Even some of the biggest names and the most talented folks have their own faults and shortcomings. They tend to overdo it, seeking much bigger fame than they could take on. This top 10 list focuses on a large number of wrongdoers who’ve failed to take home the bacon. A list of top 10 worst actors of the 21st Century would not be the same without the following actors.
1. Miley Cyrus:
Miley Cyrus is the daughter of one of the most famous country singer Billy Ray Cyrus. Her birth name is Destiny Hope, which was given to her by her parents who yearned for her to succeed in life. Her childhood name was Smiley, as she was always cheerful in nature. Smiley was eventually shortened to Miley.
In 2005, Miley landed a lead role in the new Disney series, Hannah Montana, after originally being rejected for being too small and too young. On the show, she played an average teen who lived a double life as a famous pop singer.
Hannah Montana became one of the most watched shows for kids between ages 6 and 14. Its success continued in song with the release of the Hannah Montana soundtrack album, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 and eventually became a triple platinum.
In spite of her initial success, she was widely mauled for her first serious acting role. Critics panned her performance in a romantic drama, The Last Song, her first bid at serious acting. One critic even went as far as to compare Cyrus to Britney Spears’ disreputable and ill-famed movie Crossroads.
2. Britney Spears:
Number 1 brings us to number 2: Britney Spears.
A “Pop Phenomenon” does not begin to describe Britney Spears. The name is synonymous with legend, fame and beauty around the world. So well-known is Britney Spears now that it is difficult to envision a world without her.
Ever since she was 7, she would perform in front of the TV for her guests who would arrive at her home. Instead of playing with the other kids at recess in schools, she would gather her friends and hold Star Search competitions. At 8, she unsuccessfully bid for the Disney Channel’s New Mickey Mouse Club. She big again at age 11 and was chosen for the cast, alongside rising stars like Justin Timberlake and Keri Russell.
Britney rose to fame in December of 1998 when she landed a contract with Jive Records. Her first single, Baby One More Time, topped the charts. She took on a lot of criticism for wearing a skimpy Catholic schoolgirl uniform. She fired back, insisting she was innocent Southern girl.
Over the years, she’s won numerous awards, including a Grammy, 6 MTV Video awards and 9 Billboard Music Awards. She has sold over 100 million albums worldwide, making her one of the bestselling music phenomena worldwide.
With great fame comes controversy. Britney has had a tumultuous life. She’s been married, had kids and got divorced. Then she went insane, brought on by post-partum, but now things seem to be back to normal.
This controversial figure comes in at number two for her unsuccessful acting career. Her film Crossroads (2002) received mostly negative reviews and had a 14% approval rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. Elizabeth Weitzman noted that the film had no cohesive direction and failed to provide an intelligent dialogue or a comprehensible plot.
3. John Travolta:
Travolta is a multi-Golden Globe award winner who somewhat deserves to be on this list. He started his acting career in the 19870s and also was nominated for an Academy award for his work on Pulp Fiction and Saturday Night Fever.
His movie Battlefield Earth was a total disaster, bagging 9 Razzies and a whopping 2 stars from me. He also received a 2% rotten rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. The consensus was that the film was “ugly, campy and poorly acted .”
He was also nominated for the Worst Actor Award for the movie Perfect, which was neither a commercial nor critical success. The movie was underappreciated and criticized for being a tight performance.
Despite his shortcomings, John Travolta is one of the most gifted actors in the movie industry. He can play almost any role, but due to poor choices and bad mixtures, he got himself into pitiable productions. His sour image still has not recovered since Battlefield Earth.
4. Cameron Diaz:
Cameron Diaz has had many strong performances, including Vanilla Sky, Gangs of New York, The Mask and her voiceover in Shrek.
She rose to fame in the 1990s and has received the Golden Globe nominations for her performances in the movies There’s Something About Mary, Being John Malkovitch, Vanilla Sky and Gangs of New York.
In 2010, Diaz was ranked by Forbes Magazine as the richest Hispanic female celebrity, ranking at 60 of the 100 wealthiest.
The movie The Box landed her on this list. She was dishonoured at the Lazzies Award with the “There’s Always Waitressing Award”. Her horrible southern accent and her deer caught in headlights facial expression she wore in the entire film were criticized.
5. Justin Timberlake:
Acting is just the one thing that Timberlake, the former member of NSYNC, cannot do.
At 31, he’s gained six Grammys, a couple of Emmys and two solo albums. I’m still smitten and proud of his accomplishments in music. I never expected to see him as the mega hit he is today. Despite singing, dancing and owning on “Saturday Night Life,” Mr. JT has a successful clothingline, William Rast; a burgeoning restaurant franchise in Southern Hospitality in New York City, a record label, Tennman Records.
His acting skills need a bit of a touch up. His films Friends with Benefits, The Social Network and Bad Teacher, were not his best films. He was not able to stand out with the crowd, especially in Bad Teacher, where he paired up with another actor on this list Cameron Diaz. Only time will tell if this singer will become a good actor.
Tom Hanks was brilliant in Big. His acting was effortless and perfect and when asked about it, he said that all he did was tap into a child’s mind. Needless to say, he should have won an Oscar- make that several Oscars!
Al Pacino plays the character of a homosexual man in Dog Day Afternoon who robs a bank because he is not financially stable enough to sponsor partner’s sex affirmation surgery. The plot of the film is hilarious and this actor knows exactly what to do in order to make a film stand out. The audience is supposed to think of him as a hero and not a villain and the best part is that this goal was achieved!
It has been said that Sir Peter O’Toole’s performance in Venus was one of his best. The plot revolves around an aging man, namely him, who falls in love with Venus, an underage but undeniable beautiful teenage girl.
Peter Sellers has achieved the impossible in Dr. Strangelove – he plays four roles and interestingly, they are all very different from each other. He manages to change his colors like a chameleon as and when the director commands him to do so.
His performance in A Man for All Seasons was nothing if not flawless in every way. His character was extremely knowledgeable when it came to Jesus and the Bible and needless to say, he knew almost everything about the religion.
