Jackie Chan has had two Hollywood hype pushes with mixed results. He found early success as a stuntman and actor in the action comedy genre and spent decades becoming a successful action star in the East Asian film industry before his big Hollywood break. After gaining a foothold in the United States with the success of Rumble in the Bronx (which was and still is rare for Hong Kong actors) he was discovered by the Hollywood hype machine and cast opposite Chris Tucker in Rush Hour which became a massive Star-Making Role and grossed $244 million worldwide. He followed this up with another critical and commercial success in the form of Shanghai Noon. Unfortunately he followed this with a series of critical and commercial flops including The Tuxedo, The Medallion, and Around the World in 80 Days (2004). He returned to form with Rush Hour 3 which was a modest financial success and drew Hollywood's attention again, only for The Spy Next Door to tank badly and turn into a Star-Derailing Role. This was also around the time where Chan – who was in his forties and less able to do dangerous action stunts – grew frustrated with Hollywood typecasting him as an action hero. He ended up forming his own production company which allowed him to branch out and diversify with successful films such as New Police Story and The Myth. This new change in acting style has resulted in further hits and misses but in spite of the misses Jackie Chan is still a well-known name and a successful actor despite never fully breaking out in America.
Chris Evans has had his ups and downs with this trope. After his role in Not Another Teen Movie, he got a number of prominent roles, most notably as the Human Torch in Fantastic Four (2005) and its sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. While most of his films did fairly well, they were usually not well-received by critics, and he never broke out as a major star. He did get some positive press for his roles in Sunshine and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, but they didn't do very well at the box office. However, his career began picking up in 2011 when he was cast as Captain America in Captain America: The First Avenger and subsequent Marvel Cinematic Universe films. While his films outside it (The Iceman and Snowpiercer) have been only moderately successful, his Marvel roles should keep him around for a while. If anything kills Evans's career it may well be Evans himself. He's expressed ambivalence about his blockbusters and stated that he may well retire after his Marvel contract is up to focus on directing. After Avengers: Endgame, which is his last movie as Captain America, Evans appeared in Knives Out with Daniel Craig (see above), gaining particular praise for his performance.
Ryan Gosling became a star with The Notebook and a critical darling with Half Nelson, and Hollywood seems intent on selling the idea that he is sexier than sex. It's debatable whether there's general audience agreement. His movies have done fairly well financially, but that could mainly be because they had high-profile co-stars such as George Clooney and Steve Carell. Critics still love him, but he has yet to headline a real blockbuster, and given he's inclined to smaller-scale dramas over special-effects spectacles, he might never become another Tom Cruise, although he possibly prefers it that way. It should be also noted that he's somewhat becoming typecast after Drive (2011), with most roles afterwards being similarly tough guys in hyper-violent (read: R-rated) actionesque flicks. However, he earned praise for his comedy chops in The Nice Guys, his musical performance in La La Land won him a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination for Best Actor and his role as Ken in Barbie (2023).
Viggo Mortensen is another example of someone who didn't want to lean too much into the hype train. After starring in movies throughout the 80s and 90s, he was cast in The Lord of the Rings as Aragorn at the last minute (at the insistence of his son, no less) and was promptly catapulted to global superstardom. In spite of this he was candid in interviews about how he was more concerned about pursuing his interests – which include acting – rather than being an A-list Hollywood star. He appreciated that the role gave him the freedom and flexibility to make the sort of movies he wanted which has been reflective of his subsequent career over the years. When he's not writing poetry, painting, composing music, doing stage work or practicing photography his film work and collaboration with David Cronenberg have both seen consistent commercial and critical success, with praise for Mortensen's acting in particular. Most notably he's netted Academy Award nominations for his work in Eastern Promises, Captain Fantastic and Green Book.
