Actors are hated for all kinds of reasons. Often, their controversial personal lives infringe on any audience goodwill. Other times, they can become so over-exposed that everyone just kind of gets sick of them. And every actor has given at least one bad performance; some actors, however, give that one bad performance that everyone will see. There are those actors whose great roles are undermined by significantly bad ones, and cinemagoers take note. Actors develop a reputation for all kinds of things and, before they know it, become one of the many performers to lose respect based on poor choices.
The fact is, most of the people in this list endure hate based on their personal lives rather than on their acting abilities. But, taking them on their skills alone, it’s difficult to make a case against any of them. There are many underrated actors working in this industry, but it’s not often that a big star will be applauded for underrated acting abilities. The big stars, not coincidentally, are also the ones that receive the most hate from movie fans. They may receive hate based on their off-screen selves, high-profile bad performances or the fact that they’re generally annoying, but I’m here to argue that these guys deserve a little bit more respect, based on some of their better acting roles.
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45 Comments
i agree they dont deserve the hate, but they’re still bad actors and annoying people regardless. i do hope matthew gets that oscar nomination. sounds good.
Since when are most of these people “hated”? Many of these performers are beloved award-winners!
Being an award-winner doesn’t always guarantee being liked, nor does it guarantee respect as an actor. And trust me, give ‘most hated actors’ a quick google – these actors make a lot of people really angry!
I can’t believe that Kristen Steward “does not deserve the hate” while Keanu Reeves is on the list of terrible actore who got lucky. She has the exact same amount of range as he does.
I keep thinking that she could play his daughter in a movie about cardboard cutouts.
But I agree with James, these actors are not necessarily hated on for their acting.
I’d have to disagree with you there Kevin – Keanu Reeves definitely deserves the hate. The myth regarding Kristen Stewart is that all she can do is look marginally annoyed, but those people who bothered to watch her outside of Twilight would know that isn’t true. She’s not the best actress in the world, but there are plenty others who are much, much worse.
And the point is that they’re all hated for different reasons, but I’d say absolutely all of them are underrated for their acting. Apart from McConaughey, as of last year, but he’s still considered a bit of a joke in many quarters.
I watched and reasonably enjoyed Snow White and the Huntsman, but sorry… her range is limited. I never said she was bad, just limited.
no one hates keanu reeves.
Keanu’s not perfect but he can play weird (I Love You to Death, Scanner Darkly), sociopathic (The Gift) and everyday joe (Private Lifes of Pippa Lee, Something’s Gotta Give) and it’s typically the SciFi films where he literal lets all the gunfights and philosophy do the talking while he gets randomly lazy.
I’m not going to side either way on Nicolas Cage since he seems to be the type who only works well if you let him do very little (Kick-Ass) or his character works for the movie (Bad Lieutenant). For all the people who love his overacting or wacky persona, there are those who can’t stand his random screaming as seen in Deadfall and Wicker Man.
Good point though on how everyone tends to forget that a good actor is going to give a bad performance at least once.
As for Stewart, I’ve seen those movies you’ve mentioned in the article & in Snow White and all I can say is that the problem isn’t here personal life (I could care less or that she was in Twilight (since she was going many well-known movies before that crappy franchise), it’s that she has the same expression in every movie/scene/picture/frame, often does best when she doesn’t say much of anything (which is why PANIC ROOM is her best movie).
She had some talent in The Messengers and Adventureland but as a result of being in Twilight, she seems to have forgotten what acting ability she had while as the other Twilight guys failed to make an impression outside of that franchise.
I’ve never seen any hate for for Farrell, Law or Knightley unless it was just someone who didn’t like a movie they were in (trust me, I keep an eye on articles), found their accent annoying or just didn’t care to see every movie they were in currently but if you saw any recent hatred, I guess it’s good that you listed them.
Hathaway’s hate seems to be like you claimed, just jealousy in motion.
Cruise will continue to get bad word of mouth much like his pal John Travolta because unlike their friend Will Smith, they haven’t learned to be discreet in interviews and simply just promote their movies. People though will still continue to see Cruise since he’s in almost everything these days and still has a good resume flowing.
Good point on McConaughey but he also seems to work best in courtroom dramas like A Time to Kill and The Lincoln Lawyer or comedies like the ones you mentioned and even Bernie & Tropic Thunder.
Affleck is always an interesting topic to explore. It seems that if people don’t start just randomly bashing him for his good or bad movie choices, they just start hated him in the movies they didn’t like him in.
I remember this one blogger who went to the same HS as me and who would randomly hate on Affleck. He loved the Kevin Smith films Affleck was in but hated every one of Affleck’s characters. I asked him if he had seen Good Will Hunting & Extract but he refused to see either of those but at least I tried.
Last of all, this is strange, I’ve also never seen any hate for Bowie’s talent as an actor OR a musician. I’ve seen people who didn’t like Labyrinth or The Man Who Fell to Earth because they were too weird for them but never have I seen them say that Bowie sucks.
