15 Actors Who Foolishly Turned Down Career-Making TV Roles

9. Eric Stoltz For Vic Mackey - The Shield

Eric Stoltz is the personification of the Nearly Man, thanks to his well-publicised association with the role of Marty McFly in the first Back To The Future film, before he was unceremoniously canned. The sad reality of that situation is that most under 25 year olds will be only vaguely aware of him at all, unless you are unlike the average movie and TV viewer who doesn't make a habit out of watching direct-to-video releases. But it could have been so different, even despite the Back To The Future situation, as he had another massive opportunity to cement his profile as more than that guy who made a cameo in Pulp Fiction. He probably could have become a much more popular actor had he just accepted the role of crooked and violent detective Vic Mackey in FX crime-drama The Shield, but instead he turned the role down after FX made him an offer according to a Tweet sent out by show creator Shawn Ryan in 2012. Aside from plenty of little known roles during the time The Shield aired, Stoltz also played the lead on SyFy's spin-off prequel of Battlestar Gallactica, Caprica for less than a year in 2010 before it was cancelled due to low ratings in the middle of the season. The actor who went on to step into Mackey's considerable shoes was of course Michael Chiklis, who won an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe and a Satellite Award and received many other nominations for his work on the show. Along with a consistent film roles and a couple stints on television shows that never ended up lasting too long, Chiklis also played The Thing in the Fantastic Four movies.