Potential Squandered
by reverendkeith | created - 23 Sep 2011 | updated - 19 Oct 2011 | PublicA number of actors have found it easier to go mainstream than produce work they can be proud of.
1. Kevin McKidd
Actor | Trainspotting
Kevin McKidd was born and raised in Elgin, Scotland, the son of Kathleen, a secretary, and Neil McKidd, a plumber. He was a member of the Moray Youth Theatre, before going on to study Engineering at the University of Edinburgh. While at the university, Kevin became involved with Bedlam Theatre, the...
With Journeyman, Kevin McKidd proved he could carry a quality program. Then it got cancelled and he decided to take a job as the 6th most handsome man and 16th most interesting character on a night time soap. Fail.
2. Dominic Purcell
Actor | Blade: Trinity
Dominic was born in England, to a Norwegian father and Irish mother. At the age of two, Dominic and his family moved from England to Sydney's Bondi and then moved to the Western Suburbs. After trying his hand at landscape gardening he decided to become an actor whilst watching the war movie Platoon...
John Doe proved Dominic Purcell could carry his own show. Two years later, he was playing the least interesting character in an ensemble cast.
3. Michael Rosenbaum
Actor | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Michael Owen Rosenbaum is an American actor and pod-caster. He is known for portraying Lex Luthor on the Superman television series Smallville, a role that TV Guide included in their 2013 list of "The 60 Nastiest Villains of All Time". Rosenbaum is also known for portraying Martinex in Guardians of...
From being one of the most compelling villains in a supernatural drama to...third most recognizable actor on a 30 minute comedy that barely got a 7th episode.
4. Skeet Ulrich
Actor | Scream
Skeet Ulrich is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in popular 1990s films, including Billy Loomis in Scream (1996) and Scream (2022), Chris Hooker in The Craft (1996) and Vincent Lopiano in As Good as It Gets (1997). Since 2017, he has starred as Forsythe Pendleton "F.P." Jones II on...
From Jericho, which was awesome, to random interchangeable Law and Order: CSI crime procedurals.
5. Taye Diggs
Actor | House on Haunted Hill
Taye Diggs was born in Newark, New Jersey, and was raised in Rochester, New York. He is the son of Marcia (Berry), a teacher and actress, and Andre Young, a visual artist. When he was a child, his mother married Jeffries Diggs, whose surname Taye took. He received a BFA degree in musical theater ...
From the lead in Day Break to being the token black guy on a night time soap spin off.
6. Rhona Mitra
Actress | Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
Mitra was born in Paddington, London, England, the daughter of Nora Downey and Anthony Mitra, a cosmetic surgeon. She has an older and a younger brother. Her father is of Bengali Indian and English descent, and her mother is Irish. In 1984, when Mitra was eight, her parents divorced, and she was ...
Okay, she didn't so much go mainstream as drop off the face of the earth. In 2010, she was on two genre shows at once, now she's got nothing planned for 2011 or 2012.
7. Grace Park
Actress | Battlestar Galactica
Grace Park (born March 14, 1974) is an American-Canadian actress. She gained recognition as Lt. Sharon 'Boomer' Valerii and Lt. Sharon 'Athena' Agathon on Battlestar Galactica (2004), as well as Shannon Ng in the Canadian television series teen soap Edgemont (2000). From 2010 to 2017, Park starred ...
From being a major character on the critically acclaimed Battlestar Galactica to barely getting any lines as the cop in a bikini on the formulaic rehash Hawaii Five-oh.
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