Early Roles The Boys Actors Likely Want You To Forget About
With three successful seasons in the bag and a fourth season on the horizon, "The Boys" continues to be one of the most popular Amazon Prime original series. The story of "The Boys" started off in print form as a comic book series written by Garth Ennis. Since being adapted to the streaming television format, this fictional world has only continued to grow. A spinoff series was released in 2022, "The Boys Presents: Diabolical," which consists of a collection of animated shorts. A second spinoff is in the works as well — a live-action series, titled "Gen V," about Supes in college.
While "The Boys" certainly had a few recognizable faces in its cast when the first season premiered in 2019, it was far from being the most star-studded lineup. Many of the key cast members were working actors on the come-up, and the show became the big break that launched them to stardom. As is the case for almost all actors attempting to make names for themselves, each cast member of "The Boys" has a role or two in their past that might be better off left forgotten. These are the undesirable roles they would be glad to have in their rearview mirrors now that they've made it big in show business.
Karl Urban - The Truth About Demons
New Zealand actor Karl Urban stars in "The Boys" as Billy Butcher – the head of the vigilante team dedicated to taking down the Supes and the Vought corporation that runs them. Urban was one of the biggest stars in the cast when "The Boys" premiered in 2019, though he featured in memorable supporting roles rather than the lead star most of the time. His roles in big franchises like "The Lord of the Rings," "Star Trek," and "The Bourne Supremacy" helped to further his reputation, while movies like "Dredd" provided him with the occasional leading role.
Many of Karl Urban's early roles were guest appearances on shows that are nearly impossible to track down today after airing on New Zealand television in the '90s, such as "Riding High," "Cover Story," and "Homeward Bound." One of Urban's first feature film lead roles was in the 2000 horror movie, "The Truth About Demons," which is also known by the longer title, "The Irrefutable Truth About Demons."
The story follows Urban playing an anthropologist who faces off against a cult with the power to summon demons. The film is a product of its time and comes off as extremely cheesy in retrospect. With a low budget, the CGI effects are especially goofy. Despite the cheesiness, "The Truth About Demons" isn't awful, which speaks to the general strength of Urban's filmography. Bloody Disgusting called the movie a time capsule of 2000s horror tropes that, while flawed, was "surprisingly watchable."
Jack Quaid - Ithaca
Alongside Karl Urban's Billy Butcher, Jack Quaid plays the other lead protagonist of "The Boys," Hughie Campbell. As a normal guy who becomes radicalized by the vigilante group after a Supe kills his girlfriend, Hughie makes for a perfectly relatable character for the audience to follow in this heightened world.
Jack Quaid's acting career did not at all follow the typical film industry trajectory. His very first acting gig was in the massive blockbuster, "The Hunger Games." This meant that Quaid was mostly able to skip past the awkward early stages of being an actor on the come-up who occasionally has to take a less-than-desirable role. If there is any film in his career that he would probably rather not dwell on, it would have to be 2015's "Ithaca."
Though it wound up a failure, "Ithaca" wasn't a project without potential. The script was adapted from the acclaimed novel "The Human Comedy" written by Pulitzer Prize winner, William Saroyan, and was the directorial debut of Meg Ryan, who also acts in the film. "Ithaca" tells the coming-of-age story of a small-town telegraph messenger, played by Alex Neustaedter, during World War II. Jack Quaid plays the main character's older brother who leaves home to fight in the war. A brutal New York Post review gave "Ithaca" just a single star rating and called it a disappointing, overly safe, and predictable melodrama. Meg Ryan has not directed anything since.
Antony Starr - Terror Peak
"The Boys" has proven to be a major breakout show for Antony Starr as Homelander, the Captain America-inspired main villain of the series. Though he plays an exaggeratedly patriotic American on the show, Starr is a New Zealand native, just like co-star Karl Urban. Before "The Boys," Starr featured in a few leading roles, including CBS show "American Gothic," and Cinemax series "Banshee."
Though he has found considerable success in television, Antony Starr's forays into feature films have been less successful. With a handful of poorly received films on his resume, the lowest rated of all is Starr's first feature role in the made-for-TV "Terror Peak," which aired on New Zealand television in 2003. The story tracks a family vacation and business trip that takes a turn for the worst when the characters ignore active volcano warnings and wind up too close for comfort to a volcanic eruption. The few reviews for "Terror Peak" all point to weak performances, a bad script, and embarrassing special effects, making this one disaster of a disaster film.
Erin Moriarty - One Life to Live
Erin Moriarty plays Annie January, aka Starlight, in "The Boys," the newest addition to The Seven after beating out fierce competition for the position. She is a Supe with truly good intentions and sympathizes with the goals of the anti-Supe vigilantes after learning the dark truth of The Seven.
