10 Actors Who Were Allegedly Blacklisted From Hollywood

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The world of Hollywood moves fast. All it takes is one hit project, a viral social media post, or an eye-grabbing pop culture moment to become an overnight sensation. Just look at Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams — thanks to the surprise acclaim of "Heated Rivalry," they were catapulted into the spotlight, each amassing nearly three million Instagram followers in mere weeks. However, just as quickly as Hollywood awards fame, it can snatch it away.

A controversial or misconstrued comment, being seen as difficult to work with, public legal battles, and more can quickly cause an actor's career to come to a crashing halt ... sometimes temporarily, sometimes permanently. Even after decades of starring in hit films and TV shows, many actors find themselves blacklisted, unable to find work no matter how hard they try. That's because, when a star is associated with controversy, studios and networks don't want public backlash to overshadow the project.

From Melissa Barrera, who was cut from the "Scream" franchise for her posts about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to Johnny Depp, who was replaced in the "Fantastic Beasts" series in light of his defamation battle with ex-wife Amber Heard, no one is immune from the fleeting nature of Hollywood.

When the "Scream" franchise was resurrected in 2022 for a fifth installment that takes place 25 years after the original Woodsboro murders, legends like Courteney Cox and David Arquette were joined by new faces, including Melissa Barrera as Samantha Carpenter — daughter of OG Ghostface Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich). However, Barrera's stint as Samantha was short-lived.

After appearing in the 2022 legacy sequel "Scream" and 2023's "Scream VI," Barrera was fired from the franchise following her anti-Israeli posts. Spyglass Media Group said in a statement to Variety, "We have zero tolerance for antisemitism for the incitement of hate in any form, including the false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion, or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech."

Barrera was blacklisted for some time, even going without a publicist after the fallout. Still, she stands by her posts. She said in an Instagram story (via Time), "At the end of the day, I'd rather be excluded for who I include, than be included for who I exclude." By the following year, she was back in the horror landscape, appearing as Joey in the vampire flick "Abigail" and, in 2025, Michelle in the Peacock spy fiction series "The Copenhagen Test." 

In the late '90s, a new heartthrob captured the world's attention in the form of Brendan Fraser. Crushing the box office with hits like "George of the Jungle" and "The Mummy" franchise, Fraser's leap into stardom seemed picture perfect from the outside. However, according to the actor, an incident in 2003 changed the trajectory of his career for the worse.

Fraser candidly revealed in a 2018 interview with GQ that, allegedly, he was sexually assaulted during a lunch meeting by Hollywood Foreign Press Association president Philip Berk. Following the alleged incident, Fraser's team requested a written apology from HFPA, though Berk has denied any wrongdoing. The ordeal led to Fraser becoming depressed and, he believes, blacklisted. He told GQ, "I don't know if this curried disfavor with the group, with the HFPA. But the silence was deafening." In fact, according to Fraser, his invitations to the Golden Globes were few and far between after 2003.

It wasn't until 2022, when "The Whale" premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, that Fraser felt the weight of the alleged blacklisting ease. Marking his first major project in some time, "The Whale" — and Fraser's performance — garnered a six-minute standing ovation. He said on "Late Night with Seth Meyers" (via People), "I just broke out crying. That solved all the problems." The following year, Fraser went on to win the Oscar for best actor.

With her expressive eyes and haunting aesthetic, Winona Ryder made a name for herself in the '90s as the spooky darling of Tim Burton's box office hits. Appearing as the self-proclaimed "strange and unusual" Lydia Deetz in "Beetlejuice" and Kim Boggs in "Edward Scissorhands," Ryder seemed destined to follow the same career trajectory as her co-star and real life love interest Johnny Depp. However, following her early success, Ryder believes she was blacklisted in Hollywood by Miramax co-founder Harvey Weinstein.

"The one time I was supposed to have a meeting with [Weinstein]. I went to the Miramax office and I extended my hand and he shook my hand and I sat on the couch and we had a conversation and I left. And [afterward] I got screamed at [by an agent]. 'What the f*** did you do?' I was like, 'What?' Apparently, I offended him because I extended my hand?" Ryder said in an interview with Esquire. She added, "I think I knew a little bit too much. He did not like me."

Between her alleged blacklisting and subsequent public controversy in 2001, when she was arrested for shoplifting, Ryder tragically struggled to find her footing in Hollywood over the next decade. It wasn't until summer 2016, which saw the premiere of "Stranger Things" on Netflix, that she was officially back in the limelight ... this time, in a positive way. As Joyce Byers, she's the ultimate maternal figure of Hawkins, helping the gang navigate the dangers of the Upside Down while trying to rescue her son Will (Noah Schnapp). In 2024, she also reprised her iconic role of Lydia in the sequel "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice." Though she was admittedly nervous for both projects, she's happy to be back.

