It happens. Celebrities get fired, too. Sometimes, a celebrity gets fired from a movie or TV show because of some scandal or another, and sometimes the chemistry is just not right. Whatever the reason, it's actually not all that uncommon for celebrities to lose acting gigs even once they've already started filming. It can even happen to big-name, A-list actors, and while that often comes as a surprise to the public, the reasons are usually valid. Sometimes, though, it seems totally unfair ā at least from the outside looking in.
But other times, we never do find out exactly what happened to get a certain celeb canned, so some celebrity firings seem absolutely bizarre and uncalled for to fans. We're guessing that's when those nondisclosure agreements come into play, but still, we can't help but be a bit curious whenever we find out a celebrity has been axed from a movie or show.
If you're as interested as we are in the inner workings of Hollywood and all of the behind-the-scenes drama, keep reading to find out more about which celebrities have been embarrassingly fired from acting jobs throughout the years ā and whether they were able to save their careers afterwards. You absolutely won't believe some of these!
Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp has been living a nightmare ever since his ex-wife Amber Heard accused him of assault. In the aftermath of the accusations, the once A-lister was fired from the upcoming third film in the Fantastic Beasts franchise. Despite never having been charged with any crime and presenting evidence of his innocence, he said he's essentially been blacklisted by Hollywood.
Megan Fox
Megan Fox was swiftly fired after badmouthing Transformers director Michael Bay. The two evidently did not get along very well, and in 2009 she publicly compared him to Hitler and said that he's a "nightmare" to work with. For years, it put a real damper on her career, but she's made quite the comeback in 2021.
Roseanne Barr
A lot of us have fond memories of watching Roseanne Barr on TV when we were kids, but that all changed in 2018, when she tweeted racist comments about President Barack Obama's advisor Valerie Jarrett. ABC fired her from the popular Roseanne reboot, which was later renamed The Conners and has remained on the air ever since.
Taylor Momsen
Was Jenny anyone else's least favorite character on Gossip Girl? We honestly didn't miss her too much when she was cut from the show, but we did wonder exactly what happened to actress Taylor Momsen. Well, it turns out she was fired for cursing out some of her costars. Not cool. Taylor has mostly focused on her music career since then.
Gina Carano
Disney and Lucasfilm fired The Mandalorian actress Gina Carano in February 2021, as a result of several disturbing and controversial social media posts she made. "Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm, and there are no plans for her to be in the future,ā a spokesperson for the studio said at the time. Gina has yet to nab another major acting gig.
Isaiah Washington
We've seen so many actors come and go from the Grey's Anatomy cast throughout the years that some may have forgotten about the Isaiah Washington drama. He was a major character in the first few seasons, but was fired for using a homophobic slur against his costar T.R. Knight. It proved to be a major downturn for his career.
Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey lost a huge role as the lead on the hit series House of Cards when he was accused of making unwanted sexual advances by a fellow actor who said he was underage at the the time. Then, even more people came forward with sexual assault allegations against him. He is currently still dealing with the legal ramifications of it all.
Edward Norton
Edward Norton lost out big time after producers were unhappy with his on-set behavior while filming The Incredible Hulk in 2008. Marvel finished the film with him, but fired him from the role of Bruce Banner going forward, which means he missed out on all of the hugely successful Avengers films that came afterward.
Chadwick Boseman
The late Chadwick Boseman revealed in his 2018 commencement speech for Howard University that he had been fired from a soap opera because he openly questioned the racial stereotypes that were being perpetuated with his character. He later revealed that the soap opera in question was All My Children and that he lasted just one week before being replaced by his Black Panther costar Michael B. Jordan.
Charlie Sheen
Remember when Charlie Sheen seemed totally nuts? We bet his producers from Two and a Half Men do! At the time, Charlie was reportedly dealing with some serious substance abuse issues, and he ended up being fired from the show for what was described as "dangerously self-destructive behavior." While he's continued to act here and there, his career never fully recovered.
Anne Hathaway
Who can forget that childbirth scene in Knocked Up? It was originally supposed to be Anne Hathaway on the hospital bed, not Katherine Heigl. Anne had actually nabbed the role in the hugely successful comedy, but she didn't want director Judd Apatow to include the graphic scene, and it cost her the gig. It all boils down to creative differences and there are no hard feelings ā Anne has since said that Judd made the right call. She, of course, has gone on to have an incredible career in Hollywood despite this situation.
Selma Blair
Things got really interesting with this one. Selma Blair was fired from the TV series Anger Management, which also starred the already troubled Charlie Sheen, who had been fired from Two and a Half Men himself just a few years prior. Selma said she was canned for complaining about Charlie holding up production because he didn't know his lines. Selma later sued both Charlie and Lionsgate for lost wages.
Ryan Gosling
Believe it or not, Ryan Gosling was once fired from a major motion picture because he was too fat! Ryan was supposed to play the dad in the film adaptation of The Lovely Bones but lost the gig when he showed up on set having purposely gained 60 pounds for the role. It was how he envisioned the character, but he failed to discuss it with director Peter Jackson ahead of time, and their visions did not align.
Kal Penn
Actor Kal Penn was fired from the hit show House. Well, sort of. While working on the series, brainy Kal actually got an invite to work for President Barack Obama at the White House. He accepted the job, not realizing that his character on House would be written off completely. Kal jumped right back into acting when his role as associate director of the Office of Public Liaison came to an end.
Chloƫ Grace Moretz
Chloƫ Grace Moretz was supposed to be the voice of Penny in the animated film Bolt when she was just 11 years old, but after she recorded the entire film, Disney decided to go with the more recognizable voice of Miley Cyrus. They did leave Chloƫ in the film as the younger version of Penny, though.
Colin Firth
Who knew?! English actor Colin Firth was tapped to be the voice of Paddington in the 2014 film, but after he recorded the entire movie, it was determined that he sounded too old. Producers gave him the boot and had the much younger Ben Whishaw re-record all of the scenes.
Columbus Short
Man, we didn't realize so much went down with actor Columbus Short. Evidently, he was going through a really rough time when he was on the hit show Scandal. He had multiple domestic violence incidents with his then-wife, and allegedly got into a fight with a stranger in a bar. Show creator Shonda Rhimes wasn't having any of it, and he got the boot.
Lisa Bonet
We all missed Denise when she disappeared from The Cosby Show, and although we didn't realize it then, it turns out it was because she was fired. Evidently there were creative differences after Lisa Bonet posed for a nude photo shoot for Rolling Stone, and she was let go.
Dominic Monaghan
Dominic Monaghan admits to not exactly being at his best toward the end of his time on the hit show Lost. His character was written off in season three. "It's a big cast, and you don't work as much as you would like. You get bored, you get frustrated, you get lazy, and your work suffers," he told Entertainment Weekly about leaving the show at the time. Dominic has worked in TV on and off ever since then, but nothing as big as Lost.
Stuart Townsend
Irish actor Stuart Townsend was supposed to play Aragorn in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, but was fired the day before filming was set to begin. He reportedly trained and studied for the role for two months and was never even given a concrete reason for losing the gig, which of course ended up going to Viggo Mortensen.
Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone just couldn't tamp down his creativity when he was offered the lead role in the 1984 film Beverly Hills Cop. Sly reportedly attempted to rewrite the script, and it cost him the job, which ended up going to comedian Eddie Murphy. It undoubtedly became a completely different movie at that point, but it was a huge success nonetheless.
