10 Actors Who Blew Their Big Chance Before They Got Going

7. Jennifer Grey

Jennifer Grey's story is one of the more unusual on the list, but it still amounts to a decision which blew her chances of making it as a film siren. Her starring role as Frances 'Baby' Houseman in Dirty Dancing opposite Patrick Swayze left her in an excellent position to capitalise on her success in a film which somewhat inexplicably still endures today. Instead, she took roles in a string of TV movies, which Grey blames on her nose. It turns out that she was so unhappy with her nose (which was unusual but definitely not unattractive) that she had a nose job, which completely changed her face. Suddenly, all the publicity of Dirty Dancing was rendered moot. Grey went from a relative unknown to one of the most recognisable actresses in the mid-80s and back to an unknown again in record time. In the last few years, she's won Dancing with the Stars in the US and judged Strictly Come Dancing in the UK, and this year will be starring in a film penned by Joss Whedon, so perhaps her star is rising once again.