15 Actors Who Foolishly Turned Down Career-Making TV Roles

10. Maura Tierney Was Almost Sarah Braverman - Parenthood

Unfortunately for former ER star Maury Tierney, she had to skip out on the part of Sarah Braverman in Parenthood thanks to no fault of her own, so it is perhaps unfair to call her foolish. Tragic would be far more an appropriate definition. After she was diagnosed with breast cancer, the former ER actress had her tumour removed in mid-2009 and her treatment caused scheduling conflicts with the filming of the show. To try and accommodate her leave of absence, executives at NBC pushed the show's production back eight weeks, but in the end, Tierney had to leave the show to focus on her health, before she was replaced by former Gilmore Girls actress Lauren Graham who won Choice TV Parental Unit at the 2010 Teen Choice Awards for her role as Sarah. Tierney returned to her craft in 2010 to work on a stage play called North Atlantic. Since then, the Emmy nominated actress has guest appeared on The Office as Robert California's wife, Susan, and CBS' The Good Wife. As for Graham, she will be appearing in A Friggin' Christmas Miracle later this year, and of course, continues her work as one of the protagonists, Sarah Braverman, on Parenthood, which is currently in its fifth season on NBC.