Top 20 Best and Worst Celebrity Comebacks

 BEST: Jennifer Coolidge

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After years playing minor roles in comedy movies and TV shows, Jennifer Coolidge got her breakthrough portraying Stifler’s mom in the “American Pie” film franchise. She continued to enjoy success in the comedy genre, with notable roles in “Legally Blonde” and “A Cinderella Story”. However, after narrowly missing out on a lead role in “Desperate Housewives,” Coolidge’s stardom waned. Although she played a supporting role in the CBS sitcom “2 Broke Girls,” her immense potential remained largely untapped. But then came a little project called “The White Lotus”. The HBO anthology series propelled Coolidge back into the spotlight in her 60s, and earned her several prestigious accolades, including her first Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG award.

 WORST: Paris Hilton

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Despite coming from an uber successful and unfathomably rich family, Paris Hilton made a name for herself through modeling and reality TV. She notably starred on “The Simple Life” alongside Nicole Richie from 2003 to 2007. While her dumb blonde, spoiled persona was obviously played up for the camera, the show made her insanely famous. Most of that fame came at her own expense, but she clearly didn't care. And while she’s still making bank through her numerous business ventures today, Hilton’s public spotlight has faded. She has dabbled in DJing in recent years and went back to reality TV with Viceland’s “Hollywood Love Story,” but that came and went. She was also the subject of a YouTube Original documentary titled “This Is Paris” in 2020.

 BEST: Natasha Lyonne

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Natasha Lyonne started acting as a child and gained fame in the late ‘90s and early 2000s through various teen comedies. This included films like the popular “American Pie” series, as well as the indie classic “But I'm a Cheerleader”. However, her career suffered a setback in 2001, when she was arrested for driving under the influence. That kicked off a string of controversies and legal problems related to substance use disorder. About a decade later, Lyonne’s fortunes began to change when she landed a role on the Netflix series “Orange Is the New Black”. This marked a turning point, paving the way for her involvement in a slew of successful comedy-dramas like “Russian Doll” and “Poker Face”.

 WORST: Vanilla Ice

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Vanilla Ice became a worldwide megastar with “Ice Ice Baby.” The song was an enormous hit, peaking at #1 in eight different countries, including the United States and Zimbabwe. In fact, it made history by becoming the first hip hop single to reach the top of the Billboard Hot 100. Ice took a break from music in 1993, but when he returned, his subsequent records received little fanfare. He did find success with his DIY Network show “The Vanilla Ice Project,” thanks to his experience in home improvement. In 2011, he released his comeback album W.T.F. (Wisdom, Tenacity and Focus). It was not a success, and Vanilla Ice hasn’t charted on the Hot 100 as a lead artist since “Cool as Ice” hit #81 in 1991.

 BEST: Ke Huy Quan

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At the age of 12, Ke Huy Quan won the role of a lifetime starring opposite Harrison Ford as Short Round in Steven Spielberg’s “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”. He quickly followed this up with a part as one of the titular kids in 1985’s “The Goonies”. Despite this promising start, Quan faced challenges securing acting work in the U.S. This led him to transition into roles as a stunt choreographer and assistant director. Inspired by the success of “Crazy Rich Asians,” Quan returned to acting after a 19-year hiatus and soon landed a significant role in “Everything Everywhere All at Once”. His performance received universal acclaim and ultimately earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

 WORST: Katherine Heigl

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Another big 2000s star, Katherine Heigl first gained some fame in 1999 starring as Isabel Evans on The WB’s “Roswell.” She rode this role to greater success, including her Emmy-winning performance on “Grey’s Anatomy” and movies like “Knocked Up” and “27 Dresses.” That time would prove the height of her career. She has since starred in many movies, but none of them were very popular or that good. Most of Heigl’s work can be found on television. The mid-to-late 2010s saw her star in “State of Affairs,” “Doubt,” and “Suits.” The first two were cancelled after just one season, and her role in “Suits” lasted two. Heigl is still receiving steady work, but the recent TV comeback fails to match her “Grey’s Anatomy” heights.

 BEST: Michael Keaton

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The plot of 2014’s “Birdman” closely mirrored the life of its lead actor Michael Keaton. Like the character Riggan Thomson, Keaton initially gained recognition by portraying a superhero in a film franchise, but later experienced a decline in his career. In Keaton’s case, this downturn began in the early 2000s with a string of supporting roles in moderately successful films. By the early 2010s, Keaton was in dire need of a career revival, which fittingly came in “Birdman,” a film that seemed to parallel his own life. It garnered numerous award nominations for Keaton, setting the stage for roles in subsequent projects like “Spotlight,” “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and the Hulu miniseries “Dopesick,” which won him his first Emmy Award.

