10 Actresses Whose Careers Went Downhill After Winning An Oscar

2. Mercedes Ruehl

Oscar Win: Best Supporting Actress, The Fisher King (1992) While Mercedes Ruehl has had a long, successful career on the stage over the last thirty years, her movie career has been spotty at best. Her most prolific period on screen was in the late '80s/early '90s, appearing in supporting roles in such films as Big, Married To The Mob, Lost In Yonkers, and Last Action Hero. And then, in the middle of this period, she won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance in The Fisher King. Anyone who has seen the movie would know that the victory was 100% deserved, but apparently no one in Hollywood took much notice. Mercedes Ruehl's movie career bottomed out completely just one year after winning that Oscar. Since 1994, she's mostly appeared in made-for-TV movies or films that go straight-to-DVD. How does this happen to an Oscar-winning actress? How does she go from getting small roles in successful movies to suddenly being shunned altogether within a year? There really does not seem to be a substantial explanation.