They tried to crack America... they didn’t

The guy from Downton Abbey

I love Matthew Goode.

Rula Lenska owns this thread.

Julia Ormond - lead in three major films w/major costars in the span of two years: Legends of the Fall w/Brad Pitt, First Knight opposite Richard Gere & Sean Connery, and Sabrina with Harrison Ford.

La Binoche

Cliff Richard, Kylie Minogue

Does Tom Hiddleston count? I'd also nominate Robbie Williams in the musical category.

Dan Stevens is a bad example. He’s worked consistently since leaving Downton. Season 3 of Legion is starting soon and he has Lucy in the Sky with Natalie Portman coming out this fall. Lots of Oscar buzz for that film.

Also, I think he lives in Brooklyn.

R1 Dan Stevens was buff, sexy and psycho in The Guest. He is also in the Netflix original The Apostle but that one looks too grisly for me. (Not sure if the latter is a US film though)

Toby Stephens?

He made a trashy TV comeback in BLACK SAILS and LOST IN SPACE in middle-age, but he hasn’t even made it back to Broadway since DIE ANOTHER DAY.

Cheryl Tweedy Cole Fernandez-Versini is the epitome of Just A Pretty Face.

Being charged with a racist nightclub brawl didn’t help her case in the USA, either.

Damn, r3, you not only beat me to it, you literally (and I use that word advisedly) wrote exactly what I was going to post, word for word.

Who are you?

Matthew Goode is very, very whiny and entitled. No wonder he has ended up playing third leads in Agatha Christie.

Does Kylie count? She's huge in Europe but always seemed to me she's no big deal in the US.

Has Matthew Goode managed to crack anywhere? He's a complete nobody.

He hasn't cracked me, though he's more than welcome to.

r14, Kylie has had only 2 hits in the US: "The Loco-motion" (peaked at #3 in 1988) and "Can't Get You Out of My Head" (a #1 hit everywhere else in 2001, it stopped at #7 in the US).

I watch a lot of British mysteries and this is off topic, but has anybody else noticed how really bad a lot of the British actresses' hair is?

A few Germans:

Franka Potente (Run Lola Run)

Thomas Gottschalk (German TV host who tried to take his comedy act to Hollywood and even lived there while still doing his German TV show gig. I believe his biggest thing was his cameo as cook in Sister's Act II).

Thomas Kretschman who claimed that Tom Cruise took away his big shot, the lead in Valkyrie.

Another German.

Til Schweiger.

I remember Jane Horrocks of AbFab trying to get some attention over here across the pond, but nobody 'bit'.

Oh yes, r21, I loathed Little Voice.

R19 I always thought Franka Potente had too much machisma for what Hollywood requires from foreign beauties.

Graham Norton brought his talk show over here for a while, but it didn't last long.

Craig Ferguson thought he'd get Letterman's timeslot. He was passed over. His quiz shows didn't work out either.

Anne Robinson's "The Weakest Llink" was in the US for a while but not long, while it was (is?) huge in the UK.

Kim Catrall

Romola Garai deserved better.

R23 Goode was briefly on The Good Wife. His departure was so sudden, that I wondered why he left because I didn't buy his "I miss London" excuse. He sounds annoying.

Taylor Kitsch, if being Canadian counts. I thought that he just had bad luck, until I saw his acting in THE NORMAL HEART. Atrocious.

Paul Bettany

I read an interview with Potenta. She was on the Shield. She was told to her face she was too ugly to be in American movies. Which is sad. Can we add Andrew Garfield to the list? Even Spider-Man did nothing for him.

R30 He still gets leading roles in American movies unfortunately.

Piers Morgan

david tennant

toby kebbll

jamie bell

Richard Ayoade

Careers ruined by Weinstein: Eva Green, Emily Watson, Samantha Morton

And yet Garfield still managed an Oscar nomination for an American film. So I'd say he's cracked America.

Matthew Goode's character on the Good Wife was very meh. Granted, he had big shoes to fill by basically being the new romantic lead after Josh Charles left. The writing was all over the place on that season anyway, they didn't know what to do with Kalinda.

MS. Cavill

I loved Graham Norton when he hosted that game show on Comedy Central, and I watch his talk show on youtube... but I think he qualifies unfortunately.

Jimmy Carr got ignored here too.

Alex "Thank You" Pettyfer. Unless you count him being a favorite celeb on DL because of his slutty insta pics.

Ruby Wax in reverse--she was a thing across the pond but never seemed to be a hit with US audiences.

[quote] Craig Ferguson thought he'd get Letterman's timeslot. He was passed over. His quiz shows didn't work out either.

Mm, I don't think he quite belongs on this list. He had a long running role on the Drew Carey Show.

And his late night show ran for years - not everyone's cup of tea, but for those of us who hate the shrieking fests that Fallon/Colbert/Corden have become, it was very entertaining.

It's more accurate to say his career reached a level of success, and then went weirdly off the rails. I don't know if he was given a choice to stay or go when they gave Letterman to Colbert, but yes, his daytime stuff didn't last, and his last project was being in a movie with fucking Kathie Lee Gifford, so....?

[quote] I loved Graham Norton when he hosted that game show on Comedy Central, and I watch his talk show on youtube... but I think he qualifies unfortunately.

I think he's funny but his talk show in particular is a particularly British sensibility. Similar as the Dame Edna shows. Frankly, too smart for the American unwashed masses.

r43, call me crazy, but I don't think mainstream US audiences get British camp. There is a reason Brit shows like Absolutely Fabulous are considered cult hits and not mainstream hits.

[quote] It's more accurate to say his career reached a level of success, and then went weirdly off the rails

I'm dying to know what Letterman did to him (he produced Craig's show as well as his own.) It was telling that one of Craig's guests soon after the snub was Jay Fucking Leno! If that's not a slap in Dave's face, I don't know what would be. I've read he wouldn't pony up to raise the production values of Craig's show, but that shouldn't have affected CBS' decision to ditch him. He was probably considered too weird to fight for moron-audience share against Jimmy Fallon. Or maybe even Kimmel (who's my favorite of the current big 3 but I think they're all going down the tubes)

Yup R44, that's what I was getting at.

Plus, even camp aside, UK humor is sort of brainy humor - even broad UK humor has some smarts to it. (Well, except for Benny Hill and Carry On, which is more piggish than anything)

Lady Mary isn't exactly cracking the US either.

Craig was the best interviewer. I think Kimmel is ok - I'd give him a B. Neither Fallon or Colbert can interview to save their damned lives. Stephen doesn't listen to what his guests are saying so he can't riff off anything - and Fallon's a suckup who isn't good on the fly (though I think he's ok as an actor in skits - not as good as Conan but good, compared to being a horrible interviewer)

Quite frankly I was surprised how long Craig's Late show ran since I assumed that "stupid" America would not understand him thanks to his Scottish accent. But apparently I underestimated the late show audience.

Brits can make fun of themselves. I remember when Craig tried going down that route, and I was thinking oh shit... that will NEVER fly in Murrikkka. He did back off from it though - and was left with being zany (and clever) with the skeleton. I have no idea why he's so in love with the USA. (maybe the love affair is fading) I think he'd have made it in the UK - better than Jonathan Ross anyhow.

Craig Ferguson was never big in the UK, he was always a bit player that cropped up from time to time in random comedy shows.

I saw Graham Norton do a standup kind of evening at the Coronet in L.A. like 15 or 20 (?) years ago. Pretty dismal.

Both he and Ruby Wax are just too nasty, condescending and pleased with themselves in proportion to their own levels of talent.

[quote]Matthew Goode's character on the Good Wife was very meh. Granted, he had big shoes to fill by basically being the new romantic lead after Josh Charles left. The writing was all over the place on that season

Yet the DLDLs blame it on the actor. Because "Writing? What is [italic]writing[/italic] ?"

Yeah, maybe so. I don't know that I'd say he was better than Graham Norton as a host. maybe. But would he have ever got the chance in the UK.

Ferguson still travels the standup circuit - I saw him in Biloxi, Mississippi, at a casino. He goes everywhere. Or at least he did for a while.

I think he got a $6 million departure fee (whatever they call it) that was written into his contract (if he didn't get Dave's slot). Not a mega-fortune but enough for a smart guy like him to settle down and just write his books or do a vlog, interviewing intellectuals or something. I get the feeling he's in a depression though. Hope it's not true. He's got young kids.

