Early Roles That Mission: Impossible Actors Would Like You To Forget About

Yes, that's Jean Reno — deadly French assassin from the original "Mission: Impossible" and the 1994 action thriller "The Professional" — in a goofy wig, mustache, and lab coat. Before Reno starred in some of the best American action movies Hollywood had to offer in the '90s, he'd already had a long career in his native France. Since the 1970s, he starred in hit dramas, suspenseful thrillers, and action comedies, and while plenty proved to be quality films in their own right, there's at least one that stands out as memorable for all the wrong reasons: the 1980 comedy "Voulez-vous un bébé Nobel?" ("Do You Want a Nobel Baby?").

In the film, Reno plays the small role of Bernier, a doctor working at a hospital with some rather suspect practices. Run by shady businessman Victor Delacroix (Jean Pierre Marielle), who has had the brilliant idea to market men's semen to women, they've abducted a number of different men for their qualities with the hopes of combining their genes for artificial insemination. 

Perhaps if this had been some sort of dystopian sci-fi drama, or a dark thriller, the premise could have worked, but as a comical farce it falls flat on its mustached face. Given the respect he's since garnered, both in France and in Hollywood — and around the rest of the world — Reno would probably like us to forget he was ever a part of this one.

We may be forced to give Michelle Monaghan (Ethan Hunt's wife Julia in "Mission: Impossible III" and "Ghost Protocol," then ex-wife in "Fallout") more of a pass on this one than some others on this list, as she's not the only big-name actor who probably regrets the 2001 film "Perfume." Members of the broad ensemble cast like Jeff Goldblum, Paul Sorvino, Mariska Hargitay, Kyle MacLachlan, Michelle Williams, and Jared Harris all probably regret making this one, which is noteworthy for being an entirely ad-libbed film with the barest bones of a plot. The actors wrote their dialogue on-the-spot, altering the story as they filmed, making it one big, bloated — and boring — improv exercise.

As for what little story the film has, it claims to follow a group of models and photographers over the course of a week of work at a New York modeling show. Right away, you can probably see why the film was considered by some to be little more than an ego-stroking effort by those involved. Most of the film is a series of loosely-connected scenes that vary in length and quality, ultimately failing to either entertain or educate in any way.

Monaghan at least has the excuse of this being her big screen debut, not something the rest of the more established cast can say to justify their parts in this putrid, perfunctory project. The improvisational nature at least helps explain why it's so awful, but we are forced to wonder, "What were they thinking?"

Jeremy Renner's fellow superhero actor Henry Cavill reached stardom as DC Comics' big blue boy scout, Superman, before he starred opposite Tom Cruise in "Mission: Impossible — Fallout." But the actor has a long list of credits from his early days that he'd probably like to wipe from IMDb, including "Hellraiser: Hellworld." 

The film was the seventh sequel to the classic 1987 Gothic horror film based on a short story by legendary writer Clive Barker. By 2005, the franchise had fallen to little more than a series of bad direct-to-video sequels. The plot of "Hellworld" bore almost no resemblance to Barker's original, except for the appearance of the cenobite Pinhead. It pathetically attempted to put a cyber-spin on the horror concept, with Cavill starring as an avid gamer (as he is in real life) who plays a "Hellraiser" online video game called Hellworld, unwittingly unleashing the real demon at the center of the fictional franchise.

While its meta and almost fourth-wall-breaking story might seem kind of clever, with Lance Henricksen and Katheryn Winnick turning up too, the movie is just an excuse to kill some college kids in gruesome ways. The characters are lifeless cardboard cliches, the story is trite, and the effects are of the bad early 2000s variety. It was so bad, in fact, that it effectively killed the direct-to-DVD series, which had released four films in six years. 

But do see it, because we want to make sure Cavill knows we haven't forgotten.

Followed by the likes of Alec Baldwin, Anthony Hopkins, and Laurence Fishburne, Henry Czerny has the distinction of playing the first IMF leader to give orders to Ethan Hunt in the "Mission: Impossible" film series. As head of the IMF in the first "Mission" film, he's also the first to question Hunt's allegiance and force the action hero to go on the run. In 1996, Czerny was already a veteran Hollywood character actor who had played other, similar military executive characters, most notably in the 1994 Jack Ryan sequel, "Clear and Present Danger." But there's one 1993 film that's hardly as reputable as his work in the military and spy genres.

