10 actors much better than their filmographies suggest
Plenty of actors have been subjected to typecasting, with just as many having repeatedly been accused of slumming it in movies deemed as being beneath their reputation, but a star being betrayed by their filmography is something altogether different and a little more unique.
Many cinephiles have lamented the volume of terrible thrillers and dismal comedies to have recruited Robert De Niro and Al Pacino during their years as the elder statesmen of cinema, but they secured their legacies a long time ago. On the other side of the coin, Samuel L. Jackson and Danny Trejo have become synonymous with racking up countless credits that don’t require them to do anything they haven’t done at least a hundred times before, but nobody seems to mind anywhere near as much.
Everyone knows Nicolas Cage spent his years in the doldrums to overcome financial issues, while Sylvester Stallone has made a career of being written off before returning with the latest in his impressively long line of smash hits. However, actors suffocating their reputations in mediocrity are rarer.
There’s no denying that the following ten names are talented performers – and many of them have the accolades to back it up – but a string of choices that range from disastrous to infuriatingly safe gradually caused their stock to fall in the eyes of the cinemagoing audience for a number of reasons. Sure, they’ve all racked up plenty of forgettable misfires, but one or two plum gigs could theoretically change that perception in an instant.
10 underrated Hollywood actors:
10. Dwayne Johnson
Since first ascending to the top of the A-list and becoming one of Hollywood’s most in-demand and highest-paid stars, Dwayne Johnson has become more of a brand than an actor. As a result, that’s been reflected in a string of frustratingly safe career choices that have seen him staunchly refuse to exit his wheelhouse.
Excluding voice roles and a cameo as himself in the wrestling biopic Fighting With My Family, you’d have to go all the way back to 2013’s Empire State to find the last time Johnson didn’t play a variation of his established screen persona. Even at that, the street-level crime thriller was released straight to video. Since then, The Rock has almost exclusively appeared in expensively monotonous blockbusters where he plays some form of either current or retired law enforcement or military official who steps in to save the world amidst an orgy of CGI-assisted destruction and pithy one-liners.
His scene-stealing supporting turn in Be Cool, a vastly underrated dramatic performance in noble misfire Southland Tales, and his riotous work as a drug-addled ex-con in Michael Bay’s Pain & Gain hint there’s a genuine dramatic powerhouse in there somewhere, one that’s (hopefully) set to finally be unleashed when he partners with Benny Safdie and A24 for in-development biopic The Smashing Machine.
9. Aaron Eckhart
Aaron Eckhart had gained attention for solid supporting work in the likes of Erin Brockovich and The Pledge during the first decade of his career, but it was his charismatic tour-de-force as pro-smoking lobbyist Nick Naylor in Jason Reitman’s incendiary Thank You for Smoking that saw many predicting big things in his future.
Securing a Golden Globe nomination for ‘Best Actor – Musical or Comedy’, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight seemed poised to elevate him to the next level. With roguish charm, easy-going charisma, and the ability to alternate between square-jawed heroism and slick surreptitiousness at will, Eckhart’s best work was reminiscent of a Golden Age matinee idol with a penchant for breaking bad.
Outside of biographical dramas Bleed for This and Sully, though, Eckhart has found himself relegated to the realms of the direct-to-video action thriller. His last four credits – and his upcoming next five – all fall into that category, with the opportunities to capitalise on his breakout period seemingly failing to materialise despite the undoubted potential on display.
8. Chris Hemsworth
A made man as a stalwart of the Marvel Cinematic Universe since debuting as the title hero in 2011’s Thor, Chris Hemsworth‘s career outside of superheroes and spandex has largely been dogged by repeated failure.
The Red Dawn remake, Michael Mann’s Blackhat, In the Heart of the Sea, Huntsman: Winter’s War, the Ghostbusters reboot, and Men in Black: International all flopped at the box office, with his MCU endeavours at least guaranteeing commercial success. His Extraction franchise is wildly popular, in fairness, but running and gunning doesn’t exactly require the stretching of many acting muscles.
However, Hemsworth is a lot more talented than he gets credit for, even if his comedic timing is well-known and widely appreciated. Drew Pearce’s Bad Times at the El Royale and Joseph Kosinski’s Spiderhead showed adeptness at embodying malevolent figureheads that weaponize their innate charm to secure subordination, with upcoming Mad Max prequel Furiosa hinting that scenery-chewing villainy is his next port of call.
7. Halle Berry
Halle Berry might have an Academy Award for ‘Best Actress’ in her trophy cabinet, but the undoubtedly talented actor recreating that sort of form has become an increasing rarity in the years since Monster’s Ball landed her the most prestigious accolade in the industry.
Nobody suddenly becomes bad at their profession overnight, but Berry’s choices have hardly reflected her status as one of her generation’s most naturally gifted performers. Supporting roles in the John Wick and X-Men franchises remain her only movies to have won anything approaching unanimous appreciation from critics and crowds alike since 2012, although they stand out as rarities amidst a sea of underwhelming choices and disappointing duds that numbers Dark Tide, The Call, Movie 43, Kidnap, and Moonfall to offer just a sample.