When it comes to rom-com royalty of the early 2000s, Katherine Heigl was at the top of her game. From "Knocked Up" to "27 Dresses," Heigl made a name for herself as a leading love interest on screen, all while bringing to life Dr. Izzie Stevens on the medical drama "Grey's Anatomy." However, Heigl's outspoken nature — and criticism of her most well-known projects — earned her a reputation in Hollywood for being difficult. It's one that, decades later, she's still struggling to shed.

Heigl's road to being blacklisted began in 2008, when, during a candid interview with Vanity Fair, she said of her hit film "Knocked Up," "It paints women as shrews, as humorless and uptight, and it paints the men as loveable, goofy, fun-loving guys. It exaggerated the characters, and I had a hard time with it, on some days." That same year, she declined an Emmy nomination for her work on "Grey's Anatomy." In a statement (via BuzzFeed), she said, "I did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination, and in an effort to maintain the integrity of the academy organization, I withdrew my name from contention." She later regretted these Emmy comments. Additionally, in 2009, Heigl lamented about the alleged 17-hour work days on the set of "Grey's Anatomy."

Though Heigl experienced a bit of a comeback in 2021 with a starring role on the Netflix drama "Firefly Lane," which she also executive produced, her negative commentary from the past continued to follow her. Yet after a while, she started to embrace it. She said in a 2023 "Actors on Actors" Variety interview with Ellen Pompeo, "I got comfortable with my role as the villain and really enjoyed it."

After three years of portraying cardiothoracic surgeon Preston Burke on "Grey's Anatomy," Isaiah Washington was cut from the show and allegedly blacklisted from Hollywood after using a gay slur when speaking about co-star T.R. Knight. According to reports, he used the slur twice — once on set during a heated moment with Patrick Dempsey and once backstage at the 2007 Golden Globe Awards.

In an interview with HuffPost Live, Washington said, "I lost everything. I couldn't afford to have an agent ... I couldn't afford to have a publicist ... I couldn't afford to continue." For some time, alleged Washington, he thought this marked the end of his career. As for "Grey's Anatomy" creator Shonda Rhimes, she feared Washington's homophobic slur would mark the end of her series. She told The Hollywood Reporter, "It's funny, every 'Grey's' actor I talk to who was there during that time is still traumatized by that incident. People still talk about it."

Washington eventually apologized for using the slur (after initially denying it), but the damage was already done and his contract for "Grey's Anatomy" wasn't renewed. And though he has gone on to appear in other projects — including a Season 10 episode of "Grey's Anatomy" to help close out Dr. Cristina Yang's (Sandra Oh) storyline — many haven't forgotten his past controversy. When he returned for that one episode, a number of viewers were not-so-pleasantly surprised to see him on their TV screens again.

When the emotional drama "Precious" was released in 2009, Mo'Nique was no stranger to Hollywood, having appeared in five seasons of "The Parkers," among many other projects. However, her portrayal of Mary Lee Johnston — the abusive mother of Precious (Gabourey Sidibe) — made the world stop and notice her powerful acting chops. Therefore, it wasn't entirely surprising when Mo'Nique took home the 2010 Oscar for best supporting actress. The shocking part came after her win, when Mo'Nique was allegedly blacklisted from Hollywood.

The reason? She refused to campaign for the award, which would have involved unpaid press. Allegedly, Lionsgate, "Precious" director Lee Daniels, and executive producers Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry were livid. Mo'Nique said in a 2015 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, "I got a phone call from Lee Daniels maybe six or seven months ago. And he said to me, 'Mo'Nique, you've been blackballed.' And I said, 'I've been blackballed? Why have I been blackballed?' And he said, 'Because you didn't play the game.'"

Mo'Nique told THR that she quickly gained a reputation in the industry as being "difficult" and "tacky." And roles that were once on the table — like Gloria Gaines (Oprah Winfrey) in "The Butler" and the grandmother in Daniels' biopic on Richard Pryor — were suddenly off. In the decade that followed the Oscars controversy, Mo'Nique only appeared in a handful of projects. But in 2023, she began to step into the spotlight again with the Netflix comedy special "My Name Is Mo'Nique" and three episodes of the crime drama "BMF."

When it comes to public, controversial departures from a project, Charlie Sheen wears the crown. In 2011, the actor was fired from his long-running stint as Charlie Harper on Chuck Lorre's hit sitcom "Two and a Half Men" after several years of exhibiting destructive behavior. From addiction and failed rehab stints to abuse accusations and "erratic outbursts," according to a letter crafted by Warner Bros. Television counsel John Spiegel (via People), there were many reasons why Sheen was fired — and, allegedly, blacklisted.

