There are those actors who are universally regarded as “the best.” Consider Daniel Day-Lewis and Meryl Streep, two senior actors who improve films and television series just by appearing in them. But what about the opposite end of the spectrum? Reviews, ratings, and box office receipts are just not on their side. So brace yourself for some serious disagreement as we look at the actors who are popular with audiences but not with critics.
These Are The Worst Reviewed Actors In Hollywood, Ranked
Tommy Wiseau
Tommy Wiseau is the poster child for this type of entertainer. His film The Room has become legendary. Its dialogue, direction, and acting all contribute to what is often regarded as “the worst movie ever made.” Needless to say, it became a cult classic. Surprisingly, Wiseau’s follow-up film Best F(r)iends was well received but less remembered.
Tommy Wiseau
Madonna
Perhaps Madonna should have stuck to singing, which she excels at. She, however, did not. Throughout her acting career, she has “won” seven Razzies — the anti-Oscars given out for the year’s worst performances. This is more than any other actress has ever received! Still, she has those seven Grammys to comfort her.
Madonna
Gary Busey
Gary Busey is a loser. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in The Buddy Holly Story in 1979. But these days, he’s best recognized for his roles in reality television and obscure films. His most recent films were Piranha 3DD and Sharknado: The 4th Awakens, which pretty much says it all.
Gary Busey
Jessica Alba
Jessica Alba achieved an unwelcome record in 2018: she became the actress in the most critically panned films in the last two decades. Verve, a British SEO agency, conducted the research for the website Go Compare. The studio deduced that Alba had only one positive review in 20 years: Sin City.
Jessica Alba
William Shatner
William Shatner is well-known in geek culture for his role as Captain Kirk in Star Trek, but as a performer, he’s… an acquired taste. For his iconic work in the Star Trek franchise, he was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame and received two Razzie Awards. Did we mention he has a music career, too?
William Shatner
Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Paltrow received an Oscar nomination for Shakespeare in Love in 1999, but not everyone thought she deserved it. In 2020, fellow actress Glenn Close told ABC’s Peter Travers, “I thought, ‘What?'” when Paltrow won. It makes no sense.'” Fernanda Montenegro, according to Close, was the superior choice for the honor. Ouch.
Gwyneth Paltrow
John Travolta
John Travolta’s misses appear to outnumber his hits. On Rotten Tomatoes, for example, he has seven films with 0 percent ratings. Staying Alive, Look Who’s Talking Now, Gotti, and Trading Paint are among them. He even “won” a Razzie for his most recent film. We haven’t even mentioned Battlefield Earth…
John Travolta
Denise Richards
Denise Richards as Dr. Christmas Jones was named the worst Bond girl ever by Entertainment Weekly. The magazine chastised the mysteriously sexualized nuclear physicist. “Even Q didn’t have a gadget to help Bond escape from that disaster,” it concludes.
Denise Richards
Nicolas Cage
Has there ever been a more divisive actor than Nicolas Cage? Some regard him as a genius, while others are baffled as to why he has an Oscar. So, even if Cage receives a Razzie Award nomination for performance, some fans believe he at least delivers something unique. What are your thoughts?
Nicolas Cage
Steven Seagal
Steven Seagal was once a martial arts superstar, but his acting has consistently been panned. “His on-screen personality is petulant and humorless, his voice so grating you want to reach for the mute button,” noted The Seattle Times about On Deadly Ground. Seagal has also received mixed reviews from his co-stars.
Steven Seagal
Kate Beckinsale
Kate Beckinsale has had her share of critical flops, including Pearl Harbor, Whiteout, and the Underworld series, to mention a few. However, none of the negative feedback seemed to have an effect on her general self-esteem. After all, she informed Howard Stern in October 2021 that she had a “very high IQ” of 152.
Kate Beckinsale
Dolph Lundgren
Dolph Lundgren possesses movie star appeal, yet his acting ability has been called into question on numerous occasions. Critic Christopher Null called his performance in The Punisher “some of the worst acting ever to disgrace the screen.” Lundgren has admitted to being in some awful movies, but he also believes he has appeared in several fantastic ones.
Dolph Lundgren
Zac Efron
Look away, those of you who have Zac Efron posters on your bedroom walls. Because, in general, critics do not seem to think the star is a really excellent actor. New Year’s Eve, Dirty Grandpa, and Baywatch were all critically panned. But he’s also had four films gross more than $100 million at the box office.