At 28 years old, Erin Moriarty is still early on in her acting career. Her first role was as recent as 2010, and it just might be the role she would rather have people forget. Moriarty got her start as a recurring character in "One Life to Live," an ABC soap opera that ran for a staggering 46 seasons, beginning all the way back in 1968. Like many soap operas, "One Life to Live" aired daily, which led to the series racking up a nearly unfathomable number of episodes. Out of the more than 11,000 episodes produced, Erin Moriarty appeared in six of them.
As soon as she was able to springboard to other acting projects, Erin Moriarty left the world of soap operas behind and never returned. Recurring roles on shows like "True Detective" and "Jessica Jones" helped Moriarty secure a foothold in more prestige television before landing her leading role in "The Boys."
Jessie T. Usher - InAPPropriate Comedy
Jessie T. Usher plays A-Train, one of the antagonists on The Seven superhero team. He is also the Supe who brought Hughie into the world of vigilantism in the first place when he accidentally killed Hughie's girlfriend.
Usher's acting career got started in the 2000s with small, single-episode appearances on TV shows like "Hannah Montana," "Without a Trace," "The Mentalist," and "Criminal Minds." Though his first feature film starring role in the made-for-TV Cartoon Network kids movie, "Level Up," and the TV series that followed might both be a little embarrassing in retrospect, it probably isn't the role Jessie T. Usher would most like people to forget.
With a straight-up goose egg 0% score on Rotten Tomatoes, "An InAPPropriate Comedy" is without a doubt the worst movie of Usher's career. It is also arguably the worst movie in the careers of everyone else involved too, including Adrien Brody in the lead role. It is a bit of a stretch to even call this a movie as it is little more than a collection of supposed-comedic sketches that all aim to break the boundaries of political correctness for the sake of shock value. Written, directed, and produced by the ShamWow guy of all people, this horribly unfunny comedy should be avoided at all costs.
Laz Alonso - Leprechaun: Back 2 Tha Hood
One of the most important members of the vigilante team is Mother's Milk, played by Laz Alonso. "The Boys" is easily one of Alonso's biggest and best roles, but he has also been a part of notable titles such as "Avatar," "L.A.'s Finest," "Fast & Furious," and Guy Ritchie's "Wrath of Man."
Like many actors attempting to make a name for themself, Laz Alonso appeared in numerous bad movies early on in his career while attempting to find traction. "All Souls Day," "Captivity," and "Hittin' It" are all contenders for movies that Alonso might prefer to have expunged from his filmography.
While it is arguable whether or not it is his worst movie, Alonso's most embarrassing movie is likely his starring role in "Leprechaun: Back 2 Tha Hood." This is the sixth of eight movies in the "Leprechaun" horror series and the second in a row set in "tha hood." Every movie in the entire series was panned by critics and left with a rotten score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Chace Crawford - The Haunting of Molly Hartley
Chace Crawford played The Deep, one of the most detestable members of The Seven. He also reprised the character in the animated spinoff, "Diabolical."
Crawford's early filmography got off to a rough start. For the first decade of his acting career, he appeared almost exclusively in extremely poorly received movies. "The Covenant," "Twelve," "Eloise," and "Loaded" are all strong candidates for erasure. His undisputed worst film, however, is "The Haunting of Molly Hartley." This 2008 horror movie has a general audience score in the teens and a critic score in the low single digits on Rotten Tomatoes.
Haley Bennett stars in the titular role of Molly Hartley, and Chace Crawford plays the secondary lead and her romantic interest. The plot retreads the standard possession and haunting story beats that were all the rage in 2000s horror with movies like "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" and "The Haunting in Connecticut."
A negative review in the LA Times called the movie "a dead-on-arrival thriller" and accused director Mickey Liddell of having "no idea how to build suspense." "The Haunting of Molly Hartley" was Liddell's directorial debut, and he has not directed another movie since, though he has produced several successful films.
Nathan Mitchell - The Marine 5: Battleground
The most mysterious and enigmatic member of The Seven is Black Noir. Though he wears his mask at all times and doesn't speak, the man inside the costume is Nathan Mitchell. This thankless role doesn't afford much recognition or star-power to Mitchell, and he hasn't had too many big roles outside of "The Boys," though his recent recurring side character on the Netflix original "Ginny & Georgia" could be an important stepping stone.
Most of Nathan Mitchell's roles have been small one-off appearances on television shows like "Flashpoint," "Covert Affairs," and "Falling Skies." While the majority of his roles are minor, there aren't many that he would have any reason to want to distance himself from. The one exception might be his supporting role in "The Marine 5: Battleground."