Much like his Red Eye co-star Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy is a case who deliberately didn't want to live up too much to the hype. His role as Jim in 28 Days Later was the first major exposure he got to American audiences before hitting the big-time in 2005 with Batman Begins, Red Eye, and Breakfast on Pluto (the last of which got him a Golden Globe nomination), and several media outlets touted him as the "next big star". However, he's gone out of his way to deliberately stay out of the spotlight, motivated by his immense discomfort with the Hollywood system of celebrity culture and annoyance with being typecast as a "villain actor" because of his performances in Batman and Red Eye. While he's still steadily working and earning rave reviews for his performances (especially in Peaky Blinders), he could've been as A-list as anybody if he wanted to be. Luckily, his work in Batman Begins impressed director Christopher Nolan enough to make the actor a mainstay in his Production Posse. Murphy hasappearedinmost of Nolan's work since then in a side capacity, before finally playing the lead as theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer in the biopic Oppenheimer. Murphy's performance earned critical acclaim and later led him to win the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Chris Rock got his start as a Saturday Night Live cast member, then his career exploded in the mid 90's with the HBO stand-up special Bring the Pain, which made him a network favorite for the rest of the decade. He soon got film roles in a number of comedies including Dogma, Beverly Hills Ninja and Down to Earth. Unfortunately, most of his films were mediocre at best, and didn't draw many audiences to the theaters. He took a break from starring in live-action films in the mid 2000's and went to voice work, notably voicing Marty in the Madagascar series, and eventually ventured into television production with the highly successful sitcom Everybody Hates Chris, which ran for four seasons. He's also hosted two Oscar ceremonies to wit, so he's still kicking for the time being. Starting in The New '20s, Rock's prospects rose when he starred in the fourth season of Fargo (which, although not as universally acclaimed as prior seasons, still received decent reviews) and the Saw spin-off Spiral (based on an idea conceived by Rock himself, it did decently at the box office despite mixed reviews). He also regained a lot of public sympathy after Will Smith slapped him during the Oscars ceremony in 2022.
Mark Wahlberg transitioned into acting beginning in the 1990s after a successful music career that he nonetheless looks back unfavorably on. His role in Boogie Nights proved to be his breakout both critically and commercially, after which he transitioned into big-budget films where he saw a string of successes including Three Kings, The Perfect Storm and The Italian Job – some of these saw more mixed critical reception but fared well financially such as such as Planet of the Apes. This drew the attention of producers and resulted in a big push that culminated in an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Departed. His track record since then has been somewhat mixed and it's debatable whether he's lived up to the hype push he received. Several flops in the late 2000s and early 2010s including Max Payne and The Happening caused him to fall out of favor as a traditional leading man. He rebounded throughout the 2010s with both comedic roles such as Ted and more serious fare such as Lone Survivor, and Transformers: Age of Extinction saw his return to big budget mainstream films. He's still working and can still draw headline bankable films and draw praise from critics, but The New '20s have seen something of a rut – both his comedic films (The Family Plan, Me Time) and serious films (Infinite, Father Stu) have been received poorly. Only time will tell if he'll experience a resurgence.
Actresses:
In a tragic example of this trope, Aaliyah was never able to prove whether or not she deserved all the hype she was given. After being the female lead in the surprise 2000 hit Romeo Must Die, it was widely predicted that she would be able to translate her highly successful R&B career into being a Hollywood leading lady, resulting in her getting the title role in Queen of the Damned, along with a major part in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. Unfortunately, right after finishing principal photography on Queen of the Damned, she was killed in a plane crash, and the rock performance-heavy nature of the film meant it was extremely reliant on ADR dubbing, which she never had the chance to do before her death, meaning that nearly all her character's dialogue in the finished film was recorded by a sound-alike (her part in the Matrix sequels was subsequently recast with Nona Gaye). If nothing else however, the enduring success of her music well over a decade later shows that the hype around her R&B career was entirely justified.
Kristen Bell was pushed heavily by Hollywood following Veronica Mars, but it was her Forgetting Sarah Marshall co-stars Mila Kunis (see below) and Russell Brand who became bigger stars out of the deal. So far, she's decently well-known, but is nowhere near what Hollywood was hoping. While she had a lead role in Disney's box office juggernaut Frozen, voice-over success tends to not translate back into live-action (ask Tangled'sMandy Moore) and the majority of the hype that did come out of Frozen seems to have gone to Idina Menzel (or even Josh Gad). She's only been in a few live-action films that grossed more than $40 million (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Couples Retreat, Scream 4, The Boss, Bad Moms and the latter's sequel) and she was part of an ensemble in all of them. With the Veronica Mars film having a concurrent launch on video-on-demand, her cold live-action streak on the big screen will live on. As far as she's concerned, television is indeed The Good Place.
