10 Brilliant TV Actors Who Have Failed At Becoming Movie Stars
4. Kiefer Sutherland
Obviously, Kiefer Sutherland enjoyed a very successful big-screen career during the 1980's and 90's, starring in the likes of Stand By Me, The Lost Boys, Flatliners, A Few Good Men and A Time To Kill but by the turn of the millennium his career was on the wane. Becoming one of the first well-known movie stars to appear in a high-profile television show turned out to be the best professional decision of his life, and once again turned the actor into a household name.
24 is still regarded by many as one of the best television series ever made, and part of what made the eight seasons so enjoyable was Sutherland's iconic performance as loose cannon Jack 'Dammit' Bauer. One of the 21st Century's greatest small-screen characters, his tenure on 24 saw the actor win a Golden Globe, a Primetime Emmy and two Screen Actors Guild awards from a combined total of nineteen nominations.
However, despite the success of 24, the 48 year-old has struggled to find success outside of his signature role over the last decade; his next television endeavour Touch was cancelled after two seasons, while a succession of voiceover work sits alongside a series of forgettable movies including Taking Lives, The Sentinel, Mirrors, and Pompeii, disappointments which surely led to Sutherland returning to the well for last year's limited series 24: Live Another Day.