7 TV One-Hit Wonder Actors Who Just Vanished
It's a tough ol' business, this acting lark. Many shoot for the stars and fall short, so if you manage to bag just one memorable and long-running TV role in your career, then you're among the lucky ones.
Still, we're left wondering, what happened next for those stars who never quite topped their defining role? Did they quit? Get a 'regular' job? Or have their latest efforts just been overlooked?
Here are 10 stars who once headlined huge TV shows, but are now on a different path.
1. Dennis Franz – NYPD Blue
Franz had been in the acting game for almost 30 years when he was cast on NYPD Blue in 1993. But while you might recall his supporting roles in Hill Street Blues or Die Hard 2, it's unquestionably for his performance as Andy Sipowicz that he's best remembered.
He ended up playing the boorish detective for 12 years, earning four Emmys and a Golden Globe for his work. But in the 13 years since, Franz hasn't taken on a single acting job. "I needed a break – I was just tired," he told the New York Post in 2015. "I told my agents I needed a year off, and that year went by in about 10 minutes...
"I just wanted to live an enjoyable, irresponsible, spend-time-with-my-family kind of life. I haven't regretted one minute of it. I'm pretty good at doing nothing."
2. Jack Gleeson – Game of Thrones
He was spectacularly loathsome as the petulant psychopath Joffrey Baratheon on Game of Thrones. But since his poisonous character got a taste of his own medicine, it's been all quiet on the Gleeson front.
That's because, despite his early success, Jack decided to retire from acting. "I'd like to be an academic, a philosophy lecturer if possible," he said in 2012. "I'd do a Masters in Ancient Hebrew maybe, and a PhD hopefully, if I get in."
A couple of years later and he'd cooled on that idea, saying: "I wanted to be an academic when I was 19 or 20. But, I've gone off that idea."
Returning to his roots, Gleeson went on to form the theatre company Collapse Horse and put on the play Bears In Space – featuring a cast of puppets – at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2014, followed by a run at London's Soho Theatre in 2015 and another in New York City in 2016.
3. Jonathan Taylor Thomas – Home Improvement
'90s teen hearthrob JTT played middle child Randy Taylor in Tim Allen's hit sitcom Home Improvement on-and-off from 1991 to 1998.
Two decades on and he's made only occasional acting appearances since – most recently guesting in a few episodes of Allen's latest series, Last Man Standing, between 2013 and 2015.
In the main though, he's been putting his studies above acting. In 2008, Thomas graduated with honours from from Chaminade College Preparatory School in West Hills, California. He later enrolled at Harvard University, where he studied philosophy and history and, In 2010, he graduated from the Columbia University School of General Studies.
He's also branched out into directing, helming three episodes of, again, Last Man Standing between 2013 and 2016.
4. Karyn Parsons – The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
She's best known for playing snooty but fabulous Hilary Banks on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in the early '90s, but between 2002 and 2017, Parsons stepped away from acting.
In the interim, Parsons founded the company Sweet Blackberry under which she launched a series of animated films showcasing unsung black heroes of history. The first, The Journey of Henry Box Brown, was released in 2005 and narrated by Alfre Woodard.
Parsons has also returned to acting in the last couple of years: she appeared in the short film On Monday of Last Week in 2017 and, later in 2018, will recur on the TV series Fly opposite her old Fresh Prince co-star Tatyana Ali.
5. Justin Whalin – Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Whalin stepped in to play Jimmy Olsen in the second season of Lois & Clark after original actor Michael Landes was let go (apparently because he looked too much like series lead Dean Cain).
With his floppy boy-band hair and good looks, Whalin became a '90s pin-up, but in the 20+ years since his role as Jimmy ended, he's remained elusive. Now aged 43, his most significant post-Lois & Clark credit remains a misjudged Dungeons & Dragons movie in 2000, and he hasn't appeared on screen in the last nine years.
Maybe Supergirl could track Whalin down and hire him for a guest stint, à la his old co-stars Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher?
6. Peta Wilson – La Femme Nikita
Based on the French film Nikita by Luc Besson, La Femme Nikita was a late '90s action thriller about a young homeless woman (Wilson) who's framed for murder by an anti-terror organisation. This unit, Section One, then forced Nikita to carry out its ruthless methods for fighting terrorism.
The series still has a strong cult following, but its lead has never fronted another major series since completing Le Femme's 5-year run.
She did play Mina Harker in the 2003 film The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen – though nobody came out of that looking good. Other appearances include a small role in 2006's Superman Returns and a part in the 2013 short film Liberator for which she won a Best Actress Award at the Cinerockom International Film Festival.
Wilson also launched a lingerie label named Wylie Wilson in 2012 – a collection she described as her "kaleidoscopic collection of knickers" – and currently resides back in her home country of Australia.
7. Jason Behr – Roswell
Most of the cast of this late '90s / early '00s supernatural teen series have gone on to bag more major TV roles, from Shiri Appleby (UnREAL) to Emilie de Ravin (Lost, Once Upon a Time).
But while 44-year-old Behr enjoyed a brief spell of success after playing alien hottie Max Evans from 1999 to 2002 (with a notable role in The Grudge in 2004), he hasn't logged a screen credit since a stint in the Prison Break spin-off Breakout Kings in 2012.
He did take part in a Roswell reunion panel in 2014, though, and reunited with his old co-star Appleby again in 2016. Maybe he could land a knowing cameo in the planned series reboot?
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