10 Movies That Almost Killed Actors' Careers

10. Star Wars: The Phantom Menace - Natalie Portman

Natalie Portman as Mathilda in Leon is one of the great child performances. She’s affecting and precocious without ever being annoying - truly a tricky balancing act - and the world was expecting big things.

When the role of Padmé Amidala was offered to her, it was a totally different task from the more thoughtful parts she had taken thus far, but the new Star Wars isn’t something you turn down.

Well, maybe she should have done. It’s unfair to blame Portman for this, but she was not good, especially in The Phantom Menace. She looked awestruck, which she probably was, and her delivery was on the wooden side, which can be put down primarily to the often terrible dialogue she was tasked with reciting.

To suspect that her career would be damaged would be overstating the case, perhaps, but from her timid turn in the 1999 prequel there was no indication that she would go on to become an Oscar winning, commanding screen presence.

Portman was smart to take some time out of the spotlight to complete her education following The Phantom Menace, and returned an entirely different, far better actor.