Actors Who Changed the Trajectory of Their Careers With One Role

Mary Tyler Moore - Ordinary People

TV's loveable Laura Petrie/Mary Richards as a cold, distant, unforgiving mid-western mom who breaks her best china? No way!

Who'd have thought, years later, when you'd hear the name Mary Tyler Moore, your first thought would be "that fucking bitch!"

**Buck would never write something so nasty about his mom.

I'll do one more in hopes this thread takes off....

Diane Keaton in Looking for Mr. Goodbar.

She was mostly known as Woody Allen's comic sidekick, winning the Oscar for Annie Hall that same year. But Goodbar proved she was a serious actress to be reckoned with eventually leading to Interiors, Reds, Shoot the Moon and Mrs. Soffel.

^^Oops! Forgot this...

Madonna in "Body Of Evidence" (1993). Her performance as a blonde mystery woman was a milestone in her previously uneven film career, and led to her Oscar*-winning roles in "Mae West" (1997) and "Sunset Boulevard" (2001).

Roger Ebert: "Where did she come from?"

Pauline Kael: "A post-modern Medusa in the Hitchcockian mode"

Rex Reed: "A star is born"

Anthony Hopkins with The Silence Of The Lambs.

Before that he was a jobbing actor, alternating between stage, tv and unremarkable films.

He'd already made Howards End and signed up for The Remains Of The Day when he won, but his star rose like no other at that time.

R5 Very funny.

But she actually changed it with Who's That Girl. She proved that Desperately Seeking Susan was a fluke, and needed to go back to music full time.

Molly Ringwald. Turned down Some Kind of Wonderful for that shitty Pick Up Artist movie. Soured her relationship with John Hughes. Continued to make poorly-made decisions like turning down Ghost and Pretty Woman for shit like Strike It Rich and Betsy's Wedding.

R6. I think Anthony Hopkins' breakout role was the one he played in QB VII in 1974. He was riveting.

There's a difference between a breakout role and one that changed the trajectory of a career.

Hopkins had won 2 Emmys and a BAFTA by the age of 45 but he was still a jobbing actor. The Silence Of The Lambs made him a move star.

Amy Adams' breakout role was Junebug but hardly anyone saw it, despite the Oscar nomination. Enchanted changed the trajectory.

Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci both need to thank "Devil Wears Prada", with the success of the Devil, they went from auditioning for roles to cast in movies/roles offered.

Hopkins went from second lead in The Bounty to playing a husband in Hollywood Wives in a year.

Shortly after The Silence Of The Lambs was released in cinemas, Hopkins appeared on TV in a Barbara Taylor Bradford mini series.

David Canary when he was cast as identical twins Adam and Stuart Chandler on All My Children. He eventually got 5 Emmys for playing the dual roles.

His 4 years on Bonanza only lead to minor roles in mostly bad movies where he plays bad guys that get killed in the first half hour.

He had a rich theater career though.

Olivia Colman in ‘The Favourite’ is a recent example that comes to mind.

Textbook exemple: Anthony Perkins in Psycho.

Before, he was somewhere typecast as the romantic, shy guy next for. After, that changed, he was irremediably typecast as a maniac.

Careful what you wish for, my friend.

Chrissy Metz -- American Horror Story

She's been typecast as fat ever since.

I wrote "somewhat typecast".

Strange, that.

Rosamund Pike with Gone Girl. Does she even have a remarkable job before this?

Helen Lawson in Baboons in the Fog

Yes, Helen's been stuck playing apes ever since.

I, for one, think it suits her.

Woody Harrelson with Natural Born Killers took his career out of lovable goofball territory

Karen Black in The Day of the Locust

She did mostly low budget horror films and cheap, indie movies for the rest of her career after that. Karen said herself in interviews that making the film was a bad experience and ruined her career in Hollywood.

John Travolta in Pulp Fiction.

Went from affable has-been to darker, hot actor (for a while).

Kirstie Alley - Cheers.

She had done only dramas: MOWs, a prominent role in a Star Trek movie. Physically, she was stunning! (then, of course). But not considered a very good actress, and certainly couldn't do comedy. Not funny. No sense of humor.

Then she replaced Shelley Long in Cheers. She got 3 Emmy nominations, and one win. Once Cheers ended, she was typecast in comedies and Hollywood forgot she could do drama. Then came David's Mother proving them wrong, winning her a second Emmy, and once again changing the trajectory of her career. She became the Queen of MOWs for awhile after that.

^^ Now she's fat and bat-shit crazy, but she had a pretty good run!

Bump