40 Surprising Roles Actors Auditioned For But Didn’t Get
Sometimes, an actor is so perfect in a role that it’s impossible to imagine anyone else playing their part. However, it’s interesting (and sometimes a little weird!) to find out who else was considered for it!
Here are 40 surprising roles actors auditioned for:
The role instead went to Steve Burns, who hosted the show from 1996-2002.
2.
Halsey was considered for the role of Mary in Sinners. They told the podcast In Your Dreams with Owen Thiele, “I did read the script. There’s not a lot of white-passing Black girls in Hollywood. So I did read the script…[The vampires were a] huge surprise reading the script. I was like, ‘This is a period piece.’ I was like, ‘This is gonna be like, you know, we’re on the plantation. This is a deeply surface-level, period piece about racial politics.’ And then there was vampires, and I was like, ‘What the fuck is going on?'”
She continued, I thought I was hallucinating at the table. Because they give you a little bit of time to read the script, and you don’t get to go away with it when it’s that high-profile of a project. You read it, you give it back, and then you go. So I left being like, ‘Am I okay?’ Like, I couldn’t even double-check my work. I just walked out of there with this memory and was like, ‘Did I make the back half of that whole movie up in my mind?’ It felt like they printed the first half of, like, a different Ryan Coogler movie and then stapled it to the back half of Blade. And it worked. That’s not a criticism of it. It was amazing. But for a second, I was like, ‘Am I getting punked?'”
The part ultimately went to Hailee Steinfeld. Halsey said, “She’s incredible. I don’t think I knew [she has African American heritage], but when her casting was announced, I was like, that makes perfect sense. She’s stunning. I’ve seen clips, and she’s so commanding and powerful in the role. And she’s amazing.”
3.
Gossip Girl creator Josh Schwartz told Vulture, “We did not realize this at the time, but Jennifer Lawrence really wanted to play Serena and auditioned. This story came to us secondhand, but we were told she definitely auditioned and was bummed to not get it.”
Blake Lively, of course, played Serena van der Woodsen.
4.
Blake Lively auditioned to play Karen Smith in Mean Girls — and she seemingly made it pretty far in the casting process!
Amanda Seyfried, who was ultimately cast as Karen, told Vanity Fair, “I had worked with this comedic director on my Karen audition because I’d first auditioned for Regina, and I’d flown out to LA for the first time with my mother. It was very exciting. I met Lacey Chabert for the first time, and Lindsay Lohan was in the room. And Blake Lively was playing Karen, and then I was Regina. I flew home, and they were like, ‘You know what? We think you’re more correct for Karen.'”
5.
Ashley Tisdale was also in the running to play Karen in Mean Girls! She told Watch What Happens Live!, “Gosh, it was so long ago. I just remember screen-testing, and it was me and Blake Lively and someone else. But yeah, I screen-tested. That was, like, eons ago, obviously.”
6.
On The Howard Stern Show, Seinfeld actor Jason Alexander revealed that Danny DeVito was offered the role of George Costanza. Theorizing why he turned it down, Jason said, “His career, when we started Seinfeld, would’ve been at its apex. So, he probably didn’t wanna do a sidekick role.”
7.
Jason Alexander also said that Chris Rock turned down the role of George on Seinfeld. He said, “Why Chris wouldn’t do it, I don’t know. Maybe it didn’t get to an offer stage. I don’t know.”
8.
Michael Keaton told The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast that he was offered the role of Jack Shephard on Lost. However, the original version of Jack was much different — rather than a main role, he would’ve been killed off in the pilot as a shocking twist. However, when Jack evolved to a more permanent role, Michael declined because he didn’t want to sign on to something that would last for an indeterminate amount of time.
The role was played by Matthew Fox.
9.
Harry Styles turned down the role of Prince Eric in the live-action The Little Mermaid remake. In 2023, director Rob Marshall told Entertainment Weekly that the singer “really felt like he wanted to go off and do the movies that he ended up doing, which were sort of darker.”