 WORST: Guns N Roses

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This hard rock band was once one of the biggest in the world, with their first four studio albums reaching either #1 or #2 and selling over five million copies each in the United States alone. Things slowed down with 1993’s The Spaghetti Incident?, as it only reached #4 and ended the band’s multi-platinum run. It would be fifteen years until the band returned, and the results were underwhelming. On November 23, 2008, the world finally received Chinese Democracy, which received middling reviews and only sold one million copies. The long-awaited comeback was completely dead in the water. Luckily, both Slash and Duff McKagan saved the band by touring with Axl and company on the incredibly successful Not In This Lifetime Tour.

 BEST: Kesha

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In the early 2010s, Kesha dominated dancefloors around the world with hit songs like “Tik Tok,” “We R Who We R” and “Timber”. To the outside world, her life seemed glamorous as her career flourished. However, behind the scenes, she grappled with personal challenges including an eating disorder and an allegedly exploitative relationship with producer Dr. Luke. This led to her filing a lawsuit against him for sexual assault, which dragged on for months only to be dismissed in 2016. After a four-year hiatus, Kesha made a triumphant return with her 2017 single “Praying,” which seemingly addressed the aforementioned lawsuit. The song earned Kesha a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Solo Performance and became a rallying anthem for the MeToo movement.

 WORST: Lil’ Kim

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This New York rapper got her start through The Notorious B.I.G. by joining his group, Junior M.A.F.I.A. This led to a highly successful solo career throughout the late ‘90s and 2000s, which included three top ten albums. 2001 also saw her singing “Lady Marmalade,” the highly successful single from “Moulin Rouge!” But like Guns N’ Roses, Lil’ Kim took a major hiatus. There was a fourteen year break between 2005’s The Naked Truth and 2019’s 9, and the wait was… not really worth it, according to most accounts. The album received mixed reviews from critics and performed poorly, failing to land on any major charts or generate any notable singles.

 BEST: Eddie Murphy

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Eddie Murphy was undoubtedly one of the biggest movie stars of the 1980s. After rising to prominence on “Saturday Night Live,” Murphy transitioned to the big screen, where he scored huge box-office hits with films like the “Beverly Hills Cop” franchise and “Coming to America”. However, by the late 2000s, his career waned following a string of movies that were met with either critical or commercial failure. After years away from the spotlight, Murphy made a successful comeback with 2019’s “Dolemite Is My Name”. That year, he also returned to the stage that made his career, for the first time since 1984. For hosting the December 21st 2019 episode of “Saturday Night Live,” Murphy won his first ever Emmy Award.

 WORST: Tara Reid

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This American actress had quite a respectable movie career throughout the late ‘90s and early 2000s. She appeared as Bunny in “The Big Lebowski” and went on to star as Vicky in the “American Pie” franchise. Rounding out her filmography were works like “Josie and the Pussycats,” “My Boss’s Daughter,” “Van Wilder,” and a stint on “Scrubs.” Something happened around 2005, and Reid just… disappeared. Not completely, as she was still in things, but the hits had certainly dried up. Reid then tried her hand at reality TV, including “Celebrity Big Brother” and her own show “Taradise” before settling on the B-movie turned cult “Sharknado” series.

 BEST: Winona Ryder

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In the late ‘80s and ‘90s, Winona Ryder was Hollywood’s “it girl,” known for her versatile roles spanning horror, comedy, action and drama. Then came the infamous shoplifting incident. In December 2001, Ryder was arrested after stealing over $5000 worth of clothes and was later convicted of grand theft and shoplifting. Things took a turn for the worse the following year when she appeared in the critically panned “Mr. Deeds”. By all indications, Ryder’s career was on its way to an early grave. Fortunately, it was resurrected in 2016, with her portrayal of Joyce Byers on the popular Netflix series “Stranger Things”. Her performance on the show earned her a Golden Globes nomination, her first in over two decades.

