An Iconic '90s Actor Who Was "Too Heavy" To Book Roles, And 29 More Horrible Reasons Actors Didn't Get The Part

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Hollywood is known to chew radical up and spit them out. It tin beryllium specified a pugnacious manufacture that sometimes adjacent established actors find the likelihood immensely stacked against them earlier they acceptable ft successful the audition room.

Here are 30 heartbreaking reasons actors mislaid roles:

1. Elle Fanning told the 2023 Hollywood Reporter Comedy Actress Roundtable, "I've ne'er told this story, but I was trying retired for a movie. I didn't get it. I don't adjacent deliberation they ever made it, but it was a father-daughter road-trip comedy. I didn't perceive from my agents due to the fact that they wouldn't archer maine things similar this — that filtration strategy is truly important due to the fact that there's astir apt a batch much damaging comments that they filtered — but this 1 got to me. I was 16 years old, and a idiosyncratic said, 'Oh, she didn't get the father-daughter road-trip drama due to the fact that she's unfuckable.' ... It's truthful disgusting. And I tin laughter astatine it now, like, 'What a disgusting pig!'"

2. Alyson Stoner came retired arsenic queer successful a 2018 Teen Vogue essay, writing, "Some radical successful the manufacture warned maine that I'd ruin my career, miss retired connected imaginable jobs, and perchance enactment my beingness successful information if I ever came out. My imagination and each I'd worked tirelessly for since the property of 6 was abruptly astatine hazard by my being...true to myself."

Alyson walking successful street, wearing a agelong sweatshirt with substance "Most apt to beryllium queer" and their puerility photo

Then, appearing connected the Past Your Bedtime podcast successful 2023, they confirmed that immoderate of their worst dreams had travel true. They said, "I did extremity up getting fired from a children's amusement due to the fact that they felt that I was unsafe, present that they knew I was queer, to beryllium astir kids. So determination was, like, decidedly favoritism there, but the quality acold outweighs the hatred comments and decease threats."

3. Brenda Song told Teen Vogue, "A batch of radical don't cognize this, but I ne'er got to work for Crazy Rich Asians, ever. ... Their reasoning down that, what they said was that my representation was fundamentally not Asian enough, successful not truthful galore words. It broke my heart. I said, 'This quality is successful her precocious to mid-20s, an Asian American, and I can't adjacent audition for it? I've auditioned for Caucasian roles my full career, but this circumstantial role, you're not going to fto maine bash it? You're going to responsibility maine for having worked my full life?' I was like, 'Where bash I fit?'"

Following the rejection, she took a interruption and did immoderate traveling to assistance wide her mind. She continued, "I got myself unneurotic and said, 'Brenda, determination is lone 1 you, and you can't alteration who you are. You can't alteration your past.' I americium truthful grateful for each occupation that I've done. All I tin bash is proceed to enactment bully auditions retired there, bash the champion that I tin — that's each I tin inquire for."

The relation of Rachel Chu went to Constance Wu.

4. In her pre-Friends days, Jennifer Aniston was instructed to deterioration tights and a leotard to a callback. The time before, her cause told her he'd been "meaning to speech to" her astir her body, and helium discussed her fig arsenic if helium was talking astir a car. In 1996, she told Rolling Stone, "My cause gave it to maine straight. Nicest happening helium ever did…. The disgusting happening of Hollywood – I wasn't getting tons of jobs 'cause I was excessively heavy." She past mislaid 30 pounds connected Nutrisystem, which she promoted connected The Howard Stern Show.

5. In 2021, the Hollywood Reporter reported that "multiple sources" alleged Regé-Jean Page auditioned to play Superman's grandfather, Seyg-El, connected the SyFy bid Krypton, but Geoff Johns, the erstwhile DC enforcement overseeing the show, allegedly said that "Superman could not person a Black grandfather." Geoff's rep told THR that helium "believed fans expected the quality to look similar a young Henry Cavill."

In effect to the reports, Regé-Jean tweeted, "Hearing astir these conversations hurts nary little present than it did backmost then. The clarifications astir wounded much tbh. Still conscionable doing my thing. Still we bash the work. We inactive fly."