The role went to Jonah Hauer-King.
10.
Beyoncé was originally signed on to play Ally in A Star Is Born. Producer Bill Gerber told The Hollywood Reporter, “There was a moment where that was the best version of the movie, and then all of a sudden, Beyoncé got pregnant. Do we wait? She was amazing about all this stuff. She always understood if we were going to take a different direction. And then Clint [Eastwood, the original director] went off and did another movie.” He added that, in his initial meeting with the two actors, “I’m sitting there thinking, ‘I’m watching something historic about to happen,’ and then it didn’t. It’s just the movie business.”
She was replaced by Lady Gaga.
11.
Disney Channel’s former Vice President of Casting and Talent Relations, Cornelia Frame, told the podcast Magical Rewind, “Zendaya did audition many times for Descendants, and that was a big deal. It was a really big deal. She auditioned over and over and really wanted it. It just ended up not going her way. Now that I think about it, I’m like, ‘Would Spider-Man have happened right at that same time?’ Things happen for a reason, and you do often book this other thing that’s amazing when you don’t get something else.”
She didn’t disclose exactly which role Zendaya auditioned for, but the Descendants franchise starred Dove Cameron as Mal and Sofia Carson as Evie.
12.
Elizabeth Olsen auditioned to play Daenerys Targaryen on Game of Thrones. She told BuzzFeed, “I forgot I auditioned for it.”
Emilia Clarke got the part.
13.
A behind-the-scenes video from Peacock revealed that Seth Rogen auditioned to play Dwight Schrute in The Office.
Of course, Rainn Wilson ultimately played Dwight.
14.
Modern Family actor Eric Stonestreet tried out to play Kevin Malone on The Office.
The role went to Brian Baumgartner.
15.
And Kathryn Hahn read for the role of Pam Beesly!
Jenna Fischer landed the role.
16.
One last interesting audition for The Office — John Cho tried out for the role of Jim Halpert!
The part went to John Krasinski.
17.
Long before playing an alternate reality version of Reed Richards in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, John Krasinski was in the running for the titular role in Captain America. He told The Ellen Show, “The truth is, they hadn’t offered it to [Chris Evans] yet, so they were like, ‘Let’s see who else is out there before we offer it to Chris Evans.’ And um, I went in, and I tested for Captain America…This is a true story. I was putting the suit on, and the [costume] guy was like, ‘This is really momentous.’ And I said, ‘Yes.’ And I was putting the suit on, and I was halfway up — not wearing any clothes other than this — and [the suit] was halfway up. And right at that moment, Chris Hemsworth walked by, and he was like, ‘Ya look good, mate.’ And I was like, ‘Nope. You know what, it’s fine. We don’t have to do this.'”
He continued, “He was just, like, jacked! He was like, ‘You’re gonna look great in that suit.’ And I was like, ‘Don’t make fun of me, Hemsworth.’ So I just walked away right there. No, I didn’t. I acted my heart out that day. And it didn’t work out, so.”
Chris Evans played Steve Rogers until passing the Captain America mantle to Anthony Mackie (as Sam Wilson) in Avengers: Endgame.
18.
According to the Guardian, there’s a longstanding rumor that Elvis Presley was in the running for the role of Tony in West Side Story, but his manager, Colonel Tom Parker declined on his behalf.
George Chakiris, who played Bernardo in the 1961 film, told Fox News, “No, I never heard anything like that. But I’ll tell you something. Back when we were doing the play in London, there was buzz about the movie. And I remember the two star names being considered were Elizabeth Taylor and Elvis Presley for the roles of Tony and Maria. Of course, none of that happened, but that’s the only time I ever heard his name and his connection with the possibility of doing the film long before it started. But I personally think it’s just a rumor that caught some kind of life over the years. It’s my understanding that Elvis didn’t want to do A Star is Born, so I can’t imagine that he would want to do West Side Story.”
The role of Tony went to Richard Beymer.