Starring Adam Baldwin and Playboy Playmate of the Year Shannon Tweed, it should come as no surprise that the erotic thriller "Cold Sweat" didn't go on to sweep the Oscars and become a classic. It tells the story of Mark Cahill, who leads a double life as a married family man by day and a secret stone-cold contract killer by night. But guilt over his latest victim, an innocent bombshell blonde, weighs on him so much that her ghost begins to haunt him, sometimes literally, and in the bedroom no less.

Bordering on softcore adult film territory, the movie uses Tweed's Playboy model status to its full gratuitous potential. Even co-star Henry Czerny gets a semi-graphic sex scene, making this a movie he surely wishes he could track down and destroy every unsold VHS copy of.

Perhaps one of the 1990s' most notoriously bad box office hits, the film "Striptease" was, believe it or not, based on a best-selling novel. At the time it was expected to be a big success, with superstar Demi Moore headlining the adaptation. Instead, the film — in concert with a couple of other duds — nearly killed Moore's career. But while people often fixate on the leading actress at the center of the film, and how it tainted her after it bombed in theaters, few seem to remember it also starred Ving Rhames. Perhaps because it was released the same year as the smash hit "Mission: Impossible" in which he also starred, "Striptease" failed to hurt his career in the same way.

In the film, Moore starred as former FBI agent Erin Grant, who has turned to exotic dancing to support her daughter during her custody battle with her ex-husband. She soon becomes the obsession of a major politician (Burt Reynolds) and gets embroiled in a dangerous conspiracy that puts her in danger. Rhames stars as Shad, the chief of security at Grant's strip club, the Eager Beaver. He gets some good lines, but even he can't help this cheesy sex schlock.

In the end, "Striptease" is a movie that we'd wager pretty much everyone involved with wishes they could erase.

Sean Harris is the only actor in the "Mission: Impossible" series to play a villain that terrorized the IMF twice, doing so in both "Rogue Nation" and its follow-up, "Fallout." Before he was threatening global peace however, Harris had a long career in his native England, appearing in a number of well-regarded films like 2005's "Frozen" with Richard Armitage as well as "Henry Brown" with Michael Caine and Emily Mortimer. One film that isn't so fondly remembered, however, is his 2004 effort, "Trauma."

This psychological thriller stars Colin Firth as a man who begins to go insane after he awakens from a coma and discovers that his wife has died. He meets a new young woman (Mena Suvari), but visions of his dead wife continue to haunt him. Unfortunately, it's a poorly made imitation of movies like "Memento" and "Jacob's Ladder," with an unsatisfying twist and elements pulled from too many other places. It all adds up to a jumbled mess that almost seems to enjoy making no sense. 

Though Firth was praised for his performance (via Eye For Film), and Harris puts in a decent turn, the embarrassment is topped off by a visible boom mic in one scene that makes it painfully obvious that the filmmakers just didn't care.

You might think star Tom Cruise would want to erase a film like "The Outsiders," which prominently features his bad tooth, but at least that film was well-reviewed. Not so for the 1980s teen sex comedy "Losin' It," a movie so bad that all it has going for it is the fact that it stars a young Tom Cruise. With a cast of bumbling high school goofballs and a title like "Losin' It," it's pretty easy to guess what this one's about, and we can see why superstar Cruise might wish he could bury this one forever. 

Playing an awkward teen who's struggling to have sex for the first time doesn't exactly fit with his macho sex symbol image today, and the fact that the movie is downright awful doesn't help matters. Also starring a young Jackie Earl Haley ("Watchmen"), it centers on a group of boys who head to Mexico with the hope of losing their virginity. Along the way they meet Kathy, a frustrated — and much older — married woman (played by "Cheers" star Shelley Long) who's fighting with her husband and looking for a quickie divorce across the border. 

Though the 1960s setting gives it some charm, "Losin' It" is contrived, cringey, and ultimately a forgettable entry in a decade awash in other, better films just like it. Of course, the future "Mission: Impossible" star might not even need to scrub this one from history because reviews at the time — like the one in the New York Times — didn't even mention him.