6 Hollywood Stars Who Totally Reinvented Themselves

This week brings us Run All Night, the latest in a long line of Liam Neeson-powered action thrillers, but any cinephile out of college will tell you that the actor used to be known not for kicking ass but contending for Oscars and BAFTAs. That's right - though the next generation might know him as Qui-Gon Jinn and Bryan Mills, he's also portrayed the likes of Oskar Schindler and Alfred Kinsey. In honor of Neeson's new film, which continues the Oscar nominee's remarkable evolution into one of Hollywood's most bankable action stars, we're taking a look at 6 actors who managed to totally reinvent themselves, ending up in a completely different area of cinema than where they started out. As always, if you think we've left anyone off the list that should be included, feel free to let us know by dropping a comment down below. 1) Liam Neeson Where he started: After a stint on the stage, Neeson really broke into the mainstream with his role as Oskar Schindler in Steven Spielberg's acclaimed Schindler's List, all the way back in 1993. Earning an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, he cemented his status as a tremendous new dramatic talent on the scene, and follow-up roles in Nell and Michael Collins seemed to ensure Neeson would be locked into heavy, dramatic roles for the rest of his career. Where he ended up: Run All Night opens this month, and it's the eighth action pic since 2008's Taken headlined by Neeson. With his intimidating frame and gravelly voice, he's carved out quite a niche for himself as that brooding loner with a very particular set of skills, who'll take on any opponent no matter the odds and come out on top. Credit Neeson with this, though - for every Unknown and Taken sequel, he's used his newfound status as big screen badass to power some thrilling yet distinctive films, from philosophical survival tale The Grey to crime noir A Walk Among the Tombstones. Transformative role: Bryan Mills, Taken 2) Kevin Bacon Where he started: Hard to believe, but Bacon got his start as a Hollywood heartthrob, wooing girls across the nation with his starring role in Footloose. Unfortunately for him, the incredible box office success of that role led to a long period of typecasting in films like She’s Having a Baby, Criminal Law, End of the Line and Quicksilver, with the actor playing romantic leading men of atypical sensitivity. Where he ended up: Today, Bacon is toplining Fox's serial killer thriller The Following as tormented FBI agent Ryan Hardy, which is perhaps the actor's grittiest role yet after a lengthy career of playing dark, complex roles in films as diverse as Sleepers, Digging to China and Hollow Man. His prolificity has led to the popular game "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon," but there's no denying that roles he's taken on have allowed him to dig in his heels as a gritty, great actor. Transformative role: Willie O'Keefe, JFK 3) Ron Howard Where he started: Howard first gained recognition as a child star, appearing on The Andy Griffith Show and then starring in influential sitcom Happy Days as the teenaged Richie Cunningham. Immediately identifiable from his red hair and freckles, Howard seemed to be destined for a career as a key TV player in front of the screen. Certainly, Hollywood had him typecast - Howard has gone on record to talk about the types of roles he was offered post-Happy Days, and let's just say thank god he decided to blaze his own trail. Where he ended up: An Oscar-winning director hugely respected in the industry, Howard has had as much success behind the camera as he did in front of it. Though his directing career got off to an inauspicious start with Grand Theft Auto, Howard went on to make Splash, Cocoon, Willow, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind (for which he won the Oscar for Best Director), Cinderella Man, The Da Vinci Code, Frost/Nixon and Rush, among others. Currently, he has whaling drama In the Heart of the Sea (sure to be a big awards player this fall) in the can, and he's getting to work on Da Vinci Code sequel Inferno. Transformative role (well, more of a gig): Director, Splash 4) Ben Affleck Where he started: Though Affleck actually got off on the right foot in Hollywood, starring in Kevin Smith rom-com Chasing Amy and earning Oscar gold for Good Will Hunting, it wasn't long until the actor's career took a serious downturn, starting with overblown Pearl Harbor and just getting worse and worse. In the early 2000s, he became tabloid fodder and led awful movies like Daredevil, Gigli, Paycheck, Jersey Girl and Surviving Christmas. He'd overstayed his welcome, becoming a Hollywood punchline. Where he ended up: As one of Hollywood's most consistently acclaimed actor-directors, and Batman to boot. Behind the camera, Affleck has proven himself a force to be reckoned with, directing gritty, acclaimed movies like Gone Baby Gone, The Town and Argo (which won the Oscar for Best Picture). He's prepping his fourth directorial project, sweeping gangster epic Live By Night, recently earned raves for his performance in mystery thriller Gone Girl and has been signed for multiple movies as Batman in Warner Bros.' expanding cinematic universe. Transformative role: George Reeves, Hollywoodland 5) Matthew McConaughey Where he started: McConaughey's breakout role was in Dazed and Confused, and he starred in legal thriller A Time for Kill before going on to topline movies like Contact, Amistad, The Newton Boys, EDtv and U-571. Before long, though, the actor had been typecast by Hollywood as a romantic leading man, appearing in hits like The Wedding Planner and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. The high-profile failure of adventure pic Sahara drove him further into the rom-com genre, with Failure to Launch becoming one of the most successful films of his career. Where he ended up: With an Oscar, for one. The actor's well-documented McConaissance, in which he rehabilitated his image to be taken more seriously as a dramatic actor, is widely believed to have started with his intense turn as an ex-convict in indie drama Mud (though it could be argued that his committed portrayal of Mickey Haller in the more mainstream The Lincoln Lawyer marked McConaughey's turning point). Playing a menacing strip club owner in Magic Mike drove home the concept that McConaughey was a much more talented actor than some had given him credit for, but it was Dallas Buyers Club, for which he dropped almost 50 pounds, that brought him widespread acclaim and the Oscar. Since then, he's led Christopher Nolan space epic Interstellar. Up next? Gus Van Sant's mystery drama The Sea of Trees and historical drama The Free State of Jones. Transformative role: Mud, Mud 6) Neil Patrick Harris Where he started: Remember Doogie Howser, M.D.? That's right - Harris got his start as a teenage physician, juggling duties as a medical practicioner with the pains of being a teenager. The show, and the character, proved cutesy and charming, and it seemed for a time that the actor would only ever land roles in a similar vein. Where he ended up: In addition to hosting the Oscars, Harris has made a career out of playing conniving cads, from womanizer Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother to a rambunctious version of himself in the Harold & Kumar films. He's also taken on dramatic roles that have shown his more serious side, most recently in David Fincher thriller Gone Girl. Transformative role: Neil Patrick Harris, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle