5 Actors Who Haven’t Made A Great Movie In Years

Hollywood is full of talented people who regularly make incredibly entertaining movies and TV shows for the viewing pleasure of the wider public. It’s one of the biggest industries in the world, and has dominated pop culture for generations, with the biggest movies becoming cultural phenomena in their own right. Actors are the face of any given movie, as they lend their features and their acting talents to bringing scripts to life. Many of the best actors win Oscars or other awards for their performances, giving them an added mark of prestige against their name to note alongside their impressive acting credits.

What makes an actor great isn’t an exact science, as many different elements of a performer can lead to a good reputation. Some actors prepare rigorously for their roles, while others are lucky to have been given parts in incredible movies that earn them major success. However, these reputations can go another way, with actors’ careers seemingly taking a turn when they spend a while without featuring in a good film. Though it isn’t a comment on their own acting ability, some actors simply haven’t made a good movie in years.

5) Billy Bob Thornton

From the early days of his career as an actor in Troma movies to the present, Billy Bob Thornton has experienced some huge highs and major lows. The 1990s saw Thornton rise to global stardom, with celebrated roles in Sling Blade and A Simple Plan earning him major award nominations (and a win), and credits in Tombstone, Primary Colors, and Armageddon making him a household name. The 2000s saw Billy Bob Thornton continue his hot streak with roles in several other successful movies.

Unfortunately, recent years haven’t been as kind to Thornton’s movie career. Arguably, his last great movie was all the way back in 2004 with Friday Night Lights, with his film credits since earning mixed or negative reviews. However, it is worth noting that Thornton has been far luckier with TV roles, having appeared in a number of highly respected television shows in recent years despite his movie credits leaving much to be desired.

4) Rosario Dawson

Though she’s now known as the star of the Star Wars TV show Ahsoka, Rosario Dawson has long been one of the most well-known actors in Hollywood. After making her feature-film debut in the 1990s, Dawson went on to feature in several successful movies, including Men in Black II, Sin City, and Clerks II. Despite a run of great movies in the late ’90s and early 2000s, Rosario Dawson has not been in a great film for years.

Dawson’s last majorly successful movie was Death Proof in 2007, with many of her more recent movie roles falling flat with critics or at the box office. However, Rosario Dawson is another actor who has kept herself busy with great TV performances, including the role of Claire Temple in the TV shows of the MCU and her aforementioned live-action Star Wars role. Despite continued success on the small screen, Dawson is another great actor who simply hasn’t made a great movie in a long time.

3) John Travolta

John Travolta has been a Hollywood A-lister since his meteoric rise to fame in the 1970s, which saw him feature in movies such as Carrie, Saturday Night Fever, and Grease. After making a bad movie that killed his hot streak, the following decades saw Travolta’s success become a little more sporadic, but he still featured in some great movies, with the 1990s also bringing him some respected roles. The 2000s saw Travolta’s movie career hit a rough patch, and it’s one that he’s still hardly recovered from.

Recent years haven’t provided John Travolta with any noteworthy movie roles. The majority of his film credits in the past decade have been direct-to-video releases, and underwhelming ones at that. For an actor who has starred in so many beloved and iconic movies, Travolta’s lack of any good recent movies seems especially sad.

2) Halle Berry

Halle Berry might be a hugely celebrated actor, but she’s also an incredibly inconsistent one. After making her acting breakthrough in the 1990s, Berry quickly rose to prominence, winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the 2001 movie Monster’s Ball. Also starring in X-Men (2000), Swordfish (2001), and Die Another Day (2002), it seemed at that time that Berry was likely to remain one of Hollywood’s greatest stars. Things didn’t quite work out that way, though.

Berry went on a run of poor movies before featuring in anything worth watching. From then on, her movies could only be considered average at best, with very little of note happening until 2019, when she featured in John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum. The six years since then have returned to being unremarkable, which is a shame considering Berry’s proven acting talent.

1) Cuba Gooding Jr.

After making his breakthrough in the 1991 movie Boyz n the Hood, Cuba Gooding Jr. was tipped for greatness. Winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in 1996’s Jerry Maguire, Gooding ended the ’90s on a high note before starring in several high-profile movies in the early 2000s. However, he hasn’t really made a good movie in almost two decades now.

Though Cuba Gooding Jr. earned some acclaim in 2016 by appearing in a season of American Horror Story and getting nominated for an Emmy for his portrayal of O.J. Simpson in The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, his movie career has all but dried up. A run of unimpressive movies perhaps soured Hollywood on the actor, and he hasn’t yet recovered on the big screen. Though his career is still going strong, Gooding hasn’t starred in a great movie for a long time now.

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