15 Actors Who Succeeding by Driving the Coattails of Their Co-stars

They always say that successful people surround themselves with successful individuals, though does this count for actors? Even though they’re on the silver screen fairly often, there are a few people in Hollywood whose acting skills aren’t as great as they seem. They may only seem talented thanks to the performances of their co-stars.

1. Nicholas Braun

You may not be the best actor on the call sheet when you have a strong cast Succession does. Braun has good improvisation skills, and his character is iconic, but compared to the rest of the cast, it looks like he’s playing himself.

2. Jerry Seinfeld

Not to attack Jerry Seinfeld’s stellar stand-up talents, but seriously, can we stop pretending he’s a good actor? Seinfeld himself would be the first to agree, admitting part of the reason for Seinfeld’s success was the talent of his co-stars.

3. Harry Styles

Some stars make the step from music to acting look easy; Cher, David Bowie, and Sting all had decent acting careers, but Harry Styles still needs work. He wasn’t good in Don’t Worry, Darling, and his cameo at the end of Marvel’s Eternals was laughable.

4. Gal Gadot

Chris Pine acted circles around Gadot in Wonder Woman. However, we must be fair to poor Ms. Gadot; playing Wonder Woman means you spend 85% of the movie acting in front of a green screen.

5. Orlando Bloom

Orlando Bloom would struggle to get a job if he didn’t have roles written perfectly for him. I couldn’t help but feel Bloom had a smirk on his face during most of his Legolas stint. Who can blame him? He was playing Legolas!

6. Kate Hudson

I first encountered Hudson in Almost Famous, and I found her a brilliant emerging talent, but a spate of rom-coms since distracted them from her talent. If she has a strong cast and director around her, she’s excellent. Without either of those, she falls short.

7. Selena Gomez

I love Selena’s music, but her co-stars carry her in Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building. Luckily for Selena, she is a warm, kind, and decent person, which also comes through in her characters.

8. January Jones

Mad Men was a huge success, launching the high-flying career of John Hamm. However, Hamm’s on-screen wife, played by January Jones, was a cast member the others carried for sure. She was perfect for her role but hasn’t done anything phenomenal since.

9. Norman Reedus

Norman Reedus is another excellent example of how a supporting cast can make or break the way someone is perceived. While Reedus doesn’t have many other features than low-fi naval talking and grunting, the character he played on The Walking Dead fits the bill.

10. Jamie Lee Curtis

Curtis fell short in Everything Everywhere All At Once, though she won the Academy Award for a supporting role in the highly acclaimed film. However, one must ask why the Academy waited so long; she was better in earlier movies.

11. Lindsay Lohan

Sadly, the Mean Girl star is more renowned for her off-stage behavior than her on-stage ability. However, was that ever not the case? It’s hard to say. Her acting is mediocre compared to the rest of the cast she’s surrounded by.

12. Blake Lively

The Gossip Girl star is firmly entrenched in the joys of motherhood these days and appears less on screen. However, she has detractors from her time as New York’s favorite young socialite.

13. Charlie Hunnam

One rule for convincing acting is not letting the audience suspend disbelief, which isn’t easy when you have an English Geordie (Newcastle native) playing a Californian biker. The rest of the cast was so good they left Hunnam in the dust.

14. Kit Harington

Game of Thrones was such a phenomenal series that it is hard to find fault (outside Season Eight — but let’s not go there!) in anything. However, on second viewing, Jon Snow is a little wooden. Let’s be fair; Harington was surrounded by names like Peter Dinklage, Pedro Pascal, and Charles Dance.

15. Jennifer Aniston

Did Friends really need Rachel? Maybe, maybe not, though it certainly doesn’t help that the rest of the friends were given distinct roles and personalities while she was just Rachel.