10 Male Actors Who Were Told They Weren't Attractive Enough for Hollywood
Not attractive enough? Really? Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the actors who became successful despite being told they didn’t look like movie stars.
Transcript
00:00Who's there?
00:01Who?
00:02That man looking at us and smiling.
00:04The nasty dog.
00:05My dear, don't you know?
00:07That's Red Butler.
00:08He's from Charleston.
00:09Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks
00:13for the actors who became successful despite being told
00:16they didn't look like movie stars.
00:19This sympathy is wonderful.
00:20Where were you when I was eight years old?
00:25Benedict Cumberbatch.
00:26The name's Sherlock Holmes, and the address is 221B Baker Street.
00:31Although he didn't get his start in Hollywood,
00:33the Sherlock actor was catapulted to movie stardom
00:36based on his turn as the brilliant Arthur Conan Doyle detective.
00:40However, writer and co-creator Mark Gatiss
00:43revealed that Benedict Cumberbatch was almost passed up for the role based on his looks.
00:48Some people said I look a bit like a hammerhead shark.
00:51Ha ha, yeah, yeah.
00:52Or, you know, a lizard man.
00:54Also great.
00:55And I sort of think I look a little bit like Sid the Sloth from my stage.
00:58Totally, you do.
00:59BBC execs were picking apart the actor's physical features behind the scenes.
01:04It was only after the chemistry read that they were convinced he was right for the part.
01:09Thousands of fans who developed a crush on Cumberbatch as a result
01:13would like to have a word or two with those British bigwigs.
01:16Hey, does my answer have to be in English?
01:18Why?
01:19Because my feelings would be best described using a series of noises,
01:23sort of like, ha ha ha.
01:24Ooh, ooh.
01:27No.
01:28Michael J. Fox
01:30Look Alex, I think I better explain something to you.
01:32Look, okay, you don't have to draw me a picture.
01:35I think I know what's going on here.
01:36NBC executive Brandon Tarticoff had two notes for Family Ties producers.
01:42Their choice for the role of Alex P. Keaton,
01:45the young Republican son of two former hippies,
01:47wouldn't work for two reasons.
01:49One, he was too short.
01:51And two, Tartikoff couldn't see someone with Michael J. Fox's face selling merchandise,
01:57namely lunchboxes.
01:59I won't stand for this.
02:02This is a travesty.
02:04This is a sin against capitalism.
02:06Fox was a runaway success on the show.
02:08He parlayed that TV fame into feature film stardom with the Back to the Future series.
02:13There was apparently no bad blood between the executive and the actor,
02:17as Fox would later give Tartikoff a lunchbox with his face on it.
02:22I can't guess you guys aren't ready for that yet.
02:26But your kids are gonna love it.
02:28Fred Astaire
02:28I'd like to try this thing just once.
02:32Come on, honey.
02:34We'll show him a thing or three.
02:35Whether or not he was paired with Ginger Rogers,
02:38Fred Astaire was one of the great dancers of classic Hollywood.
02:41His footwork was matched only by his slick charm and charisma.
02:45But a screen test at RKO didn't go so well.
02:48Charming little spot you have here.
02:50When does the concert start?
02:54Just as soon as you and the rain stop.
02:56Although the story passed into legend,
02:58Astaire later said one studio representative passed on him because he was balding.
03:03In one of the understatements of the century,
03:06the executive also said Astaire could, quote,
03:08"...dance a little."
03:10He would later go on to make several successful movies for the studio,
03:13and became the standard bearer for sophisticated leading men of the 1930s.
03:29Clint Eastwood
03:30All right, let's have it.
03:34Have what?
03:35The report. What have you been doing?
03:36The Dirty Harry star's rugged looks and callous attitude
03:39helped redefine masculinity in the 1960s and 70s.
03:44The rough-voiced, squinting hero of mid-century westerns
03:47made much of his early career in TV westerns for Universal.
03:51When the studio ended his contract in the 1950s,
03:54the story goes it was because of his looks.
03:57Robbie, why don't you go out and sing?
04:01Yeah.
04:02Have you lost your mind or something?
04:03I can't sing, though.
04:04Well, yeah, just sing like you do to the beeves.
04:06That's good enough.
04:08Look, boys, those are cattle.
04:09These are people out here, and they got guns.
04:11Apparently, the studio had grown tired of him,
04:14as he had a chipped tooth he wouldn't fix,
04:16and an Adam's apple that was too big.
04:19That's the story according to fellow actor and friend Burt Reynolds,
04:23who was fired around the same time.
04:25We're walking to his truck, you know, afterwards,
04:28and I said, you know, you're in a hell of a lot of trouble.
04:32And he said, why?
04:33And I said, I can learn to act.
04:35You'll never get rid of that Adam's apple.
04:37Adam Driver
04:39Okay, that's Adam.
04:40He does sort of look like the original man.
04:43No, like my Adam, like Adam Adam.
04:45Rising to fame playing the eccentric and passionate boyfriend
04:48of the lead on HBO's Girls,
04:50Adam Driver's brooding and stoic face had made him at home in a variety of roles.
04:56His talent has made him a favorite of directors
04:59like Martin Scorsese and Noah Baumbach.
05:01However, his distinctive look has been pointed out by many,
05:04even in interviews.
05:06You always made me aware of what I was doing wrong,
05:08how I was falling short.
05:10Life with you was joyless.
