32 Actors And Actresses Who Managed To Rebrand Themselves Both Drastically And Successfully

When his son was arrested for doing/having weed (I forget) RDJ released a very sweet and supportive statement talking about how addiction has a genetic component and that the family would be rallying around the son in this difficult time to support him. He's a good guy.

i confess: during the time that he was basically unraveling very publicly i didn't have a good opinion of him or the fact that because of who he was that he was given a couple of wrist slaps when he was busted. then he ended up doing real time. when he came out it was pretty clear that he was far from popular. then jon favereo (sp) gave him a chance and the rest is mcu history. his is a true redemption story as he seems to have been humbled by his experiences. and i, like many others, jumped to opinions. could have been that i am retired law enforcement and it colored my views. had a few downfalls of myself and now realize it isn't the falls that defines character but what you do when you stand up.

I miss the Brendan Fraser era. I hope to see him in more films.

I love the Mummy films. Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz were amazing as the leads - funny, charming and likeable. I watched the films so many times when I was younger. I can’t believe they remade it with Tom Cruise as a generic action film with bland characters. 🤯

I wouldn't say he's "re-branded" himself so much as just continuing his acting career after Harry Potter. He will not be able to shake "that's the guy that played Harry Potter" for many generations. It's what he is known for and will be remembered for.

What I like about him is that he knew he wasn't a very good actor when he was young, he said so, and wasn't afraid to train and get better. He did a lot of smaller, weirder movies. He did plays where he did things he was totally uncomfortable with in order to learn how to loosen himself up and learned how to move and be more comfortable in his own skin. He worked hard to get better. I still don't think he's an amazing actor but I think he makes good choices, and he's come leaps and bounds from where he was acting-wise. I respect someone who seems to want to learn. I like that he wasn't immediately looking for blockbuster roles. He stayed small and did more interesting projects. I think Emma Watson made that mistake.

Don't forget he's now a Tony winner!

Dude also gets major points for his constant charity work. He really really gives back and is one hell of an ally

The episode with him in "Extras" (Rick Gervais) was my first glimpse of him breaking away.

He's amazing!

Talk about a career U-turn! (or should that be an abrupt left turn?)

Loved him as Hal, loved watching him as Walt.

Anybody who thought that had not followed his career. I've followed him ever since he played Douglas Donovan on "Loving" (a soap that was HUGE in South Africa). The people who wanted to cast him in "Breaking Bad" apparently showed the executives his guest-starring role in The X-Files ("Drive" if anyone is interested). His character was complicated and interesting. I also recently saw him as a doomed Ranger while re-watching Babylon 5.

A powerful film, and not to take anything away from Denzel either.

I first knew him from "Bosom Buddies" with Peter Scolari, so yeah.

All around Treasure in their industry. Good human.

I think it's a testament to how charismatic he is. I rewatched Wag the Dog the other day and he was so funny in such a small role. You want to watch him. It reminds me of RDJ or Ryan Reynolds where you almost feel like he IS the character. A lot of their own personality comes out in the roles and Woody is the same. It's an exaggerated version but you feel like he's not playing completely against type. And even if they're annoying characters, they're somewhat likable. Will and Grace was never the same because Nathan was such an amazing character and such a good fit for Grace. Every guy that they tried to pair her with after that sucked.

One Hour Photo, Jacob the Liar, Insomnia, What Dreams May Come, Patch Adams, The Fisher King and more. So much depth in so many of his characters and some of these films really cemented for me how great an actor he was.

Robin Williams' comedy and drama was very similar to Alan Alda's stint on MASH for me. I grew up on MASH so comedians like Williams and Carrey being great at dramatic roles made total sense

Was hoping to see him in there. Was originally a serious actor. His deadpan humor was genius.

If you are Leslie Nielsen fan, and have not seen "Day of the Animals" you have to. He plays a bad guy who wrestles a bear. You have not lived until you see Frank Drebin going nutso on a hilltop fighting a bear.

Let 'er rip!

I remember seeing her in Broadchurch and Black Books, gotta start somewhere.

I just remembered, she was a contestant on Numberwang

I loved seeing her the day she got the Oscar. Giant goofy grin while she joked about being astonished to win. She's so good

Well he showed them!!! 🤣🤣 Great Christmas movie 🤣🤣

Never liked him. Too arrogant, that's what he shows in everything he does. And the creepiness when he played opposite of much younger actresses, gave me the ick.

James Stewart plays in some of my favorite movies: It's a Wonderul Life and Shenandoah. He is high on my list of favorite actors.

Rope sorry

Not to mention Stargate (1994)

I won't watch Travolta. He's a scientologist.

Tarantino really deserves some credit for his tendency to show us actors' hidden talent. He's done it many times. Sam Jackson's career also bounced because of Pulp Fiction

He was in a film called Nobody which was really good

He’s always done small thoughtful stuff in between the blockbusters.

I remember Colin Farrell breaking it big because he was a super hot 20 y.o. but a lot of the movies weren't that great. It's been great to see his actual talent. In Bruges was definitely his Ironman

ugh I love so many of his movies. The remake of Total Recall was so good (and Kate Beckinsale stole the show). He's a great action guy but he does some wonderful smaller films, too.

As an off and on wrestling fan I've definitely been impressed with Dave Bautista's transition to Hollywood. He was a star, he was given championship runs, he was a part of big storylines and stables but he was never "the man" so to see him where he is now is awesome. He was the best part of Guardians of the Galaxy 3.

Every time I see Bautista get a crack at an interesting dramatic character he's batted it out of the park. He's definitely going to earn an Oscar eventually. It's really impressive to see a guy like that choose to go for talent instead of just a managed social media campaign.