Published on Rogers' Beyond the guide website
June 25, 2012
Sponsor: Rogers
7 Famous 90s Stars with Successful TV Comebacks
While it’s easy for an actor to be typecast based on the role that first brought them fame, career reinvention is indeed possible. These days striking gold twice seems slightly more attainable, thanks to these 90s actors who have managed to hit refresh.
Sure, the 90s were a simpler time for TV. Storylines were linear, laugh tracks were the norm, and a bare midriff was considered a lot of skin.
But a lot’s happened on TV since then. And though many 90s stars still struggle to book a movie of the week, we rounded up seven actors who have found success for a second time. (And they haven’t even had to resort to reality TV)!
David Duchovny
For most of the 90s, David Duchovny worked to prove ‘the truth is out there’ as FBI special agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files. Convinced extra-terrestrial activity is at the root of many an unsolved mystery, Mulder stopped at nothing to prove it alongside skeptical partner Dana Scully.
These days Duchovny isn’t seeking the truth on TV as much as he’s dealing with temptation. As Hank Moody on Californication, the paranormal doesn’t quite factor into his life when there’s booze, drugs and women to be had. Priorities. We’ve all got ‘em.
Claire Danes
Claire Danes jumpstarted her career with a Golden Globe win for her role as angsty Angela Chase on high school drama My So-Called Life. Abruptly canceled after one season, its loyal fan base is still wondering whether Angela ended up with dreamy Jordan Catalano or sensitive Brian Krakow.
Fast forward to 2012, and Danes is picking up awards once again, this time for her role as determined (and yeah, crazy) CIA officer Carrie Matheson in Homeland. Stopping at nothing to expose a terrorist on U.S. soil, Matheson puts her personal life, her health and even her job on the line.
As a fan of both shows who apparently can’t separate the two characters, I can’t help but constantly think “Man, Angela Chase sure picked some career path!”
Neil Patrick Harris
The 90s saw Neil Patrick Harris put any other teenage whiz kid to shame as young Doogie Howser, M.D. Juggling adolescence and hospital patients, the role earned him a Golden Globe nod in 1992.
In 2005 Harris returned to TV in a big way. As womanizer Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother, Harris finally booked a role that would let him leave his lab coat days behind him – if only he’d care to.
The actor still can't resist the occasional hat tip to his first big role, working Doogie references in HIMYM and Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle, among other projects.
Jason Priestley
Fans of the original 90210 can count Brandon Walsh's moral indiscretions on one hand. There was the time he slept with married college professor Lucinda Nicholson (that vixen!), and the time he cheated on Kelly Taylor with a random newspaper columnist (that vixen!). There was also the time he got high off U4EA, but since U4EA isn’t a drug in the real world, we can hardly hold that against him.
These days Jason Priestley's done a complete 180, playing cocky, corrupt and sex-crazed car salesman Richard Fitzpatrick on Call Me Fitz. Brandon Walsh would hardly approve of Fitz' abuse of alcohol, drugs and women. But Fitz already has one conscience to deal with, and would have no qualms telling Brandon and his impeccable sideburns where to shove it.
Mayim Bialik
As the title character of 90s sitcom Blossom, Mayim Bialik made overenthusiastic dancing and wearing large hats cool. Okay, maybe cool isn't the right word. But she did become famous for her portrayal of the teen through the sitcom's five seasons.
After that, Bialik largely focused on voice work and the odd TV guest appearance while pursuing studies that led to a PhD in neuroscience. All that work somehow manifested itself in a new sitcom role for Bialik. She joined The Big Bang Theory in 2010 as Sheldon's "friend that's a girl, but not a girlfriend," and also just happens to be a neurobiologist.
It's a role that, for better or worse, seems to value brains over large hats.
Lucy Lawless
Lucy Lawless became an icon for fanboys and girls everywhere when she landed the role of Xena: Warrior Princess in 1995. And while it may be hard for diehard fans to picture her as anyone else, that doesn’t mean Lawless hasn’t moved on to play new parts.
Most recently, she’s taken on the role of Lucretia in Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Once focused on climbing the social ranks, she’s left to fend for herself after being widowed during a bloody gladiator attack.
Anna Paquin
Anna Paquin set the bar incredibly high for herself in 1993 when, at the age of 11, she won an Oscar for her role in The Piano.
Inevitably, the quality of her subsequent projects didn't always compare. But she did appear in the successful X-Men film franchise, Almost Famous and the Freddie Prinze Jr. vehicle She's All That, an instant classic if I've ever seen one.
It was her first regular foray into TV that really brought her back into the spotlight, however. As True Blood's Sookie Stackhouse, she trades her New Zealand accent for a southern one to portray the waitress with telepathic powers. While she hasn't quite won any more Oscars, her high profile turn on the vampire series has added a Golden Globe to her mantle.
Californication Season 5 airs Mondays at 10:30 pm on TMN.