05:12During a 2023 appearance on Who's Talking to Chris Wallace,
05:15the host asked Driver if he struggled
05:18because he doesn't look like a typical movie star.
05:20While Driver handled the question with grace,
05:23Wallace's line of questioning earned criticism on the internet.
05:26I've worked consistently,
05:28which is nice with people that I've wanted to,
05:30always dreamed that I wanted to work with.
05:32And I, so in that sense, it hasn't,
05:35I look how I look, I can't change that.
05:38So I guess it helped me.
05:40Dustin Hoffman.
05:41It's like I've been playing some kind of game,
05:43but the rules don't make any sense to me.
05:46They're being made up by all the wrong people.
05:49No, I mean, no one makes them up.
05:52They seem to make themselves up.
05:54The 1967 existentialist comedy The Graduate
05:57signaled a change in the culture and the way movies were made.
06:01Much of that change had to do with its leading actor.
06:04I wanted to be...
06:07To be what?
06:11Different.
06:12There were a lot of people dunking on Dustin Hoffman's height
06:15and looks at the time.
06:17A Life magazine writer was quoted as saying
06:19Hoffman's face had nothing to do with his onscreen appeal.
06:22Even his own aunt said he wasn't handsome enough to be in the movies.
06:26Although his physical type wasn't traditionally seen on the screen,
06:30he helped usher in a new era.
06:32I was going to go upstairs for a minute.
06:34I meant with your future.
06:36You're lying.
06:37Well, that's a little hard to say.
06:39Andrew Garfield
06:40I break up with you.
06:44I break up with you.
06:48Rejection is hard enough,
06:49but before he was an Academy Award-nominated,
06:52Spider-Man-playing leading man,
06:54Andrew Garfield lost out on a major role for one reason.
06:57Producers of the Chronicles of Narnia series
07:00didn't believe he was handsome enough to play the noble Prince Caspian.
07:03What can you do?
07:04Hey, I'm not handsome enough for Prince Caspian.
07:06That was when I was just dying out, so I was like,
07:08my God, Narnia, I love Narnia.
07:09The part went to Ben Barnes instead.
07:12Millions would disagree with those producers' assessment.
07:15The idea that Garfield wasn't handsome enough seems silly now.
07:18He's since gone on to play the dreamy romantic lead in dozens of movies.
07:22His looks, charm, and charisma have made him a favorite of fans and filmmakers alike.
07:27I can't believe Andrew Garfield invented being sexy.
07:30I find it hard to believe to the point of knowing that it's not true.
07:35Donald Sutherland.
07:36This Canadian actor had gravitas and the distinction of being in films
07:41directed by some of the greatest directors of all time.
07:44But his entire career, he believed he was unattractive.
07:47They did call me Dumbo and Goofus because I have these ears that are really large,
07:53and when my head was smaller, my ears were still the same size.
07:56In his early life, he was made fun of for the size of his ears and his stature.
08:00In an interview with Anderson Cooper,
08:02he recalled his mother's frank assessment of his looks as a teenager.
08:07Your face has character, Donald, and I went and hid in my room for at least a day.
08:13Her honesty haunted him throughout his life.
08:16From then on, he believed he found success in spite of his physical attributes.
08:21Luckily, it didn't stop him from becoming an incredible screen presence.
08:25Particular savvy in that, isn't there?
08:27Robert Pattinson.
08:29That's Edward Cullen. He's totally gorgeous,
08:32obviously, but apparently nobody here is good enough for him.
08:37Released at the height of the vampire craze of the late 2000s,
08:41the Twilight series was a mega-hit that launched its trio of stars to great heights.
08:46However, the part of the handsome, glittering vampire Edward Cullen
08:49was hard-fought for star Robert Pattinson.
08:52The hairstyle, the eyebrows, even the teeth,
08:55he started working out, you know, and worked with a trainer.
08:59He put a lot of effort and, you know, beautiful effort into it.
09:02Director Catherine Hardwicke said the English actor
09:05made the producers of the first movie nervous.
09:08They worried he wasn't good-looking enough to carry the series,
09:11let alone win the hearts of millions of fans
09:13who had fallen in love with this character on the page.
09:16Given his immediate stardom and career since Twilight ended,
09:19it's safe to say there was nothing to worry about.
09:22It's like diamonds.
09:33You're beautiful.
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09:50Clark Gable.
09:52In the 1930s, he rose to the top of the classic Hollywood star system.
09:57From his strong features to his large ears,
09:59Clark Gable filled up the screen with his masculine bravado.
10:03At the start of his career, though, his trademark features were his hindrances.
10:08You know, I wouldn't offend you for the world.
10:13You haven't offended me.
10:16I just want to do a little thinking.
10:20Studio heavyweight Daryl F. Zanuck was unimpressed with Gable's screen test.
10:24He didn't just go after the actor's ears.
10:27He was on record likening Gable to an ape.
10:30Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.
10:32Swooning audiences sitting in the cinemas during movies like
10:35It Happened One Night and Gone With the Wind would beg to differ.
10:39Gable became the dashing template for male stars of the post-silent era.
10:43No, I have a method all my own.
10:46If you'll notice, the coat came first, then the tie, then the shirt.
10:50Which of these actors were you most surprised to see on this list?
10:54Sound off in the comments below.
10:55Andrew Garfield's spandex-clad buttocks should be legally obliged
11:00to appear in all superhero movies from now on.
11:03I wonder what my fee would be.
11:04Do you agree with our picks?
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