10 of Hollywood's Most Unpredictable Career Arcs

He didn't want to anger his thetans, I bet.

 

I think it was Bill Simmons who pointed out that Timberlake is like a real-life version of 90210's David Silver ...

 

Mickey Mouse club to awful boy band makes sense. Awful boy band to respectable pop star makes sense. But to now be a very legitimate actor who was one of the stars of a Best Picture nominee is a pretty big jump.

 

Pretty good acting, too, across the board in the rap world. Consider the strange evolution of Tupac Shakur, who went from the quiet, effeminate young man seen in this interview — a former acting and ballet student at the Baltimore School for the Arts apparently pointed like a rocket at a career in musical theater — to the “Thug Life” antihero persona that made him famous in a remarkably short period of time. He played tough-guy Roland Bishop in Juice and basically stayed in character for the rest of his public life. As with Ice-T, many of his fans assumed the stage persona was the real man. There’s a whole weird little racial dynamic in there waiting for some doctoral student to sort it out. Nobody expects Anthony Hopkins to eat a census worker.

 

Has Kris Kristofferson been mentioned? Was an SI Faces in the Crowd for Rugby at Pomona College, Rhodes Scholar, joined the Army, earned the rank of Captain, became a Ranger and a helicopter pilot, assigned to teach English at West Point, instead he chucked to work as a janitor and write songs on Music Row in Nashville. dated Janis Joplin, began acting including films with Streisand, Burt Reynolds and Jane Fonda where he won a Golden Globe...

It's like he's the white Paul Robeson.

 

Kristofferson's path in life has been fascinating at every turn.

 

Then his career as a bankable leading crashed into the wall that is Heavens Gate.

 

Actually, what about Dwayne Johnson -- from pro wrestler to The Man. He made a lot of right moves.

 

Not catching up on all of it, but I'd include Marky Mark, OJ, George Clooney, Franken and Strahan.

 

Marjoe Gortner is up there. Was famous in the 1940s as a 4 year old Pentecostal preacher. Became famous again in the 1970s when there was an Oscar-winning documentary about his life, exposing what bullshit the preacher life was. He parlayed that into an acting career, including a major role in "Earthquake."

 

Shirley Temple Black

 

Winnie Cooper