Thanks for your comment Jeff. There is a book called ‘Ten Bad Dates With De Niro’ that has a section about ‘David Bowie’s maligned acting’, and why Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence is his only great performance in an otherwise woeful career. I would disagree with that, but the point is…some people just don’t like Bowie as an actor. I’m not one of them, and I’m glad to see there are a lot of other people sticking up for him on here (maybe I overestimated the ‘hate’ for him after all)
The only one of these I actually thought was a bad actor was Kristen Stewart. I still do but the rest are decent actors.
I think so too man! But seriously, if you check out the reputations of these people online, they’re really not well liked at all. Googling ‘most hated actors’ brings up these same names again and again, whereas I think they’re decent actors that aren’t praised for their work enough (even Kristen Stewart, though I understand that’s not a popular choice)
I think “underrated” and “hated” have nothing to do with each other. Some good actors are still famous for being annoying.
I haven’t seen many people who hate Jude Law, Anne Hathaway or Colin Farrel (some people even think he’s one of the best actors of this generation), neither think they’re bad actors.
If you have K-Stew, you should have included Robert Pattinson. He’s good and a very potential actor. Most people just know him in Twilight.
Ben Affleck isn’t that bad, but still the worst part of his films. He has great reputation now, he has to stop acting in his own films. Good movies need good actors, or it’d be wasted.
Nicholas Cage is brilliant, enough said.
I never heard of people not liking David Bowie as an actor. He’s not an incredible actor but I think, unlike most singer-to-actors, he’s always looked at as one of the more successful.
Really? I’ve heard a lot of criticism about Bowie. I agree he’s one of the better singers-turned-actors, and maybe people will admit he is, but I don’t think he’s respected enough as just a good actor in his own right
Kristen Stewart plays different version of herself so that is not acting. All she knows are petulant moody teenagers who stutter, eyeroll and look stoned 24/7
If you think Kristen Stewart is a bad actress, then fine, but when has she ever seemed stoned?
I have to agree about Kristen Stewart. Aside from Breaking Dawn 1&2 she didn’t show much diversity in her emotions or facial expressions. But she was pretty good in Adventureland and I thought she did a good job in Snow White & The Huntsman (which had a corny script by the way). But there are a few other films that she’s done where she actually had great performances. The Yellow Handkerchief and Welcome to The Riley’s.
‘Stewart’s emotional spectrum includes not just ‘moody’, but a whole bunch of other expressions Stephenie Meyer fans never knew she had’ This sentence just made me so happy!
who’s hatin on these ppl
Another one is John Travolta. That guy is like the nicest person in real life and throughout his career he has been treated horribly.
I must admit I’ve felt sorry for all of these people and the absolute disdain they have been shown some time in the past. Maybe not Matthew McConaughey, I don’t hate that guy but… I don’t know. I don’t think anyone can say they hate Affleck now and get away without causing a few disagreements.
People hate Anne Hathaway?
People hate Anne Hathaway: http://www.express.co.uk/news/showbiz/381314/Why-is-Anne-Hathaway-the-most-hated-star-in-Hollywood
10 Underrated Actors is one thing, but don’t confuse that with hate. As a result you’ve got a mix, some people who don’t get criticised for their acting, but how they carry themselves (Hathaway, Cruise etc) and some who you suggest are underrated, but most definitely not hated, like Bowie. Pick one or the other.
Why have you decided that Keanu “deserves the hate” in the comment above? He can’t do English (Dracula), but he’s good if not great in loads of films; Bill & Ted, Speed, The Matrix, Point Break, Scanner Darkly, River’s Edge etc.
Maybe the list should be called ’10 Actors’.
Hmm, yeah, I mean ’10 Actors’ is a pretty good title.
I really don’t see how Keanu Reeves can be considered anything other than terrible. Instead of making a good argument for me to consider, you just named a bunch of films he was in that make me think “God, Keanu Reeves really IS terrible”. But it’s nice to meet a trier.
Sign me up for the camp that says Kristen Stewart is a terrible actress. But to be fair – in her defense – the five outings of Twilight did not give her anything to work with. It seemed to tarnish even otherwise solid actors such as Dakota Fanning and Michael Sheen It is easy to say that she was OK in other films but NONE of those characters were memorable…and she is STARRING in major blockbuster films. She is underwhelming at most.
I think hating David Bowie makes little sense because he is usually placed in movies to help sell otherwise unmarketable films or to provide an enigmatic screen presence.
Everyone else I either did not think was hated or I agree should not be since they have a body of work that is up and down but not consistently bad.
I like Nick Cage but your comments are hilarious, and true. Also fantastic is a video (search You Tube) called Nicholas Cage’s Agent. It is bust-your-gut funny.
Haha yeah I’ve seen that. I think Nic Cage has actually given a handful of great performances, he just happens to say yes to a lot of awful films as well. Like Schindler’s Fist or Schindler’s Pissed.
My favorite YouTube video is Nicholas Cage loses his sh*t.
