9 Actors Who Got Rejected by the Director Because They Were “Too Pretty” or “Not Very Good” for the Role

More attractive people tend to be more successful in life, psychologists say. Sometimes, though, beauty may end up becoming, not a helpful tool, but an obstacle. While several actors in our compilation did not get a role because producers considered them not attractive enough, the others were said to be too beautiful for certain parts. And honestly, we don’t know what’s worse.

1. Keira Knightley

Keira Knightley, a famous British actress, played a leading role in the movie adaptation of Jane Austin’s iconic novel Pride and Prejudice. Even though Knightley seems to be a perfect match for the role of Elizabeth Bennet, the director, Joe Wright, didn’t want to hire Keira because she was too beautiful. “Then he met me and said, ’Oh no, you’re fine!’” jokes Knightley.

2. Andrew Garfield

Andrew Garfield, who played the iconic role of Peter Parker in one of the adaptations of the Spider-Man comics, recently won a Golden Globe award. However, Garfield was not always that fortunate. Back in 2008, Andrew was auditioning for the role of Prince Caspian in the second film of a well-known trilogy, The Chronicles of Narnia. The director was choosing between Garfield and Ben Barns, who eventually won the part.

“I remember I was so desperate. I auditioned for Prince Caspian in The Chronicles of Narnia, and I thought, ’This could be it, this could be it,’” said Andrew. When he didn’t get the part, he asked his secretary what the reason was. “She eventually just broke under my incessant nagging, and she was like, ’It’s because they don’t think you’re handsome enough, Andrew,’” he said.

3. Emmy Rossum

10 years and 11 seasons later, it is hard to imagine that the cast of the TV series Shameless could have been different. However, Emmy Rossum, who played Fiona, the eldest daughter of the Gallagher family, could have missed the part because she was too pretty. “They didn’t want to see me; they wouldn’t even [let me] audition,” says Rossum. “They thought my image was too glamorous, that I couldn’t not be pretty.”

Emmy didn’t stop. She made a tape of herself as Fiona and showed it to the producers. And 3 more auditions later, she got the part.

4. Jennifer Lawrence

Before playing the iconic role of Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, Jennifer Lawerence won fame and her first nomination for an Oscar by starring in a movie called Winter’s Bone. However, Lawrence’s spectacular career might have never happened because she was considered to be too beautiful. “They turned me down, and then they moved the casting to New York,” shared Jennifer. “I put myself on a red-eye to just show up to casting the next day in New York.”

“So that always helps. Red-eye. Not showering. No makeup. Eventually, they went, ’Oh, she’s right. She’s not cute!’” she shared.

5. Hugh Grant

Even though Hugh Grant’s look helped him to play the macho man in many movies, like Bridget Jones’s Diary, there was one time it almost made him lose the role. In 1994 Grant was taking part in a movie called Four Weddings and a Funeral. Even though he finally got the role of Charles, Richard Curtis, the writer of the screenplay, didn’t want Grant to play this character. “Richard Curtis, after the audition, did everything in his power to stop me from getting the part,” shares Grant.

“They were looking for someone kind of more middle of the road, and I think I looked really sort of hoity-toity,” he jokes.

6. Jamie Dornan

In the TV series called The Fall, Jaime Dornan played a role completely different from his most famous character, Christian Grey. However, his co-star, Gillian Anderson, revealed that Dornan might not have gotten the part at all. “The initial intention was not to hire somebody who was that attractive,” Anderson shares. Later, Dornan got the job, but it “didn’t have anything to do with his good looks, although in the process, we realized what that would do psychologically to the viewer,” she shares.

“There was something intriguing about that, most definitely.”

7. Minnie Driver

British actress, Minnie Driver, talked about the rudest comment she had ever heard throughout her career. The comment almost deprived her of the role of Skylar, the love interest of Matt Damon in the iconic movie Good Will Hunting. “The producer of Good Will Hunting did not think I was hot enough to be in that film and did not want me in the film,” she said.

Fortunately, Driver got the role and, for her performance, was nominated for an Oscar.

8. Charlize Theron

Charlize Theron was a successful model when she decided to try her hand at acting. And she almost got rejected when she auditioned for the role of Mary Ann Lomax in the movie The Devil’s Advocate. The director told her she was too beautiful for the character. So Charlize decided to adjust her appearance. “I had to stop wearing makeup, wake up at 6 in the morning, beat myself up, not brush my hair, not put any concealer under my eyes, and went in to read with dark circles under my eyes. I had to go through hell to make them believe the devil could be in me,” she says. In the end, Theron was cast in a role that was a breakthrough in her new career.

9. Henry Cavill

After Pierce Brosnan decided to no longer perform as 007, a casting was announced. And the young Cavill was one of those who dreamed of playing the iconic hero. However, he was rejected. The director said that the actor wasn’t skinny enough for the role. Eventually, Daniel Craig became the new Bond. “It was his tough, amorous way of saying, ‘Look, buddy, you’re at a Bond screen test. The next time you come to a screen test, really focus on making sure you bend over if it’s for something like Bond,” Henry says. And he made the right conclusions.

Which story was the most shocking to you? Do you know of any actors who could also be included in this compilation?