That sad girl group little Mix or kibble mix or whatever they are called.

I was replying to R51 - didn't think this thread would move so fast!

I love both Jimmy Carr and Alan Carr - or and Tim Minchin. They're over most Americans' heads but... Minchin said that even if only 10% of Americans are atheists who come to his show to celebrate the fact, that's still 30 million people, so tour the US he still does, even if he's not a natural fit.

Does Eddie Izzard tour the states? Who ARE the successful American standups anymore anyway?

I don't think Tim Minchin's over anybody's head, he's mediocre to say the least.

Tim Minchin is a more pleased with himself. I like him better on panel shows than as a musician. Loathed Matilda.

Speaking of musicians, how about Gary Barlow and Finding Neverland?

R11 she was of Beaker Folk/Black Irish descent so she is a mega white ethnic. She really doesn't look English and that has fucked her in some way. She looks more Mediterranean than anything else.

r46, I've seen a couple of the Carry On... films and I'd say there's still some smarts required to truly appreciate the comedy.

There's a whole related category of Brits Who Cracked America Initially To Almost Absurd Acclaim, But Now No One Cares.

The ladies, to start:

Keira Knightley

Carrie Mulligan

Felicity Jones

Rosamund Pike

Reluctantly, I'd add my beloved Claire Foy to this list. So marvelous in THE CROWN, so forgettable everywhere else.

Michael Palin, from way back. He had a Hollywood interlude. I don't know if he ever full-on moved here, but he definitely tried to break into Hollywood.

Eric Bana and Collin Farrell deserve a bigger place in movies.

Sam Worthington.

But is he going to be foisted on us again by all those AVATAR flicks in production?

R52-That sounds like the perfect description of Scott Baio.

More cracking from Andy G. ISHCC.

ISHCCC.

The genius of the Graham Norton Show is its format. The guests get pissed up beforehand and drink throughout, which leads to outbursts and honesty that wouldn't be seen on other shows. I can see why it never translated to the US. Plus it's after the watershed so they can get away with anything. It would never work on American television.

Lube and condoms in the green room, r70? (Or is their green room purple?)

R65 Eric Bana, a standup comic, refused to act in comedies, so it’s largely his own fault.

R33 Oh yes, David Tennant just won’t go away.

I like Jamie Bell. Stay, Jamie, stay.

Jai Cortney and that other guy from the Diveget movies.

Elizabeth Hurley

[quote] I saw Graham Norton do a standup kind of evening at the Coronet in L.A. like 15 or 20 (?) years ago. Pretty dismal. Both he and Ruby Wax are just too nasty, condescending and pleased with themselves in proportion to their own levels of talent.

I find him self-deprecating. Even his autobiography. So that surprises me. Are you sure it wasn't that sort of arch camp that he does, that's sort of fake pompous (like RuPaul's girls)?

Mia Wasakowska

Fergie. Even we thought she was trashy.

Erasure.

Jimmy Somerville.

Too gay for homophobic American radio.

Sam Worthington is a bore.

Virna Lisi was already an established actress in her native Italy when she was brought over here in 1964 to try for a career in Hollywood. Some thought she might be another Monroe. She was terrific in the 1965 Jack Lemmon starring comedy HOW TO MURDER YOUR WiFE but after that one she sort of panned out with two other decently budgeted but mediocre U.S. films:Assault On A Queen which had starred Frank Sinatra and Tony Franciosa, then NOT WITH MY WIFE YOU DON'T which was another long forgotten Tony Curtis mess.

Nothing wrong with her acting. On the contrary, she ended up winning quite a few awards in Europe for her abilities. She just didn't, or wasn't provided with enough to click with American audiences.

I agree that Eric Bana should only fault himself for his non-career. The last thing I recall was the made-for-BRAVO miniseries that no one really cared about.

He was given multiple high-profile opportunities here: HULK, TROY, MUNICH. None of them were very good and they all underdelivered. He went out of his way to play down his sex appeal, looks, and sense of humor. (His body in TROY is a work of art. What a waste to not make more of it.)

Was he holding out for Oscars? A savvier actor would have parlayed even a disaster like HULK into action/adventure roles. Instead, he made LUCKY YOU and THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL. Or FUNNY PEOPLE.

He's 50. I'm seeing more TV work, maybe.... if he's lucky.

Yugoslavian native Bekim Fehmiu was suppose to become the new male sex symbol when he starred as Dax Xenos in the all starring overly ambitious film version of the Harold Robbins best selling novel THE ADVENTURERS which was obviously based on the life of the exceptionally hung gigolo Porfirio Rubirosa.

The film turned out to be a BOMB as was Fehmiu's career in the States and he returned to Europe.

Crack cocaine. Thank goodness [italic]that's[/italic] so over and such a has-been!

r63, I don't agree with the selections of Knightley and Mulligan -- both of them regularly star in modestly budgeted, narrowly targeted films, often sold on their names alone.

Pike, however, hasn't taken off the way I thought she would after Gone Girl. Which is a shame as she's a terrific actress.

DL favorite Luise Rainer.

R77 Gay Irish proddys created camp....just ask Oscar Wilde.

R85, doesn’t Pike have mental health issues? She is very talented but I can imagine that takes up a lot of time and energy to deal with.

I can't tell- did Adjani crack America?

Isn't Pike considered a stuck up cunt and difficult to work with (mean to the crew)?

r89 Who? I'm guessing no.

The slag that won the oscar over me! Americans don’t even know her damn name!

Craig Ferguson didn't make it because he had no one powerful/influential in his corner. Instead, David Letterman stabbed him in the back.

Meanwhile, Corden had Anna Wintour on his side. She encouraged Les Moonves to make him a late night host.

Fallon, Seth Meyers and Conan O'Brien all got to be late night hosts because they had Lorne Michaels on their side.

But why did he stab him in the back?

r88, I seem to recall gossip about her alienating behavior when she was Oscar nominated for Gone Girl; apparently, the other nominees that year (Julianne Moore, Marion Cotillard, Felicity Jones, Reese Witherspoon) bonded in their mutual dislike of Pike.

Cilla Black

R96 probably because she doesn’t fake nice like Most Hollywood fakes.

R95 because Letterman wanted to make sure there was no chance that Ferguson would outshine him as a late night host and possibly threaten his own job.

Letterman didn't want a Jay Leno-type pushing him into a premature retirement.

So, Letterman saw that a foreigner unknown to Americans was installed in the job. He also starved the show of money. That's why Ferguson didn't have a band and he had that skeleton sidekick.

Matthew Goode - Agree. He is now on some Netflix show about Witches and Vampires that is like Twilight for Peri-menopausal women. Theresa Palmer is on it with her atrocious acting. I like his acting though.

Diana Dors was the Foremother of this thread!

Thanks R99. That makes me sad. But it's been said that Letterman is an asshole. I never wanted to believe it - but what was I thinking? His whole persona had an angry edge to it. His ex-girlfriend Merrill Markoe doesn't speak too well of him.

He said when his mother first came to his stand-up act, she went backstage afterwards and said, "Dave, that was not funny." Probably had mother issues like Johnny Carson. And John Cleese. And god knows how many other comedians.

Speaking of assholes, Richard Dawson managed to get custody of his and Diana Dors' two sons away from her and brought them to another continent. What a guy.

Rob Kazinsky. Who? Exactly.

Dan Stevens might be working, but don’t think he’s quite had the career he quit Downton Abbey for.

Jamie Oliver. Maybe he didn't curse enough, like that Ramsay guy they showed 24-7 on BBC America for years. Has it finally stopped?

Romola Garai

Who?

R4

British?

None of them crack America because they are drippy, bitchy, ugly and dull. Can’t wait till that nursery school teacher masquerading as a late night host, Corden, gets bounced out of his time slot. AWFUL.

Graham Norton is the human equivalent of an organ grinder’s monkey.

Not sure what your point is, R108? Julia Ormond is British.

“Every spring there are these planes full of British actors – it's like sardine-tins full of British hope – and they all go and sit on beaches and think it's fantastic for a couple of weeks and then get fantastically depressed and go on juice diets and come back two stone lighter and talking nonsense.”