Gal Gadot started out playing a supporting role in The Fast and the Furious franchise, but her big break came when she played Wonder Woman in the DC Extended Universe. Although the character debuted as a supporting role in the polarizing Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Gadot's performance was well-received even by the film's harshest critics. The subsequent Wonder Woman origin movie was a critical and commercial success with many critics positively comparing Gadot to Robert Downey Jr. and Christopher Reeve as the generation's most iconic superhero actor. Not only that, but a Wonder Woman sequel was fast-tracked while many other DCEU movies linger in Development Hell, ensuring that she will keep playing Wonder Woman even as her co-stars Henry Cavill and Ben Affleck have a much more uncertain future in the franchise. Outside of The Fast and the Furious and DC movies, she had a voice role in Ralph Breaks the Internet, surprising many by being not only a decent voice actor but also a good singer. When the COVID-19 Pandemic struck, Gadot's future projects pivoted from theaters to streaming, with Wonder Woman 1984 and Red Notice becoming major hits on Max and Netflix, respectively. However, both received mixed reviews, with Wonder Woman 1984 in particular being viewed as a notable step down from the first film. Her next theatrically released project was an adaptation of Death on the Nile (2022) directed by Kenneth Branagh, which also received mixed reviews and underperformed at the box office.
Olivia Hussey became a worldwide sensation for her role in Romeo and Juliet (1968) at the age of sixteen. She's been known to joke about how she was never that good at managing her career – as she ended up turning down roles in Anne of the Thousand Days and True Grit through youthful nervesnote She recalls accidentally blurting out "John Wayne doesn't do anything for me" when a producer asked about True Grit. and she did take a few years off acting because of her agoraphobia. That being said, she still managed to have notable roles in respected projects like Death on the Nile, Jesus of Nazareth, The Bastard, Mother Theresa of Calcutta and Cult Classics like Black Christmas (1974) and It (1990). So while she is probably best known as Juliet, she doesn't seem to mind, and her filmography is still quite varied (she also became a voice actress for the DC animated universe and Star Wars video games).
Diane Kruger debuted with a memorable bang in Troy as Helen and soon got lots of parts in America as a result, most notably in the National Treasure films and Inglourious Basterds. But she rarely found work besides roles that catered to her beauty, and her progress seemed to wither in The New '10s. She's still modeling and working away, so she isn't gone just yet.
Mila Kunis was well-known to audiences for her roles in That '70s Show and Family Guy, but she got a big breakthrough with Forgetting Sarah Marshall - taking much of the spotlight away from Kristen Bell (mentioned above). She won lots of acclaim for her role as Lily in Black Swan, and was named the Sexiest Woman Alive in 2013. Although her next big blockbuster Oz the Great and Powerful made plenty of money, her performance was widely panned. Not helping matters was her first headlining role – Jupiter Ascending – being a Box Office Bomb. She has Family Guy to fall back on and scored a hit with Bad Moms, so time will tell.
Alyssa Milano got fame as a child star in the '80s with Who's the Boss? and got a huge Japanese following - enough to sign her to a five album recording contract over there. As she entered her twenties, she suffered the age-old Contractual Purity that dogs many child stars. She finally succeeded in breaking out of her nice girl image with erotic films that became cult classics. Magazine covers and cosmetic endorsements followed, as did a Ms. Fanservice push in Melrose Place and Charmed. The latter lasted a shocking eight seasons and it was predicted she would become a breakout star from it. Film offers came but she never had a notable hit. In The New '10s, she settled comfortably as the host of Project Runway: All Stars. It's not the career it could have been, but she doesn't seem stuck for work. Later in the decade, however, she became well-known for her progressive political activism during the Donald Trump presidency. In the wake of the sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein, she championed feminist causes by kickstarting the #MeToo movement and supporting the Time's Up movement. She also parlayed her fame into hosting the Sorry, Not Sorry podcast and as a producer.
Sharon Tate was hyped up as a potential new star throughout The '60s. She notably had small roles on film and television until her supporting part in Eye of the Devil, before the successes of The Fearless Vampire Killers and Valley of the Dolls marked her official breakout. However, more attention was given to her beauty and willingness to do nudity (paralleling her character in Valley of the Dolls). She resented the beach comedy Don't Make Waves marketing her as a mere Ms. Fanservice (mockingly calling the ad campaign of her in a bikini as "sexy little me"), and expressed an interest to move into comedy. Her final film was The Wrecking Crew – before she was tragically and horrifically murdered by the Manson Family in 1969. Her films were re-evaluated since her death while people have pointed to potential she may have tapped into had she lived longer. Sadly, Tate is probably better associated with her tragic death than what she accomplished in life.
