We all know how important it is to be recognized for our work. Whether we are talking about a gift, a promotion, or even an actual award, this kind of recognition not only means that our efforts are appreciated, but it also boosts our career, paving the way for better future opportunities. The same goes for actors, filmmakers, and artists in the movie and TV industry, where recognition is even more significant, as it can directly influence their professional development. Year after year, hundreds of actors amaze audiences and critics with impeccable performances, aiming to get a place among the top nominees of the awards season. And more precisely, they aspire to earn nominations at the most prestigious awards ceremony in the industry: the Oscars.

In most cases, once actors win an Oscar, they instantly turn into bigger stars than they were before, landing bigger and better acting opportunities than the ones they had before getting their hands on the statuette. Many are the cases of artists whose careers rocketed to stardom upon receiving an Oscar, thereby reaching the highest level of acclaim in the industry. However, there are also many cases of actors who, instead of securing a better future, suffered from the Oscars Curse.

This is an alleged curse that befalls some Oscar-winning actors and makes their careers decline rather than rise (per CNN). In some cases, it is because expectations became too high for some actors after winning the statuette. Other times, it is due to poor decisions made by the actors or due to the fear of being pigeonholed in their award-winning role. There are many other reasons, both related to the actors and to the film industry itself. Here are ten actors whose careers took a turn for the worse after they won an Academy Award.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

10 Tatum O’Neal

     Paramount Pictures

Tatum O’Neal went down in film history as the youngest person ever to win an Oscar: she was only 10 years old when she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1973 film Paper Moon, in which she co-starred alongside her father, Ryan O’Neal. This was the very first role in the actress’ career, so both the nomination and the statuette were double-worthy. In addition to winning the Oscar, O’Neal earned the David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress and a Golden Globe. Three years after that, she starred in The Bad News Bears, another movie that was very successful. However, since then, and despite being featured in some productions, O’Neal failed to achieve as much acclaim as she did in Paper Moon, and her participation in films and shows has become increasingly infrequent as the years have gone by.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

9 Mira Sorvino

     Miramax Films

In 1995, Mira Sorvino landed her breakthrough role in Woody Allen’s Mighty Aphrodite. Her part as Linda Ash brought Sorvino wide critical acclaim and won her an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress. Following this production, the actress went on to star in a few moderately successful projects, such as Beautiful Girls and Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, although neither of them were as acclaimed as the film that made her popular. Sadly, she was also involved in films that failed to succeed, like Mimic, Free Money and The Replacement Killers. Her performance in the 2009 film Like Dandelion Dust and the lead role in the TV series Human Trafficking earned her back some recognition, and, fortunately, in the last few years, she also excelled in shows, such as American Crime Story and Shining Vale.

8 Cuba Gooding Jr.

     Sony Pictures Releasing

After he gained notoriety for his roles in Boyz in the Hood and A Few Good Men, Cuba Gooding Jr. landed the part that brought him the highest recognition: Rod Tidwell in the sports comedy-drama Jerry Maguire, starring alongside Tom Cruise. For this 1996 film, Gooding won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, and also received many other awards and nominations. A year after this production, he was cast in As Good as It Gets, another highly acclaimed project that earned him a Satellite Award nomination. However, from this point on, his career path became slightly erratic, and the projects he chose to star in lacked the success he had hoped for. His post-Oscar projects include the films Chill Factor, Instinct, Snow Dogs and Boat Trip, among many others. Fortunately, as it happened with Sorvino, in the last few years, Gooding’s fate started to shift: in 2016, he starred in The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story as O. J. Simpson, a part for which he was widely acclaimed.

7 Cher

     Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

A fact that not everyone knows is that besides being the chart-topping pop star that she is, Cher has also pursued a career in acting, starring in productions such as Silkwood and The Witches of Eastwick, alongside Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Susan Sarandon. By 1987, Cher headed Norman Jewison’s Moonstruck, a film for which she won an Oscar for Best Actress, proving that she was not only a great singer, but also an impeccable actress. However, maybe because of her status as a musical star, that recognition in the movie industry was the highest point of her acting career, as she never again portrayed such an acclaimed role, nor films that were as successful.

