Actors Who Got Their Mojo Back By Going To TV

Winona Ryder was everywhere in the late ‘80s and ’90s, a young star whose quirky edginess offered a refreshing alternative to the wholesome teen idols who dominated screens at the time. Her breakout role in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice captured the dark, anarchic tone that would define her future characters, along with the touch of deadpan humor that gives her roles an extra dimension of lovability. This was taken to the extreme in the cult classic Heathers where she plays a murderous high school outcast, and was turned into a romantic asset in her role as Johnny Depp’s love interest in Burton’s Edward Scissorhands. Ryder turned to more traditional work in the '90s, opting for period dramas The Age of Innocence, Little Women, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. This turn to the mainstream was met with indifference by audiences, and Ryder’s personal life quickly overshadowed the allure of her onscreen work. Her 2001 shoplifting scandal sent the tabloids into a frenzy and brought her career to a screeching halt. After decades laying low, she began making small movie appearances, including a turn as a bitter ballerina in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan. It wasn’t until she was cast in Netflix's Stranger Things, however, that her comeback truly began.

Matt and Ross Duffer, the creators of the show, “pulled out all the stops” when they pitched Ryder the role of Joyce Byers, a loving mother of two sons whose youngest goes missing under supernatural circumstances. Having never acted in TV, Ryder was not an obvious choice for the role, but the Duffer brothers remembered her from their childhood and were enthusiastic about bringing her back into the public eye. Stranger Things became a cultural phenomenon and one of Netflix’s most popular series, and the Duffers credit Ryder with more than personifying its ‘80s throwback appeal. In addition to inspiring them to deepen and expand her role, Ryder helped fact-check the show’s ’80s references and acted as a mentor to her young costars. Stranger Things has turned her into an icon for a new generation of viewers and been a welcome return for fans who, like the Duffers, had been rooting for her comeback for decades.

Kevin Costner built his career on playing the consummate American individualist in movies like Field of Dreams, The Untouchables, and Dances with Wolves. After his scenes were infamously cut from what would have been his breakthrough film - The Big Chill - its director, Lawrence Kasdan, gave him a supporting role in his 1985's Silverado. Costner went on to star in some of the most beloved movies of the ‘80s and ’90s, including Bull Durham, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and JFK. His success was a double-edged sword, however, since his dominance during the period made him the emblem of a bygone era later in life. His movies during the late 2000s and early 2010s, like Swing Vote and Draft Day, had a nostalgic sheen that felt slightly out of step with the era. In 2012, Costner found small screen success in Hatfields and McCoys, an old-fashioned western for the History Channel that defied modest expectations by gaining a large audience and netting 16 Emmy nominations, including one for Costner. Six years later, he returned to TV for a show that would become an even greater triumph. 

When creator Taylor Sheridan pitched his modern western Yellowstone to Paramount, he was told that he needed to land a household name to break through the saturated TV landscape. In Costner, they found a star who could not only pull in enough viewers to get the show off the ground but a passionate collaborator as well. In the show, Costner plays sixth-generation rancher, John Dutton, a larger-than-life patriarch who embodies the rugged frontier mentality of his ancestors. Yellowstone captured a broad cross-section of American viewers, breaking audience records to become the most watched show on TV. Costner’s importance in the success of the show is reflected in the eye-watering $1.3 million he makes per episode. Decades after the height of his fame, the small screen has returned him to the top of his profession. 

Danny DeVito has graced the big screen for decades, capitalizing on his diminutive stature and comic timing to play sleazy yet lovable sidekicks and hustlers in movies like Romancing the Stone, Get Shorty, and LA Confidential. Even though he has worked steadily throughout his career, none of his movies from the early 2000s could match the success he had in the ‘80s and ’90s. Be Cool, Screwed, and Death to Smoochy underperformed with audiences and critics and gave the impression that DeVito’s acting heyday was in the rearview mirror. These fears were put to rest, however, when he became a regular on the darkly comedic FX series It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia.

During its first season in 2005, It’s Always Sunny was the black sheep of its network’s lineup: an acerbic, irreverent, low-key comedy in a sea of gritty dramas, neither FX executives nor audiences seemed to know what to do with it. Facing cancellation, the showrunners were told to find a bankable star to keep the project afloat. They turned to DeVito, who turned out to be the perfect choice for the role of the bumbling, immoral businessman Frank Reynolds. For DeVito, joining the show was mutually beneficial. “The reason I signed on to this show was because I want to stay fresh and relevant,” showrunner and fellow cast member Rob McElhenny recalls him saying, “And if I don’t, then I’m just going to become a dinosaur.” Despite its rocky start, the show became the longest-running American live-action comedy of all time, and DeVito’s performance has become a defining role of his career. 