R77 No. The whole evening was just a dud. The one bit I remember was when he called a phone sex chat line and got into a conversation over the mic with some guy, allegedly all to the audience's amusement. Only it wasn't funny, just kind of sad and mean. And nobody laughed. Except for his desperate cackles after. I had liked him before this, but never again.

[quote] Dan Stevens might be working, but don’t think he’s quite had the career he quit Downton Abbey for

He’s making gobs of money he’d never make in the UK. That’s why UK actors come here.

That is sad, R112. He's talked about his problems with alcohol - maybe he was smashed or hungover or something. I think he does well with his talk show in the UK. He even has an "Agony Aunt" or "Dear Abby" type column where he gives advice to people with problems - I forget which newspaper.

The late, great Rik Mayall. Did very little in the U.S. after “Drop Dead Fred.”

Our loss.

Daniel Craig. Arguably, one of the better James Bond but the series is international in stature instead of American. What else has he done that is even remotely memorable?

[quote]I read an interview with Potenta. She was on the Shield. She was told to her face she was too ugly to be in American movies.

And I bet the asshole who told her looked like Harvey W.

Gemma Arterton’s career crashed, but It looks like she is starting to climb out of the hole. She is in the Kingsman spinoff and a Netflix movie with Jen Aniston. Sure, it’s not the big budget stuff she used to do, but I guess it’s something.

Henry Cavill

Olga Kurylenko (a Bond girl who also starred in a Tom Cruise film): several years ago she was competing with Gal Gadot for the Wonder Woman role. Not only did she not get the role, but she disappeared from Hollywood completely. Now starring in British and French films.

Alan Acrid Cummingstain. He's so phony now. I even liked him when he was marginal and his book was cute. When will he go away?

Nick Jonas fucker Delta Goodrem. Think - had she managed to keep a man she would be enjoying Game Of Thrones spoilers this very moment. She looked like his mother.

Lucy Punch. Minnie Driver. Ricky Gervais (ugh). Michele Dockery. Jessica Brown Findlay.

I hate Corden and Wax with the heat of a thousand suns.

R123 Most of Dockery’s recent and upcoming films/shows are American productions shot in the U.S. Yes, she filmed the Downtown Abbey film, but that’s not really slinking back to the U.K.

Minnie Driver is on some network sitcom — can’t get any less British than that.

Lucy Punch hasn’t really gone back to the U.K. considering her current Netflix show shots in Vancouver.

*shoots

Minnie Driver consistently has American series. The one a few series ago had the tall dishy guy who is now forgotten.

Didn't Cumming win another Tony a few years ago? And his US TV show got renewed, too. That is not exactly crashing and burning. Same with Michelle Dockery. They are not in the news every five seconds, but hardly slinking back to the UK.

David Walton, R126? I haven't forgotten him.

Has Tracy Ullman faded away? She had a show here for a while (maybe still does - I don't keep up).

Tracey Ullman is still around, but she moved back to the UK a while back and stayed there since the death of her husband.

Her show is on HBO, but it's very British focused so it's less universal than her earlier shows.

I always thought two shows could translate well from the UK - Graham Norton, and Later.

But they couldn't be every night. It would have to be once a week.

Later would be 60-90 minutes, and then the talk show could follow for an hour.

R5's suggestion that Juliette Binoche tried to break into America and failed is a joke. She's the actress who turned down Jurassic Park to do Blue. She's only done a handful of American movies while continuing to work with some of the greatest directors in the world. If she wanted to do more US work, she surely could.

Almost as laughable as the claim that she was one of Harvey's girls.

Some of you think that the only measure of success is decades on the A-list.

Pretty much any British actor who's getting regular work in the US has made a success of their move. They'll be paid more, have a larger audience, and generally have more opportunities than they would in the UK. That's pretty good as far as acting is concerned. The fact they're not the lead in $200m action movies doesn't mean failure.

Ashley Jensen scored a gig with Ugly Betty - but I think after that pickings were slim and she came slinking back to England.

Lucky us! (eye-roll)

I love Franke- she's very down to earth and has a droll sense of humor. She's terrific on the hilarious, TNT "Claws" series with Niecey Nash.

Another woman with good acting skills and an unusual face that Americans can't cast: Noomi Repace- relegated to Sci Fi heroine roles

Bianca (of all people) from Eastenders went to Calif. and The Daily Mail report on her glamourous lifestyle over there, but I don't know if she works.

[bold]From Walford to Hollywood: Inside Patsy Palmer’s AMAZING Los Angeles lifestyle[/bold]

Deepak Verma - (Sanjay from Eastenders)

I remember hearing some interview of him saying he was going to Hollywood and thinking "Good luck with that, gurl!"

But he had a lot of success over there it seems.

He even got an MBE.

Ferguson was hilarious in the Big Tease. If you haven’t seen it, watch it. One of my rainy day favorites alongside Drop Dead Gorgeous.

Noomi is very good, but it is like they don't know what to do with her. Much better than fellow Swede, Alicia Vikander. She is now relegated to low profile projects that just don't go anywhere. Maybe she needs a limited TV series?

Morecambe and Wise

How did Wax and that Leather Tuscadero chick get so big in the UK?

Dusty Springfield had hits here, but moved here in 1970 thinking she would be even bigger.

Instead, she crashed and burned.

Julia Ormond was awful. Hated her Sabrina. She did not have “IT”.

[quote]Julia Ormond was awful.

I agree.

Seems like she's still in stuff though.

She was in mad men

Did Amanda de Cadenet hit the big time in the USA?

She's still there!

And speaking of both Dusty and Gemma Artheton (mentioned elsewhere in this thread).....

When the Weinstein news broke, someone here posted a link to an archived Ormond interview. She was so conceited, amazing stuff.

What happened to this one?

Gurl, puhlease!!... with the affected accent.

Ewwww R146 why would you want to showcase those hideous wonky pancake tits???

r61 So you accuse her of being racist, while you are racist yourself. She is White English, no matter what you say, and Mediterraneans are white. There is no such thing as "ethnic whites". Ethnic is not an adjective which applies to people, let alone only certain people, simply because every single human has an ethnic background, black, white, purple, scandinavian, mogol or mediterranean. This is an aberration created by Americans, who are too ashamed of their origins (the people excreted by other continents) and try to project their inferiority complex onto others.

[quote] Minnie Driver is on some network sitcom — can’t get any less British than that.

The point is that Minnie Driver and co didn’t go to America to be on a sitcom - she went to have Nicole Kidman’s career.

R152 Her sitcom sucks but I loved her on will And grace.

Driver also picked shitty projects....that movie about beauty pageants was some sad shit. A lot of her post Good Will Hunting stuff was not memorable.

Whishaw

Redmayne and Cumberbatch

When did Ben Whishaw try to crack America?

Thank you, r157.

Ben Whishaw, Julian Morris, and Matthew Goode are all welcome to crack this American wide open.

I get Julia Ormond confused with Juliette Binoche...both dark short haired brunettes of Euro extraction.

[quote] The point is that Minnie Driver and co didn’t go to America to be on a sitcom - she went to have Nicole Kidman’s career.

Allison Janney & Laurie Metcalf have Oscars and are on sitcoms.

r161 Minnie Driver didn’t go to America to be the sister on Roseanne or the Girl Friday on The West Wing. She went to America to complete for roles with Renee Zellweger and Nicole Kidman, which clearly didn’t happen.

Which is a shame because she is very talented.

Renee Zellweger is no megastar.

And Nicole Kidman is a regular on a tv show.

Why do do many people on DL talk about TV like it is 1985? It is like they live in a time warp and have zero understanding how the media landscape has changed. Most actors gladly go between TV and movies these days.

I like Driver, too, but I am sure she would love to have an Oscar on her shelf over a canceled sitcom at the moment.

R160 and both worked for Weinstein.

R163 Kidman would be nowhere near to where she is now without her lavender marriage to Cruise and also she starred in many (9 or 10 I think) Weinstein movies too.

Jessie J owns this thread.

R167 only cause she bought it from Leona Lewis emile Sande chipped in.

Cillian Murphy

Matt Smith from Doctor Who....left DW to do Hollywood.

Rita whora has tried everything to make it in the usa.