19.
Another surprising role Elvis was reportedly considered for: Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory!
The part went to Gene Wilder.
20.
Initially, George Clooney was supposed to play Noah Calhoun in The Notebook. Paul Newman was going to play the older version of Noah. George was excited at first, but after watching a few of the other actor’s movies, he felt too intimidated to play the younger version of him. He told Deadline, “He’s one of the handsomest guys you’ve ever seen. We met up [again], and I said, ‘I can’t play you. I don’t look anything like you.’ … We just wanted to do it because we wanted to work together, [but] it ended up being not the right thing for us to do.”
The studio struggled to find other actors who were interested in the role because Noah didn’t have much of a character arc. However, director Nick Cassavetes ultimately offered Ryan Gosling the role because he thought he was “not like the other young actors out there in Hollywood” and not “handsome” or “cool.”
21.
In her memoir The Woman in Me, Britney Spears wrote, “The Notebook casting came down to me and Rachel McAdams, and even though it would have been fun to reconnect with Ryan Gosling after our time on the Mickey Mouse Club, I’m glad I didn’t do it. If I had, instead of working on my album In the Zone, I’d have been acting like a 1940s heiress day and night. I imagine there are people in the acting field who have dealt with something like that, where they had trouble separating themselves from a character. I hope I never get close to that occupational hazard again. Living that way, being half yourself and half a fictional character, is messed up. After a while, you don’t know what’s real anymore.”
The part went to another pop star — Ariana Grande. On WWHL After Show, Reneé said, “Ariana’s gonna be — can I cuss? Okay, she’s gonna be [bleeped] amazing. I’m so excited.”
23.
According to Page Six, before director Stephen Daldry departed Wicked, he reportedly wanted Lady Gaga to star as Elphaba. An alleged source told the outlet, “They had meetings, the two of them, about the character and who she would be. [Lady Gaga] was essentially cast in his version, and then it fell through.”
With director Jon M. Chu at the helm, the role of Elphaba went to Cynthia Erivo.
Jonathan Bailey ultimately played the role.
25.
Victorious actor Daniella Monet was one of the finalists in the running for the titular role on Hannah Montana. In a TikTok, she explained that, after the success that followed her one-season show Listen Up, her “absolutely incredible” manager, Elaine Lively (yes, Blake’s mom!), “made things happen.” Daniella’s agent wanted to push her towards feature roles, but that wasn’t what she wanted for her career. She explained, “So, I tell Elaine at the time. I’m like, ‘Elaine, all I wanna do is Disney and Nickelodeon.’ She’s like, ‘Well, let me see if I can get you a general [meeting].’..So, we go to Disney, but, you guys, it was not really a general. It was the testing session for Hannah Montana.”
In a follow-up video, she said that she saw Miley Cyrus — who got the role — and Taylor Momsen at the audition.
26.
Friends actor Matt LeBlanc declined to play Phil Dunphy on Modern Family. He told USA Today, “I remember reading it, thinking, ‘This is a really good script, [but] I’m not the guy for this. I’d be doing the project an injustice to take this. I know what I can do; I know what I can’t do. Plus, I’m having too much fun laying on the couch.'”
The part went to Ty Burrell.
27.
Macaulay Culkin turned down an unspecified leading role on The Big Bang Theory. In 2018, he told the podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, “They pursued me for The Big Bang Theory, and I said no. It was kind of like, the way the pitch was, ‘Alright, these two astrophysicist nerds and a pretty girl lives with them. Yoinks!’ That was the pitch. And I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m cool, thanks.’ And then they came back at me again, and I said, ‘No, no, no. Again, flattered, but no.’ Then they came back at me again, and even my manager was, like, twisting my arm…I’d have hundreds of millions of dollars right now if I did that gig. At the same time, I’d be bashing my head against the wall.”
Though he didn’t say which role he was offered, it was possibly Sheldon Cooper or Leonard Hofstadter, who were played by Jim Parsons and Johnny Galecki, respectively.