Uma Thurman was victimized by this. After notable roles in the late '80s with films like Dangerous Liaisons and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, she became an "It Girl" with Pulp Fiction. This push ultimately faltered within three years after subsequent films, particularly Batman & Robin and The Avengers (1998), did poorly, and she vanished from the limelight (rumour has it she took time off to concentrate on motherhood, which might have killed buzz even further) before Kill Billreignited her career in 2003. Since then it's partially faltered again (her film Motherhood set a British record by only selling eleven tickets in its opening weekend), but most people like her acting no matter how the film itself does.
Annabelle Wallis was receiving lots of notable roles in The New '10s, mostly on television (Peaky Blinders) or in the horror genre (Annabelle). In 2017 she starred in two high profile Box Office Bombs - King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (though she just had a supporting role and was one of the few things to be well-received about it) and The Mummy (2017). The latter was meant to kick off Universal's Dark Universe based off of the movie monsters, but its failure snuffed her chances at joining a franchise. Her next notable role was the lead in James Wan's 2021 horror film Malignant, which was eclipsed in its opening weekend by Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Free Guy – although its simultaneous release on Max definitely didn't help.
A rather sad example is Anna May Wong, who is recognised as the first Asian-American movie star in Hollywood. After a few years working as an extra, she made a bang with her first leading role in The Toll of the Sea – and the Hype Machine got behind her. The only problem? Hollywood had no idea what to do with her – reluctant to give leading roles to an actress with Chinese ancestry. For most of her Hollywood career, she was stuck playing Dragon Lady roles, while white actresses in Yellowface were given the meatier parts that she wanted. There was considerable hype when an adaptation of The Good Earth was produced – and the press cited her as a perfect choice for the lead, O-Lan. But The Hays Code prevented her from playing the love interest to a white actor (even if he was in Yellowface). She ended up going to Europe and Asia, where she was able to play non-stereotypical roles – and managed to do so in a few American B-movies too. So while she never became the Bette Davis or Mary Pickford level leading lady that was predicted, she is at least recognized as a significant contributing factor to humanizing Asian-Americans to American audiences.
Ensembles and Other Group Examples:
The cast of Band of Brothers undoubtedly got this - the most prominent of which included Damian Lewis and Ron Livingston. Lewis's attempts in films didn't amount to much - with bombs like Dreamcatcher, Stormbreaker and Your Highness. But on television, he fared much better with the worldwide success that was Homeland. After he left that, he successfully transitioned to another headlining role in Billions. Livingston already had fame from Office Space but remained in below-the-radar projects, the most high profile of which was The Conjuring. The men in the cast who became stars - Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Tom Hardy and Simon Pegg - had minor roles, with Fassbender the only one who appeared in more than two episodes. Donnie Wahlberg maintained a steady career of supporting roles, including the Saw series, before getting the lead in Blue Bloods. Neal McDonough, Ross McCall, Michael Cudlitz, and Richard Speight Jr. became TV regulars, while Frank John Hughes transitioned to screen writing and Dexter Fletcher became a highly successful director. Scott Grimes' attempt at joining a franchise - Ridley Scott's Robin Hood (2010) - was unsuccessful, but he enjoyed more success in voice acting and music. A lot of the rest were doomed to type casting or else retired from acting altogether.
The actors who played James Bond had some hits and misses in their careers particularly after their tenure in playing the character:
George Lazenby is the unluckiest of all Bond actors and many people have mixed feelings on his performance in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. After Bond, he starred in a bunch of TV movies, commercials, various recurring roles in TV series, several Bond movie spoofs and several Hong Kong action films, using his martial arts expertise which he learned from the legendary Bruce Lee. On the other hand, he became the wealthiest of all Bond actors, thanks to savvy investments in real estate.
Roger Moore was already a successful actor before his Bond career where he starred in several TV shows such as Ivanhoe, Maverick, The Saint and The Persuaders!. He became the longest-serving Bond actor in number of films, but after his Bond stint, he did a bunch of cameos. Regardless, he spent most of his post-Bond career doing charity works (UNICEF most prominently) which earned him a knighthood and other honors and remained one of the most respected British actors.
Timothy Dalton had a good stage career prior to his Bond tenure. He continued it after Bond while still getting some movie and TV roles on the side. Starting in the late 2000's and continuing into the following decade, he experienced a resurgence with a supporting role in Hot Fuzz, his tenure on Doctor Who, his voice work in Toy Story 3, and his leading roles in Penny Dreadful and Doom Patrol.
Disney has recently generated an alarming number of Kid Coms, beginning with the success of Lizzie McGuire and its leading star Hilary Duff. With Duff, they created a crossover starlet (with movies, TV shows, albums, and clothing lines coming out) of wide appeal. They made a formula with this (spawning Hannah Montana and others), with all of their future starlets being similarly promoted. Most of them (althoughtherearesomenotableexceptions) have only received little hype after their Disney shows finished their run, and have usually failed to obtain stardom outside of their original shows.
