15 of the most inspiring actor comebacks of all time
15 of the most inspiring actor comebacks of all time
Hollywood is known for chewing people up and spitting them out, a symptom of an industry always looking for the next big (and lucrative) thing. When an actor makes their mark or even wins an Academy Award, that's not a guarantee their career will continue to receive consistent support.
Take someone like Nicolas Cage, who was born into a Hollywood family and worked tirelessly for decades, only to hit a career slump in the 2010s . And consider Hilary Swank, one of Hollywood's most acclaimed actors at the turn of the 21st century, who earned Oscars for "Boys Don't Cry" and "Million Dollar Baby" in 2000 and 2005, respectively. She had few notable roles thereafter and only recently mounted a comeback when she joined the cast of "Yellowjackets." She's expected to return for the show's later in 2026.
Throughout 2025, there were notable returns from actors like Cameron Diaz, who made her grand comeback in Netflix's "Back in Action." Meanwhile, "Lost" star Josh Holloway, who admitted that he after that series ended, bounced back on the HBO Max series "Duster." The show earned strong reviews but also a hasty cancellation, while Diaz's film was 鈥攏ot exactly what anyone involved hoped for. Perhaps stars making a comeback in 2026 will have a better reception. While Meryl Streep has been appearing on "Only Murders in the Building" for a few seasons now, it's worth noting that she's returning to the big screen for the first time in five years with "The Devil Wears Prada 2" and "Hoppers."
Streep hasn't really gone anywhere, of course, but there are always comeback stories to pay attention to鈥攁nd in some cases, the stars align for a rousing story of cinematic proportions. There's Lily Gladstone, who was ready to change her career before she received the Zoom call of a lifetime to join "Killers of the Flower Moon," and Brendan Fraser, whom the industry had all but abandoned for years until Darren Aronofsky gave him a starring role in "The Whale."
It's always heartwarming when a triumphant return like you see in the movies translates to real life. So, using various online sources, 麻豆原创 looked at 15 of the most inspiring actor comeback stories, researching actors who seemed down and out for a significant period before making a major mainstream return.
If you're hoping to read something feel-good today, look no further than the 15 stories on this list
Lily Gladstone
Lily Gladstone had proven her acting chops and won critical acclaim in Kelly Reichardt's 2016 indie drama "Certain Women," leading top billing alongside Kristen Stewart, Michelle Williams, and Laura Dern. But it wasn't quite enough career momentum to keep Gladstone from reconsidering her options, and despite making sporadic bit appearances in films and on TV, the actor was seriously considering .
That was until, in August 2020, the one and only Martin Scorsese requested a Zoom call with Gladstone for a lead role in his upcoming film "Killers of the Flower Moon." Of course, the rest is history鈥擥ladstone is firmly back in the biz and landed a 2024 Academy Award nomination for her performance in the critically acclaimed blockbuster. She went on to star in the June 2024 and in Andrew Ahn's which debuted in April 2025. In July, Gladstone boarded the remake of "," scheduled for a March 2027 release.
Brendan Fraser
After becoming a veritable action star leading "The Mummy" franchise in the '90s and early 2000s, Brendan Fraser spent years out of the spotlight until reemerging in 2022 to near-universal acclaim for his role in Darren Aronofsky's "The Whale." This absence was no fluke.
After by the former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in 2003, Fraser claimed he experienced industry blacklisting and deep depression. That, on top of numerous traumatic injuries accrued from working on "The Mummy," kept Fraser from the mainstream and relegated him to a series of overlooked side roles. With "The Whale," Fraser's return to the silver screen led to an inspiring comeback narrative and, ultimately, awards glory as the Best Actor Oscar winner in 2023.
The acclaimed actor earned strong reviews for the November 2025 film "." He'll also play Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 2026 movie "," which started filming in the United Kingdom in the fall of 2024.
Ke Huy Quan
Though he spent his childhood acting in some of the biggest movies of the 1980s鈥"Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," "The Goonies"鈥擪e Huy Quan found that appearing in major blockbusters wasn't exactly a meal ticket to Hollywood. As an Asian American actor, Quan struggled for years to find his footing before quitting acting to work behind the scenes on films like Wong Kar-Wai's "2046."
Still, shortly after deciding to return to the profession in his late 40s, directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert asked him to audition for the role of Waymond Wang in their 2022 film "Everything Everywhere All at Once." Quan received rave reviews and a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his work in the film and has since appeared in series like "Loki" and "American Born Chinese." Fans most recently saw Quan in the 2025 action-comedy "," and he was a voice in Disney's "," which opened in November 2025. Next up, he'll appear in the 2026 release ".