Karen Gillan

Lady Sybil Crawley

Robert Sheehan

[quote] Cillian Murphy

Should have changed his name to Kyle. We just can't take that weird shit.

Oh, for fuck's sake, a network sitcom is not peak TV. Mahershala Ali and Amy Adams aren't switching between Oscar bait movies and Big Bang Theory, they're making HBO shows.

And a network sitcom is not why any good-looking actor in their 20s crosses the pond, dipshits. Minnie Driver already made sitcoms in the UK in her 20s and was ready to move beyond that to American films and stardom. And she obviously didn't have the career she would want in her 20s and 30s. For an working actor now, she's doing ok, but she, quite literally, didn't become the big American star she wanted to be after Grosse Point Blank and Good Will Hunting. The level of TV she makes isn't the level that Elisabeth Moss or even Anna Paquin makes.

As for Renee Zellweger not being a star now and Nicole Kidman making TV they both got Oscars and multiple nominations in their primes at the same time Minnie was in a series of indie movies nobody saw. And they're making series for Netflix and Amazon.

^ both Zellweger and Kidman's nominations and awards bought by Harvey Weinstein. Nicole Flopman is not a star she's a celebrity.

As was Minnie's, so...

Everybody in this photo

Ioan Grufudd!!!

99% of Canadian actors. Many of them get parts in movies filmed in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. Then think they're something great and head to LA....almost never works out.

R179, I was rewatching his Horatio Hornblower the other day and couldn't get over how handsome he was in it.

Kimbra

She's a Kiwi - huge recording artist in NZ, AU, and Asia. She wrote this song (see video) when she was 17 yo; her debut CD ("Vows") was released when she was 22 yo. Though she was featured at Coachella 2015, she never 'hit' the US, unfortunately.

However, she did win a Grammy for her collaboration with Goyte. That's it. Nothing more (US hits) since.

" . . . I think I fell into a strange place of wandering limbs and eager hands . . . "

Have you told that to Eric McCormack, Jim Carrey and Mike Myers r180? Or Donald Sutherland and Richard Dreyfus?

Worked out ok for them.

I think it’s a shame Isabelle Adjani never seemed to attempt a crossover career—there’s a beautiful woman who can really act. She was the director’s first choice for Fatal Attraction (Glenn Close’s role), but turned it down to do Camille Claudel.

The Beckhams

R183....Richard Dreyfus?

"Dreyfuss was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Geraldine Dreyfus (née Robbins; 1921–2000),[2] a peace activist, and Norman Dreyfus (1920–2013), an attorney and restaurateur, and was raised in the Bayside area of Queens, New York.[3] His family is Jewish.[4][5] He has commented that he "grew up thinking that Alfred Dreyfus and [he] are from the same family."[6] His father disliked New York, and moved the family first to Europe[clarification needed], and later to Los Angeles, California, when Dreyfuss was nine.[7][8] Dreyfuss attended Beverly Hills High School.[8]"

Canadian actors have more trouble getting visas to work here than they used to. All the ones r180 mentions are from a while ago.

R186 Someone is conflating Richard Dreyfus with Duddy Kravitz, a character Dreyfus played who was from Montreal.

Aishwaria Rai

I cracked it. Plastic surgery, dental work, hair extensions, fake tan.

Me, too!

What was the question?

Anna Friel - She did that quirky tv show with whatshisface, he of many threads and the LoTR flicks, and then she disappeared.

Ormond became Harrison Ford's long-term mistress during (before?) Sabrina. She lived in an apartment near his with Matheson, the ET writer wife. One day, Ormond had enough and said she was coming over to have it out with him, the wife, etc. He ran out and met her halfway there, they screamed and fought in the street for a while (she did the screaming) then went back to her place. They were together for several years. Eventually he dumped her. She moved on to Gabriel Byrne for a while who wouldn't marry her and have kids. Eventually she found someone.

She was one of Harvey's girls and the only way she got out of fucking Harvey was by fucking Ford.

R189, Aishwarya Rai, good choice, usually only seen at Cannes unveiling a new dress.

There is no way to be a “movie star” anymore unless you get cast as a superhero in some huge franchise. The term has become meaningless in the last few years.

Those disparaging getting a gig on network TV are nuts: do you know how many Brit actors inundate Hollywood every July during pilot season, happy to try to get a regular gig? Why? Because of American bucks and the chance to live high on the hog in LA for part of the year, and then go back to London to maybe do a play for three months. Many Brit actors — not “stars” but character actor types — have either retired to LA or maintain places there because they spend most of the year there. They may not be “stars” but they have created a nice life for themselves.

Get real. Show business is hard. Getting big movie gigs is now almost impossible. Anyone who works regularly in some combination of stage (whether London or NY), TV and films is living the life.

Steve Coogan-- Alan Partridge was hilarious but he never caught on in the US.

Natascha McElhone has done some questionable American accents.

Agreed, that archived NYT article on Ormond was fascinating. Never got her “appeal” — she was being pushed as an idealized dream girl in high-profile projects with A-list stars, but she never had “It”. Wasn’t Ovitz the one pushing her?

Amusingly enough, American flop Ormond is pairing up with DL Fave (and arguable American flop) Ben Barnes in a BBC series this spring. The Beeb doesn't give a toss about "It" apparently.

Do we have a modern day Ormond? I'm sure we do, but I can't recall her... which is probably telling.

You know what, it's probably the aforementioned Sam Worthington. Came out of nowhere in 2009, but had no genuine lasting power outside of Avatar. Maybe that's what Ormond needed... a franchise.

Julia Ormond is beautiful, but ultimately, who gives a shit? There are beauties everywhere and her old lady hair in Sabrina didn’t help.

They tried to make me go to rehab, but I said no, no, no.

Ormond was good (and spoke French!) in a few episodes of “Mad Men” and snagged an Emmy nomination (a few of the Brit actors trashed here have gotten Golden Globe or Emmy nods). Agree she was too cold and no star, the “Sabrina” remake was a travesty. But she’s a good character actress now so who cares?

R190 Did Kate Beckinsale ever really crack America?

Pearl Harbour was a huge flop initially and she's had to return to the awful Underworld franchise every couple of years to keep her profile up.

Not sure that she has had a career that most actress's would be proud of.

As far as I'm concerned Beckinsale is on par with Milla Jovovich. Both achieved their own version of longevity due to their husbands directing them in sci-fi/horror schlock. At least Beckinsale got to work with Scorsese?

[quote]99% of Canadian actors. Many of them get parts in movies filmed in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. Then think they're something great and head to LA....almost never works out.

This might be me, but I think Canadian actors are some of the worst actors around.

Agreed R205. My sarcasm didn't translate. She is starring in a new Amazon series.

Why are brits so obsessed with coming to America? Is it NYC and LA? Is it the $$$? And why doesn't the UK pay their actors as well as we do in America? The amount of $$$ celebrities make in America is beyond ridiculous, is that what it is?

I just really want to know why their always invading our markets.what is the UK not doing for them?

Someone please help me out.

If you mean The Widow R208 it's already been shown in the UK and clearly the ITV network thought it was so awful that they stripped all 8 episodes over 4 weeks.

For some reason Kate Beckinsale wore a cheap dollar store fake bouncy ponytail throughout most of it. Alex Kingston acted her off the screen.

R193 Harrison Ford's long-term mistress

lol at long-term mistress. Ford is a classic closet case.

R198 pushed by Weinstein

Yes, R205. It was terrible. As was the Hollywood ponytail.

R180 Some Canadian actors who move to LA end up getting edged out by Aussies and Brits for roles on shows and movies.

R209 I recall reading somewhere that most UK tv shows don't make a lot of money and that's why UK actors don't make much over there.

Sonia Braga

Rik Mayall

Russell Brand

Charlie Cox

Fergie for Weight Watchers

r209 Have you considered UK actors simply out perform the poor competion out in LA. Given their classical training, not being raised in such a 'set on easy' low brow culture, and their natural charisma and intellect usually found lacking in American examples.

Felicity Jones

R66 He is the worst.

[quote][R209] Have you considered UK actors simply out perform the poor competion out in LA.

