Winning an Academy Award is every actor’s dream, and if they achieve it, it can definitely be considered the high point of their career.
Without a doubt, every actor on this list is extremely talented, obviously . Them winning an Oscar proves it.
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But it seems that after winning such a validating award, they decided to fall off the map, so to speak.
Adrien Brody.
After winning an Oscar for his performance in The Pianist , Adrien Brody’s career has been a very slow burn.
Although he is still considered to be one of the greats, at least in my mind, it would definitely be surprising to see him in a true blockbuster film at this point.
Jennifer Connelly.
Jennifer’s claim to fame was her role in the movie A Beautiful Mind , which ended up winning her an Academy Award.
But it was all down hill from there when she starred in movies like Hulk , The Day The Earth Stood Still and Winter’s Tale .
Since then, she’s only taken on very minor parts.
Cuba Gooding JR.
Right at the absolute peak of his career, Cuba Gooding JR completely went off the grid.
He won an Oscar for his role in Jerry McGuire , and seemed to be doing more serious movies, like Radio .
But after that, he was only seen in family flicks like Snow Dogs , Daddy Day Camp , and Norbit .
Catherine Zeta Jones.
After winning “Best Supporting Actress” for her role in Chicago , Catherine really started to backtrack until she seemingly disappeared altogether.
The most exciting thing she’s done since then was her role in Ocean’s Twelve .
Cher.
Cher’s role in Moonstruck back in 1987 was a huge hit, proved that she was more than a musician, and ended up winning her an Academy Award.
Ultimately, that was the highest point of her acting career. Since then she has taken on numerous supporting roles, but nothing remarkable.
Halle Berry.
Halle Berry won an Oscar for her part in Monster’s Ball , making her the very first black woman to win an Academy Award.
But after that, her career was buried in mediocrity. Her part in Catwoman was the real nail in the coffin.
Roberto Benigni.
Roberto is best known for his incredible performance in the film Life Is Beautiful , that won him “Best Actor”.
But his follow-up to that was the 2002 live-action Pinocchio , which he also wrote and directed. It has 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, which speaks for itself. Needless to say, that was his career’s death sentence.
Natalie Portman.
Natalie Portman is incredibly famous, and talented.
Her performance in Black Swan won her an Oscar.
But since then she seems to only take on roles in very vanilla romantic comedies like Your Highness and No Strings Attached .
Gwyneth Paltrow.
Gwyneth’s career highlight was her performance in Shakespeare in Love in 1988, which won her an Oscar for Best Actress.
The remainder of her subsequent roles haven’t been nearly as impressive, and nowadays we hardly ever see her.
Kim Basinger.
Kim Basinger won an Oscar for her role in L.A. Confidential , but didn’t seem interested in taking on any big roles in other movies after that.
Mo’Nique.
Mo’Nique’s role in Precious is seriously one for the books, and won her an Oscar without her even needing to campaign herself.
But instead of the award opening the door to bigger and better opportunities, it shut the door and locked it.
F. Murray Abraham.
Abraham became known for winning an Oscar for his performance in Amadeus . But after that he started doing stuff like Muppets in Space , and his career seem to hit a true dead end after his role in Star Trek: Insurrection .
But nowadays things seem to be picking up ever-so-slightly with his role in the TV series Homeland .
Marlee Matlin.
Marlee won an Academy Award for her stunning performance in Children of a Lesser God , when she was 21, making her the youngest woman to win an Oscar.
But since then, she hasn’t taken on a single major role.
Mira Sorvino.
Mira won an Oscar for her performance in Mighty Aphrodite back in 1995.
Since then she’s had roles in The Great Gatsby , Reservation Road , and Multiple Sarcasms . But nothing has been quite as show-stopping.
Timothy Hutton.
Timothy won an Oscar when he was just 20 years old for his role in Ordinary People back in 1980.
But since then, his career has been rather underwhelming.
Joe Pesci.
Joe won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Goodfellas , but that’s about as good as it got for him.
Sean Connery.
The Untouchables was Sean’s proudest career moment, and the movie that won him an Oscar. But after that, his career didn’t get any better to say the least.
Tim Robbins.
In 1995, Tim wrote and directed the movie Dead Man Walking , which won him an Oscar.
But things got even better when he won another Oscar for his role in Mystic River . Little did he know however, that would be as good as things were going to get for his career.
Geoffrey Rush.
Geoffrey has had an incredible acting career and is probably perfectly okay with the way things turned out.
He’s won an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Tony Award. After that, he began to take on a lot less movie roles, and eventually faded out completely.
Russell Crowe.
Russell Crowe has had an acting career to be proud of, that’s for sure!
He’s had a number of Oscar nominations, but his performance in the movie Gladiator was the one that did it for him.
However, after that he took on more modest roles, and eventually retired.
Hilary Swank.
Hilary Swank went from only playing small throwaway roles in TV shows like Beverly Hills 90210 , to creating an Oscar-winning acting career for herself.
But then she managed to do pretty much the opposite.
Reneé Zellweger.
Renee won an Oscar for her role in Cold Mountain , but whether or not she was deserving of it is up for debate. Nonetheless, she won it fair and square.
But after that her career took a turn for the worse.
Jamie Foxx.
For a while, Jamie Foxx was on a roll.
His music and acting career were booming. He won an Oscar for his role in the movie Ray . But after that, he’s only been seen in lacklustre parts in movies like Dream girls and Valentine’s Day .
But you know what they say, it’s never too late!
Although these actors seem to have dropped the ball a little bit, it’s not like they’re bad actors, unable to get decent roles.
There’s always a chance they could turn things around at the last minute and completely blow our minds one more time.
