It was commonly believed that a TV star couldn't make it in the movies, probably because many tried and few succeeded. There was a belief that TV was lesser and why would movie goers pay to see someone that could watch for free at home?

But like a lot of these theories, there is evidence that proves them wrong.

Who are some actors you recall that tried to make it on the bigssreen? Were they misguided or just lucky/unlucky?

John Travolta managed to parlay Welcome Back Kotter and teen stardom into Saturday Night Fever and the Grease, which catapulted him into megastardom and a decades long career.

But Farrah Fawcett left TV for duds like Somebody Killed Her Husband, Saturn 3 and Sunburn. It took some quality TV movies to restore her popularity.

Who would you like to add to the list and discuss?

Edited 8 hours ago8 hr by Paul Raven

The whole Friends cast tried. Jennifer Aniston had the "biggest" films, even if she never carved out a big career. Lisa Kudrow mostly made her mark in smaller films. Courtney Cox had Scream. Matthew Perry had the Whole Nine Yards, which did well enough for a sequel, and some other films which did not.

Edited 6 hours ago6 hr by DRW50

Jennifer Aniston has had a number of successful comedies or romcoms as well as carefully-chosen indies but never reached a Sandra Bullock level where she could carry a film IMO; I get the sense she never particularly tried or cared much about being a movie star after making her nest egg on Friends, which is probably smart. (She was decent in the thriller Derailed with Clive Owen, but that is one of her only attempts at a studio drama I can recall from her heyday.) She wisely returned to TV where The Morning Show has kept her in clover on Apple, though I've never seen a moment of it.

Courteney Cox has the Scream films but never attempted to parlay that into mainstream film success once post-Friends. Also probably smart, she stuck to TV.

Edited 7 hours ago7 hr by Vee

Goldie Hawn and Adam Sandler are two of the bigger examples of actors who became famous from their work in TV, mostly from their work on sketch shows, then pivoted to films when they were still young, neither of them ever really looking back (Goldie did some variety specials in the late '70s and early '80s).

1 hour ago, Paul Raven said:

John Travolta managed to parlay Welcome Back Kotter and teen stardom into Saturday Night Fever and the Grease, which catapulted him into megastardom and a decades long career.

To be fair, Travolta's career also crashed out in the early '80s following stuff like Perfect (despite my admiration for James Bridges' films) and didn't recover his film career til Pulp Fiction. The Look Who's Talking films didn't really do it; before Tarantino he was seen as a relic and joke.

I would point to '90s teen stars like SMG and Neve Campbell who had varying results and trajectories, still on more limited tracks than any bigger success stories. Sarah has always been fairly shrewd but, I suspect, pragmatic about her career. She made a stab or two at romcom stardom but abandoned it very quickly when she realized it wouldn't work, and with the exception of Cruel Intentions where she played the bitch she largely stuck to genre/horror fare where she already had a name in that world from Buffy and knew she'd keep her following - the Scooby-Doos and her various beloved slashers (IKWYDLS, Scream 2) or horror pix like The Grudge. She also knew people would come to see her suffer or die and still root for her in a second or third tier role where she wasn't the central star. Her force of personality and star image was enough. SMG's assorted failed TV shows or occasional attempts at flopped arthouse fare (the much-delayed Harvard Man, Southland Tales, Suburban Girl) didn't derail her because had made her money well on Buffy and had her family to raise. Today she still has value to nostalgic audiences because she didn't burn herself out trying for comeback after comeback, and because she allowed herself to go away for awhile.

Neve Campbell is a different, quieter story. I enjoyed her in the Screams but thought she was very limited as a young actress, yet the Weinsteins and others nonetheless tried to push her as a romantic lead in several projects. With Neve I think she abandoned her attempts at a bigger movie career sooner than SMG, who kept plugging away in horror because she knew had that safe niche. What Neve did do with her brief movie cachet in the early 2000s, though, I very much appreciated: A dancer since childhood with a passion for ballet, she actively pursued Robert Altman to make The Company and got him to direct her in it. Then she took a long break from any big spotlight til the Scream revival train, and now she advocates for her own worth in that genre. I think she's a much stronger actor today than she was in the '90s.

Edited 6 hours ago6 hr by Vee

Peyton Place alumni

Ryan O'Neal and Mia Farrow went onto movies with a splash- Love Srory and Rosemary's Baby. There were flops along the way but they were firmly established as movie stars.

Barbara Parkins however...Valley of the Dolls sealed her fate as a movie star.

I'm looking at the Dawson's Creek leads' IMDB pages, and I forgot how many movies Katie Holmes was making during the show's run. She and Michelle Williams were the most poised to take the leap. Their filmographies show a clear transition from teen fare to serious adult work (and Katie also had a Batman movie for good measure).

James Van Der Beek -- didn't become a movie star; worked consistently in TV for the rest of his life

Katie Holmes -- ended up getting solidified as a movie star less because of her acting, but because she married Tom Cruise; still works consistently

Joshua Jackson -- didn't become a movie star; remains famous for TV and still works consistently

Michelle Williams -- is a movie star