Yep. Their classy British superiority and Europeaness! No wonder Emilia Clarke, Emma Watson, Keira Knightley, Charlie Hunnam and Tom Hiddleston have Oscar Isaac and Amy Adams quaking their boots. Audiences hear the flawless American accents wielded by Matt Smith, Gerard Butler, Ewan McGregor and David Tennant and are amazed they aren't actual Americans.

The concept of Hollywood stars of this thread is really outdated, only a dozen of people qualifies as star now, according with you standards. Most of the people mentioned had a couple of good movies and respectable career after that. Really shows the demographic of DL.

Ed Westwick

Hollywood Stars always had a short shelf-life, even Clooney is back to TV now with Catch 22 on HULU. 10 years would have been an exeptional run even in the 1940's.

1

Why in your triggered response did you pick those two of all people? I've never heard of Oscar Isaac and Amy Adams is like some plane jane, nearly 50 dullard from shit frau films.

...having googled who Issac is he's not even American either.

David Tennant was a sad case. His on-off girlfriend got “accidentally” pregnant right after he moved to LA solo. That didn’t destroy his career (no one apart from fangirls care) but he spent six months “dithering” as to whether he should stay in LA and let her raise the baby alone with financial support, or return to the UK and raise the kid with her. The dithering cost him a lot of good will. I know of at least one movie role he accepted then dropped out of twice, and his US agent nearly ditched him over it.

The other problem was his woeful American accent in the legal pilot he did (not entirely his fault as they made a last minute decision to have the character be from Boston).

I know Gemma Arterton (and fucking love her). She hated Hollywood and only does American movies for the money.

A lot of American actors have been publicly complaining about british and australian actors coming to America and taking roles from American actors. And how frustrating it is.

Someone even threatend the second amendment if it continues. But is it that serious?

r227 = butthurt limey, probably Piers Morgan

I recall reading some article maybe about 10 years ago about American actors being frustrated about Brits, Australians, and Canadians getting acting jobs in the US. The issue that some actors had was that they felt that it was a bit easy for non-Americans to come over on visas or other permits and get acting jobs. But, due to immigration and labor issues in other countries, American actors couldn't hop over to some countries and easily get acting jobs. That was what pissed off some actors off.

When Kate McKinnon played an Aussie or New Zealander(can't remember which one it was) for that awful Rough Night movie, people on twitter complained about that. I remember some people said it was fair game because plenty of non-Americans fake American accents for movies and shows and that Americans should be able to fake accents for parts.

A bit OT, a friend of mine posted on Facebook last Christmas about how a lot of American conservatives were watching Hallmark channel movies and he said they should be boycotting Hallmark since most of their productions are in Canada. I have wondered why there isn't a bigger push for Hallmark, Lifetime, or other networks to film more in American states that offer film and TV tax breaks/incentives.

It's a good point, r232. Funnily enough I watched Molly's Game the other week. Either I wasn't listening that closely when The Wire came out because I didn't know who Idris Elba was or his American accent has become significantly worse in the past 15 years.

Rebel Wilson had a short lived sitcom several years ago where she played an American. Her American accent was terrible. I recall on Sons of Anarchy, Charlie Hunam's accent slipped a bunch of times in episodes.

Liv Ullmann :-) Disastrous. She has a sense of humor (something you don't seen in her acting) about the time and said it was fun being young and living L.A. with a swimming pool. Went home and made Cries and Whispers, Autumn Sonata... Has lived in the U.S. forever, even while directing abroad.

Cillian Murphy

I've seen interviews with him that are painfully awkward; I'm guessing he's not willing to play the game - plus, he's sort of aged out of the beautiful young thing roles he was known for

James McAvoy is another; granted, being in a major franchise is no joke, but he's a good actor & should've had a higher profile career, like Oscar Isaac. Maybe it's because he's short...

don't see* [R235]

James McAvoy has had recent successes in those movies where he's playing a character with DID. There aren't really any great films being made in Hollywood these days, just blockbusters that require performers to exist within their machinery. Not much call for nuanced acting. Eric Bana was an idiot not to play to his strengths. Was great in Chopper.

Robbie Williams

Jeremy Northam (too bad because I really liked him)

Alex Pettyfer

Hayley Atwell

Rufus Sewell

Samantha Mumba

Raises hand

Anna Sten

Marta Toren

Franciska Gaal

Gwili Andre

Love him but.....Dirk Bogarde

Chihh

Claire Forlani

I remember when Forlani was being pimped as the next big thing. Didn't happen.

Meet Joe Black was garbage.

Did Forlani have any ties to Weinstein?

R209 For actors and musicians there is some sort of stigma that no matter how well you do in Britain, or Australia, or New Zealand, or Canada, the ultimate litmus test is making it big in America. Perhaps it's because the amount of public and media enthusiasm is so much greater in America for successful entertainers feeds their needy egos. As well, there is far more money to be made by those who crack the American entertainment industry. Actors are anxious to get American citizenship for more job opportunities and because they can avoid paying as much income taxes than they would if they worked in Britain.

R248, the reason making it big in America is so important for Rock and Pop stars and Movie Actors is because these things were created in America. The modern entertainment industry is an American creation. We created Hollywood; we created the Blues and Jazz which begat R&B which begat Rock and Roll. Making it in America means being recognized by the place that started and dominates these art forms. And to be honest, if you never make it in America, your chances of being remembered by posterity are slim at best and non-existent most likely. Think about it.

r249 owns a MAGA hat

I worked with Claire Foy years ago before she was famous, and she was pretty rude and refused to acknowledge the actors playing smaller roles.

The American market is important not because of entertainment history or enthusiasm-- some of you romanticize this stuff to a silly degree. It's because the US is such a large market and its distribution networks mean making it big in America can mean making it big on a global scale. And with that level of success comes great amounts of fame and money.

Ghkhh

On a TV level, Canadian actor Gregory Smith was on the WB's Everwood and he ended up back in Canada years later doing Canadian shows like Rookie Blue.

R254 That guy was so pale he looked like a ghost

Ed Speleers

R252 has it exactly right.

Population of UK, Canada, Australia and NZ combined: 133 million in 4 media markets.*

Population of the USA: 327 million in 1 media market.

The UK punches well above its weight in entertainment in the English-speaking world, particularly in music and prestige productions, but it can’t match the vastly larger US market or the worldwide reach of the Hollywood entertainment industry.

[quote]On a TV level, Canadian actor Gregory Smith was on the WB's Everwood and he ended up back in Canada years later doing Canadian shows like Rookie Blue.

Wasn't Gregory Smith there because they shot Everwood in Canada?

The Everwood pilot filmed in Canada and Colorado and then production moved to Utah. I thought Everwood was sort of an underrated show. It was certainly better than crap like 7th Heaven.

[quote] Amy Adams is like some plane jane, nearly 50 dullard from shit frau films.

She has six Oscar nominations. Like it or not, she's a big deal.

Yes, I was going to say Julia Ormond. She was the hot new thing for a while in the early 90s.

Robbie Williams owns this thread. He made a big push to make it in the US with "The Ego Has Landed,": which was exactly the wrong album to try and make it with since it was all about how conflicted he is about how megafamous he is and no one in America could understand what he was talking about.

He also has a kind of physical appeal in the UK that just doesn't translate here. He has goofy ears that stick out and looks boyish and chavvy and dirty, which is a hugely popular look in the UK (Russell Tovey also has this look) but doesn't appeal at all to US audiences. (Russell Tovey has also not done as well here as he had hoped.)

I have to give him credit, though: he made the big love here, flopped, but saved face by telling UK interviewers that his anonymity here is a PLUS, because no one recognizes him on the street so he can lead a normal life. As if he didn't come here in the first place to make it big!

RW was already a household name in the UK and Europe because of his time in Take That. I don't think TT ever managed to crack America?

Usually actors from the Commonwealth or former British Emopire nations are much, much better trained than US actors (especially in terms of voice), so if they're good looking they can really resonate with US audiences and do well: Russell Crowe, the Hemsworth brothers, Emma Thompson, Kenneth Branagh, Liam Neeson, Emily Blunt, Emily Watson, Rachel Weisz, Gary Oldman, Andrew Garfield, Hugh Grant, Damien Lewis, Charlie Cox, Riz Ahmed, Hugh Laurie, Idris Elba, Dominic West, Matthew Rhys. It helps if they can do convincing American accents.

[quote] I don't think TT ever managed to crack America?

