Hollywood stars who disappeared and came back to triumph

In Hollywood's history, there have been many actors and actresses that, after triumphing in the industry, have gone into oblivion for many different reasons. However, some of these actors have been able to reconduct their careers and be reborn from their ashes… Let's see some of their stories!

We first met him at the beginning of the '90s with the movie 'Encino Man' (1992), however, it was at the end of the decade and early 2000 when the actor played his most famous characters: 'George of the Jungle' (1997), 'The Mummy' (1999), 'Bedazzled' (2000) or 'Crash' (2004).

The action scenes in his movies forced him to undergo different surgeries (including one affecting their vocal cords) for seven years which started to crash his career. But that wasn't all, in 2018, Fraser spoke publicly about a sexual aggression he had suffered from the president of Hollywood's Foreign Press Association at the time, Phillip Berk. That confession, the death of his mother and his divorce sunk the actor into a heavy depression.

After his work in 'The Whale' (2022), Brendan Fraser revived his career. The actor has appeared very moved and emotional for all the recognition he received during awards season, especially after winning the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2023.

She was one of the most wanted actresses thanks to films like 'Beetlejuice' (1988), 'Edward Scissorhands' (1990), 'Mermaids' (1990), 'Bram Stoker's Dracula' (1992), 'The Age of Innocence' (1993), 'Little Women' (1994), or 'Girl, Interrupted' (1999).

However, her career started to go downhill due to her difficult behavior, her flirting with illegal substances, and the incident of 2001: the actress was accused of stealing clothes for a value of 5,500 dollars from the famous Beverly Hills clothing store Saks Fifth Avenue. Ryder was sentenced to three years of probation and that plummeted her acting career.

Although the actress didn't stop working, it wasn't until 2016 that Winona resurfaced thanks to the role of Joyce Byers in the Netflix show 'Stranger Things'. The actress has even won a Screen Actor's Guild award and has been nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance.

We started seeing him in projects in the '80s, but the actor's breakthrough was his role as Chaplin in the movie of the same name in 1992. Thanks to his performance in this biopic directed by Richard Attenborough, Downey Jr. won a BAFTA and was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe.

But, like other celebrities, Robert Downey Jr. also gave in to his excesses and even got arrested on multiple occasions for possession of illegal substances. His scandals and bad reputation led producers to stop offering new roles.

The first step in Robert Downey Jr.'s redemption was in the TV show 'Ally McBeal', for which he won a Golden Globe award. But the actor's big time came in 2008 when he starred in the comedy 'Tropic Thunder' and also began playing the role for which he would be praised by the masses: Marvel's Iron Man.

At just 7 years old, she became a star thanks to the role of Gertie, the cute little blonde girl in 'E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial' (1982). After that, the actress starred in other famous movies like 'Firestarter' and 'Irreconcilable Differences', both in 1994.

But Drew Barrymore's childhood wasn't easy. The success at such an early age made the actress struggle with substance abuse and alcohol at just 13 years old, leading the actress to go into rehab.

This was a decisive step in a career that started to bloom again in 1998, at 23 years old, with movies like 'The Wedding Singer', 'Charlie's Angels' (2000) and Donnie Darko (2001), among others.

He became famous in the '80s for his roles in 'Diner' (1982), 'Rumble Fish' (1983), 'The Pope of Greenwich Village' (1984), but especially, for '9 ½ Weeks' (1986), opposite Kim Basinger.

In 1991, the actor left his acting career to work as a professional boxer. After only three years, Rourke retired from the sport. He then wanted to come back to acting, however, boxing had disfigured his face and, although he tried to fix it with a lot of plastic surgery (too much), he was never the same, and his work in cinema was reduced to secondary roles.

It wasn't until 2005 that he went back to the spotlight thanks to his participation in the neo-noir film 'Sin City'. The actor who had won some awards for that performance, in 2008 had a lead role in the Darren Aronofsky film 'The Wrestler', for which he won a BAFTA and an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.

Although the actress had already starred in big titles like 'Mask' (1985), 'Blue Velvet' (1986), 'Wild at Heart' (1990) or 'Rambling Rose' (1991) for which she received an Oscar nomination, Laura Dern's big acting breakthrough came in 1993 with Steven Spielberg's movie 'Jurassic Park'.

