Getting rejected at a career path your hoping to succeed at is never easy, but despite the constant or major rejection they’ve faced, these 5 celebrities all have learned to deal with it. Once they could get over the rejection, they were able to pick themselves up and try again, and they all eventually succeeded and finally got their break. It might have taken time and hard work, but in the end facing all of that rejection was worth it. Some were just about ready to give up when they finally landed that break through role that propelled them to stardom, while others suffered one big set back when they missed out on a major part and had to learn the hard way what it felt like to not win every time.
Evan Rachel Wood
Evan missed out on the part in ‘Interview With a Vampire’ to Kirsten Dunst which she says was a learning experience: “I was crushed because I hadn’t been doing it that long and I hadn’t been getting rejected for that long. I was my first big experience of hearing, ‘You know that part you wanted more than anything? You don’t have it.’ I was heartbroken. But that’s how I learnt to deal with disappointment – it made me stronger and I never got that upset again.”
Hilary Swank
Hilary was fired from 90210 and was certain her career was over after that rejection, when instead it was just beginning: “Being fired from ‘Beverly Hills 90210’ was most definitely a milestone because two months later I got ‘Boys Don’t Cry’, but at the time I was devastated because I thought, ‘Wow, I’m not even a good enough actress to be in ‘90210’, the eighth season, when it wasn’t even a hit anymore!’ “
Michael Fassbender
Michael was shocked when director Steve McQueen selected him for ‘Hunger’ because he was so used to being rejected: “The recession was coming along and there were fewer jobs for fewer people. I felt I just managed to get my foot in the door. The strange thing was, I don’t think Steve liked me very much. I suppose, through years of rejection, going to auditions, there might have been some defensiveness on my part.”
Naomi Watts
Naomi kept getting rejected at the start of her career because of her intensity: “I got knockback after knockback at auditions. Just before ‘Mulholland Dr.’ my agent told me I was so intense I was freaking people out. She told me I was a brilliant actor but the feedback was that I made people feel uncomfortable because I was so nervous and intense. I just sat there and blubbed. My mum was staying in LA at the time and I went to her and said: ‘I just can’t do this. I’m not cut out for it.’ She just said: ‘Don’t believe a word people say about you. Forget them.’
Rose Byrne
Rose missed out on a big role she was excited about and had to learn how to deal with it as a result: “I auditioned for ‘Manderlay’. It was a three-hour workshop. A proper shot at it, and an unforgettable experience. But he gave it to Bryce Dallas Howard instead. When I found out, I got really blue, got into bed for three days, ate bad food and watched TV – all the usual cliches. And that’s the funny thing about acting. It asks two totally opposing things of you, to be vulnerable and expose yourself, and yet to have a thick skin and be really tough because you’re constantly being rejected.”