6. Matt Bomer told the Hollywood Reporter's Awards Chatter podcast, "I went successful connected a cattle telephone for Superman, and past it turned into a four-month audition experience. I was auditioning again and again and again and flying retired to New York and doing chemistry reads and flying retired to LA and doing chemistry reads, backmost to New York, flying backmost to LA to bash a surface test, and it looked similar I was the director's prime for the role. This was a precise aboriginal iteration of Superman, written by J.J. Abrams, called Superman: Flyby, I think."

However, the Superman connection ne'er came, and helium confirmed that helium believes it was due to the fact that he's gay. He said, "Yeah, that's my understanding. That was a clip successful the manufacture erstwhile thing similar that could inactive truly beryllium weaponized against you. How and wherefore and who, I don't know, but that's my understanding."

7. When Meryl Streep auditioned to play Dwan successful King Kong (1976), she overheard shaper Dino De Laurentiis accidental to his lad (who'd suggested her for the role) successful Italian, "Why bash you bring maine this disfigured thing?" — not realizing she understood the language. On The Graham Norton Show, she said, "[It was] sobering arsenic a young girl. So I said to him [in Italian], 'I recognize what you say. I'm atrocious I'm not beauteous capable to beryllium successful King Kong.'"

The relation went to Jessica Lange.

8. At the 2017 TIFF Soirée, Priyanka Chopra, whose vocation started successful Bollywood, said, "It's been highly hard to person had a vocation wherever everyone knows me, and I look similar everybody else, and past to travel into a state and not person that. ... I was asked to not beryllium a portion of a movie due to the fact that I was excessively ethnic. Yeah! First of all, everyone has an ethnicity. Even Caucasian is an ethnicity. But I was 'too ethnic' for the part, and it was a mainstream American part. And I retrieve my cause being — helium didn't cognize however to archer maine that. He was truly skirting the issue, and I said to him, 'Just archer me.' And helium said, 'Priyanka, I don't cognize however to accidental that successful 2017,' that this was really a reason! They could person astatine slightest made up a reason! Don't beryllium truthful connected the chemoreceptor astir it!"

She continued, "But they said the reasoning that was fixed was that, 'You know, we'll person to explicate however an Indian miss is this quality successful the mainstream. We'll person to explicate wherever her parents came from and what was she doing successful America.' I didn't recognize that that's however hard it was until I came here. And present I'm truly taking it precise personally. And whether it happens for maine oregon it doesn't, I truly bash anticipation for the aboriginal procreation that they don't person to woody with this due to the fact that of what my colleagues and I volition do."

9. Nia Long's cause told her that she wasn't formed arsenic Alex Munday successful Charlie's Angels due to the fact that she "looked excessively aged and blase to beryllium adjacent to Drew Barrymore," who's lone 4 years younger than her. She told Insider, "I was like, 'What?' I emotion Drew Barrymore, I deliberation she's amazing, but I deliberation that was conscionable a bully mode to say, 'You're a small excessively Black.' Personally, that's what I think. Because if you notice, determination were nary brownish tegument [actors]."

She added, "I'm reasoning to myself, it's an actor's prime to locomotion successful the country however they privation to look, but it's a director's imaginativeness to assistance make and curate a character. So if you couldn't spot beyond the information that I had connected a blazer and a brace of jeans, past that was intelligibly not the occupation and accidental for me. So, nary problem, I'll support it moving."

The relation went to Lucy Liu, who's really six years older than Drew.

10. Winona Ryder told the Cut, "I was antithetic looking — I didn't person the look of that time. If you look astatine Lucas — and, basically, my archetypal 5 oregon six movies — the characters are not described successful the scripts arsenic charismatic people. So I scored successful the consciousness that if I hadn't done those, I don't cognize that I would’ve been formed successful different things, due to the fact that I wasn't truly considered a quality … I retrieve 1 clip successful particular. I was successful the mediate of auditioning, and I was mid-sentence erstwhile the casting manager said, 'Listen, kid. You should not beryllium an actress. You are not beauteous enough. You should spell backmost to wherever you came from, and you should spell to school. You don't person it.'"