On top form, Berry remains an incredible talent who’s never anything less than solid regardless of the quality of the film she’s appearing in, but her filmography has only sporadically reflected that sentiment for the last 20 years and counting.
6. Eva Green
Becoming the emotional driving force behind Daniel Craig’s entire tenure as James Bond secured Eva Green a unique place in the long-running franchise’s canon, but her Hollywood excursions ever since have, more often than not, left plenty to be desired.
Following her breakout performance in Casino Royale, Green would appear in nine consecutive critical misfires until 2014’s sun-baked western The Salvation, with her regular sojourns back to her native France proving eminently more fruitful after sci-fi Proxima and the recent Three Musketeers duo scored the best critical reception she’d seen since her 007 days.
Substandard sequel 300: Rise of an Empire and the forgettable fantasy Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children offered reminders she’s more than capable of strolling in and waltzing away with an entire movie under her arm, but those projects have been few and far between.
5. Naomi Watts
Naomi Watts was already a decade and a half into her career when she first rose to prominence in the early 2000s through Mulholland Drive, The Ring, and 21 Grams, indicating that she was set to enjoy a long and successful career in a very similar vein to long-time close friend Nicole Kidman.
While there have been bright spots along the way – including Eastern Promises, Birdman, and The Impossible, to name but three – Watts has never recaptured that early momentum. Despite trying her hand at action, sci-fi, fantasy, and thrillers, the end results have never been particularly memorable in spite of her performances largely having avoided a descent into mediocrity.
Conversely, the fact her four Golden Raspberry nominations for ‘Worst Actress’ have all come in the ten years since her second – and so far last – Academy Awards nomination for ‘Best Actress’ tells its own story of how Watts has failed to maintain her initial mainstream acclaim.
4. Vince Vaughn
Certain actors can be so comfortable in a certain sandbox that they seem to lose all interest in even attempting anything else, a sentiment that applied to Vince Vaughn for the longest time as he settled into his groove as the star of countless studio comedies.
Between the release of Wedding Crashers in 2005 and Hacksaw Ridge 11 years later, the only movie Vaughn starred in that won overwhelmingly positive notices was the biopic Into the Wild, which just so happened to be a powerful and stirring drama that required more than his usual schtick.
S. Craig Zahler knew there was a potent powerhouse lurking beneath Vaughn’s hulking frame, which he utilised to stunning effect in both Brawl in Cell Block 99 and Dragged Across Concrete. His recent comedic efforts have continued to see him coasting, but those two crime thrillers – along with the aforementioned Hacksaw Ridge and Fighting With My Family – offered all-too-rare reminders of the actor’s dramatic heft.
3. Melissa McCarthy
No offence intended to the couple, but having starred in five of his films and failed to find a shred of acclaim in any of them – maybe it would be for the best if Melissa McCarthy didn’t headline every single one of her husband Ben Falcone’s directorial efforts.
In fact, it might even be a wise move for the actor to forego comedy altogether for a while, considering her incredible Academy Award-nominated performance in Can You Ever Forgive Me? stands out among a sea of interminable comedic vehicles as a bright spot.
There’s no denying that McCarthy excels at drama, but it’s absolutely not a coincidence that almost every one of her worst-reviewed features requires her to run through many of the familiar slapstick and foul-mouthed beats that first shot her to prominence with Bridesmaids. Variety is the spice of life, after all, and the star has proven many times already that leaving the laughs behind brings out the best in her.
2. Toby Kebbell
Dead Man’s Shoes, Control, and RocknRolla showcased the many different and equally admirable sides of Toby Kebbell’s arsenal within a short space of time, but whoever was – or perhaps continues to be – responsible for booking his Hollywood gigs has done him no favours whatsoever.
As talented as he may be, signing on for such blockbuster dreck as Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Wrath of the Titans, Warcraft, Ben-Hur, The Hurricane Heist, Fantastic Four, and Bloodshot reads as misstep after misstep, although Kebbell ironically proved his big budget chops wearing a motion capture leotard as the ferocious Koba in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
Held for Ransom and Destroyer reiterated his credentials as a chameleonic dramatic talent, but they stand out as frustrating anomalies after Kebbell opted to become repeatedly lost in the shuffle among pixelated monsters and superheroic stinkers.
1. Adam Sandler
The most infuriating thing about Adam Sandler for the better part of 25 years was that he knew fine well he was an incredible actor, but he simply wasn’t interested in abandoning his tried-and-tested method of churning out formulaic comedies that repeatedly reunited him with his friends and family.
However, the triple-pronged assault of Uncut Gems, Hustle, and You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah arriving in quick succession and taking their place among the best-reviewed outings of his entire career might just be hinting that a more permanent segue could be on the cards, especially with Chernobyl director Johan Renck’s sci-fi drama Spaceman up next.
Punch-Drunk Love and Reign Over Me were the only non-comedy films Sandler popped up in between 1989 and 2017, and he not-so-coincidentally won plenty of praise for both. Having stretched himself more times in the last five years than he did the previous 30, a brand new era for the performer might genuinely be lurking over the horizon, and not before time.
