10 Brilliant TV Actors Who Have Failed At Becoming Movie Stars
8. Michael Chiklis
Michael Chiklis didn't get his big-screen career off to the greatest of starts, making his feature debut playing John Belushi in the critical and commercial disaster Wired back in 1989. Over 25 years later and from a cinematic point of view the 51 year-old actor is arguably still best known for playing The Thing in Tim Story's terrible Fantastic Four movies.
On the small screen however, its a completely different story. After spending five seasons playing the pudgy title character on ABC's The Commish, Chiklis' career was going nowhere until he completely reinvented his image and landed the role of Vic Mackey in The Shield. A brutal, uncompromising force of nature, Chiklis' work turned the corrupt cop into one of television's greatest-ever antiheroes, with the actor winning a Golden Globe for his work in the process.
However, despite the rave reviews for his performance, the career-defining role failed to generate any sustained big screen success, with Chiklis restricted to a handful of supporting movie roles in the years since The Shield ended its run. Instead, the actor remained on television, starring in the cancelled No Ordinary Family and Vegas, as well as joining the cast of American Horror Story.