“You like me, you really like me!”
“I’m the king of the world!”
“Uh, do I have to audition again?”
Not everyone who wins an Oscar goes on to even more fame and fortune. Here are five actors who won Hollywood’s most coveted trophy only to see their careers plummet shortly thereafter.
- Mira Sorvino: Paul’s beautiful daughter locked up her Oscar with a ditzy turn in Woody Allen’s “Mighty Aphrodite,” but she couldn’t capitalize on her insta-fame. Best post-Oscar movie – “Beautiful Girls.”
- Cuba Gooding, Jr.: We were all sick of “Show me the money” long before the actor picked up his statuette. But since then he’s starred in one clunker atop another (“Boat Trip,” “Chill Factor”). Best post-Oscar movie: “As Good As it Gets.”
- Olympia Dukakis: She mined gold in “Moonstruck” but since then she found herself relegated to less meaty parts. Best post-Oscar movie: “The Thing About My Folks.”
- Tatum O’Neal: The “Paper Moon” cutey starred in one of the best baseball movies, ever – “The Bad News Bears.” But her personal life featured too much of her own bad news to build on her early fame. Best post-Oscar movie “Da Bears.”
- Timothy Hutton: The likeable actor has kept busy since winning an Oscar for “Ordinary People,” but he’s never reached the heights he climbed with that golden performance. Best post-Oscar movie: “The Falcon and the Snowman”
Related posts:
on 
on 
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
If you expand the list a little I think you could add Adrien Brody. He was excellent in The Pianist and while his post-win movies haven’t bee all bad it definitely seems like he’s taking roles that are beneath him.
Cuba Gooding is the poster child for post-Oscar failure. Snow Dogs?
Another is Marisa Tomei. She all but disappeared until recently.
Was gonna add both to the list … although Tomei just got another Oscar nod, which ain’t gravy.
True, but she had to start taking her clothes off to get those roles.
I had to bleach out my afters after that opening scene of Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead. Poor Marisa…
Kim Basinger hasn’t had a good run after LA Confidential.
And that Gloria Stuart from Titanic… (OK that one’s unfair).
Falcon and the Snowman love? Nice! Although essentially playing himself, one of Penn’s best, too.
Would Geena Davis count? Post-Accidental Tourist’s Quick Change, Thelma & Louise and League of Their Own aside, pretty much being relegated to Stuart Little sequels and TV since the early 90s isn’t helping her case much.
Helen Hunt. Best since As Good As It Gets: What Women Want.
Charlize Theron, Halle Berry, and Nicolas Cage haven’t been contributing much to their resumes after winning Oscars.
Good choices, Paula, esp. Berry … Catwoman???
I respectfully disagree w/Paula’s comment re. Charlize Theron, esp. compared to the likes of Julia Roberts, Cher, Louise Fletcher, and certainly Goop Paltrow…
So you liked Aeon Flux, H. Pepper? I excluded Roberts and Paltrow because I didn’t think either deserved their Oscars in the first place. Cher and Fletcher qualify, though.
Paramount screwed over Aeon Flux (which had potential) and its director in particular; in any case, Charlize has North Country, In the Valley of Elah, and yes Hancock going for her (not to mention Arrested Development on TV), so give her her due on that at least…
Sorry, I thought North Country was heavy handed and tedious. In the Valley of Elah was yet another tiresome Hollywood hit piece on the military. Hancock? I can’t drag myself to see another dopey Will Smith movie and as much as I adored the sublime Arrested Development, the whole Rita storyline was a complete disappointment.
What about Anna Paquin? I don’t know how this is only a Top 5 list. There are so many to choose from.
I know it’s early, but Jennifer Hudson’s career has been pretty much non-existent since winning for “Dreamgirls.” I expect it to stay that way.
Jennifer Connelly? Not much of note (and she’s gotta live down The Hulk) since winning for A Beautiful Mind.
Louise Fletcher? If she didn’t win for Cuckoo’s Nest (and she deserved it) no one would ever have a clue who she is.
Marlee Matlin. Same.
Joe Pesci? A one-note Charlie. Useless, really, for any other role. Great in My Cousin Vinny, though. So I guess he’s done OK.
Roberto Benigni, only as much known for his God-awful post-Oscar stuff (i.e. Pinocchio).
Hmmm. I like Cuba Gooding too much to relegate him to Failure. The Fighting Temptations was a good ‘little’ movie, perhaps a bit weak storywise, but it seems Gooding’s tried to take what I would call wholesome roles like that one in recent years.
He strikes me as being an upbeat presence in what I would call ensemble casts – Jerry McGuire and Temptations are similar in that regard, and thank God! I couldn’t stomach Tom Cruise in JM without a strong performance to counteract His Hamminess.
Anna Paquin’s currently rocking it in True Blood, and having much of your family being murdered can distract anyone, so give Jen a break, JL; you wanna plummeting post-Oscar career, try Luise Rainer, who really dropped off the face of the earth after winning her second AA in 1937(!)
EDS – thanks for the historical blast … too often my Top 5’s lean heavily on modern times.
Marlee Matlin. A few years after her notoriety, I spotted her in a nude scene with one of my heroes, Michael Dudikoff of “American Ninja” on some late-night cable offering.
F. Murray Abraham won best actor for Amadeus and immediately went to bit parts for the rest of his career.