Who are some actors actresses who were supposed to be big movie stars but never really lived up to their potential?

Who are some actors actresses who were supposed to be big movie stars but never really lived up to their potential?

This list only includes child actors and teen idols who at one point was a big star, and suddenly seems to vanish from the film industry due to a variety of reasons. This list does not include actors who passed away due to accidents, addictions, or any other unfortunate events that halt their potential.

Anna Paquin: Paquin started her career as a child actress, at the age of 11 she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the second-younger winner in that category in Oscar history. Paquin definitely have both the skill and the talent, during her teenage ages she earned numerous Young Artist nominations in Fly Away Home, The Member of the Wedding, and A Walk on the Moon. Paquin starred in film directed by Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous, Steven Spielberg’s Amistad, and she gained further recognition for playing Rogue in the X-Men franchise (2000–2014). Strangely, she appeared to traded the more movie industry for smaller-scale television acting, her performance as Sookie Stackhouse in True Blood is critically lauded, but that appears to be the only role she became known for. Her presence in the X-Men film got sidelined by Ellen Page in Last Stand, and later Days of Future Past.

Thora Birch: Birch started her acting career as a child actress at age 6 in Purple People Eater, where she won a Young Artist Award, she gained further recognition as a child star in All I Want for Christmas, Patriot Game, Hocus Pocus, Monkey Trouble, Now and Then, and Alaska. Birch’s critical breakthrough came in 1999 when she played Jane Burnham (Lester Burnham’s daughter) in American Beauty, she had costarred with Scarlett Johansson in Ghost World, the film didn’t make money but it became a cult classic. Birch played Liz Murray in the biographical TV-film of Homeless to Harvard: the Liz Murrary Story, she received great critical acclaim and earned an Emmy nomination. After these professional achievements, she seems to disappear into small budget films and television appearance.

Josh Hartnett: Hartnett was big during the turn of the millennium, he initially rise to prominence from playing Jamie Lee Curtis’s son in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, and followed with success in The Faculty and The Virgin Suicide, before transition to drama like Black Hawk Down, Pearl Harbor, and comedy like 40 Days and 40 Night. Hartnett was approached several times during the early 2000s to play Superman and he turned the role down each time. It appears after the critical disaster in Pearl Harbor, Hartnett consciously took a step back from the mainstream movie industry, and turn his attention to smaller, independent films; if he did not shine away from the top, he might become an A-list star with the superhero films.

James Marsden: Marsden is in a lot of commercially successful films, he played Cyclops in X-Men, he played the secondary supporting roles (basically female lead’s backup boyfriend) in both The Notebook and Superman Returns, his performance in Hairspray and Enchanted are highly praised. He also had gained further success with 27 Dresses with Katherine Heigl (when she was popular), the teen comedy Sex Drive, and Death at a Funeral. He should’ve became a bigger star in the 2010s, as he was at his prime, always wondered why he plays a lot of supporting roles instead of leading a film.

Haley Joel Osment: Osment started his career as a famous child actor, while as other child actors only have the adorable looks, Osment definitely have talents. His performances in the Sixth Sense and Steven Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence were critically lauded, unfortunately he got the short end of the stick from puberty, and still retaining his child-like face, feels a little weird. Perhaps he was too famous as a kid, he still have a steady amount of roles in films and television, but never something on the same level as a Spielberg film.

Lindsay Lohan: Lohan was a successful child actress, she played the dual role of twin Hallie and Annie in The Parent Trap remake, her performance receive very high praise, she got a 3-picture deal with Disney which she put it to good use: two TV movies and the 2003 remake of Freaky Friday with Jamie Lee Curtis. Lohan became further successful with Confessional of a Teenage Drama Queen, the cult classic Mean Girls, and Herbie: Fully Loaded. Lohan was the “It Girl” of the early 2000s. 2006’s Just My Luck apparently broke Lohan’s winning record, and in 2007 everything went downhill for her. Her career had many interruptions from legal troubles and personal issues, backstab from her fame-seeking parents and self-sabotage with all-night partying. Such a shame, because she had both the looks and the talent, puberty didn’t affect her negatively, she has the on-screen charisma and the drive, but the partying really ruined her beauty and reputation.

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