Not at all.

Cliff Richard

Didn’t Ormond and/or her handlers question whether or not it might appear that there might be a perception of monumental hubris involved in the fact that the roles she played in “First Knight”, “Legends of the Fall” and “Sabrina” ALL involved her character being vied after by both leading men of each film?

Robbie Williams seems to have made a lot of money. I once took a visiting friend on the "tour of movie star homes" here in LA, and as I recall, he had quite the pile in Bel Air.

r263, Take That had one hit in the US: "Back For Good" peaked at #7 on Billboard's Hot 100 and hit #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart; it remains an AC staple to this day.

r236 McAvoy has had great success in, "Split" and "Glass", and was lauded for both of them.

Robbie Williams - I think being obnoxious and talent-challenged may have been a factor too...

In what universe is James McAvoy not a successful actor?

Don't know. May be people thought he'd be working with Scorsese instead of Shyamalan?

I'm surprised Dan Stevens wasn't kicked out of the US after this tragedy.

Has the decision been made on James Corden yet? If he's actually "made it" here would someone please, for the sake of all that's Holy, explain to me how?

More of a travesty, r274, than a tragedy.

Is anyone supposed to know what R243, R253 is trying to say?

R277 sgssl

Robbie Williams suffered egregiously from ferret face. And that horrible accent.

Abbie Cornish

Sienna Miller

R236 Agree both should be bigger names.

I feel Tom Hardy is given all the roles would have gone to McAvoy before Hardy became a big name and popular. I would say McAvoy's career was great until 2013 and then there was only X-Men movies 2010s wasn't a great decade for him. good that Split was made and it became a box office hit and saved 2010s for him. Hope It:Chapter two is great and leads him to better projects.

Cillian now has Peaky Blinders which is a great show but his film career is suffering all the meaty roles and great movies are from what he has done in years ago nothing recent.

Ben Whishaw should be a much bigger name.

James Corden.

R284 He's really unfunny and his voice and the way he talks it's just bad.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

R286, “bearded” in more ways than one. He got married to “start a family” but is really gay. He was in a relationship with Kenneth Branagh for a while.

[quote] Lady Mary isn't exactly cracking the US either

She had a great show on TNT called Good Behavior. It was based on the Letty Dobesh book series, by Blake Crouch. Her costar was soooooo hot. He's from Argentina and his name is Juan Diego Botto

The network really didn't promote the show and unfortunately it wasn't renewed. If it had been on Netflix it would have been a hit

'Merica'? What do you mean? North, South, Central America? You sound like Dubya.

Tina Arena

But did they all do crack in america? Or show crack at least?

Donna Lewis

The entire cast of Game of thrones.

They've chartered a jet and they're all on the way over here.

Hope that for the sake of most of them they've already chartertered the flight home.

Gael Garcia Bernal

great actor.

[quote] Why are brits so obsessed with coming to America? Is it NYC and LA? Is it the $$$? And why doesn't the UK pay their actors as well as we do in America? The amount of $$$ celebrities make in America is beyond ridiculous, is that what it is?

Must be the money. Right or wrong, US is the most prestigious market.

Mark Strong

Rupert Friend

Vladimir Putin

Where is Rupert Everett nowadays?

He has the AIDS.

R299 I don't think so.

Til Schweiger is the German Steve McQueen.

Matthew Goode is terrible on Downton Abbey. Complete bore.

Julian Ovenden. Too short.

Can any of the non American GOT cast members do a decent American ?

^Can any of the non American GOT cast members do a decent American accent ?

Alfie Allen is a great actor but not handsome by Hollywood standards.

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Carice van Houten's careers are fine many interesting movies but not in English language.

Carice van Houten's Black Book was a huge hit in Europe. She won't be out of work any time soon.

All those Harry Potter kids.

Emma Watson is doing fine

Gael Garcia Bernal...really??? And I think Ben Whishaw has exactly the career he wants to have, paydays with Mary Poppins or James Bond and then theater that really interests him.

Emma Watson doesn't need to work for money, but she needs to work if she wants to remain being the UN's number 1 feminist. She will need a Beauty And The Beast type hit every 5 years until someone cuter comes along.

Hopefully, Emma Watson manages her money well. That one blonde guy from Harry Potter squandered the money he made through the franchise.

[quote]Where is Rupert Everett nowadays?

He's moved back in with his mother and lives in the English countryside.

That film he directed and starred in about Oscar Wilde was very good.

[quote]Rupert Everett gears up for the next chapter: moving in with his mum

I greatly disagree with the poster upthread who said Craig Ferguson was the best of the late night interviewers. He was actually the worst. Every time a guest came out, he’d make some big show of ripping up the interview questions...and it showed. Sure, Colbert doesn’t listen to his guests. But every Ferguson interview was Ferguson interviewing himself. He would just blather on at the guest in that weird, “absurdist” stream of consciousness that college kids and douchey straight guys like at first. (“Teapot! Bannister! National registry! This is funny because it’s three non-sequitors strung together!”). I felt bad for every celebrity who had to sit there for ten minutes and act as an audience for some unfunny tryhard.

That shit can only work if there’s wit behind it, but there wasn’t with Ferguson, and that’s why he’s happily forgotten. He’s better than Corden, that’s for sure. But that’s like saying Bundy was kinder to his victims than Dahmer.

R250, this is R249, I DESPISE that scumbag Trump and his pig-ignorant, inbred MAGAbillies, but everything I posted is true. You know it is. I'm not bragging. I'm just giving you the reason making it in America has always been a big deal for international artists, starting with the Beatles.

Mireille Enos

I loved Ferguson, particularly his interviews with Helena Bonham Carter-they were hilarious. And the one with Kristin Scott Thomas was also great. They had great chemistry.

[quote]if you never make it in America, your chances of being remembered by posterity are slim at best and non-existent most likely.

Isabelle Huppert

Emmanuelle Beart

R321 R322 They didn't made it in America but audience knows both of them

Virginie Ledoyen

R3219 Isn't she American?

Enos is American, just has a foreign sounding name.

I thought Enos was French or Scottish?

Her mother is French.

Ludivine Sagnier

Golshifteh Farahani

Guillaume Canet

Hayley Atwell. When Agent Carter was cancelled due to low ratings, she claimed it was actually cancelled because the bigwigs wanted her in something more contemporary. Now she's back in the UK playing the wife/mother in films and doing period drama and theatre.

She appeared to be desperate for success in the U.S. while trying to appear above such things. Thirsty as hell. Pandered to her young female fanbase while she had a shot with the Marvel films but cut them loose as soon as Marvel failed to make her a star. Honestly have more respect for people who own their ambition rather than those who try, fail then pretend to have never cared.

Hayley Atwell is kind of cunty. After Dylan Farrow took over Me Too, Hayley Atwell was all “He didn’t give me any direction on set. So I’m glad we are now able to speak up.”

Her father is American and she has dual citizenship so she has not trouble with visas or green cards that others have.

Even in the most recent cinematic Golden Age, what Brits really shone apart from Gary Oldman and Alan Rickman?

hopefully we can add that horse-like cleaning lady who took my Oscar to this list real soon

R333 I was a fan of Atwell's at first but I grew increasingly cynical about her. She tried to undermine Emily Van Camp as Cap's love interest. Not a very sisterly thing to do for a supposed feminist. That whole Dubsmash thing, where she flew from LA to Atlanta and back again overnight just to beat the Agents of SHIELD gang was strange, especially as she tried to pass it off as "silly nonsense." Even when she's supposedly making silly faces to show how unconcerned she is with her appearance, she's very careful with angles and such.

I had no idea she'd worked with Allen. I just read her "apology" and it's very typical of her. "I'm glad I can speak out and not be blacklisted'. Honey, you only spoke out now to avoid being called out. Incredibly fake and, yes, cunty.

There was some kerfuffle when Atwell did a play here in London, where the theatre put up a notice saying her attendance for certain dates (nearly a month, not just one or two days) was not guaranteed, as she was doing a film. So she’d basically signed up to do a play and a film at the same time and more or less told the theatre “I’ll show up to perform when I feel like it.” No one ever knew when she’d be there or when they’d have to put the understudy on.

