“If I’m not acting, I’m not sure who I am.”
1. Heather Matarazzo
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With the coming-of-age movie Welcome to the Dollhouse, Heather made her breakthrough before continuing to act in other popular films including The Princess Diaries, Saved!, and Sisters.
She resorted to Twitter earlier this week, in order to express her dissatisfaction with her professional path. She shared about years of audition rejections in a series of tweets that are now deleted. “I feel at a loss because I feel I have done THE WORK, for a long time, with no complaint,” Heather said.
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“I have taken the disappointments, the rejections, etc., and maintained that rejection is redirection. I have had continual FAITH in the Universe, but today, something broke. I feel cast aside. I’ve given my life to acting for over 30 years and am done struggling to survive.
The actress formerly admitted to The Guardian that she considered committing suicide in 2009 due to a series of unsuccessful auditions.
2. Mena Massoud
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When Mena secured the lead role in Aladdin, the 2019 live-action adaptation of the 1992 Disney Classic, he seemed to have earned the part of a lifetime. The character said that in spite of starring in a movie that grossed over $1 billion at the box office, he had trouble securing auditions following the movie’s release.
“I’m kind of tired of staying quiet about it,” Mena shared with The Daily Beast. “I want people to know that it’s not always dandelions and roses when you’re doing something like Aladdin. ‘He must have made millions. He must be getting all these offers.’ It’s none of those things. I haven’t had a single audition since Aladdin came out.”
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“It’s wild to a lot of people. People have these ideas in their head. It’s like, I’m sitting here being like, ‘OK, Aladdin just hit $1 billion. Can I at least get an audition?’ Like, I’m not expecting you to be like, here’s Batman. But can I just get in the room? Like, can you just give me a chance? So it’s not always what you think.”
Since then, Mena has been casted in popular films such as Nina Dobrev‘s Run This Town and the Netflix rom-com Royal Treatment with Laura Marano. He also earned a leading role in Reprisal, a Hulu series, though the show was stopped after its first season.
3. Katherine Heigl
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With blockbusters such as Knocked Up, 27 Dresses, and the Ugly Truth, Katherine dominated the early 2000s. The actress also starred in Grey’s Anatomy, one of the most discussed medical dramas in the history of TV shows.
But things got messy for her in Hollywood after she spoke out against her projects, calling Knocked Up “a little sexist” and withdrawing from the race for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama (for Grey’s) at the 2008 Emmys, saying ” I did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination.”
Katherine gave an open interview to the Washington Post the previous year, detailing how the backlash influenced her mental health and how growing older helped her put things into perspective.
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“I may have said a couple of things you didn’t like, but then that escalated to ‘she’s ungrateful,’ then that escalated to ‘she’s difficult,’ and that escalated to ‘she’s unprofessional,'” Katherine spoke to the Post.
“What is your definition of difficult? Somebody with an opinion that you don’t like? Now, I’m 42, and that shit pisses me off. At the time, I was just quickly told to shut the fuck up. The more I said I was sorry, the more they wanted it,” Heigl kept sharing. “The more terrified and scared I was doing something wrong, the more I came across like I had really done something horribly wrong.”
After observing how the blacklisting affected her mental health, she confessed her family and friends were “scared” for her. Katherine is presently starring in Netflix‘s Firefly Lane and released the psychological thriller Fear of Rain last year.
4. Sara Weisglass
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Sara is well known for her roles in Mary Goes Round and Degrassi: The Next Generation and Degrassi: Next Class, together her Netflix debut in the dramedy series Ginny & Georgia in 2021. Sara, who has been in the industry since she was six years old, is still quite acquainted with the unpredictability of Hollywood.
“I didn’t work at all last year and that was really hard,” Sara shared with Sailfin Sessions in a 2021 interview. “I think what was even weirder was, when Ginny and Georgia came out, everyone was looking at me like I was some sort of working actor who never stopped.”
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“No, I was unemployed and felt like ass. You have to be so grateful in the moments when it’s painful and you get told no. Rejection sucks, I’m still dealing with it. But the rejections make the good times so much better.
She is now on set of Season 2 of Ginny & Georgia.
