10 Actor Comebacks NOBODY Saw Coming

Hollywood can be a pretty brutal place.

And after a few tough years, each of the following names all found themselves on the outside looking in either out of choice or due to a series of unfortunate events.

But then something rather surprising happened.

After starring in a number of big-screen flops, deciding to take some time away from the industry after a brush with the law, or even just feeling their time was better spent working on a farm, these various talented thespians all ultimately made one hell of a comeback later down the road.

In fact, some of these stars didn't just shock the world by popping back up and knocking it out of the park in a movie or TV show, they actually went on to lift Oscars gold or lead the biggest franchise on the planet!

As a certain 'Italian Stallion' once mumbled, "ain't nothin' over 'til it's over." And in the case of these returning acting sensations, they all definitely weren't ready to hang it up and went on to produce the sort of unexpected comebacks that Rocky Balboa himself would be proud of.

After managing to bag an Oscar alongside pal Matt Damon at a very early stage in his career, the sky appeared to be the limit for the charismatic and undeniably gifted Ben Affleck.

However, after slowly turning himself into one of Hollywood's new leading men in the time post-Good Will Hunting, a string of box office disasters appeared to derail his promising career.

So, after the critically panned outings that were 2003's Daredevil, Gigli, and Payback, Affleck ultimately decided to turn his attention to directing a few years later.

His first flick, Gone Baby Gone, was adored by critics. But it was crime thriller The Town and historical drama Argo that really announced the once downtrodden thespian as one of the hottest directors in the business, just a few years on from feeling like the "most un-f***ing cool guy in the world", as he put it to Howard Stern.

And before long, he was surprisingly once again lifting Academy Award gold and even stepping back into the superhero genre, this time as the Batman.

Not even a rather turbulent time as 'The Caped Crusader' and his very public struggles with addiction could keep this resilient artist down, though, with Affleck returning from rehab in 2018 to eventually star in the likes of The Way Back and The Tender Bar before directing and appearing in the well-received Nike Air Jordan biographical drama Air earlier this year.