Reconsidering the past? Some actors aren’t proud of every project they’ve been a part of — even the ones that skyrockets their careers.
Shailene Woodley scored her big break on The Secret Life of the American Teenager, but the experience came with its own issues. After playing teen mother Amy Juergens from 2008 until 2013, Woodley later revealed that she felt “stuck” on the former ABC Family series.
“To this day, it’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do,” the Big Little Lies alum explained to Bustle in April 2020, referring to the teen drama’s pro-abstinence message.
Although Woodley initially agreed with the story that was being told, she eventually found herself questioning the path her character took.
“When I signed onto Secret Life, I read [three] episodes and I signed a contract for six years,” the Emmy nominee recalled. “[Those episodes] all hit home. I had friends in high school who were pregnant. It felt like everything that I wanted to be sending into the world.”
The consequences Amy faced after having premarital sex were seen as a warning for the other characters — and even to viewers — which Woodley didn’t agree with.
“There were a lot of things that were written into the scripts that not just me, but a lot of the cast, disagreed with,” she added at the time. “There were belief systems that were pushed that were different than my own. Yet legally, I was stuck there.”
As a result, the Divergent star decided to explore more adult roles that felt more authentic to her personal opinions, noting, “Being on Secret Life propelled me to be more vocal about my own belief systems.”
Jennette McCurdy, who is best known for her role as Sam Puckett on iCarly, also recalled feeling “deeply unhappy” with her past acting roles.
“I was a famous 19-year-old, and making a bunch of money, and I felt like I had everything at my fingertips,” McCurdy said during her “Empty Inside” podcast in March 2021. “I actually really resented my life because I didn’t like the projects that I was a part of.”
The former actress starred in the Nickelodeon hit series from 2007 until 2012. She later returned for the short-lived spinoff Sam and Cat alongside Ariana Grande. For McCurdy, it was “a difficult thing” to take pride in the shows even though they brought viewers such joy.
“The shows that I was on were so loved by so many people and so many kids, and I hear constantly, ‘You made my childhood,’” she noted. “And I think that’s great that they had that experience. But that just was not my experience, and I felt a lot of shame — that I wasn’t able to identify at the time — because I didn’t like waltzing onto an over-lit, cheesy set and shouting a line. It felt so pointless and shallow.”
The California native, who originally started acting because of her mother, later chose to step away from the spotlight.
“To be known globally for this thing that’s not really me, it was just like, ‘What the f–k am I doing?’ How do I even find myself when I’m 19, and I’ve been famous for all the years that I would normally be stumbling through finding myself, yet I’m known as a thing that I’m not?” she added. “It just was — hellish, I think, is not too intense of a word.”
McCurdy has since found that living life “in accordance” with her true identity has helped ease mental health struggles. “And that feels a million times better,” she said.
Scroll down for more actors who ended up regretting a role they took in the past:
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Stars Who Have Regretted Taking Certain Roles Over the Years: Shailene Woodley, Channing Tatum and More
Reconsidering the past? Some actors aren’t proud of every project they’ve been a part of — even the ones that skyrockets their careers.
Shailene Woodley scored her big break on The Secret Life of the American Teenager, but the experience came with its own issues. After playing teen mother Amy Juergens from 2008 until 2013, Woodley later revealed that she felt “stuck” on the former ABC Family series.
“To this day, it’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do,” the Big Little Lies alum explained to Bustle in April 2020, referring to the teen drama’s pro-abstinence message.
Although Woodley initially agreed with the story that was being told, she eventually found herself questioning the path her character took.
“When I signed onto Secret Life, I read [three] episodes and I signed a contract for six years,” the Emmy nominee recalled. “[Those episodes] all hit home. I had friends in high school who were pregnant. It felt like everything that I wanted to be sending into the world.”
The consequences Amy faced after having premarital sex were seen as a warning for the other characters — and even to viewers — which Woodley didn’t agree with.
“There were a lot of things that were written into the scripts that not just me, but a lot of the cast, disagreed with,” she added at the time. “There were belief systems that were pushed that were different than my own. Yet legally, I was stuck there.”
As a result, the Divergent star decided to explore more adult roles that felt more authentic to her personal opinions, noting, “Being on Secret Life propelled me to be more vocal about my own belief systems.”
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Jennette McCurdy, who is best known for her role as Sam Puckett on iCarly, also recalled feeling “deeply unhappy” with her past acting roles.
“I was a famous 19-year-old, and making a bunch of money, and I felt like I had everything at my fingertips,” McCurdy said during her “Empty Inside” podcast in March 2021. “I actually really resented my life because I didn’t like the projects that I was a part of.”
The former actress starred in the Nickelodeon hit series from 2007 until 2012. She later returned for the short-lived spinoff Sam and Cat alongside Ariana Grande. For McCurdy, it was “a difficult thing” to take pride in the shows even though they brought viewers such joy.
“The shows that I was on were so loved by so many people and so many kids, and I hear constantly, ‘You made my childhood,'” she noted. “And I think that’s great that they had that experience. But that just was not my experience, and I felt a lot of shame — that I wasn’t able to identify at the time — because I didn’t like waltzing onto an over-lit, cheesy set and shouting a line. It felt so pointless and shallow.”
The California native, who originally started acting because of her mother, later chose to step away from the spotlight.
“To be known globally for this thing that’s not really me, it was just like, ‘What the f–k am I doing?’ How do I even find myself when I’m 19, and I’ve been famous for all the years that I would normally be stumbling through finding myself, yet I’m known as a thing that I’m not?” she added. “It just was — hellish, I think, is not too intense of a word.”
McCurdy has since found that living life “in accordance” with her true identity has helped ease mental health struggles. “And that feels a million times better,” she said.
