAREER: Drew Barrymore in Scream (1996)

"Her teenage years were a little rocky, and it wasn't really clear if she'd carry her childhood success into adulthood or not. After Scream, people started to pay more attention to her, and good roles started coming in again."

18. RUINED THEIR CAREER: Geena Davis in Cutthroat Island (1995)

"Geena Davis was a rising star, and Cutthroat Island killed her career. She was never in any major roles after that."

"Cutthroat Island was a massive failure all around, but it completely tanked Geena Davis’s career."

19. REVIVED THEIR CAREER: Liam Neeson in Taken

"Totally different career trajectory afterwards. Who becomes an action star at 56?"

"Liam Neeson found an entirely new, late-stage career thanks to Taken."

20. RUINED THEIR CAREER: Jared Leto in Suicide Squad (2016)

"Jared Leto would have done fine derailing himself, but his Joker performance made him a world-renowned laughing stock."

"Jared Leto playing the Joker in Suicide Squad. That movie only ruined SOME careers, but it most definitely ANNIHILATED Jared Leto's."

21. REVIVED THEIR CAREER: Winona Ryder in Black Swan (2010)

"Black Swan got Winona noticed again. People were shocked at how well she aged and believably looks like a ballerina who has aged out.'"

"Winona Ryder and Black Swan. I always liked her and didn't get why a little shoplifting could destroy a career, when all of the other stuff that goes on with people gets a pass."

22. REVIVED THEIR CAREER: Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds (2009)

"Spending most of his career playing in German television movies, then BAM Tarantino calls, and he gets an Oscar. Holy shit."

"He went from 'who's that?' to winning two Academy Awards in the space of three years."

23. RUINED THEIR CAREER: Hayden Christensen in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)

"I feel like there’s an alternate timeline where Hayden Christensen DIDN'T do Attack of the Clones and became Tom Hiddleston."

"He was done dirty with the horrible writing."

24. REVIVED THEIR CAREER: Keanu Reeves in John Wick (2014)

"He hadn’t done anything worthwhile since Matrix ended in 2003. John Wick definitely gave him a second wind."

"His recent resurgence and everyone saying he's the best definitely started with John Wick. Funnily enough, said resurgence has seemingly erased the time period where he wasn't doing much, and everyone clowned on him for being a bad actor."

25. RUINED THEIR CAREER: Eddie Murphy in Norbit (2007)

"It was already at an incredible low point until he was lauded for a supporting role in Dreamgirls. There was talk of him having a resurgence, then Norbit came out, and it wiped out any goodwill he'd accrued."

"Was favourite to win an Oscar for Dreamgirls, but Norbit came out and ended him."

26. REVIVED THEIR CAREER: Michael Keaton in Birdman (2014)

"Michael Keaton had a renaissance after Birdman. Such a good actor, weird that he kind of vanished having been an A-lister in the late '80s, early '90s."

"His performance was jaw-dropping and pretty much ushered him back into Hollywood for grittier, more nuanced roles."

"He’d been relegated to movies like Herbie: Fully Loaded in the mid-2000s until he got cast in Birdman, leading to him being nominated for an Oscar and back to being an A-list dramatic actor."

27. RUINED THEIR CAREER: Taylor Kitsch in John Carter (2012)

"Taykor Kitsch. Very capable actor, but John Carter and Battleship both did badly. John Carter was supposed to be a Summer blockbuster, but it was advertised so terribly that people didn't know what it was about. My brother and I stuck it on one day, looking for a stupid, lazy movie, and we both thought it was excellent."

"Kitsch seemingly had the worst agent in Hollywood. John Carter is a fun movie, but a bust, and then following it up with Battleship was tough."

"A couple of high-profile flops can make execs think twice about an actor’s ability to draw crowds, ie, Taylor Kitsch with John Carter (I liked that film, but it didn’t draw)."

28. REVIVED THEIR CAREER: Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder (2008)

"I thought Tom Cruise was done for a few years, until I saw him in Tropic Thunder. He had just gone through some crazy times publicly, so I thought it was so great to see him do something that wasn’t serious."

"That dance is what saved his career."

29. RUINED THEIR CAREER: Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Premium Rush (2012)

"Joseph Gordon Levitt was in everything, and then he did Premium Rush in 2012. He’s been in some other things since then, but he’s definitely not as popular as he was after that movie."

"In 2012, he was in a Batman movie, Looper (arguably the best sci-fi film of that decade), and Lincoln, which not only won Oscars but is considered one of Spielberg's best films. Yet his career kind of tailed off after Premium Rush (ok kind of mediocre) and Don Jon (one of those pointless films where I can't understand why anyone wanted to make it) in 2012/13. He's had some decent films out in the 2020s, but the previous decade was weird, considering it should have been the highlight of his career."

30. REVIVED THEIR CAREER: Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems (2019)

"I think a lot of people still thought of him as the silly guy from Billy Madison, Little Nicky, etc., and he’s been in some really terrible movies in the last decade. But him starring in a drama/thriller reminded people that he can really act."

"I don’t think anybody wanted to see anything with Adam Sandler in it until that movie."

31. REVIVED THEIR CAREER: Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool (2016)

"Before that movie came out, he had a bunch of flops as a leading man and looked like he was headed towards a direct-to-VOD career."

"Ryan Reynolds’s career was destroyed by Green Lantern and revived by Deadpool."

So, that's what the people are saying! But before we go, I've gotta shine some light on how The Town helped revive Ben Affleck's career in the early 2010s.

After a string of box-office disappointments (and a lot going on in his personal life), things were seriously rough for Ben in the 2000s. But then, in 2010, he co-wrote, directed, and starred in The Town, which became a commercial and critical hit. Putting himself firmly back in the public's good graces as a respected filmmaker, he followed up by directing and starring in Argo, which won Best Picture at the 2013 Oscars. Talk about a career turnaround!

Do you agree with these takes? Let me know in the comments. And feel free to use the form below to share any examples you think we missed!