There was also some weird story which I can’t fully remember, but something about Atwell getting to the theatre late wanting to perform, management refusing to pull the understudy, and Atwell and her friend sitting in the audience making nasty comments about the understudy.

R377 Jesus, the more I learn, the cuntier Atwell gets.

R311 Ben Whishaw has exactly the career he wants to have

How do you know what he wants. He already has talked about wanting more straight roles played by gay actors there's not many roles available to out actors.

Tom Cruise's ex lesbian beards Katie holmes and Nazanin Boniadi.

Robbie Williams

Atwell is fat by Hollywood standards they want actresses be skinny.

Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander

I don't know who are more obsessive: fangirls of Ben Whishaw or Riz Ahmed.

Didn't Atwell spin some ridiculous yarn about on set Harvey Weinstein told her to lose some weight, so she went and got told that other cunt Emma Thompson all about it and Thompson totaly went and gave Weinstein the 'what for' and she never had to lose the weight.

Dannii Minogue. Though her husband Julian McMahon was hot for a while.

Alice Eve

Fassbender was given every opportunity to become a marquee name here and his brooding MO just never connected with anyone. He’s never had one hit film ( he’s really not central to the X-Men franchise and he was supporting in 12 Years as a Slave).

His gf Alicia Vikander similarly just has no charisma to make it here.

Fassbender could have been the next Daniel Day Lewis if he chose better roles and didn’t try lead blockbuster wanna-bes (Alien: Covenant, that stupid movie based on SonyPlaystation game, that awful movie with Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz and Brad Pitt, all his Charlize Theron sci-fi duds).

Mostly failing to connect with audiences does not mean he won't get pretty much endless opportunities to work. He might even join the "unlimited number of flops" club.

Eddie Izzard

IIRC, Craig Ferguson didn't get Letterman's show, but he still got paid a metric assload of cash because he was contractually promised it.

R348, Fassbender may (or may not) have Day-Lewis's technical skill, but doesn't have his heat. Day-Lewis really lights up the screen and there's something quite cold about Fassbender.

LOL @ Matthew Goode blaming Ben Whishaw for the failure of Brideshead Revisited.

Hemsworth is box office poison without the Marvel lifefloat!

Wasn’t Abbie Cornish supposed to be the next Cate Blanchett?

Jamiroquai

Ooh! Ooh! Prior to her was the first Neue-Cate, the dull Sarah Wynter.

Bruce Beresford even cast her in an awful period movie that Cate turned down.

Patricia Kaas

R353 What?

R352 I agree he's very talented but can't do accents and is more suited for villain roles.

Xavier Dolan

Annabelle Wallis- despite being in a successful horror movie and the Mummy reboot, nope.

I liked Fassbender before the series of flop movies he had and also before knowing about his domestic violence past.

R361 and nose job

**Apparent Fassbender/Viklander BI**

[Blind Gossip] A handsome movie star was spotted in a bar in a major city in the past week.

You are going to be shocked when you hear what he was doing!

No, he wasn’t on some sort of bender or snorting up piles of coke or getting into fights.

He was on a date!

We were a couple of tables away from him. He was obviously on a date.

They both seemed very drunk but they kept ordering cocktails. They also had a bottle of whiskey on the table. He told the server several times, “My girlfriend wants another drink,” so she wasn’t a one-night stand.

So, what did she look like?

She was wearing a short red dress. She was average height, pretty, in her twenties. She had long, straight blonde hair but she looked Latina. They kept to themselves and I couldn’t hear their exact conversation, but they seemed very happy and were laughing a lot. I thought I heard her saying a few words in either Spanish or Portuguese.

How did they behave?

There was a lot of PDA. They were hugging and kissing. At one point she was sitting on his lap and had her arms wrapped around his neck while she was kissing him. They left around midnight. They were holding hands on the way out.

Sounds like fun!

So… why in the world would we tell you that you are going to be shocked?

Well, because our handsome movie actor is very married.

To a young female movie star.

Oh, yes.

We’ve told you before that this marriage started out as a marketing setup and was on tenuous ground when they got married.

The fact that he was so brazenly on a date with another woman in public signals that their relationship has significantly cooled off and is now heading towards its end.

Similar: The Cool Off

Actor:

Actress Wife:

[Optional] What do you think will happen next?

LOL, R355. Cate Blanchett was a hugely acclaimed theatre star in Australia for years before she went to the US. Hardly anybody knew Abbie Cornish's name, even after she co-starred with Heath Ledger.

As for Sam Worthington, we were so proud we managed to palm him off on you so early in his career. Please don't send him back! (OMG, if you think he's bad in movies you should see him on stage.)

With regard to the good ones, some of our best-known "exports" basically live here and commute to work in LA (Weaving, Pearce, Rush when he's not in court. Rachel Griffiths is home a lot. Blanchett lived here while in charge of Sydney Theatre Company.) They do a fair bit of work here, and it's important to them both in terms of inspiration and contribution. That may also be true of some of the Brits, and explain why they don't take off as readily as US people (and exports like Kidman) who regard movie stardom as the be-all and end-all and work the LA scene the whole time. IDK how much time Eric Bana spends in the US - he doesn't work much here but he might retreat here.

Abbie Cornish was a teen actress. Not a teen star but a teen actress in adult shows. Kind of on the level Nicole Kidman was before she made Dead Calm, only Abbie didn't have a Dead Calm. She did have a reasonable coming-of-age movie with Sam Worthington, which I guess was her Bangkok Hilton.

Kidman is lucky that she was born in Hawaii, and Blanchett's father is Texan, so they have an easier time with visas than the average starlet.

Riz Ahmed has more than "cracked America", he's cracked the world. While he's not A-List, his fanbase is rabid and expanding throughout the world due to Rogue One and VENOM and his Emmy win for The Night Of.

Riz is similar to most British performers, he works in both film and in TV shows. He doesn't care if he's a 'movie star', as long as he can act. In the US, such a big deal is made if a 'movie star' guest stars in TV series. That's absurd and silly. If you care about the craft of acting, you act everywhere.

Riz has two films due this year, he plays a rock drummer who suddenly goes deaf in SOUND OF METAL and MUGHAL MOWGLI, which also has a music theme, it's about a British/Pakistani rapper who is about to embark on his first world tour, but is struck down by an illness which threatens to derail his big break. Riz seems to take a lot of roles filled with heartbreak, illness and death, his characters have died in several of his films, TRISHNA, BLACK GOLD and NIGHTCRAWLER.

There's also his Netflix take on HAMLET and a UK series based on three generations of a Pakistani/British family, which he wrote and will direct.

Here he's with his friend Mayor Sadiq in London at a recent outdoor Ramadan celebration. Think this was actually today.

Milo Y.

The Ecclestone sisters.

Thank you r367. Not a Riz stan, but DL has some weird aversion to people doing TV and movies at the same time like it is 1985. And how have you not "cracked it" if you are on a major hit show/franchise or have won/nominated for major industry awards in the last few years? Isn't it the sign of having made it? You aren't doing community theatre in Newark or hemorrhoid commercials.

There is also some confusion about being tabloid fodder or calling the paparazzi and "making it" in the industry. James MacAvoy has not been successful???? Clair Foy had some flops last year since her time and awards on The Crown, but give it a few years. Nobody has endless career highs. Even Streep has major valleys.

R367 Oh great it's the crazed Riz Ahmed lunatic again

Emily Lloyd, she has probably been mentioned already but still where is she?

R372, Emily Lloyd suffered from some severe mental health issues and depresssion. It's a real tragic story but she had a child a few years ago and is managing her illness. She doesn't work much though.

^ I'm glad she's okay

That horse faced starlet who had to fuck the warner brothers CEO, she will never make it now

Yahoo Serious

R373 rough life since she turned down pretty woman for mermaids and then got fired by Cher, that ended her career pretty much.

As a young gayling, I loved Young Einstein...probably because of the male butts.

Watching it a few years ago, I didn’t realize how handsome Yahoo Serious was. Didn’t he try to sue the search engine at one point?

The official word on Mermaids (which I love!) is that Cher replaced Emily with Winona Ryder because she couldn't imagine having a blonde child. Meanwhile both Chas and Elijah are blonde, so it was just a ruse to cover up for Emily's instability.

R379 Did Emily show signs of mental disease even back then?