After the box office hit with Spielberg, Laura Dern decided to do a 360 and began to turn down roles in big Hollywood productions to perform in more independent movies and play smaller roles, especially in television.

Although it seemed that the actress had disappeared, she continued to work in movies like 'The Master' (2012) or 'Wild' (2015). But in 2019, Dern would be back in the spotlight thanks to her role as Nora Fanshaw in 'Marriage Story' for which the actress won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

Joaquin Phoenix surprised Hollywood with his talent in 'Gladiator' (2000) and continued to develop a big career in the industry thanks to his work in 'Signs' (2002) or 'Walk the Line' (2005).

But in 2008, when he was in the best moment of his career, he announced that he wanted to retire to become a rapper. The actor changed his look and grew distant and socially awkward. This unusual change of direction was captured by his friend and brother-in-law, Casey Affleck, in the documentary 'I'm Still Here' (2010) which the director subtitled "The Lost Year of Joaquin Phoenix".

Luckily for the industry, the idea of changing acting for music run its course and Phoenix came back to the big screen in 'Her' (2013). After that, the actor triumphed with his roles in 'You Were Never Really Here' (2017), for which he won the award for Best Actor at Cannes, and 'Joker' (2019), for which he won his first Academy Award.

She was one of the top actresses of the '80s thanks to movies like 'Blade Runner' (1982), 'Splash' (1984) or 'Wall Street' (1987).

But in the '90s, Daryl Hannah's promising career started to flop: her movies were a box office fail and she began accepting smaller roles. The actress's only option was to star in independent movies like 'The Real Blonde' (1997).

Hannah returned to mainstream productions thanks to Quentin Tarantino who offered her the role of Elle Driver in the movie 'Kill Bill'. And although Daryl Hannah has never enjoyed the same success as she did in the '80s, the actress has starred in different roles here and there, the most famous and recent one in the Netflix series 'Sense8'.

The '80s and '90s were a golden era for the actor who starred in the famous movies 'Beetlejuice' (1988), 'Batman' (1989), and 'Batman Returns' (1992).

However, that successful era started to plummet. The actor Joel Schumacher took on the role of the new Batman and Keaton was relegated to smaller roles and some TV productions.

Ironically, the actor resurfaced playing an old Hollywood actor, Riggan Thompson, who is a superhero in the film 'Birdman' (2015). The movie was directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and Keaton won a Golden Globe award and was nominated for the Oscars.

She was one of the most recognizable actresses in Hollywood in the '80s and '90s and even won a Golden Globe Award for her role in 'Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle' (1994). Jennifer Jason Leigh got to work with famous directors like Robert Altman, Ron Howard, and the Coen brothers.

But since the '90s, the actress' career began to go downhill: she started to play smaller roles, appeared in independent movies, and starred in TV shows like 'Revenge' or 'Weeds'.

Like Daryl Hannah, Tarantino was Jennifer Jason Leigh's savior. The actress played the role of Daisy Domerque in 'The Hateful Eight' (2015), a performance for which she received her first Oscar nomination.

Follow Showbizz Daily to see the best photo galleries every day

Like all these stars, leaving behind the '80s and '90s took a toll on the actor's career. Christian Slater had been at the top thanks to his roles in 'Heathers' (1988), 'Pump Up the Volume' (1990), 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves' (1991), and 'Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles' (1994).

However, the actor's numerous encounters with the law (alcohol and substance abuse, violence, and spending a couple of months in prison) negatively affected his career.

In the midst of all of that, Christian Slater tried to reconduct his career working as a producer and ended up returning as an actor thanks to his role in the TV series 'Mr. Robot' (2015) for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.

We first met the actress at the beginning of the '00s thanks to the movies 'But I'm a Cheerleader' (1999), 'American Pie' (1999), and 'Scary Movie 2' (2001). At the time, she was no star, but at 20 years old she had a promising career.

But like many other young actors and actresses, excesses pushed them out of the right path, so much so that, in this case, Natasha Lyonne was fighting for her life. According to The New York Post, in 2005, the actress had to be treated for hepatitis C, a heart infection, and the collapsing of her lungs. Lyonne also had to go to rehab to overcome her heroin addiction.