 WORST: Ellen DeGeneres

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There once was a time when Ellen DeGeneres was the biggest name in entertainment. Her historic coming out as a lesbian both paved trails and ignited controversy, and her follow-up talk show proved enormously successful. While coming out nearly tanked her career, it was the talk show that ultimately did. In 2020, Buzzfeed reported through anonymous employees that working for Ellen was akin to hell on earth, complete with harassment and racist comments. While her show wasn’t cancelled, the eighteenth season premiere faced significant backlash. Outlets criticized her opening monologue, and the YouTube video’s like to dislike ratio skews heavily towards the latter. It was also reported that the show’s premiere week viewership was down 30% from last year.

<T> BEST: Keanu Reeves </T>

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Making one comeback as a Hollywood actor is challenging enough, but Keanu Reeves managed to achieve the remarkable feat twice. After a career lull, Reeves experienced an initial resurgence in 1999 with “The Matrix,” which cemented him as one of Hollywood’s biggest action heroes. From there, things only seemed to go downhill. His career trajectory took a downturn in the late 2000s and early 2010s, marked by a string of mostly unsuccessful films. Reeves was able to reclaim the spotlight in 2014 with “John Wick” and launched a highly successful franchise in the process. Since then, he has returned to “The Matrix” universe for “Resurrections” and lent his voice to the “Toy Story” franchise, all while remaining as lovable as ever.

 WORST: Ja Rule

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This rapper released a string of successful albums throughout the late ‘90s and early 2000s, six of which peaked within the top ten on the Billboard 200. These include Rule 3:36 and Pain Is Love, both of which reached #1 and both of which were certified multi-platinum. However, Ja Rule has subsequently faced numerous legal issues throughout his career, including a two year prison sentence in 2010 and another 28-month sentence the following year. He was released in 2013, and just three years later started the infamous Fyre Media, Inc. It could have been a huge business and public comeback, but the Fyre Festival proved so disastrous that he faced a $100 million class action lawsuit instead.

 BEST: Brendan Fraser

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Winning an Oscar after a lengthy career decline is a pipe dream for many Hollywood actors, but that dream came true for Brendan Fraser in 2023. Fraser had broken out in the early ‘90s with projects like “Encino Man” and “School Ties”. He went on to attain leading man status with “The Mummy” trilogy. By the late 2000s, Fraser all but disappeared, mostly due to a series of personal issues, including divorce, health problems and an alleged sexual assault by the then-president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. In 2022, he portrayed the lead character in Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale”. The film breathed new life into his career, earning him heartwarming ovations around the world and the Academy Award for Best Actor.

 WORST: Charlie Sheen

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By 2010, “Two and a Half Men” was proving so popular that Charlie Sheen was earning nearly $2 million per episode. However, his personal life wasn’t nearly as triumphant. Sheen was well known for his substance abuse and reckless behavior, with especially the latter allegedly aimed towards his then-wife Brooke Mueller and the trashing of a hotel suite. He was eventually dismissed from “Two and a Half Men,” and while the resulting press put him in the news, the termination effectively killed his career. Sheen attempted a comeback with roles in “Scary Movie 5” and a show called “Anger Management,” and while the latter ran for 100 episodes, it received poor reviews. The comeback was a fail, and Sheen hasn’t been seen in movies or on TV since 2017.

 BEST: Britney Spears

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As one of the biggest pop stars of the 21st century, Britney Spears’ personal life has been extensively covered by the media. In the mid to late 2000s, Spears experienced a series of personal issues that led to the implementation of a conservatorship, partly overseen by her father. This arrangement lasted for 13 years until it was terminated in November 2021, following a legal dispute and the #FreeBritney movement. With her newfound freedom, Spears returned to the music scene, teaming up with Elton John to release the hit single “Hold Me Closer”. Additionally, she signed a $15 million book deal, producing the 2023 best-selling memoir “The Woman in Me,” in which she candidly shared her personal challenges and her new lease on life.

 WORST: Roseanne Barr

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Few comebacks have crashed and burned like this one. Barr’s sitcom “Roseanne” was a huge hit throughout the ‘90s, remaining a top four show for six of its nine seasons. It came to a controversial end in 1997 with a divisive series finale. Luckily for fans, it was revived by ABC and brought back for a tenth season in 2018. It was actually a huge success, with the premiere episode generating nearly 20 million viewers. It lasted all of two months. Barr made a comment that was deemed racist on Twitter, which she proceeded to blame on Ambien. The show was immediately cancelled amidst the controversy, as was Barr herself. She once again faded into irrelevancy, and everyone else moved on to “The Conners” without her.

What celebrities do you think should attempt to make a comeback? Let us know in the comments below.