Emily Lloyd was also replaced (by Juliette Lewis) in “Husbands and Wives”, but a lot of actors have been replaced in Woody Allen films over the years, so in that case it might not point to any personal issues of hers!

I think poor Emily’s untreated mental illness was the problem.

In Legion, skinny Dan Stevens looks weird. Like when they CGI’ed Chris Evans’ face onto someone’s tiny body in Captain America.

Emily Blunt is not exactly a “butt in the seats” star. Mary Poppins Returns meek worldwide box office just got beat by Dumbo.

She was given every opportunity by Hollywood to take the crown and failed.

"Mary Poppins Returns meek worldwide box office just got beat by Dumbo."

But Dumbo did worse in the US

R385, if Dumbo played over the holidays, like Poppins, it would have made more in the US.

r386, it's the opposite. The only reason it didn't flop harder is because it was released in March and had no competition

Mick Jagger in FreeJack

R387, kids have no vacation in March and two weeks off in December/January. Dumbo was released with Captain Marvel.

"kids have no vacation in March and two weeks off in December/January."

So? You can see a movie without being on vacation. Mary Poppins had to compete with all the big holiday movies.

These are kids movies r390. They’re in school in March!

But r388, it's not like Jagger is a big acting star in the UK either. It's more like he tried to crack acting, and didn't.

"They’re in school in March!"

Once again, you don't need to be on vacation to see movies.

[quote]But [R388], it's not like Jagger is a big acting star in the UK either. It's more like he tried to crack acting, and didn't.

FREEJACK?! Mick's first film was PERFORMANCE and that was way back in the late 1960s. Blame these musicians managers for trying to get them into acting.

Sting was in several films. He was actually quite good in STORMY MONDAY with Sean Bean, Tommy Lee Jones and Melanie Griffith. As well as his first very low budget indie film, RADIO ON. DUNE was a disaster, but not because of Sting. BRIMSTONE & TREACLE was interesting.

I remember another film Sting was in, his co-star was Theresa Russell, they had a fairly hot nude sex scene. Other than that, the film was pretty bad.

Bowie was the only musician I can recall who had a successful and critically acclaimed film career. The man was super talented. RIP.

Diane Kruger

I keep reading this thread title as "They tried crack in America..."

Olivia Colman (I hear they postponed the release date of The Crown because of her. Probably too horsey for the Queen. Should have played Margaret)

Ioan Gruffudd

Ziyi Zhang

Abbie Cornish

Run Lola Run chick

Some Asian nominees:

Lee Byung-hun

Yun-fat Chow

Jay Chou, who was in The Green Hornet.

Jing Tian, who was in The Great Wall and Kong: Skull Island.

Li Bingbing, who was in Transformers, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, and The Meg.

Fan Bingbing, who was freshly released and will be in Jessica Chastain's female spy thriller.

Liu Yifei, who tried to crack before, is now the most hopeful as Disney's Mulan.

That fug Australian actor Matt Passmore.

Sam Worthington definitely owns this entire thread and has made it his bitch. The American media was recoiling from his utter unremarkableness even during the Avatar promo tour. He's cute but no one is ever going to clamor to see one of his films.

Hey Americans. Total douchebag here....

A bunch of Canadian actors have failed in the US.

A bunch of Canadian actors have failed in the US.

Rufus Wainwright, who is half-American.

And that surprises me, R225. It was so easy to pull the wool over your eyes, and he so very nearly managed it.

Of course we Britons all know he’s thick as pigshit, common as muck, and a rough seedy grasping little lech lacking good credentials besides; he only has to open his mouth to give himself away. Americans & Arabs & Asians, however, can’t tell - being foreign to our tells, and moreover too easily fooled by the glitter & spit of television.

Raoul Bova

Jameela Jamil

[quote]A bunch of Canadian actors have failed in the US.

I have noticed there hasn't been any recent Canadian breakout stars in the US when it comes to acting. We probably won't see another Ryan Reynolds, Ryan Gosling, or Rachel McAdams type for a long time.

Taylor Kitsch isn't bad when he's playing tortured, angsty outliers, but he has "leading man looks" and is a rl athlete, so they keep trying to cast him as a smoldering action star. Just let him go do more Wacos and Friday Night Lights in peace, Hollywood.

Saint Etienne - America’s loss.

Oh and thankfully, Rita Ora and Jessie J.

R410 I didn't care for Kitsch in Friday Night Lights. But, I thought he was great in Waco.

There are certain comedians who are very big in the UK who just haven't been able to make it as big as they thought in the US because their style of humor doesn't translate well overseas: Rowan Atkinson and Ricky Gervais are the two who come to mind. Europeans find Atkinson as Mr. Bean hysterical, but Americans just find him deeply annoying. But I think it's hard to watch him and not see very soon how talented Atkinson is.

Russell Brand, however, does not fit into this category at all. I am still baffled Hollywood gave him so many tries at making it big since he's just awful--I can't understand for the life of me while the British find him funny.

Robbie Williams didn't make it here in the US because so much of his successful solo career in the UK depended on him commenting ironically on his fame as the star of Take That!, and Americans really didn't even know what Take That! was. So it seemed very strange when his record company tried to make The Ego Has Landed, with all its complaints about celebrity, his big cross-over album since he was an unknown here.

His laddish appeal didn't really translate well here either. Brits are just baffled that Americans don;t go for guys whose ears stick out, but we just don't. Also, though he was cute when young, as he got older he just let himself get hairier and more tattooed and wrinkled, which I think was a turn-on again for his British fans (who remembered the sweet young thing he once was getting corrupted), while Americans just saw him as flabby and nasty and didn;t remember what he once looked like.

He likes pretending now he never tried to make it in the US and that he loves coming here because no one knows him so he never gets recognized, but that's really backpedaling.e sincerely tried to make it here fifteen years ago and failed.

One of the most bitter about not making it in the US is James Purefoy. I am surprised he didn't make it here because he is handsome and had a great body, but it just didn't happen.

R99, I know this a lot later, but what do you mean by Leno driving Carson to an early retirement.

It is thought that Carson deliberately put the kabosh on Letterman succeeding him--which made Letterman leave NBC.

It was then thought that Carson chose Leno as his successor because Leno was so lackluster that he would not threaten Carson's legacy.

David Tennant OWNS this thread.

Felicity Jones? Haven’t seen On the Basis of Sex but I’m still scratching my head that they really couldn’t find an Jewish American actress to play Jewish American icon RBG but instead went with her??

Donald Trump

Michelle Dockery. "Good Behavior" wasn't a bad show but it never found the audience it deserved.

I adored Good Behavior. THe main guy was fantastic. Michelle Dockery was very funny but didn't even attempt the regional accent.

R419 IIRC, Natalie Portman was attached to play RBG at one point.

[quote]Jameela Jamil

I think she'll head back to the UK once enough people here in the US getting tired of her bullshit.

Manny Jacinto from The Good Place is Canadian and is probably desperate to crack America too. His acting did improve towards the end of The Good Place.

AGRee r419. That was the worst piece of casting I have ever seen.

Brits never do that well in the USA because of their inability to acknowledge that what they think of themselves is not how the rest of the world perceives them. THEY think they laugh at themselves and are cool. WE think they’re snotty, uptight, suffer from gigantic superiority complexes and never, ever meet American standards of physical beauty. Robbie Williams is a perfect example. He looks like a psychopath and a drug addict. Brits think he’s hot.

English actress Lenora Crichlow who played the ghost on the UK show Being Human has tried to crack America for the past several and the American shows has been in all got canned after a season. Meghan Rathe, the Canadian actress who played the ghost in the Syfy Being Human remake is also trying to crack America.

Robbie Williams has had a series of immediately sold out residency series at Wynn Las Vegas. It's not a huge auditorium but it did make me believe that word of mouth and more mainstream media exposure could actually make him happen here.

Jane March was a lovely, sexy young girl who made a huge impression in the soft core "The Lover". She came to the States and did another soft core thriller with Bruce Willis as well as a Tarzan movie, both of which flopped. She also had the problem of very buck teeth, which detracted from her slightly exotic looks.

Shui Qi got a huge break in The Transporter but her lack of English skills killed her chances.

Again, a network sitcom is not prestigious.

Limited series for Netflix and HBO, sure.

Claire Forlani