5 Actors Who Got Blacklisted in Hollywood (and Why), Ranked

The Hollywood blacklist may be a myth, but for some reason, even the smallest scandal can cause an actor or actress to be totally dismissed by directors and producers. Some of them give up and disappear from the screens, while others continue to fight for their careers until they make a breakthrough.

Here are five stars whose acting careers got the axe.

5. Armie Hammer

One of the latest scandalous stories in Hollywood is Armie Hammer's personal life, which suddenly became public.

One day, Armie's messages to his lover leaked and went viral. In the conversation, the actor admitted that he experienced sexual arousal at the sight of the internal organs of people and animals. After that, directors stopped inviting him to their projects, and Hammer lost several big contracts.

4. Isaiah Washington

This Grey's Anatomy actor was once destined to become a Hollywood star, but he has been struggling to find any work since being blacklisted in the mid-2000s.

Washington's troubles stemmed from an on-set altercation with a co-star. Washington insulted another actor with a homophobic slur and continued to do so even after he got the repercussions. Isaiah was fired from Grey's Anatomy in 2007 and hasn't played in any major project since.

3. Tippi Hedren

It is impossible to talk about Hedren without mentioning Alfred Hitchcock. It was the iconic director who opened the door to the big cinema for her.

Hedren's debut with Hitchcock was a huge one – she played a leading role in his famous movie The Birds. According to Hedren, she repeatedly refused Hitchcock's sexual advances, and he ruined her career in retaliation. The director did not release her from the contract, but at the same time did not give her any jobs.

2. Mel Gibson

Mel Gibson was once an action movie hero, starring in films like Mad Max and Braveheart. His work as a director was just as impressive if not more so.

But despite his talent, Hollywood turned its back on Mel Gibson in 2006 after the actor was pulled over for drunk driving and began shouting anti-Semitic, homophobic, and racist slurs.

In 2016, Gibson received worldwide acclaim for the movie Hacksaw Ridge and has since slowly started to climb back up the Hollywood ladder.

1. Vanessa Marquez

Vanessa Marquez had a fairly successful career in Hollywood, starring in the popular medical series ER. One of the roles was played by George Clooney, whom she once accused of harassment.

From that moment on, her career went downhill. She claimed that Clooney himself contributed to this because she had spoken up, while the actor completely denied any involvement in the situation.