15 Actors Who Foolishly Turned Down Career-Making TV Roles

13. Ray Liotta Was Almost Tony Soprano - The Sopranos

While Ray Liotta seems exactly like the quintessential definition of what Tony Soprano is, the Goodfellas protagonist turned down the role to focus on his movie career - a career, lest we forget that went on to feature roles such as Tuck in 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure, Jack in Wild Hogs and Bobby Stevens in CBS' complete failure of a drama, Smith, which lasted only three episodes before it was cut from the airwaves. To add insult to injury, all of these were roles Liotta did take during The Sopranos almost 10 year run. As a result of Liotta passing on the character of a lifetime, the late James Gandolfini jumped in and became the star of one of America's most successful television shows earning himself three Emmy wins, one Golden Globe and numerous other nominations for his portrayal of the street savvy mob boss. Despite his bad judgment, Liotta has been churning out films at a very consistent rate since the late 1980's. Although there are more cameos and direct-to-video releases than he would probably care to admit, films such as 2012's The Place Beyond the Pines and Killing Them Softly, which Gandolfini was also in, have salvaged Liotta's career a bit.