Mickey Rourke
During the '80s, Mickey Rourke received praise for his performances in "Barfly" and "Angel Heart," and he led Francis Ford Coppola's "Rumble Fish" and "The Pope of Greenwich Village." However, he later experienced a string of commercial failures, and directors deemed him difficult to work with, so in the 1990s, Rourke quit acting to pursue boxing.
Though his time in the ring unfortunately led to injuries that , he began slowly making an acting comeback during the 2000s in films such as "Sin City" and "Domino." In 2008, he starred in Darren Aronofsky's "The Wrestler," earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and a Golden Globe win.
While Rourke still acts, appearing in 2025 films "Devil's Play" and "The Roaring Game," he's unfortunately most often in the headlines for less savory reasons these days, including of the "Celebrity Big Brother" house in April 2025 and speaking out against an in January 2026.
Jennifer Coolidge
Though she made her mark on pop culture as Stifler's mom in "American Pie," Paulette in "Legally Blonde," and as a frequent collaborator on director Christopher Guest's films, Jennifer Coolidge saw her career flatline for years in a series of less-than-buzzy side roles. But after a friend persuaded her to take on a role in Mike White's "The White Lotus," things quickly turned around for Coolidge.
Her performance as Tanya McQuoid in the first two seasons of the anthology series earned her both a Primetime Emmy and a Golden Globe award. In her emotional acceptance speech for the latter, she thanked White for helping reignite her career. Most recently, Coolidge appeared in "A Minecraft Movie," the as of early October 2025.
Michael Keaton Douglas
Though some may know him best from "Beetlejuice," Michael Keaton Douglas cemented himself as a Hollywood great by taking on the role of Batman in Tim Burton's 1989 and 1992 DC Comics-based films. Keaton continued working on other films during the '90s, including Quentin Tarantino's "Jackie Brown" and Steven Soderbergh's "Out of Sight." However, he was never able to reach the highs of Burton's "Batman" films, and his career took a downturn during the 2000s, when he starred in a number of films to consistently mixed results.
It wasn't until 2014, when Keaton took on the lead role of a washed-up superhero movie star in Alejandro Gonz谩lez I帽谩rritu's "Birdman," that he finally made his grand Hollywood comeback. He went on to star in another Oscar-winning film, "Spotlight," just a year later, and in 2024, he for the long-awaited super-successful sequel, "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice." In April 2025, it was announced that Keaton would be joining Robert De Niro for the upcoming thriller "."
Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy was once one of the world's most beloved and successful comedic actors, jumping from a stint on "Saturday Night Live" in the '80s to a succession of now-iconic comedy films like "Trading Places," "Coming to America," and "Beverly Hills Cop." But Murphy's career began to decline during the late 1990s, and by the 2000s, Murphy had seemingly swapped adult comedy for family-friendly fare that generated mixed responses from critics and audiences.
Though his role in 2006's "Dreamgirls" did get him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, it was 2019's "Dolemite Is My Name," in which Murphy starred as real-life blaxploitation actor Rudy Ray Moore, that bounced Murphy back into the limelight. The role won him a Golden Globe nomination and propelled him back to a hosting gig on "SNL," which earned him a 2020 Primetime Emmy Award. In August 2025, Murphy's latest film, "," hit theaters, and he was also the subject of the November 2025 documentary "." Next up, he'll be reprising his iconic role as Donkey for 2027's "."
Keanu Reeves
Keanu Reeves has been a big name in Hollywood since starring in 1989's "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure," a breakout role that catapulted him to '90s fame in "Point Break" and "The Matrix" films. However, he languished in little-seen indies, schlocky action flicks, and a series of commercial failures during the mid-to-late 2000s.
"Sad Keanu" even became a popular internet meme in 2010, still four years shy of Reeves' starring appearance in the first "John Wick" film, which bounced the actor back onto the A-list.
Now, both "John Wick" and Reeves have achieved legendary status鈥攖he four-film franchise raked in more than $1 billion at the global box office over nine years, and Reeves has appeared in a number of high-profile pics in the same time period, even reprising his role as Neo in 2021's "The Matrix Resurrections." The actor stays very busy鈥攈e in a production of "Waiting for Godot" in September 2025 and starred in Aziz Ansari's "" in October that same year. Reeves also appears in the upcoming movies "," "," and "."
Matthew McConaughey
Matthew McConaughey achieved a career breakthrough in the early 1990s, starring as the iconic David Wooderson in Richard Linklater's "Dazed and Confused." But by the 2000s, his career stagnated amid a slew of rom-com leading roles, and McConaughey decided to seek more challenging, dramatic work. During the 2010s, an era often called "The McConnaissance," McConaughey starred on HBO's "True Detective" series, as well as movies like "The Wolf of Wall Street," "Interstellar," and "Dallas Buyers Club," for which he won an Academy Award.