Steve Martin is one of the few performers to successfully transition from superstar stand-up comedian to prolific Hollywood actor. Throughout the '70s, he was so popular with audiences that viewership numbers for Saturday Night Live jumped signficantly when he was on the show. He regularly sold out arenas for his stand-up tours, and his comedy albums went platinum, selling over a million copies. By the time he quit the comedy circuit in 1981, he was considered the most successful stand-up in the country. When he turned to movies, he struck gold again. Like Robin Williams, Martin proved to have an emotional range that was never on display in his stand-up. In movies like Father of the Bride, Roxanne, and Parenthood, he demonstrated a knack for sentimentality that made him an unlikely leading man. During the 2010s, Martin took his foot off the gas of his acting career to focus on music, touring and releasing several albums with his bluegrass band and picking up three Grammys along the way. In 2021, however, his career took yet another fruitful turn when he created the Hulu series Only Murders in the Building.

The show follows three true-crime enthusiasts (Martin, his long-time friend and collaborator Martin Short, and Selena Gomez) who zealously investigate a suspicious death in their Upper West Side Manhattan apartment building. It received glowing reviews, including for Martin’s performance, and garnered a host of Emmy nominations. In addition to satiating Martin’s long-standing fanbase, Only Murders in the Building introduced him to legions of new fans. Sticking to his ever-evolving career trajectory, however, he announced that the show would mark the end of his acting career, though his return to stand-up suggests that his career as an entertainer is far from over.

During the early years of his career, Martin Sheen worked with some truly legendary directors. Between 1970 and 1983, he played major roles in movies helmed by Mike Nichols (Catch-22), Terrence Malick (Badlands), Francis Ford Coppola (Apocalypse Now), and David Cronenberg (The Dead Zone). These collaborations put him among the most respected and in-demand actors at the time and gave him the reputation of taking on challenging roles from young, visionary filmmakers whose work disrupted the Hollywood status quo. But Sheen’s career took a downturn in the ‘80s and ’90s. After delving too deeply into the psychological harshness of Apocalypse Now, he stopped making merciless movies and returned to his Catholic faith. He also put more energy into political and social causes and admitted later that he accepted “a lot of sh*tty roles that [he] shouldn't have done” just to keep his career going. By the end of the '90s, he speculated that his glory days were behind him. Enter, The West Wing.

When Sheen was cast as President Jed Bartlet in the pilot of Aaron Sorkin’s show, it was meant to be a small role with very little screen time. After Sorkin saw the episode, however, he called Sheen and asked him to be a series regular. With the stipulation that Bartlet be Catholic and an alumnus of Notre Dame, Sheen agreed and began an eight-year run as one of the most beloved characters on TV. The West Wing won 26 Emmys and is consistently cited as one of the best shows of all time. For Sheen, it was a burst of adrenaline in a waning career. He went on to appear in Sam Raimi’s The Amazing Spider-Man, Martin Scorsese’s The Departed, and the hit Netflix show Grace and Frankie. 

Son of Hollywood luminary Donald Sutherland, Kiefer Sutherland got an early start in movies, appearing alongside his father in Max Dugan Returns and playing the memorably menacing teenage villain in Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me. He appeared in popular films throughout the ‘80s and early ’90s, including The Lost Boys, Flatliners, and Young Guns, and palled around with the Brat Pack, the group of up-and-coming Hollywood rebels of the era. But while he was often up for the same roles as other young stars like Johnny Depp and Keanu Reeves, he never managed to break through to mega movie stardom the way many of his peers did. Instead, he hit his stride on television. 

When Sutherland took on the role of Jack Bauer in 24, the TV landscape was shifting from shallow melodramas and goofy sitcoms to more cerebral projects exemplified by The Sopranos and The Wire. Sutherland rode the wave just as it was on the ascent, becoming one of the first stars of his generation to transition from movies to television rather than the other way around. 24 features Sutherland as a ruthless counter-terrorist agent who is in constant, perilous motion. The show ran for nine seasons and racked up 20 Emmys, including one for Sutherland. Following his success on the show, his career has been prolific and varied, from Lars von Trier’s arthouse hit Melancholia, to the political thriller series Designated Survivor. By taking the leap to television, Sutherland revitalized his career and came back stronger than he’d ever been.