Scroll down for more actors who ended up regretting a role they took in the past:
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Theo James
“You do a certain type of film and you sign contracts where you are beholden to those roles for a certain period of time and people see you in a certain light that you have to wrestle your way out of,” James, who played Four in Divergent and its two sequels, told Vanity Fair in December 2022. “That is a hundred percent the case with actors — and it was definitely the case with me.”
The White Lotus star added: “I felt I didn’t have the fluidity to move in the directions that I wanted. You’re very much in a certain type of role — and those roles can be pretty f—king boring.”
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Sandra Bullock
“I have one [movie] no one came around to and I’m still embarrassed I was in. It’s called Speed 2,” Bullock told TooFab in March 2022. “I’ve been very vocal about it. Makes no sense. Slow boat. Slowly going towards an island.”
In 1997, the actress reprised her role as Annie in Speed 2: Cruise Control. Bullock’s original costar Keanu Reeves opted out of the sequel, which flopped at the box office.
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Eddie Redmayne
Although the Fantastic Beasts actor took the role of trans artist Lili Elbe with the “best intentions,” Redmayne later admitted that he considered his involvement with The Danish Girl “a mistake.”
“No, I wouldn’t take it on now,” the England native told Sunday Times in November 2021, noting that there were larger conversations about straight, cisgender actors playing LBGTQ+ characters that need to be addressed. “The bigger discussion about the frustrations around casting is because many people don’t have a chair at the table. There must be a leveling, otherwise we are going to carry on having these debates.”
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Shailene Woodley
After her time on The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Woodley chose roles that allowed her to break free from Amy Juergens.
“I lost my virginity, like, seven times on screen!” she shared with Bustle in 2020. “I lost my own virginity in a really unromantic, unsexy way, [so] it’s very therapeutic for me that by playing these characters I was showing young women what they can wait for.”
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Jennette McCurdy
“I resent my career in a lot of ways,” McCurdy said during an episode of the “Anna Faris is Unqualified” podcast in March 2021. “I did the shows that I was on from, like, 13 to 21 and by 15, I was already embarrassed. … My friends at 15 weren’t watching this. They weren’t like, ‘Oh cool, you’re on this Nickelodeon show.’ It was embarrassing.
“The filmmaker said she was “so ashamed of the parts that I’ve done in the past,” referring to some roles as “cheesy.”
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Zac Efron
Following his rise to fame on Disney Channel, Efron recalled wanting to step away from his High School Musical image.
“I was, like, 17. And I said, ‘Guys, you know this is not at all what I want to do?’ And they were like, ‘Really?’” he told Men’s Health in 2020 about playing Troy Bolton.
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Michelle Pfeiffer
“I hated that film with a vengeance and could not believe how bad it was. At the time, I was young and didn’t know any better,” Pfeiffer said in 2007 about portraying Stephanie in Grease 2.
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Channing Tatum
During an interview on The Howard Stern Show in 2015, Tatum claimed that he was “pushed” into playing Duke in G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra.
“Look, I’ll be honest. I f–king hate that movie. I hate that movie. I was pushed into doing that movie,” he revealed. “[After] Coach Carter, they signed me for a three-picture deal. And as a young [actor], you’re like, ‘Oh, my God, that sounds amazing, I’m doing that!’”
Although the Magic Mike star wasn’t thrilled about the project, he admitted that he was still “super lucky and blessed,” adding, “That was really not all that bad. [But you have] no option. [It’s like], ‘You’re doing this or we’re gonna sue you.’”
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Robert Pattinson
“With Twilight, you’ve got to please the franchise,” Pattinson addressed the hit movie franchise that launched his career during an interview with Vanity Fair in 2011. “There’s nothing you can do about it. That’s the way it is. But it is weird being part of that [and] kind of representing something you don’t particularly like.”
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Angus T. Jones
Viewers watched Jones grow up on Two and a Half Men, but the Texas native admitted that he had some regrets about playing Jake Harper.
“If you watch Two and a Half Men, please stop watching Two and a Half Men. I’m on Two and a Half Men, and I don’t want to be on it. Please stop watching it, and filling your head with filth,” the former actor said during a video testimonial for Forerunner Chronicles in November 2012. “People say it’s just entertainment. Do some research on the effects of television and your brain, and I promise you you’ll have a decision to make when it comes to television, especially with what you watch. Jake from Two and a Half Men means nothing.”
After his comments made headlines, Jones clarified that he didn’t mean to disrespect the long-running series or its creators.
“I have been the subject of much discussion, speculation and commentary over the past 24 hours. While I cannot address everything that has been said or right every misstatement or misunderstanding, there is one thing I want to make clear,” he said in a statement released to Us Weekly at the time. “Without qualification, I am grateful to and have the highest regard and respect for all of the wonderful people on Two and Half Men with whom I have worked and over the past ten years who have become an extension of my family.”
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Ben Affleck
“The only movie I actually regret is Daredevil. It just kills me. I love that story, that character, and the fact that it got f–ked up the way it did stays with me,” he told Playboy Magazine in December 2013, a decade after the movie’s debut. “Maybe that’s part of the motivation to do Batman.”
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Carrie Fisher
The late Emmy nominee revealed on the Today show in 2008 that she wouldn’t have played Princess Leia in the Star Wars films if she knew how successful they would become, saying, “I would never have done it. All I did when I was really famous was wait for it to end.”
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Will Smith
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air alum called 2013’s After Earth “the most painful failure” of his career during an interview with Esquire in 2015, noting, “Wild Wild West was less painful than After Earth because my son was involved in After Earth, and I led him into it. That was excruciating.”