Zac Efron
Alicia Silverstone
Alicia Silverstone’s career was nearly derailed by one film – one you’ve definitely heard of: Batman and Robin. Even now, Silverstone feels dissatisfied with her performance in the film. She “won” a Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress for the film — and was forced to stop acting for a spell.
Alicia Silverstone
Jason Statham
Tough-guy Brit Jason Statham is undeniably attractive and personable. But the question is, can he genuinely act? That one, though, has divided opinion. Generally, critics seem to take the position that even if he can’t, his movies are usually amusing and weird enough that it doesn’t really matter.
Jason Statham
Jean-Claude Van Damme
Don’t worry if you think Jean-Claude Van Damme is a lousy actor; he genuinely agrees with you. He told Total Film magazine in 2012 that his early professional success was “more due to [his] destiny than [his] acting at the time.” “I was a bad actor, man,” he added, “but the heart was there.”
Jean Claude Van Damme
Megan Fox
Megan Fox was rather young when she initially arrived in Hollywood, and she appeared in some critically panned films. Is anyone interested in Transformers? However, like some of the other people on this list, she discovered that the comments quickly devolved into personal insults. “We have to be careful with our words — they’re powerful,” she said in a 2020 interview with Refinery29.
Megan Fox
Kaley Cuoco
Kaley Cuoco was well compensated for her position on The Big Bang Theory, but viewers occasionally complained that her performance was overrated. The Razzies clearly don’t like her either, as she was nominated for not one, but two films in 2016. Nonetheless, she received an Emmy nod for The Flight Attendant in 2021.
Kaley Cuoco
Ruby Rose
Ruby Rose has been chastised for her acting by more than just film critics. Twitter users also piled on her at one point. Trolls ridiculed her acting abilities online after she was cast as Batwoman in the TV show of the same name, and she ended up deleting her account. There is such a thing as overdoing it.
Ruby Rose
Robert Pattinson
Do people simply dislike Twilight? Is it the main point here? Whatever it is, Robert Pattinson is unlikely to mind. He’s always been somewhat self-conscious about his acting abilities. “I only know how to play scenes, like, three ways,” he told The Guardian in 2019. “I’m nervous on every single movie,” he remarked.
Robert Pattinson
Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker received numerous accolades for her performance in Sex and the City. But when the franchise was turned into a film franchise, things went wrong. Sex and the City 2 was slammed mercilessly — sometimes in terms so graphic that they’re frankly unrepeatable. That’s not even her most disliked film. New Year’s Eve and Did You Hear About the Morgans? were also critical disappointments.
Sarah Jessica Parker
Charlie Sheen
Charlie Sheen was once the highest-paid actor on television, due to Two and a Half Men. But then everything went horribly wrong, and Sheen became recognized more for his terrible headlines than his acting abilities. Some individuals then claimed that his acting wasn’t all that terrific in the first place.
Charlie Sheen
Ashton Kutcher
Ashton Kutcher is the third worst-reviewed actor in Hollywood, according to Vox, with almost half of his films receiving negative reviews. He has, however, previously scheduled his own labor. “The first five episodes of That ’70s Show, I was convinced I was going to be fired because I was terrible,” he told Rolling Stone in 2003.
Ashton Kutcher
Jennifer Garner
Jennifer Garner has always been a likeable actress, but her films aren’t always. In fact, several of them have been roundly criticized. Consider the ill-fated comic book film Elektra. Garner reportedly despised it and only did it due to contractual constraints.
Jennifer Garner
Tara Reid
Tara Reid has received numerous Razzie nominations. She received two nominations for My Boss’s Daughter and one for the infamously terrible horror flick Alone in the Dark. The actress has also won a Stinker Award for Worst Actress. But in recent years, she’s had a lot of success with the purposefully bad Sharknado series.
Tara Reid
Haron Stone
Yes, absolutely. Sharon Stone has appeared in a number of noteworthy films. It’s only that the terrible ones are regarded as extremely bad. Among these are Basic Instinct 2, which isn’t a patch on the original, and Catwoman, a truly awful 2004 film. Outside of Hollywood, she’s perhaps had more success, having done a lot for women’s rights and AIDS research.
Haron Stone
Vince Vaughn
The website Vox ranked Vince Vaughn 11th on their list of the worst-reviewed Hollywood actors in 2016. And, well, he hasn’t had a lot of major hits in the middle of his career. Couples Retreat is rated 11 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, while Delivery Man and Unfinished Business were both disasters.