5. John Krasinski
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With its ludicrous characters and even sillier plotlines, The Office cemented its place in television history, and none of it would have come true without John as Jim Halpert. But, prior to winning that game-changing part, John was seriously considering quitting acting.
John initially went to college to become a teacher, but changed his mind and went to theater school instead, where he fell in love with performing. John found himself stuck in New York after a couple of years of trying to build a name for himself. He was about to gather his belongings and return home when his mother gave him a much-needed pep talk.
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I was like, ‘So, I’m out,'” John shared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. “‘This is terrible. It’s so scary. This is the worst. Waiting tables, not as fun as they say.’ And she said, ‘You know, it’s September. Just wait it out. Just wait ’til the end of the year. Don’t give up just yet.’ I was telling her to come get me…and three weeks later, I got The Office.”
Parents are a blessing! Since then, John has maintained a successful Hollywood career, acting in films such as Jack Ryan, It’s Complicated, Something Borrowed, and A Quiet Place. Recently, he was even cast in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
6. Deborah Ann Woll
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Deborah has appeared in films such as Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You and Escape Room, as well as popular television shows such as True Blood and Daredevil. Unfortunately, Deborah had problems finding work for nearly a year after Netflix abruptly cancelled Daredevil in 2018, which made her doubt her own worth.
“I’m just really wondering whether I’ll get to work again,” she shared. “Whether anyone wants to work with me again, and whether I still have it, all of those scary things. And part of my brain goes, ‘No, you’re just being crazy, calm down.’ But the part of me that loves [acting] and the problem with being an artist and an actor, and any of these professions where you put a piece of your soul into your work, is that it becomes a part of your identity.”
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“If I’m not acting, I’m not sure who I am. And since it’s been so long since I’ve really gotten to do it, I’m struggling a little bit with how to maintain my self-worth, my sense of my own value. I haven’t had an acting job since, and that’s been really hard for me. So even before COVID kind of flipped the world on its head, I was struggling with this.”
Deborah appeared alongside Melissa Leo and Josh Hartnett in the 2021 film Ida Red.
7. Liz Gillies
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Liz rose to prominence after landing the iconic role of Jade West in Nickelodeon‘s Victorious in 2010. Liz expected offers to flood in after the program concluded in 2013, but instead found herself playing the waiting game in her great-grandmother’s basement.
She shared with the Zach Sang Show, “When I was done with Nickelodeon, I was like, ‘That was so much fun. People are going to be casting me so much right now. I was so good on that show…let’s just sit by the phone.'”
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Cut to me in my basement playing The Sims for 18 hours. I’m not lying. Cut to my great-grandma of 98 being like, ‘She needs to go out and get drunk, and maybe have a one-night stand, because it’s killing us.'”
Liz is now starring in The CW’s relaunch of Dynasty. The current fifth season of the show has just been revealed as the series’ final season.
8. Brendan Fraser
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There was a time when going to a cinema meant seeing Brendan’s face on a poster. He appeared in popular films such as The Mummy and Journey to the Center of the Earth, as well as fan favorites such as Bedazzled, George of the Jungle, Crash, and The Air I Breathe. Even the most powerful guy can face difficulties.
Brendan had to face several issues behind closed doors, ranging from health concerns, a divorce, projects he wasn’t proud of, to an alleged sexual assault from 2003 (Brendan stated that former HFPA president Philip Berk “grabs my ass cheek, and one of his fingers touches me in the taint. And he starts moving it around.”). The actor had reached a stage where he didn’t believe he was deserving.
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“The phone does stop ringing in your career, and you start asking yourself why,” Brendan told GQ. “There’s many reasons, but was this one of them? I think it was.” And that, he says, is why he ultimately disappeared for a while. “I bought into the pressure that comes with the hopes and aims that come with a professional life that’s being molded and shaped and guided and managed. I just felt I couldn’t be a part of it. I didn’t feel that I belonged.”
Brendan has regained his confidence and returned to roles that are meaningful to him. He’s since appeared in HBO’s Doom Patrol, Line of Descent, and No Sudden Move. He’ll also appear in Batgirl, which will be released soon.
9. Susan Sarandon
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Susan Sarandon is a veteran of the industry, with a resume that includes box office hits and cult classics like The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Thelma & Louise, as well as Stepmom and Tammy.
Susan also learned a thing or two about Hollywood’s code of conduct…or lack thereof, after working in the industry for so long. Sarandon discussed how Hollywood treats actresses as they age, particularly women, in a 2013 interview on Oprah’s Master Class.
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“You’re so punished in this business,” she shared. “When people say, ‘Do you think you’ve lost work because of your politics?’ I say, ‘No, you lose work because you get old and fat!’ That’s when they write you off in Hollywood. There’s the inevitability of the deterioration of the physical. That forces you to think, really, what is beauty and what survives?”
Susan will appear in the late 2022 season of Monarch, a drama series about the Romans, the fictional first family of country music.
10. Gal Gadot
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Gal began her acting career in the Fast and Furious franchise, but she jumped to popularity after appearing in Wonder Woman. She’s since been in major films such as Justice League, Red Notice, and Death on the Nile. Her career path, however, was not straightforward. Gal stated in a 2020 interview with Access Hollywood that she had doubts about performing.
“There’s so much rejection in this profession,” Gal said. “And it came to a point where I was just like, ‘Is it really worth it?’ [My husband and I] were in LA for a trip, and I was telling my husband, ‘Look, we’re here now, but we’re leaving in two weeks…I don’t know if we’ll ever come again.'”
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“‘I don’t know if I want to pursue [acting].’ And then, during those two weeks, I had the Wonder Woman audition. Isn’t it crazy the way the world, the universe, works?”
Gal is presently filming two projects, including a spy thriller called Heart of Stone and a live-action Snow White adaption in which she will play the Evil Queen.
11. Joshua Bassett
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Joshua is now starring in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, a successful Disney+ mockumentary musical comedy. Josh, on the other hand, struggled to find work prior to landing his breakthrough role.
Joshua explained in a 2021 interview with Access Hollywood why he almost quit performing and the wisdom his father provided him that convinced him otherwise.
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“It was, like, audition after audition of me getting really close to things, and the reason why I wasn’t getting them was always ridiculous,” he claimed. “It was either somebody had a larger social media platform or some ridiculous reason. I was just getting really frustrated.”
“I remember telling my dad, ‘The joy of [acting] is gone. I don’t enjoy it anymore. It’s not something I want to do.’ And he [was] like, ‘You’ve gone this far, why don’t you just wait it out a month?’ And I was like, ‘OK, fine.’ I was ready to quit that day and then just about a month later is when I got the show.”
Better Nate Than Never, a Disney+ original film, featuring Joshua lately.
12. Laverne Cox
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Laverne Cox has roles in short films and Law & Order before landing her blockbuster role in the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black. During that period, she considered quitting acting and enrolling in graduate school. Laverne decided to audition once more, and the rest is history.
“I was just devastated by, like, turning 40, and my life was kind of in shambles financially, and I had worked and trained a lot, and my dream of being a working actress had not come to fruition,” Laverne said during an interview for the Paley Center’s Pride Month programming, People reported in June 2021.
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“I was just like, ‘I’ve got to do something else. I mean, who do I think I am? I’m a Black transgender woman — no one’s ever done this before, let me go and do something, have a real job or something.'”
Not only did Laverne get a prominent role in Orange Is the New Black, but she also became the first openly trans actor to be nominated for a primetime Emmy. Laverne most recently appeared in Inventing Anna, another successful Netflix limited series.
13. Hong Chau
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Luck often strikes when you hope the least, and for Hong, it came just as she was contemplating calling it quits on her acting career. She struggled to stay hopeful about her acting career before landing her breakout part in Downsizing starring Matt Damon.
“I’ve thought about quitting so many times,” Hong told E!. “Because I’ve been doing this for 10 years now, and Downsizing is only my second movie.”
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“Every once in a while, something would come along that would keep you in there for another, like, couple of months before you’d want to quit again, and so luckily I didn’t quit and I stuck with it.”
Hong has since appeared in a number of prominent films, including Amazon Prime’s Homecoming and HBO’s Watchmen. She’ll also be seen in the upcoming psychological thriller The Whale.