This straight-to-video action sequel is the fifth of six movies in the "Marine" franchise, which began back in 2006. The first "Marine" film was the debut feature for John Cena and marked his pivot from wrestling to acting. Cena didn't return for any of the sequels, but there was no shortage of WWE wrestlers waiting to take his place in the franchise. This is a series of diminishing returns that was in a poor place to begin with. Even the first "Marine" movie landed a lowly rotten score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and none of the direct-to-video sequels garnered enough attention to even form a critical consensus.
Dominique McElligott - Dark Floors
Dominique McElligott plays the key role of Queen Maeve, aka Maggie Shaw, on "The Boys." She began the show as one of the main villains and a member of The Seven, but gradually shifted allegiances to the side of good as the series progressed.
As a Dublin native, McElligott got her start in acting by way of Irish television with the shows "On Home Ground" and "Raw." She eventually navigated a successful transition into feature films with strong roles in acclaimed movies like "The Guard" and "Moon," but not before co-starring in one poorly received horror film that she might rather have forgotten.
"Dark Floors" is a 2008 horror made in Finland as the feature film debut of music video director Peter Riski, who has not made a movie since. The film had the distinction of being the most expensive Finnish movie ever made, but all that money didn't save the film from being a major disappointment.
Beyond simply being a bad horror movie, "Dark Floors" drew criticism for its portrayal of autism, which is another reason McElligott might want this film forgotten. The website Autistic & Unapologetic has a section focused on exploring different depictions of autism in entertainment, and "Dark Floors" was singled out as being one of the absolute worst portrayals.
Aya Cash - Winter of Frozen Dreams
Aya Cash joined the cast of "The Boys" in Season 2 as Stormfront, aka Klara Risinger. She became the newest member of The Seven after the death of Translucent and also become one of the show's most vile antagonists as a full-blown Nazi.
The early stage of Aya Cash's career was populated with tiny roles on individual episodes of TV shows like "Law & Order," and its spinoffs — "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" — playing a different minor character each time. Three years into her acting career, Cash wound up in a role she might regret in the seldom-seen movie, "Winter of Frozen Dreams."
This 2009 crime thriller came and went without leaving any substantial impression. It was the kind of cheap, unappealing movie that only has a chance at making money if it gets bundled up in a discount combo pack with a bunch of similarly unappealing movies — in this case, a 10-movie pack called "Ice Cold Killers." It's unlikely that Aya Cash looks back fondly on this movie, not just because of its poor quality, but also because her unnamed character was credited simply as "Prostitute." If Cash would prefer this movie be forgotten, then she has just about gotten her wish as "Winter of Frozen Dreams" is all but forgotten entirely in 2022.
Giancarlo Esposito - Maximum Overdrive
Giancarlo Esposito has appeared in all three seasons of "The Boys" and the "Diabolical" spinoff in the supporting role of Stan Edgar. He is a secondary antagonist and ranks above Stillwell in the Vought corporate hierarchy, taking on a more prominent position following her death. These days he is best known as Gus Fring on "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul," but he got his start decades earlier as a bit player with numerous small, often unnamed, roles in movies throughout the '70s and '80s.
Though he would find himself in bigger and better roles a few years later in movies like "King of New York," "Do the Right Thing," and "Malcolm X," Giancarlo Esposito played the tiny unnamed role of "Videoplayer" in 1986's "Maximum Overdrive." In his big scene, Esposito inexplicably shouts "Yo momma!" at a pinball machine before being electrocuted to death by an arcade cabinet.
This notoriously derided movie about all manner of electrical appliances coming to life and attacking humans was the only film ever directed by Stephen King, whose books have of course been adapted into countless successful movies. The production was considered by all involved to be a disaster, and King admitted to being "coked out of his mind" during the making of the film.
Elisabeth Shue - Molly
Elisabeth Shue was an instrumental figure in the first season of "The Boys" as Madelyn Stillwell. Though she didn't have any powers herself, she was key to the operations of The Seven as an executive with the Vought corporation. Her presence in the show concluded by the end of Season 1, but she reprised the role in vocal form in the "Diabolical" animated spinoff.
Her roles in movies like "The Karate Kid," the "Back to the Future" sequels, and "Adventures in Babysitting" made Shue a household name by the close of the '80s, and her role in "Leaving Las Vegas" earned her a BAFTA and Academy Award nomination in 1996. But it was just a couple of years after those prestigious nominations that Shue starred in her most questionable role in 1999's "Molly."
Elisabeth Shue stars in the titular role of Molly McKay, an autistic woman who has a fraught relationship with her brother, played by Aaron Eckhart, and undergoes medical experimentation in the hopes of curing her autism. Although Shue has several films with lower ratings, such as the 0% "Behaving Badly," "Molly" is still likely the role she would like everyone to forget due to her regrettable — and frankly — offensive portrayal of autism. Numerous outlets called out Shue's tone-deaf performance from the New York Post to MTV, while TV Tropes went as far as to retrospectively note that Shue's role in "Molly" derailed her entire acting career.