20 Actors and Actresses Who Turned Down Important or Popular Roles

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For every celebrity winning critical acclaim or an Academy Award there’s another celeb or two who turned down that same meaty role. While we’re sure they had good reasons for their decisions, we’re also wondering how hard they kick themselves after realizing they passed up “The Big One.” Behold celebrities who turned down the roles of a lifetime.

Here are just a few from the list:

  • Molly Ringwald – Molly Ringwald turned down the role of Vivian in “Pretty Woman” and the role of Molly in “Ghost” among others.
  • Mel Gibson – Turned down the lead role in Gladiator. A role which landed Russell Crowe the Academy Award.
  • Melanie Griffith  – Melanie Griffith turned down the role of “Thelma” in “Thelma and Louise.”
  • Julia Roberts – Turned down Sharon Stone’s leg crossing role in “Basic Instinct,” the role of Mary Corleone in “Godfather III” the role of Annie in “Sleepless in Seattle,” the lead role of “Shakespeare in Love” and the role of Lucy in “While You Were Sleeping.”
  • Tom Hanks – Turned down the role of Ray Kinsella in “Field of Dreams,” Andy Dufresne in “The Shawshank Redemption” and the lead role in “Jerry Maguire.”
  • John Travolta – Turned down the role of Forrest Gump.

The complete list

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5 thoughts on “20 Actors and Actresses Who Turned Down Important or Popular Roles”

  1. Personally, I’d never heard of John Travolata until this very moment, so I’m surprised they offered him that role at all.

  2. twd,
    You guys are good! You don’t miss a thing.
    I’m usually responsible for the typos, but I copied and pasted that, but didn’t notice it. Thanks!
    Jonco

  3. I like Tom Hanks in that he rarely has a flop movie. And The Shawshank Redemption is my all-time favorite movie, even though I normally don’t care for Tim Robbins very much. But I don’t think anyone, even Tom Hanks, could replace Tim Robbins in that role. Tim and Morgan Freeman and the rest of the cast were outstanding.

  4. Mel only turned down The Gladiator because there wasn’t enough Christ loving, Jew bashing in the script.
    And Travolta(sic) is a scientolodouche who doesn’t believe in autism, just look at how he (mis)treats his own sons condition.

  5. thinking about this though some of those actors you just cant picture in those roles, the ones that did them, did it perfect

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