Vince Vaughn
Jessica Biel
Jessica Biel’s fame has waned over the last decade, and some believe it’s because she wasn’t as brilliant an actress as her contemporaries. “She may be a gorgeous girl, but her acting ability just isn’t where it needs to be,” an anonymous agent told the New York Daily News in 2012. She hasn’t proven herself to be a genuine actor.” However, fans of The Sinner may differ.
Jessica Biel
Hayden Christensen
Hayden Christensen’s performance as Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequels was widely lambasted by critics. But was it his fault, or the fault of the writer? Whatever the case, Christensen almost disappeared from public view after that. But now he’s back as Anakin in the Kenobi series, where he might be able to prove the doubters wrong.
Hayden Christensen
Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone has received the most Razzie nominations of any actor. And he despises it. He allegedly left an irate voicemail message on the Razzie’s phone. Stallone was handed a Razzie Redeemer Award after receiving an Oscar nomination for Creed.
Sylvester Stallone
Milla Jovovich
Milla Jovovich despises her detractors. “All my raddest films have been slammed by critics…,” she remarked on Instagram in 2019. Dazed & Confused? Seriously? A classic film. The Fifth Element has arrived! If you read the reviews in 1998, you’d think it was the worst movie ever made. Zoolander? Slammed.” “Every one of those films is now a cult classic,” she added. “EACH. AND. EVERY. ONE.”
Milla Jovovich
Shia LaBeouf
True, Shia LaBeouf has appeared in several excellent films, but he has also appeared in a number of duds. And it appears that if you don’t like the Transformers movies — and many people don’t — you probably don’t like LaBeouf either. However, due to the difficulties that have surrounded the actor behind the scenes, his acting career has slowed substantially in recent years.
Shia LaBeouf
Elizabeth Berkley
Elizabeth Berkley’s cinematic career was shattered following a single performance in a critically criticized film. That was Showgirls, one of the most infamous films of all time, released in 1995. To be fair to Berkley, director Paul Verhoeven has stated that he was the one who urged her to act in an outrageous manner. As a result, he should bear the brunt of the blame.
Elizabeth Berkley
Adam Sandler
Adam Sandler is one of today’s worst-reviewed actors. His comedies — or, as many people call them, “comedies” — have received many Razzie nominations and a lot of criticism from critics. People adore him when he plays one of his rare tragic roles, and they wonder why he doesn’t do it more often.
Adam Sandler
Katherine Heigl
Katherine Heigl believes she was blacklisted from Hollywood for being “difficult” after speaking out. According to Vox, 61 percent of her films have received negative reviews in the last two decades. Are the two connected? Heigl may have exacerbated problems when she told Marie Clare magazine in 2014 that the industry had “betrayed” her.
Katherine Heigl
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger has appeared in numerous iconic films, yet he is not considered Oscar material. He’s received four Razzie nominations and four wins — wow. But, good or bad, without his acting profession, he might never have entered politics and become governor of California.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Rob Schneider
Rob Schneider has made 16 films in the last 20 years, but none of them has garnered anything more than a middling review, according to Vox. Oh, and Roger Ebert wrote a book called Your Movie Sucks, based on a remark he made about one of Schneider’s films. So Schneider is unlikely to be inducted into the acting hall of fame anytime soon.
Rob Schneider
Demi Moore
Demi Moore was doing well until the film Striptease wrecked her career. Not only did it fail at the box office, but Moore was nominated for a Razzie Award. Now, online opinion is split on whether she was ever a truly great actor.
Demi Moore
Jennifer Love Hewitt
Unfortunately, audiences dislike Jennifer Love Hewitt, according to Vox. According to the website, “her ability to star in poorly rated films is timeless: seven of ten total films rank below 40 points on Metacritic.” However, she hasn’t made a film since 2013. On television, her star has blazed considerably brighter.
Jennifer Love Hewitt
Kristen Stewart
When it comes to Kristen Stewart, there are two schools of thought. You can choose between Team Stewart Is A Great Actress and Team Stewart Is A Bad Actress. The latter group is largely made up of folks who watched her in Twilight. However, with Stewart receiving an Oscar nomination for her performance in Spencer, Team Great Actress may be on the verge of victory. Speaking about excellence, who are the world’s greatest actors?
Kristen Stewart