The cast of High School Musical got a big push when that film became a cultural phenomenon of the 2000s. Zac Efron has so far achieved the most success out of his cast mates, although he's only had threemajorhits. Only time will tell if he can successfully make the transition. Vanessa Hudgens tried distancing herself from her Disney roots with darker, more adult roles in Sucker Punch and Spring Breakers. Her films did fine, but she has enjoyed more success as a singer and on Broadway. Ashley Tisdale had already established herself in Disney with The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, and swiftly switched to voice-over work in Phineas and Ferb. Her first film role after High School Musical, unfortunately, was in the ill-received family film Aliens in the Attic, which seems to have killed her screen prospects. Corbin Bleu moved to TV and did occasional work, the most notable being his stint on Dancing with the Stars. Like Hudgens, he'd later enjoy more success as a singer and on Broadway. Lucas Grabeel joined the main cast of the ABC Family drama Switched at Birth, and remained on the series for the entirety of its run. His film career seemed to start off decently with a supporting role in Gus Van Sant's Milk, but he hasn't appeared in another film of that level since then. Like Bleu, Monique Coleman also had a stint on Dancing with the Stars. She later made supporting appearances in several TV shows and films, but her career never really took off. She has since become well-known for her philanthropic work.
Jenna Ortega had a recurring part on Jane the Virgin as a younger Jane before landing the main role of Harley Diaz on Disney Channel's Stuck in the Middle in 2016. After it ended in 2018, she transitioned from a child star to an adult actress with a role in season 2 of You. She quickly remodeled her image to a Gen-Z scream queen, beginning with a role in The Babysitter: Killer Queen. 2022 proved to be her breakout year upon starring as one of the protagonists in the fifth Scream, a role she reprised for Scream VI. Her next big film after Scream was X, which became a Sleeper Hit with glowing reactions from audiences as well as critics. Beyond the horror genre, Ortega showed her ability as a dramatic actress with a widely hailed performance as a survivor of a high school shooting in The Fallout. She then played Wednesday Addams in the Netflix show Wednesday, an adaptation of The Addams Family franchise helmed by Tim Burton. Burton and Ortega, following the success of Wednesday, collaborated again in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, a sequel to the director's Beetlejuice set for release in later 2024.
Bella Thorne and Zendaya received a massive push after they headlined Shake it Up. Thorne was initially thought to benefit from it more, having already had some credibility as a mature actress by starring on the HBO drama series Big Love before the Disney kid com. Unfortunately, most of her roles afterwards (Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, The DUFF, The Babysitter (2017) and its sequel Killer Queen) appears to have typecast her into Alpha Bitch roles. The scam accusations and controversy that came with her OnlyFans presence haven't helped either. Zendaya, meanwhile, had a praised stint on Dancing with the Stars (she and her partner Val Chmerkovskiy are unanimously considered one of the best pairs in the series' history) and transitioned to another Disney kid com, K.C. Undercover. The latter decision wasn't optimistically received, with many predicting she would be tied to the Disney machine until being cast aside upon reaching adulthood. In 2017, however, she had a true breakout when she co-starred in two of that year's biggest films, Spider-Man: Homecoming and The Greatest Showman. The Greatest Showman, despite receiving mixed reviews, became one of the top five highest-grossing movie musicals of all time. Spider-Man: Homecoming, meanwhile, marked her introduction into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She played a high-school friend and eventual love interest to the title hero, a role she would later reprise in that film's critically hailed, $1B-dollar grossing sequels, Spider-Man: Far From Home and Spider-Man: No Way Home. In 2019, she landed the lead role of Rue Bennett in the HBO teen drama Euphoria. Zendaya garnered tons of acclaim for her performance in that show, for which she would later win two Emmys for Best Actress in a Drama Series. In addition to reprising her MCU role in 2021's No Way Home, she appeared in the Denis Villeneuve adaptation of Dune that same year. Production was split into two films; although her part in the first one was small but vital, she had an expanded role in the much more successful Dune: Part Two in 2024.
The entire cast of Friends were given countless movie roles the second that show became a sensation. Depending on the star, the results were mixed.