The best arguments for Keanu Reaves are “The Gift” and “Something’s Got to Give.” Those are very different from his usual role and demonstrate genuine range.
Kristen Stewart: if she could come away from being mentored by Joan Jett and still look reserved, then she will probably never break out of that shell. She has potential.
Anne Hathaway is a great actress. Her personality is just too heavy on the cray-cray for the general public. Annoying? I could live with her kind of “annoying.”
The real annoying one is Tom Cruise. He’s fine enough when he really acts, but he can kill a film (“Vanilla Sky” never had a chance) when he slips into that giggly, boyish persona. That’s not acting, it’s charisma. It’s not art, it’s a calculated appeal to capture female ticket dollars.
Yeah, I must admit Cruise does certain films seemingly just to satisfy his ego above anything else. I think it’s a shame to be honest, because, if you go on Magnolia alone (or Lions for Lambs, he plays a regular sleaze bucket to good effect in that), you know there’s potential there for him to be a really great actor all the time, if he wanted to be. Just happens that he doesn’t want to be, which is cool.
Was VERY surprised Ryan Reynolds was not on this list. I think he is awesome but he gets so much hate.
Reynolds is an odd one – he certainly gives good performances now and then, with the right material. I’d point out Buried and Adventureland, both very good displays from him
I think Jim Carrey should be on this list too. He has proved he is a great actor with films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Truman Show, yet he is mostly known for being too eccentric with his roles in Ace Ventura and Dumb & Dumber. I personally hate Leo, Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Sandra Bullock, though many consider them to be among best actors of our generation. I think George Clooney should also be on this list. Ever since I saw him in Solaris I have great respect for him.
Matthew McConaughey is on this list, but no mention of Frailty? Hands down, one of his best dramatic roles ever. He gets to be the drawler, but he also gets to be dark and ominous as well. Must see McConaughey!
I’ve not seen it, will have to look out for that! If you were to introduce someone to McConaughey’s movies for the first time, but leave out the rom-coms entirely, I’m convinced it would be very easy to convince them he’s actually a pretty top actor. He’s actually made some decent movies in his time; it just so happens he went mad around the beginning of the new millennium and just stopped agreeing to being in anything good, or not a romantic comedy
The problem of Nick Cage is not lack of talent, but his frighteningly filthy finger to select films.
“In The Prestige, too, Bowie is compellingly weird, a bizarrely-accented kook that’s the most memorable character in a cracking period thriller.”
You mean Nikola Tesla? He was a real life actual legend. You should look him up. Bowie really did him justice.
Yeah I’m aware of Nikola Tesla; to me, the Nikola Tesla of The Prestige seems more like Bowie’s version of the myth of Nikola Tesla, rather than a documentarian’s approach to the man. I’m not knocking Bowie’s portrayal – I think his Tesla’s got an aching sense of solitude and growing madness to him that works so well – it just seems like a symbolic personification of obsession rather than a portrayal of a real person. An entire movie about the actual Tesla, though…that I want to see
Two actors I find very underrated are Ryan Reynolds and Chris Evans. Reynolds can definately act, but like in Green Lantern it was just unfortunate writing. Chris Evans gets better for every year – He’s PERFECT as Captain America, and from what I hear he’s stealing the show in The Iceman.
I really liked Chris Evans in Sunshine actually, thought he had a good sort of ‘movie star’ quality in that. And he had the funniest cameo in Scott Pilgrim, essentially ripping into actors like himself
Kirsten Stewart was in Adventureland? OK, now I’m making the connection. After that movie finished I remember thinking “hey, that was cool, but too bad the lead’s romantic interest was a plank of wood. Now I know why. Wait, she was in Panic Room too? Playing the girl I guess since I remember that being a pretty good movie aside from the actress that played Jodi Foster’s daughter. So I’ve seen 2 Kirsten Stewart movies in my life and thought that she was the worst part of both of them and entirely forgettable yet here you seem to be saying “hey, she might seem one-dimensional but she’s got some stand-out performances under her belt like Panic Room and Adventureland.” Hmmm…
That’s exactly what I’m saying. But if you don’t agree then, hey, I can’t change your mind!
…I can’t argue with this list. I saw the picture of Kristin Stewart, and was all ready to argue tooth and nail, but you hit the Adventureland note that I totally forgot about. Hell, some of the people on the list I felt bad for even having to be included on the list, because they’ve been nothing but aces. (Jude Law and Colin Farrell are two favorites.) Well done, Sir. Well done.
Thankyou Mike Reyes. Thankyou.
It seems you can’t write about Stewart without bringing R.Pattinson here and this scandal(private life).He doesn’t have bland screen presence,he’s very good and versatile actor especially when he had movie at Cannes festival at age of 26.
I was very pleased to see Nick Cage on this list. You didn’t mention it, but you used a photo from Lord of War which is probably my favorite Cage flick. I usually tell anyone that hates him to watch that or The Bad Lieutenant and then give me a call.
I think a combo of Minority Report and Phone Booth won me over to Colin Farrell early on. I didn’t even really know he was hated on at all.