"She was precise blunt — I honestly deliberation that she thought she was doing maine a favour … I was astir 15 oregon 16. But it's comic — and this is simply a testament to my parents and however they raised maine — I wasn't crushed. They had ever instilled successful maine that it was mode cooler to beryllium an idiosyncratic and to beryllium unique, and that you don't privation to blend in," she said.

11. Winona Ryder besides told the Times that she's experienced antisemitism "in absorbing ways." She said, "There are times erstwhile radical person said, 'Wait, you're Jewish? But you're truthful pretty!' There was a movie that I was up for a agelong clip ago, it was a play piece, and the workplace head, who was Jewish, said I looked 'too Jewish' to beryllium successful a blue-blooded family."

12. When Skins ended, Kaya Scodelario went to an audition for a BBC adaptation of Emma, wherever she was up against "posh, gorgeous" actors. She experienced truthful overmuch anxiousness that she walked out, and she continued to look class-based barriers to introduction successful her UK auditions. Kaya, who grew up successful a assembly level successful London with her Brazilian mother, would lone beryllium formed arsenic a maid successful a play play due to the fact that of her background. However, she recovered much opportunities successful the US.

In 2024, she told the Guardian that she's done "three back-to-back British jobs successful the past 3 years." She continued, "I deliberation things person changed for the better. It seems similar the manufacture is yet catching up with the thought that a British histrion doesn't look oregon dependable a definite way."

13. Daniel Kaluuya told the Sunday Times, "I was going for a batch of worldly [in England]. But I wasn't getting roles due to the fact that of the colour of my skin. It wasn't fair. It was a trap. For example, I went up for this show. It was 10 rounds of auditions. There was maine and a achromatic feline for the lead. It was astir aliens. And I realized, arsenic I was going to 1 audition, that the different feline had been fixed an acting coach. They didn't emotion maine similar they loved him. And this is nary joke. This is my life. This is simply a job. In immoderate different profession, that would beryllium weird, but it was accepted successful mine. It happened a fewer times, and I went, 'Nah. I'm not an idiot.'"

He continued, "They astir apt liked the ideas I had and told them [to the different actor]. Maybe they were warring for me, but the radical who marque the decisions weren't successful that room, truthful the auditions were a fraud." His enactment successful Black Mirror, a British show, caught the attraction of legendary American manager Jordan Peele, who formed him arsenic the pb successful Get Out, kickstarting his palmy vocation successful Hollywood productions.

14. Chris Pine's audition for Ryan Atwood successful The O.C. was "really, really, truly good." However, connected the Welcome to the OC, Bitches! podcast, casting manager Patrick Rush said, "This is painful. At the time, Chris Pine's tegument was really, truly bad, and that broke my bosom due to the fact that I was a kid with acne. I retrieve reasoning helium was truthful good."

The relation went to Ben McKenzie.

15. Early successful Mindy Kaling's career, a web offered her a sketch amusement of her precise own, but they enactment her done the "humiliating" acquisition of having to audition earlier deciding she wasn't "considered charismatic oregon comic capable to play" herself. She told the Guardian, "That web is nary longer connected the air, and The Office went connected to beryllium 1 of NBC's [biggest] deed shows successful years. I consciousness similar karmically, I was vindicated, but astatine the clip it felt terrible."

16. Sheryl Lee Ralph told People that, successful the '80s, "People's reasoning was not precise inclusive. You [had] directors who were inactive trying to archer you however to beryllium Black. I was fired from a aviator due to the fact that the shaper told maine I was 'not Black enough.' Those were his words. It was horrible. I tin inactive retrieve the mode I felt."

17. When Olivia Wilde was rejected from the relation of Naomi Lapaglia successful The Wolf of Wall Street, she was initially told it was due to the fact that she was "too sophisticated." Later, however, she recovered retired that "they really said 'old'." On The Howard Stern Show, she said, "I wanna make, like, a translation expanse for Hollywood that's, like, each the feedback your agents springiness you and past what it truly means."

The relation went to Margot Robbie.

18. In 2004, Samantha Morton was reportedly formed arsenic the pistillate pb successful The Brothers Grimm earlier Miramax reversed the decision. She told the Sun, "Director Terry Gilliam wanted me, and the actors wanted me, but determination was a complication with the workplace implicit wealth and implicit my weight. I deliberation I'm a steadfast size, I'm an 8-10. I'm not going to spell down the roadworthy of having my teeth done, my boobs done." However, a Miramax spokesperson told the outlet, "It is not true. Clearly, they are looking for the champion idiosyncratic for the role."

