Famous Actors Who Ruined Their Careers

Extra Pressure

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that actors are humans too and can often make mistakes just like the rest of us. But when you’re famous, extra pressure is added to be perfect because all eyes are on you. Making the wrong decision can destroy their career instantly.

That’s exactly what happened to the actors on the following list. Let’s take a look at some actors who made decisions that destroyed their careers in a matter of moments.

Randy Quaid

Randy Quaid has been a famous actor for decades now. Known for appearing in gut-busting comedies such as the “National Lampoon’s Vacation” films and “Kingpin”. But he had also starred in a few critically acclaimed dramas like “Brokeback Mountain.” So what happened that made everything go so terribly wrong?

In September of 2009, Quaid and his wife, Evi, were arrested after they failed to pay a $10,000 hotel bill. After this, they were arrested again after they were found squatting in a home they no longer owned, they then skipped town and headed to Canada. Since the late 2000s, he has only starred in one film. He played a bizarre role in the 2018 indie film “All You Can Eat”.

Jennifer Grey

You would think that when your resume features roles in “Ferris Bueller Day’s Off” and “Dirty Dancing,” you would be set to have an extremely successful career ahead of you. But in the early 90s, Jennifer Grey’s career began to slow down and she decided to get a nose job. After this operation, she was left nearly unrecognizable in a career where she once was recognized wherever she went.

She never managed to reach mega-star status after the 80s, but she found work on and off in the 2000s and beyond where she settled into a solid career as a character actor. She’s guest-starred on a lot of famous shows.

Wesley Snipes

Wesley Snipes was at the peak of his career when he starred in “White Men Can’t Jump” and the Blade trilogy. But it all went downhill when he decided not to pay his taxes. It got so bad that he was jailed for these offenses.

After this, his career came to a sudden halt. He was locked up for years and by the time he was released, it seemed the world had forgotten about him.

Michael Richards

In 2006, Michael Richards of “Seinfeld” found himself in a battle of wits with one of the members of his audience, during this battle, he made a split-second decision that immediately destroyed his career. After the man criticized him, Richards responded with a string of racial slurs and demanded that the African-American man be thrown out of the club, reports The Washington Post.

Richards left the stage without finishing his routine. After this, he appeared on the “Late Show with David Letterman” to apologize for what he had done. He told the world that he was “deeply sorry” about what happened and insisted that he was not racist. But this didn’t help him. After this, his career has been limited to the occasional token TV appearance.

Brendan Fraiser

Brendan Fraser became one of the most famous actors in the world after he starred as the swashbuckling Rick O’Connell in “The Mummy,” which was one of the first in a trilogy that ended up defining him. The franchise came to an unspectacular end in 2008, but Fraser struck gold when another one of his movies became an unexpected hit that same year.

But his relative disappearance and reemergence were because of a lengthy profile for GQ. He revealed that his career was on a downswing thanks to a combination of retreat and professional retaliation by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Tila Tequila

Tila “Tequila” Nguyen is one of the earliest recognized social media celebrities. She was one of the most popular faces on MySpace but then she became one of the most unpopular personalities in recent history. She first appeared on the big screen in “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.” But her career came crashing down after bizarre posts were made on her website in which she sympathized with Adolf Hitler.

In 2015, she attempted to make a comeback when she appeared as a housemate on the U.K’s “Celebrity Big Brother.” But when showrunners learned of her past statements, she was quickly booted from the house.

Lindsay Lohan

Lindsay Lohan was everywhere in the early 2000s. Her breakthrough roles were 2003’s “Freaky Friday,” 2004’s “Mean Girls,” and 2005’s “Herbie: Fully Loaded.” But she soon lost all relevance in 2007. On May 26, she was taken to a hospital in Beverly Hills after she had gotten into a car accident.

She was later discharged from the Wonderland Center rehab facility in Los Angeles for undisclosed problems. Just two months later, she was arrested on the same charges, just days after another unsuccessful stint in rehab. Her career was pretty much over after this.