10 Exact Movie Moments That Killed A Career

9. Sexy Swimming Pool Shenanigans Sink A Career - Elizabeth Berkley

Showgirls Elizabeth Berkley
United Artists

The example of Elizabeth Berkley goes to show that an actor needs to be extremely careful when trying to reinvent themselves.

Hot on the heels of her Saved by the Bell days coming to an end in 1993 – not counting 1994’s Wedding in Las Vegas movie – Elizabeth Berkley was desperate to shed the ever-chirpy, insta-smiling persona of Saved by the Bell’s Jessie Spano. And what better says “shunning the shackles of Bayside” than starring in an R-rated movie overflowing with nudity and attempted eroticism?!

Paul Verhoeven’s 1995 Showgirls is a movie that so nearly took down the careers of several people behind and in front of the camera. No matter what metric you look at, Showgirls was a total disaster - and at the centre of this mess, of course, was poor Elizabeth Berkley.

Any chance that Berkley had of legitimising herself as a serious actor away from the pigeonholed roles that would be offered post-Saved by the Bell were well and truly gone. The film made its star a laughing stock, with the most chuckle-inducing moment the scene were Berkley’s Nomi straddles Kyle MacLachlan in a swimming pool and seemingly loses all control of her bodily functions.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.