6 Mo’Nique

     Lionsgate

Mo’Nique first gained recognition in the entertainment industry as a stand-up comedian, but progressively got involved in film and television projects. In 2009, the comedian and actress wowed critics with her role as Mary Lee Johnston in the dramatic film Precious, for which she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. However, this recognition was, to some extent, tarnished: by that time, she had several arguments with the film’s director, Lee Daniels, and producers Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey, due to her contractual obligations regarding the film’s promotion. After that, Mo’Nique practically gave up drama and focused again on comedy, appearing in very few film projects. Ten years later, in an interview with Steve Harvey (via Deadline), she commented on Precious, stating that she believes she was blackballed from the industry after falling out with Daniels and the producers, who allegedly attempted to silence her when she refused to travel to the Cannes Film Festival and promote the film without being paid for it.

5 Timothy Hutton

Timothy Hutton is another actor on this list who went down in history for breaking a record: in 1980, he became the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People, at the age of 20. This was also one of Hutton’s earliest roles in the industry, and for it, he received two Golden Globes and other nominations. Following his Oscar win, the actor’s career was looking extremely promising. However, it was not quite like that: although Hutton stayed busy starring in many films and shows over the years, he failed to receive as much acclaim as he got in Ordinary People. In 2015, his luck changed with the ABC series American Crime, which earned him some nominations for his performance and the Satellite Award for Best Cast. He was also critically acclaimed for his role in the 2018 Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House.

4 Linda Hunt

Linda Hunt made her film debut in the 1980 movie Popeye, and two years later she made her mark in the industry as Billy Kwan in The Year of Living Dangerously. With this film starring Mel Gibson, Hunt won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, and became the first person to receive the award for playing a character of the opposite sex. Besides winning the Oscar, she was honored with international awards and nominations for the Golden Globe Awards and the National Society of Film Critics Awards. While Hunt went on to act in both film and television, and gained some popularity for her projects, she mostly played small roles, none of which brought her as much acclaim as her 1982 role as Billy.

3 Roberto Benigni

     Melampo Cinematografica

Without a doubt, the 1997 film Life is Beautiful is Italian actor and filmmaker Roberto Benigni’s masterpiece. This film, which he wrote, directed, and starred in, became a world cinema classic and won several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actor and Best Foreign Language Film. However, immediately after this production, Benigni’s career took a negative turn, and he received very bad reviews for his movies at the time. Two years after Life is Beautiful, he directed, wrote, and starred in a live-action version of Pinocchio, which was critically panned and earned him a Razzie Award for Worst Actor. From then on, his films were not particularly successful, though in 2019 he managed to redeem himself from Pinocchio’s flop by portraying Geppetto in Matteo Garrone’s film.

2 Gwyneth Paltrow

After appearing in highly acclaimed productions such as Seven, Emma and Hard Eight, Gwyneth Paltrow starred in Shakespeare in Love, a 1998 film for which she won an Academy Award for Best Actress, among other accolades. At the time, this decision was extremely controversial, and there was much criticism that Paltrow was given the award instead of Cate Blanchett for her work in Elizabeth. The film also won in the Best Picture category, and many felt that Saving Private Ryan was more worthy of the statuette. Regardless of this controversy, Paltrow took part in several projects after winning the Oscar, but none of them was as acclaimed as Shakespeare in Love. This remained so until 2008, when she entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Pepper Potts, Tony Stark’s personal assistant and subsequent wife. With this role, she once again enjoyed widespread acclaim from critics and audiences alike.

1 Adrien Brody

     Syrena Entertainment Group

Rounding out this list is Adrien Brody, who in 2003 became the youngest actor to win the Oscar for Best Actor with his performance in Roman Polanski’s film The Pianist, when he was just 29 years old. In order to prepare for this role and bond with his character, Brody decided, among other things, to give up his apartment, sell his car, break up with his girlfriend, lose 30 pounds, and move to Europe, all of which had some consequences on his mental health. Unfortunately, following the acclaim brought by playing Wladyslaw Szpilman, the actor has failed to reach that level of acclaim again. Among his most popular films, post-Oscar, are Midnight in Paris and The Grand Budapest Hotel.