Jennifer Aniston has fared the luckiest so far. Although she never headlined a $100 million hit until 2011's Horrible Bosses (which arguably was helped out bytheotherheavyweights in the film – never having a starring role do that well until We're the Millers in 2013, and is mostly known for romantic comedies), she was fortunate enough not to have a major flop during the time in between and, at the very least, is treated like a major star by most of Hollywood. By the time she entered her forties, she began to enjoy more variation in the roles she was able to play (having been shut out of anything but romantic comedies due to typecasting making it impossible for people to see her as anyone other than Jennifer Aniston). She earned critical acclaim for Cake (2014) as a grieving mother with chronic pain, and played against type in Dumplin'. She also enjoyed moderate success on TV with The Morning Show, getting Emmy Award nominations regardless of its tepid reception.
Courteney Cox was cast as the female lead in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective opposite Jim Carrey in 1994, the same year Friends premiered. It was a hit with audiences despite receiving mixed reviews, establishing them both as movie stars (although Carrey would benefit from it more) while taking a massive haul at the box office. Cox was cast in the slasher film Scream (1996) as Gale Weathers while in between seasons of Friends, which defied both critical expectations and genre fatigue to become a hit on all fronts. It became the highest-grossing slasher of all time until Halloween (2018), and revived the horror genre when it was starting to be dismissed as a dying field. Its positive critical and audience reception bred a franchise with many sequels, with Cox reprising her role in all of them so far. After Friends finished its run, Cox continued her television career with the flop Dirt (which was cancelled after two seasons) followed by the much more successful Cougar Town (which overcame a mid-season 2 hiatus, a season 3 premiere delay, and a network transfer from ABC to TBS before season 4 to air for six seasons). Although Cox's film career would be derailed by her lead role in the failure known as Zoom and her supporting role in the Adam Sandler comedy Bedtime Stories (2008), her Role Reprise for the Scream sequels nevertheless ensure she remains a prominent star.
Lisa Kudrow starred in the 1997 comedy Romy and Michele's High School Reunion opposite Mira Sorvino, which did fine when it debuted but later found a wider audience as a Cult Classic on home video. She also got critical praise for her role in the Acclaimed FlopThe Opposite of Sex, and appeared as the wife of Billy Crystal in Analyze This plus its sequel Analyze That. Kudrow's most notable role after Friends ended was as has-been sitcom actress Valerie Cherish in the HBO comedy The Comeback, which received indifferent reception when it premiered and was cancelled in 2005 but later was Vindicated by History as one of the decade's finest shows. The Comeback was still recognized with three Emmy nominations for its first season despite its initial reception (including a Best Actress nomination for Kudrow), but the show's growing esteem led to a second season being green-lit in 2014 – nine years after its first season premiered. Reviews were far more positive this time around, with Kudrow getting another Emmy nomination. While Marci X killed her clout as a leading lady on film in 2003, she continued finding work as a supporting actress in comedies like Easy A, Neighbors (2014), Booksmart, etc.
Matt Le Blanc headlined a series of hellacious bombs: he did Ed, a movie with a baseball-playing chimp, followed by Lost in Space... and then there was Joey. He made a slight comeback in 2011 after he starred in the critically successful Showtime comedy series Episodes (playing himself, no less), which gave him his first Emmy Award nominations since Friends. After Episodes completed its run, he was quickly announced as one of the new hosts of Top Gear and simultaneously had a hit on network TV with Man with a Plan.
Matthew Perry had a minor success starring opposite Bruce Willis in the Black ComedyThe Whole Nine Yards, only for any potential film career chances to be flushed down the toilet by two disasters: the Romantic ComedyServing Sara (which also damaged the film career of Elizabeth Hurley) and the sequel The Whole Ten Yards. His sole theatrical release afterwards was in 2009's 17 Again (2009), where he portrayed the main character as an adult (although most screen time was devoted to his teenage self, played by the undermentioned Zac Efron). His television career has been equally unsuccessful, as he had gone 0 for 3 with Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Mr. Sunshine (2011) and Go On. However, critics did like his recurring appearances on The Good Wife, and he finally landed a series that didn't get cancelled after one season with The Odd Couple. Before his untimely death in 2023, Perry, a former addict, worked more as a rehab advocate and a spokesperson for recovery than as an actor.
David Schwimmer saw his star power dissipate when his first project after Friends ended, the independent dramedy Duane Hopwood, received mixed reviews and a very limited theatrical release. He didn't star in any high-profile roles afterwards (aside from voice-over work in Madagascar and its sequels) and instead started directing, where he seems content. However, he has recently been trying to do more dramatic television roles like playing Robert Kardashian in American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson.
