Celebrity Comebacks: How These Stars Made Their Return to the Spotlight
Celebrities’ careers can rise and fall like a rollercoaster, and for us fans, who are rooting for them, we feel satisfied when they successfully make a comeback. Take, for example, the man who helped to start the MCU, Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr. RDJ was once hailed as Hollywood’s most promising actor, that is until he got arrested for substance abuse. After spending time in prison and rehab, RDJ didn’t just make a comeback, he redefined what it means to come back. After the first Iron Man, he starred as the title character in Sherlock Holmes, co-starred in the comedy classic Tropic Thunder and won an Oscar for Oppenheimer.
He’s even making another Marvel-centric comeback. Spoiler alert if you never saw it, but Tony Stark’s story ended in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. is also slated to return to the MCU as Victor Von Doom, much to the delight of his fans. His reveal that he’s playing Doom took place at Comic Con and was epic. The man truly knows how to stage a show-stopping return.
Celebrity Comebacks
Aside from Downey, other actors have successfully returned to the public’s good graces, proving that when you hit rock bottom, sometimes you can turn things around.
Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder has been an actress since 1986. But a younger generation may not have been familar with her earlier iconic roles. Some only knew of her as Spock’s human mother in Star Trek or as Stranger Things’ Joyce Byers, projects that Ryder had after her comeback.
In 2001, Ryder was arrested for drug possession and shoplifting which made finding a new project difficult since directors couldn’t get her insured. She went on a career hiatus from 2001 to 2005. After that, she returned to making independent films. But being part of Netflix’s science fiction horror series really brought her back to the limelight.
Martha Stewart
Who else can make going to prison part of their brand? Martha Stewart was arrested in 2004 for lying about a stock trade. But instead of hiding from the media, she did not let her time in jail define her. In a 2017 interview with Katie Couric (per People), “One thing I do not ever want is to be identified or I don’t want that to be the major thing of my life. I was a strong person to start with and thank heavens I was, and I can still hold my head up high and know that I’m fine.”
The negative press did not stop her from expanding her empire. She appeared on two television shows shortly after her release, wrote a book, partnered with eBay, appeared in NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and had her own documentary produced by Netflix. She’s good friends with Snoop Dogg and even appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated at 81!
Ke Huy Quan
Another actor who made an amazing comeback is Ke Huy Quan. He was a child actor who starred in the film Indiana Jones and Temple of Doom as Harrison Ford’s sidekick. He took a 19-year acting hiatus because there were fewer opportunities for Asian actors at that time, as mentioned in his interview with Screen Daily.
However, since many opportunities have opened up for Asian actors, Quan was able to make a comeback via the movie, Everything Everywhere All At Once, for which he won an Oscar. His first-ever lead role in the movie Love Hurts is coming to theaters on February 7, 2025, and he’s also recently been cast in Lionsgate’s new action thriller Fairytale in New York.
Brendan Fraser
Brendan Fraser was a ’90s Hollywood heartthrob thanks to his roles in movie hits like The Mummy and George of the Jungle. However, Fraser seemed to have vanished overnight, by his own choice, after being sexually assaulted. In his GQ interview, via BuzzFeed News, Fraser “feels reclusive” and that “he needed time off from Hollywood after becoming injured doing too many stunt films, and to deal with the breakdown of his marriage.”
Similar to Quan, Fraser’s comeback also earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor for his film, The Whale. Go big or go home.
Jennifer Coolidge
Jennifer Coolidge is the American Pie franchise’s MILF in the late 1990s. Everybody acknowledged her comedic talent after appearing in several other films like The Cinderella Story and Legally Blonde. She seems to be in every movie but only as a supporting cast member. Fortunately, Coolidge was able to show her acting range with HBO’s The White Lotus. That role that also made her a Golden Globe an Emmy winner.
So, if you need a role model, choose among these resilient celebrities who have a knack for turning adversity into a rebranding strategy. A real comeback isn’t about erasing your dark past, it’s about taking it, learning from it, and moving on from it.