Before he was fired, Sheen demanded an extra $1 million per episode of "Two and a Half Men" despite being difficult to work with on set (though years later, Sheen said this is his biggest Hollywood regret). The letter outlined how he was often absent from rehearsals and, when he did show up, failed to remember his lines. When his demand for more money wasn't met, he publicly bashed Lorre, telling TMZ, "He's a stupid, stupid little man ... That's me being polite."

Though he returned to TV in 2012 for two seasons of "Anger Management," the sitcom's success — and Sheen's income — wasn't anywhere close to what he enjoyed while part of "Two and a Half Men." In 2018, he found himself struggling to afford child support to Denise Richards and Brooke Mueller. According to court documents (via People), Sheen said he was "unable to find steady work and [has] been blacklisted from many aspects of the entertainment industry." 

After a wide-ranging career spanning the original "Scream" to "Charmed," Rose McGowan's acting days came to a screeching halt in 2017, when she said that producer Harvey Weinstein raped her at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. Though she fired off a number of tweets the year prior about the alleged attack, she kept his identity private at the time. But upon officially coming forward, McGowan believes that her revelations led to her being blacklisted. 

She said in an interview with Stylist, "There's been a lot that's been stolen from me. My career. Different careers that might have happened. Different opportunities that other people would have had if they had not encountered a bad man. I've just had to make peace with that." McGowan added, "It sucks having to start over. It sucks having to be robbed of something that you love because of someone else's selfishness and someone else's aberrant mind. But understanding that it's not your shame is most important."

Though she misses performing, she doesn't regret speaking out about Weinstein and is channeling her creativity into other avenues. In 2018, she released the memoir "Brave," which delves into the darkness of Hollywood. With an impressive 4.4-star rating on Amazon, readers have praised "Brave" for being honest and insightful. She's also experimenting in the world of music with the concept album "Planet 9."

In 2007, after a slow but steady rise to recognition in projects like "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen" and "Holiday in the Sun," Megan Fox became the new "it girl" of Hollywood thanks to her portrayal of Mikaela Banes in "Transformers." The epitome of beauty and brains with a knack for fixing cars, she returned as Mikaela for the 2009 sequel "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen." But Fox was noticeably absent from 2011's third installment "Transformers: Dark of the Moon."

Fox was allegedly blacklisted after speaking ill of director Michael Bay in a 2009 interview with Wonderland. She said, in part, "He's like Napoleon and he wants to create this insane, infamous mad man reputation. He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is. So he's a nightmare to work for ..." This interview, in addition to a letter published by anonymous "Transformers" crew members that invalidated her concerns about life on set, soured her reputation.

The next decade saw Fox struggle to recover that "it girl" image. Though she continued to appear on screen, her projects — especially "Jennifer's Body" in 2009 — were poorly received by audiences. She said on the "Eli Roth's History of Horror: Uncut" podcast, "I think people definitely viewed me as negative or having bad intentions or just being really shallow and selfish ..." Yet in 2020, Fox began to experience a resurgence when "Jennifer's Body," as well as other heavily criticized films like 2010's "Jonah Hex," started trending on TikTok. New viewers who weren't around for their initial release — and the onslaught of backlash — praised Fox's performances.

Following his brutal slaughter as Glen Lantz at the claws of Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) in 1984's original "A Nightmare on Elm Street," there was rarely a point in Johnny Depp's acting career when he wasn't booked and busy. From "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" to the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise, Depp's wide-ranging acting abilities spanned genres and generations. Yet in 2020, that decades-long trajectory stopped when he was, as he stated in an interview with The Telegraph, "shunned, dumped, booted, deep-sixed, cancelled — however you want to define it."

Depp was asked to resign from the "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" film series after appearing as protagonist Gellert Grindelwald in the first two installments. This request from Warner Bros. came during Depp's intense and lengthy legal battle with ex-wife Amber Heard, who claimed he was abusive in their relationship. Though Depp won a defamation suit against Heard in 2022, the damage to his reputation — including being called a "wife beater" by The Sun — had been done.

In 2023, Depp quietly found his way back to film, though not in his usual box office hits. He starred as Louis XV in "Jeanne du Barry" and returned to directing for the first time in 25 years with "Modigliani." After his years-long public conflict with Heard, he's happy to devote his energy to projects that he's passionate about. He told The Telegraph, "It was a harsh, painful internal journey. Would I rather not have gone through something like that? Absolutely. But I learnt far more than I ever dreamed I could."

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, needs help with addiction issues, or is dealing with domestic abuse, contact the relevant resources below:

• Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
• Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
• Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at its website.