6. Mark Wahlberg
Mark Wahlberg might be an Oscar-nominated actor today as well as a palpable box-office draw, but he wasnt always. He started out his career being unable to escape his former stage name of Marky Mark, and was dismissed by most as another singer trying to make it as an actor. Indeed, his early performances in Fear and The Basketball Diaries didnt exactly demonstrate a whole lot of promise, and it wasnt until an immensely talented director in Paul Thomas Anderson managed to shove the right material under his nose that people began to take notice. Wahlbergs performance as Dirk Diggler in Boogie Nights put him on the map overnight, and though I do enjoy the performance, that doesnt mean that Wahlberg is a good or even passable actor. Ever since Boogie Nights, hes struggled to recapture the same glory, being nominated for a fun comic relief turn in The Departed, though basically playing an exaggerated version of himself. Why is he a terrible actor? Look at the vast majority of his output; Shooter, The Happening, The Lovely Bones, Max Payne and all his other paycheque roles. He is clearly an actor entirely at the mercy of his scripts, because he lacks the talent to shape them to his will in any way. Its difficult to imagine that anyone would be referring to him as anything more than washed-up musician were it not for Paul Thomas Anderson.