28.
Whitney Houston declined the role of Denise Huxtable on The Cosby Show. Actor Darryl M. Bell told Red Table Talk, “Now I’m sure everyone knows there’s a Cosby/Different World connection and what most people don’t know is that there were two actresses who were being considered for that role of Denise. When The Cosby Show was originally being cast, the role of Denise came down to Lisa Bonet and this other actress.” He said that Whitney turned down the five-year contract because she wanted to pursue a music career instead.
Director Jay Sandrich told the Archive of American Television, “This girl we brought back from New York said to me, ‘I can’t sign this contract.’ And I said, ‘Why?’ And she said, ‘Well, I wanna be a singer.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, huh?’ She said, ‘I can’t be in every show.’ I said, ‘Why not?’ She said, ‘Well, I have to be able to tour.'”
“So I said, ‘Do you have a record contract?’ ‘No.’ ‘Have you ever toured?’ ‘No.’ ‘You know, this show, if it gets on, it’s successful, it’ll help your singing career.’ [She] said, ‘No, I’m going to tour.’ And I said, ‘Well, who told you you could sing?’ She said, ‘My mother and my aunt.’ And I said, ‘Well, you can’t do the show or sign the contract. You’re in every show because it’s about a family.’ [She] said, ‘I won’t sign the contract.’ Whitney Houston!” he said.
Lisa Bonet played Denise.
29.
Matthew McConaughey auditioned to play Jack in Titanic, but contrary to popular rumors, he was never actually offered the part. On Literally! with Rob Lowe, he said, “So I went and read with Kate Winslet, and it was not one of the auditions. They filmed it, so it was, like, into screen test time. After we left, you know, it was one of those ones where they, like, followed me, and when we got outside, they were like, ‘That went great.’ I mean, kind of, like, hugs. I really thought it was going to happen. It did not…”
“I asked [director James] Cameron about this, because the gossip over the years that I heard and would see written about me was that I had the role in Titanic and turned it down. Not factual. I did not get offered that role. For a while I was saying, ‘I gotta find that agent. They’re in trouble.’ I did not ever get the offer,” he said.
The role, of course, went to Leonardo DiCaprio.
30.
Leah Remini came super close to starring in Friends, making it thorugh until the network approval round. She told Media Village, “I had auditioned for the role of Monica. As an actress, you go on each audition thinking, ‘This could change my life. I could get my car out of repo, or get a nice apartment that’s not backed up to a bar in Hollywood,’ so everything rides on those moments…I was devastated that I didn’t get it. We all knew it would be a huge hit. We just knew it.” She later made an appearance on the show, playing Lydia, a pregnant women whom Joey helped, on “The One with the Birth.”
Monica was played by Courteney Cox.
31.
Kathy Griffin was in the running to play Phoebe Buffay on Friends. She told HuffPost, “I’ve known Jane [Lynch] since we were both auditioning — I think we were auditioning for Phoebe on Friends like all my other girlfriends did.” However, Jane told the outlet that her supposed Friends audition was just a “Hollywood urban myth.”
The role, of course, went to Lisa Kudrow.
The part went to Tom Hanks, and John had no regrets! He told MTV, “No, because if I didn’t do something Tom Hanks did, then I did something else that was equally interesting or fun. Or if I didn’t do something Richard Gere did, I did something equally well. But I feel good about some I gave up because other careers were created.”
33.
According to Digital Spy, the Die Hard producers were contractually obligated to offer the leading role of John McClane to Frank Sinatra, who was 70 at the time, before any other actors could be considered. The offer had to be made because he starred in the 1966 film The Detective, which was based on the book that preceded Nothing Lasts Forever. Die Hard was adapted from Nothing Lasts Forever, making it a loose sequel to The Detective. However, the singer turned it down — as did Clint Eastwood, Sylvestor Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Richard Gere, James Caan, and Mel Gibson.