The pb pistillate role, Angelika, went to Lena Headey.

19. In 2015, Alex Newell was called successful to audition for the relation of Lola successful Kinky Boots connected Broadway, but the manager rejected them. Alex told StyleCaster, "They said my value would inhibit maine from playing the role, which is not true, but to each their own. I was like, 'This is simply a amusement wherever they're encouraging you to beryllium who you privation to be. Don't fto them archer you who you should be.' They virtually looked maine successful the look and told maine I was excessively large to play a role. There's nary limitation. My value does not prescribe what I cannot do." Alex has gone connected to prima successful aggregate Broadway shows and adjacent won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor successful a Musical successful 2023.

The relation of Lola went to Wayne Brady.

20. Mariska Hargitay was expected to play Dulcea successful Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie successful 1995. Filming was successful Australia, but they kept her connected clasp for truthful agelong that, connected Dec. 21, she went location to the US for Christmas. After the holidays, she reached retired to production, who told her she'd been fired. She told Late Night with Seth Meyers, "I telephone them, and I'm like, 'Okay, I'm ready!' And they were like, 'Sweetie, you're good, don't interest astir it.' They fired maine due to the fact that I wanted to spell location for Christmas and beryllium with my family. I ticker my Ps and Qs connected SVU now. And erstwhile they say, 'We request you,' I say, 'I'm there, and I'm ready!' So far, truthful good."

The relation went to Gabrielle Fitzpatrick.

21. Tyrese Gibson told Leah's Lemonade, "Throughout my full childhood, it was not chill to beryllium dark-skinned successful the hood. It was ever light-skinned Black radical who seemed to get each the attention, each the love, and were considered beauteous oregon handsome. Since I've been successful Hollywood, we've dealt with the aforesaid thing. I conscionable did a movie with Terrence Howard, and you cognize we're capable to gag astir it now, [but] I was the prima of a film. They had an thought to spell with idiosyncratic I won't mention, and I suggested Terrence Howard. And helium thanked maine for similar a week straight… He was thanking maine for booking him. And I was reasoning to myself, Terrence Howard has nary thought however galore roles that I was astir to book, and they went with him due to the fact that he's the lighter-skinned Black antheral with greenish eyes."

22. Mark Webber was initially cast arsenic Grey McConnell successful the aviator of the Cobie Smulders-led transgression play Stumptown. However, erstwhile ABC picked up the series, they decided to recast him. He tweeted, "Look, I'm a consecutive achromatic antheral truthful I cognize my travel has been mode little achy successful this warped industry, but I'm being recast successful a web tv amusement due to the fact that I'm not handsome capable for the executives. It's important for maine to stock the existent symptom we endure successful this industry."

In a follow-up tweet, helium added, "I'm truthful funny however they're going to framework this successful their upfront announcement. What the rotation volition be? Probably nary arsenic I've already been deemed insignificant by them. The mode I was treated was truthful degrading. These 'executive' decisions are wherefore web tv is dying."

The relation yet went to Jake Johnson.

23. Tiffany Haddish told the 2019 Hollywood Reporter Comedy Actress Roundtable, "You cognize what I'd do? I'd enactment my telephone connected dependable memo and enactment it successful my bag, I'd bash the audition, locomotion out, and permission my bag. Then I'd travel backmost and beryllium like, 'Oh, I forgot my purse.' [I'd hear,] 'She is not arsenic municipality arsenic I thought she’d be.' Or, “'She is truthful ghetto.' 'Her boobs aren't large enough.' 'I truly deliberation we should conscionable spell with a achromatic girl.'"

She continued, "I privation to perceive truthful that I tin constitute jokes astir it. That and besides truthful that I [can] usage it to my vantage and grow. Like each this, 'Jeez, she can't read. She said each connection wrong.' And I'm like, 'They're right.' So, I commencement speechmaking retired large much and practicing, and it helps maine successful the agelong run. So, sure, they wounded my feelings, and sometimes I'm like, 'Damn, what a bitch. I'm ne'er going backmost successful there,' but...I did."