McConaughey has been more selective about the roles he takes in recent years, but he starred in the September 2025 film "," and will next be seen in "," which hits theaters in August 2026.
John Travolta
John Travolta hit it big during the 1970s, with back-to-back classics "Carrie," "Saturday Night Fever," and "Grease." But by the '80s, Travolta's career hit a bit of a standstill. He reteamed with director Brian de Palma for "Blow Out," which was lauded by critics but bombed at the box office, and from there he continued to star in a slew of critical and/or commercial failures.
When a hip, new director named Quentin Tarantino burst onto the Hollywood scene in the early '90s, Travolta's career was granted a second life. Travolta was cast as mobster hitman Vincent Vega in Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction," a performance that brought him back from the acting doldrums and earned him an Academy Award nomination.
Drew Barrymore
Born into the acting dynasty of the Barrymore family, Drew Barrymore began her career as a child actor in flicks like "Firestarter" and "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial"鈥攂ut being a "nepo baby" did not necessarily mean Barrymore had it easy. As is often the sad case for child actors, Barrymore had a notoriously fraught, unstable childhood, during which she misused drugs and faced challenges related to her mental health.
She spent time in both rehab and a mental institution as a young teen before becoming emancipated at age 14 from her mostly absent parents. But after getting cleaned up, Barrymore has gone on to enjoy an extremely successful Hollywood career as an adult, from starring in films like "Scream," "The Wedding Singer," and "Charlie's Angels" to now hosting her own talk show.
Natasha Lyonne
Although Natasha Lyonne starred in numerous films as a teen actor during the '90s鈥"But I'm a Cheerleader," "Slums of Beverly Hills," "American Pie"鈥攈er promising career floundered for a number of years. While she continued to act, she was dealing with an addiction to heroin, which brought with it a number of . However, Lyonne has been clean since 2006, which allowed her to find a later career revival through a role on the popular Netflix series "Orange Is the New Black."
This comeback eventually led her to create her own acclaimed series, "Russian Doll," and, more recently, star in Rian Johnson's "Poker Face," with a in July 2025. Lyonne's voice can be heard in the 2025 releases "Smurfs" and "The Bad Guys 2," and she made her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in July 2025's "The Fantastic Four: First Steps." She'll next appear in Taika Waititi's upcoming film "," and she's writing and directing a film of her own called "."
Mandy Moore
Mandy Moore made it big as a pop singer in the late '90s and early 2000s, rising to fame with her hit single "Candy" in 1999. By the turn of the century, she was dipping her toes into the acting world, debuting in "The Princess Diaries" and breaking hearts everywhere in the romance drama "A Walk to Remember."
However, aside from voicing Rapunzel in Disney's "Tangled," Moore remained mostly overlooked or in supporting parts in the early 2010s, and her films did not often garner critical praise or box-office profits. Moore seemed to struggle to find her second act, but she eventually starred in the NBC melodrama "This Is Us" in 2016, which later garnered her a Golden Globe nomination. Next up, she'll star alongside Nate Bargatze in "," which is scheduled for a March 2026 release.
Nicolas Cage
To say that Nicolas Cage had a "comeback" might sound a bit confusing鈥攖he guy rarely seems to stop working, partly due to some hefty real estate debts he's accrued over the years. But after leading popular flicks such as "Raising Arizona," "Con Air," and "Face/Off," and being nominated for two Academy Awards (winning one), Cage appeared in numerous universally panned films that tarnished his reputation.
Nicolas Cage memes reigned supreme on the internet during the 2010s, and it seemed the actor's best days might be behind him. However, he experienced something of a career resurgence in 2018 when he starred in the acclaimed indie horror "Mandy," and Cage has continued to restore his standing with roles in independent features such as "Pig" and "Dream Scenario." He's made a name for himself as something of a scream king in recent years, starring in 2024's "Longlegs" and the 2025 Biblical horror film "." For his next project, he's taking on the titular role in David O. Russell's biopic "," due out November 2026.
Marlon Brando
It's hard to imagine that a Hollywood icon like Marlon Brando could have ever experienced a career slump, but nevertheless, it happened to the "On the Waterfront" star as he hit middle age. In fact, prior to his career-energizing role of Vito Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather," Brando was something of a persona non grata in Tinsel Town, as he stumbled through a series of commercial failures and a reputation of being difficult to work with.
Studios were unwilling to take a chance on an actor who seemed to have become box-office poison, and Coppola himself had to fight with "The Godfather" producers in order to secure Brando for the film. That battle led to one of the most pivotal performances in movie history, which won Brando an Academy Award and fully cemented his status as a true Hollywood legend.
Additional writing and story editing by Cu Fleshman. Copy editing by Paris Close.