Bruce Willis actually declined the role at first, but after his show Moonlighting had to pause production to accommodate his costar Cybill Shepherd’s pregnancy, he accepted.
34.
The Big Bang Theory star Jim Parsons tried out for the role of Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother. He told Live with Kelly and Michael, “It was one of the stranger experiences of my life. Because you know how it is to audition for things. They come out with character breakdowns and stuff, and on this one, it specifically said, ‘Barney, a big lug of a guy.’ And I remember thinking, I got it and was like, ‘Who the hell looked at me and thinks ‘big lug of a guy?’ And it wasn’t offensive. I thought, ‘This is silly.'”
The role famously went to Neil Patrick Harris. Jim continued, “Look, it all worked out fine…Neil’s better for the part, let’s be honest, and it all went that way.”
35.
Jake Gyllenhaal told The Hollywood Reporter, “I remember auditioning for The Lord of the Rings [the role of Frodo] and going in and not being told that I needed a British accent. I really do remember Peter Jackson saying to me, ‘You know that you have to do this in a British accent?’ We heard back it was literally one of the worst auditions.”
Elijah Wood played Frodo Baggins.
36.
In the docuseries Arnold, The Terminator writer/director James Cameron said, “I had been told by [Orion Pictures cofounder] Mike Medavoy that the movie was all cast. ‘I got this all worked out. O.J. Simpson and Arnold Schwarzenegger.’ I said, ‘Well, which is which?’ Those two names just sounded so wrong to me.” Recalling his meeting with the director, Arnold added, “During our conversation, it became clear no one was hooked to O.J. Simpson playing Terminator because he could not be sold as a killing machine.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger played the Terminator.
37.
Liam Hemsworth auditioned for the titular god of thunder in Thor.
The part went to his older brother, Chris Hemsworth, who told Wired, “I think my audition sucked. I think that was the response I got. And then my younger brother auditioned, and he got very close. He got down to the last five people and then didn’t get it. And they were like, ‘Look, he’s great, but he’s a bit young.’ My manager then said, ‘Well, he does have an older brother,’ which was me. I came back in, re-auditioned a few times, and just had a different attitude. Maybe I had a little more sort of motivation that my little brother had got a look in and I hadn’t. I also had done a couple of films in between those two auditions, so I had a bit more experience and confidence in what I was gonna do.”
Their oldest brother, Luke, played an Asgardian actor playing Thor in Thor: Ragnarok and Thor: Love and Thunder. Additionally, Chris’s twin sons, Sasha and Tristan, shared the role of young Thor in Love and Thunder, making Liam the only Hemsworth boy who hasn’t played Thor!
38.
Will Smith turned down the role of Neo in The Matrix. In a Facebook video, he said, “The Wachowskis, they came in, and it was like, they had only done one movie. And they came in, and they made a pitch for The Matrix. And, as it turns out, they’re geniuses! But there’s a fine line in a pitch meeting between genius and what I experienced in the meeting.” Unimpressed by their pitch, he made Wild Wild West instead. You can watch Will reenact the pitch the Wachowskis gave him here.
The role famously went to Keanu Reeves.
39.
Nicola Coughlan told BuzzFeed, “I auditioned for Stranger Things a number of years ago. I auditioned to play Robin.”
She continued, “Maya Hawke got it. She was far better than I ever would have been. It’s a good lesson to actors: Watch the stuff you didn’t get, because you’ll totally understand how it’s not personal. You’re just right for some things, and you’re not right for other things.”
40.
And finally, Matt Damon turned down the role of Jake Sully in Avatar — which would’ve earned him $250 million — because he was contracted to a Bourne movie at the time. In 2023, he told Entertainment Tonight, “It’s the dumbest thing an actor ever did in the history of acting…I’ve probably done, like, 50 movies. I’ve never been in a movie that made $1 billion.”
The role went to Sam Worthington.
Which of these audition stories surprised you the most? Do you think any of the actors would’ve been a better fit for the role? Let us know in the comments!