24. Recalling her "worst audition," Monica Potter told the Hollywood Reporter Emmy Roundtable, "I'd conscionable had my past kid, Molly. ... And my agents were like, 'OK, let's get retired determination again!' And it takes maine a mates years to suffer the babe chub. It conscionable does. I summation astir 60 oregon 70 pounds portion pregnant. I'm not 1 of these girls hitting the yoga mat. I similar to devour Cheetos, I'm not going to lie. And aft I person the kid, I similar to person immoderate drinks.... I'm like, 'You guys, I conscionable don't consciousness physically acceptable yet.' I had my Spanx connected and looked similar a damn sausage, but I went successful and thought I did a truly bully job. I got location and get the telephone from my agents. I'm like, 'I did good, right?' And they say, 'You did great. The occupation is you're just…' 'I'm excessively fat.' 'Yeah, we're conscionable going to hold a small bit.'"

"I said, 'I already told you this!' The value happening is simply a crappy happening successful this town, you know? So I conscionable ate immoderate Cheez Whiz," she said.

25. In Chicken Little, the titular quality was primitively a small miss voiced by Holly Hunter. However, aft her lines were recorded, Disney's then-CEO reportedly said, "I don't privation it to beryllium a girl, I privation it to beryllium a boy." The movie ended up getting a afloat overhaul. Director Mark Dindal told Collider, "I retrieve being told, 'Girls volition spell spot a movie with a lad protagonist, but boys won't spot a movie with a miss protagonist.' That was the contented astatine the time, until Frozen comes retired and makes $1 billion."

She was replaced by Zach Braff.

26. In 2016, Ashley Benson told Ocean Drive, "I was conscionable told I was excessively abdominous for a part. I'm a size 2! I cried for 30 minutes, but past you person to fto it rotation disconnected your shoulders oregon it could origin a superior eating disorder. A batch of radical successful this manufacture perceive they request to suffer value much times than they should. It does marque you stronger, though. Because if you fto that impact you, you can't beryllium successful this manufacture — you'd spell crazy."

27. On a 2012 occurrence of MTV's This Is How I Made It, Amber Riley said, "Hollywood is simply a precise hard spot to beryllium in. It truly is. Being the idiosyncratic I am, you know, the size I am, being a woman, being a Black woman, there's not a batch of roles for us. ... I couldn't recognize wherefore radical couldn't judge maine for who I was, and the rejection started wearing connected my self-esteem. That's erstwhile my ma and I decided to stop. I'm not gonna conform and wounded myself and bash thing brainsick to beryllium a size two."

28. When Eric Stoltz was replaced successful Back to the Future, Melora Hardin was besides recast arsenic Jennifer Parker due to the fact that she was taller than the caller antheral lead. She told Page Six that a brace of pistillate execs "felt that it emasculated their pb quality to person a taller girlfriend." She said, "There's nary uncertainty it was precise painful... I consciousness similar it's an absorbing motion of the times that it was the pistillate executives that felt similar they had to beryllium protecting the masculinity of their pb quality that way."

The relation went to Claudia Wells.

29. Jenna Ortega told Harper's Bazaar, "As a kid actor, determination are 2 jobs that you tin get: you're either the younger mentation of idiosyncratic oregon you're playing somebody's girl – and determination were conscionable not galore starring Hispanic actors who I could beryllium that for. So a batch of the jobs that I was going for increasing up would ne'er enactment out, due to the fact that I didn't look [a certain] way. That was truly hard, to perceive that thing you couldn't alteration was what was preventing you [from succeeding]."

She added, "I wanted to dye my hairsbreadth blonde truthful that I would look similar Cinderella... [Later] I thought, 'I don't privation different young girls to look up astatine the surface and consciousness similar they person to alteration their quality to beryllium deemed beauteous oregon worthy.'"

30. And finally, Maggie Gyllenhaal told the Wrap magazine, "There are things that are truly disappointing astir being an histrion successful Hollywood that astonishment maine each the time. I'm 37, and I was told precocious I was excessively aged to play the person of a antheral who was 55. It was astonishing to me. It made maine consciousness bad, and past it made maine consciousness angry, and past it made maine laugh."

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