Lyonne was able to overcome her health problems and addictions and little by little started to return to acting. Finally, in 2013, the actress peaked again thanks to her role as Nicky Nichols in the Netflix series 'Orange is the New Black' for which she received a Screen Actors Guild award. Following that success, the actress consolidated her career due to her work in the series 'Russian Doll'.

He was one of the members of the 'Brat Pack' along with Emilio Estévez, Anthony Michael Hall, Demi Moore, and Molly Ringwald, among others, and was one of the most promising actors of the '80s and '90s. Rob Lowe starred in the famous movies 'The Outsiders' (1983), 'St. Elmo's Fire' (1985) and 'Wayne's World' (1992).

But the actor's career also went into oblivion when a tape of him and a minor having sexual relationships came out. After the actor reached an agreement with the family's victim, Lowe was sentenced to 20 hours of community service.

A decade later, in 1999, the actor was able to continue with his acting career and starred in the famous TV show 'The West Wing' as Sam Seaborn, for which he received an Emmy nomination for his performance. The actor has then appeared in other series like 'Californication' as Eddie Nero and 'Parks and Recreation' in the role of Chris Traeger.

Pam Grier became famous in the '70s thanks to her work in movies specially created for the Afro-American community in the United States (a phenomenon called 'blaxploitation'). The actress was a symbol for this community and soon her name was all over Hollywood.

However, her promising career was cut short at the end of the '70s, and in the subsequent decades only played secondary roles and parts in unknown movies and had some rare appearances in shows like 'Miami Vice' or 'The Fresh Prince of Ble-Air'.

Pam Grier's resurrection as an actress came in 1997 when she was cast as the lead actress in the Quentin Tarantino movie 'Jackie Brown'. The actress was nominated for a Golden Globe award and hasn't stopped working since then.

The actor gained a bit of recognition thanks to his work in the TV show 'Welcome Back, Kotter', however, his big acting breakthrough came with 'Grease' (1978), opposite Olivia Newton-John.

Despite the incredible success of 'Grease', the '80s were difficult for John Travolta's career. After his work in 'Urban Cowboy' (1980), the actor only starred in 3 movies until 1989. That's why, in the middle of that slower years, the actor focused on another one of his passions and became an airplane pilot!

It all started to change in 1990 when the actor worked alongside Kristie Alley in the movie 'Look Who’s Talking'. Travolta's career began to rise again and in 1994, he triumphed after playing Vincent Vega in Tarantino's movie 'Pulp Fiction'. Since then, the actor became one of Hollywood's biggest stars…

He started getting praised for his work as a comedic actor in the '90s, especially after starring alongside Will Smith in the movie 'Bad Boys' (1995).

However, it was also in 1995 that problems started: the actor was involved in a violent incident on the set of 'A Thin Line Between Love and Hate'. After that, Martin Lawrence was also arrested for holding a knife in the middle of Los Angeles claiming that someone was trying to kill him, he was then accused of harassment and also for trying to introduce a gun in a plane.

It was a crazy series of events that now belong to the past of the actor. Martin Lawrence returned to his comedy acting career, and in 2020 even released the second part of his acclaimed movie 'Bad Boys'.

Don Johnson became world famous due to his role as Sonny Crocket in 'Miami Vice'. The actor himself was an '80s icon and was in the spotlight for his relationship with Melanie Griffith.

However, the '90s were not the golden decade everyone thought he would thrive. Don Johnson starred in many box office fails and played very bad roles. From that period, it can only be saved his work on the series 'Nash Bridges'.

But you guessed it, Quentin Tarantino came to the rescue again. The director chose Johnson for the role of Big Daddy Bennet in 'Django Unchained' (2012), and since that role, the actor has been the star of many subsequent indie films.

The acting career of the veteran Ian McKellen started at the beginning of the '60s with projects in theater and cinema. Soon, the actor became one of the most important classic actors in the history of the United Kingdom.

In this case, the actor's career didn't fall into oblivion because McKellen never stopped working, however, it was in the '00s when his popularity raised.

His roles as Magneto in 'X-Men' or as Gandalf in 'The Lord of the Rings' have brought the actor to the spotlight and have placed him as one of the favorite stars of the audience.

Follow Showbizz Daily to see the best photo galleries every day