Actors Who've Only Had One Good Movie

There are actors in the movie business who are renowned for their immense talent. We're talking big names like Daniel Day-Lewis, Meryl Streep, and Cate Blanchett. These are the stars who sweep awards shows, winning trophies for earth-shattering performances. And not only are they talented, but they consistently pick solid scripts and work with phenomenal directors, giving us movies that are widely hailed as all-time greats.

But then there are the actors whose work is a little less than astounding, the ones who've gotten more Razzie nominations than Oscars. Of course, that isn't to say they aren't getting roles anymore. It's just that the roles they're getting are in films that wind up at the bottom of nearly every critics' list. But even these actors can sometimes surprise us. Just because they've had a career full of misses doesn't mean they can't have at least a single hit. Sometimes, lightning only strikes once, and for the actors on this list, they've only had one good movie apiece.

Marlon Wayans is probably best known for his work in films that spoof other, more successful films — stuff like the Scary Movie franchise or Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood. While poorly rated comedies are Wayans' specialty, he has, in fact, proven himself to be adept at dramatic acting, if only for a single role.

In 2000's Requiem for a Dream, Wayans plays Tyrone C. Love, one of four main protagonists in the film who all struggle with crippling drug addictions. Along with Harry (Jared Leto), Tyrone's attempt to sell heroin puts him in prison, where he becomes the target of a group of racist guards.

The Austin Chronicle called Wayans' performance in the film "impressive and subdued," with subdued being the keyword here. In fact, if Wayans had perhaps focused more on toning down his over-the-top performance style, his later career could've gone beyond Fifty Shades of Black and its measly 7 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

In the world of action cinema, Steven Seagal could quite literally be the king who reigns over every mediocre 1980s martial arts-heavy film ever made. The actor/black belt martial artist/reserve deputy sheriff/energy drink entrepreneur has made a lot of films over the course of his 30-year career (more than 50). But only one of those is actually worth watching.

In 1992, Seagal starred in Under Siege, an over-the-top action thriller about a group of terrorists who attempt to overtake a Navy battleship carrying a cache of nuclear warheads. Seagal plays the ship's cook, who also happens to be a former SEAL and the last man that any terrorist would want to come up against. Under Siege only gets more ridiculous from there, but hands down, it's one of the most entertaining action flicks ever put together.

Since its release, however, Steven Seagal's career has been mostly relegated to direct-to-video releases that have tried (unsuccessfully) to live up to Under Siege's reputation. In other words, Seagal has put his own career ... under siege.

Before he landed the role of a lifetime as Anakin Skywalker (in the trilogy that made Star Wars fans around the globe denounce George Lucas as a worthwhile filmmaker), Hayden Christensen had appeared in only a handful of films. The most notable was 2001's Life as a House, in which the actor played a petulant teen opposite Kevin Kline's dying house builder. But once the Star Wars prequel trilogy had wrapped, and Christensen was no longer forced to have lengthy conversations about sand, his career hit something of a standstill. 

However, in between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, Christensen starred in Shattered Glass, the based-on-a-true story drama about Stephen Glass, a 20-something journalist for The New Republic who was caught fabricating his stories. Shattered Glass was proof that yes, Christensen could act, given material worth performing. With a near 100 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating, it's a film that should've pointed to future success for its star. Sadly, Christensen has yet to recapture that level of acclaim. To date, the bulk of the actor's filmography sits somewhere between 5 and 30 percent. 

Shannon Elizabeth made a career for herself in the late '90s/early '00s playing the hot friend, hot daughter, or hot murder victim (in 2001's Thirteen Ghosts, she was kind of all three rolled into one). So it makes sense that her role in 2003's Love Actually — the only really good thing she's ever been in — would be as "Harriet, the Sexy One." If you don't remember, Harriet is the Wisconsin friend who shows up late to Collin's sex party.

Since Love Actually, Elizabeth's career trajectory has taken a steep decline. The bulk of her films have been TV movies or direct-to-video releases, and at least four of them have failed to crack above even a 10 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The actress' most recent film, 2017's Swing Away, a sort of My Big Fat Greek Wedding golf movie, doesn't even rate at all, on either Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic.

Linda Blair was barely a teenager when she was cast as Regan MacNeil in 1973's The Exorcist. The film, which centered on a young girl possessed by a demon, took home two Academy Awards in 1974 and has since become regarded as one of the greatest films ever made. It would also mark the height of Blair's career, unfortunately. Since its release, the actress has failed to appear in anything of note.

In 2013, Blair spoke with Dread Central about the effect The Exorcist still has on audiences, even four decades after the fact. "You just don't see movies like The Exorcist being made anymore," she said. "It's an extremely intelligent film and it's challenging, whether or not you get anything out of it spiritually. People have tried to master what Billy [William Friedkin] made in this movie and recreate it again and again, but they just haven't ever been able to." And that goes for Blair herself, who tried recapturing that satanic glory with Exorcist II: The Heretic ... which is widely considered one of the worst sequels ever made.

David Spade is probably not one of those actors who comes to mind where serious drama is concerned. Terrible comedies about white trash janitors, sure, but not anything worth watching if you aren't already inebriated in some way. He certainly isn't someone you'd think of when talking about films made by Paul Schrader, the man responsible for Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and First Reformed. But one of Spade's first film roles came courtesy of the filmmaker, in 1992's Light Sleeper. 

While Spade's role, "Theological Cokehead," is of little importance in the grand scheme of things, the fact that he was even in a film like Light Sleeper at the start of his career should've pointed to better future projects than Grandma's Boy. Instead, Spade's career took the same turn that many of his fellow Saturday Night Live cast members' took — straight into a pit of cheap, mostly terrible comedy.