There is a well-known and much dreaded phenomenon in Hollywood known as the Oscar curse. The golden statue usually marks the pinnacle of success for many actors until they have to choose their next role. As night follows day the accolades that follow seem to make many actors incapable of differentiating a good script from a potential substitute for toilet paper.
Although many actors recover from this dreaded post-Oscar state, there are those whose fall from stardom is so severe their names seem to be erased from the memory of the cinema going audience. Case in point, remember Marisa Tomei, F. Murray Abraham, Marlee Matlin or Louise Fletcher? All Oscar winners, who according to recent sightings are enjoying a rewarding career in the world of retail sales.
Maybe it’s the fame and never ending supply of compliments that make many an actor believe they are invincible. Whatever the situation Oscar winners have consistently gone on to star in abominations that many dub the Oscar curse.
We have compiled the worst of the lot. These actors’ careers, so full of hope and promise, seemed to nosedive the moment they stepped off the Oscar stage.
Cuba Gooding Jr.
The worst offender of them all. After captivating audiences with his Academy award winning performance in
Jerry Maguire he seemed to take great pleasure in sabotaging his own career. The curse usually lasts for one film, his has lasted for over a decade.
Chill Factor was bad but as you can see from the clip,
Boat Trip was unforgivable.
Halle Berry After winning the 2001 Oscar for best actor for
Monster’s Ball, Ms. Berry decided to follow it up with
Catwoman. Having already achieved comic book perfection as Storm in
X-Men she clearly took it too far and provided one of the worst entries into the genre. The curse continued as she followed that up with the horrible
Gothika, unfortunately her career still hasn’t fully recovered.
Nicole KidmanLet me make this clear, I don’t like “our” Nicole, nor do I think she has any talent. After winning the Oscar for
The Hours she decided to remake
Bewitched and
The Stepford Wives. Some may see this as a curse, I see it as a blessing as it will hopefully remove all trace of Ms. Kidman from our cinema screens. What is her appeal?
Adrien Brody After winning an Oscar for
The Pianist, he decided to star in
The Village and momentarily erase much of his credibility. The film was the beginning of the end for M Night Shyamalan and Brody’s performance is a strange cross between unconvincing and insulting.
Hilary SwankA repeat offender, the very talented Ms. Swank has won two Oscars ,which have both heralded a period of poor film choices. After winning her first Oscar for
Boys Don’t Cry she decided to have what are basically glorified supporting roles in the subpar
The Gift, Insomnia and
The Core. All was made right in the world after
Million Dollar Baby but she then decided to star in the woeful
The Reaping, Freedom Writers and
P.S. I Love you.