Neve Campbell.
Name ring a bell?
Remember Party of Five?
And who could forget all four Scream movies?
But when the '90s came to an end, so too did Campbell's hot streak.
There are a few reasons why Campbell has flown under the radar until quite recently — and
you may be surprised to know that some of those reasons are completely on purpose.
She outgrew her roles
Neve Campbell wasn't going to be a teen scream queen forever.
In fact, when Campbell was cast for the lead role of Sidney Prescott in the very first
Scream movie, she was already in her early twenties.
Although Campbell came back for the next three movies, the trajectory of her career has actually
taken her pretty far away from teen horror and drama.
What is "sexy" really?
It's possible that Neve Campbell's career could have gone farther if she focused more
on playing up her sex appeal than her acting chops.
However, Campbell was never that kind of a person, and didn't want to be.
In a 2016 interview with The Guardian, when asked her thoughts on earning "Sexiest Actress"
accolades in the past, Campbell responded,
"What does it even mean to be the world's sexiest woman?"
Instead of selling sex to get ahead, Campbell has stayed true to herself and her beliefs.
Pigeonholed
Neve Campbell shared in a much earlier interview with the The Guardian that she struggled with
mixed feelings about portraying Sidney Prescott in Scream, and what it meant for her acting
career.
She told them,
"The first Scream was great for me in some ways, but in others it was… a challenge.
People did pigeonhole me."
Campbell became almost totally identified with her role in that franchise, so it's entirely
possible many of the scripts sent her way were in a similar, horror-genre vein to her
Scream movies.
If you're an actress looking to branch out into serious, adult roles, typecasting like
that has to be something you'd want to escape.
A focus on happiness
She may have found success by appearing in slasher teen flicks, but it turns out those
roles and offers actually made her deeply unhappy.
Campbell told The Guardian,
"I felt I was being forced into being something I wasn't — all the time."
The irony is that the roles she couldn't stand were very lucrative — allowing her to walk
away from similar movie projects.
Thanks to that financial prosperity, Campbell is able to carefully consider her roles.
As for what projects she does decide to take on, she shared with Business Insider, it "inevitably
comes down to good writing."
Across the pond
Campbell acknowledged that sometimes getting better roles meant "playing the Hollywood
game."
But she quickly grew tired of playing.
Burned out by movie business politics, Campbell talked to Business Insider about her decision
to move to England and abandon the Hollywood scene for nearly a decade.
Because of her desire for a change, she may have missed out on the kind of acting opportunities
that would have kept her career going, or at least kept her relevant in the eyes of
the movie-going public.
She found Hollywood unlivable
It wasn't just Hollywood burnout that took Campbell away from Los Angeles.
The actress revealed in the Guardian interview that she was altogether fed up with L.A. life.
She explained,
"I lived [in Los Angeles] for 13 years and I never felt at home.
L.A. is very isolating.
It's not a walking city and it's not a very cultured city."
The combination of being offered roles she didn't want and living in a city she didn't
like proved too much for Campbell.
Inequality
Campbell isn't shy about sharing how she feels about the ongoing inequality between male
and female actors in Hollywood.
She told Business Insider,
"How is that possible that we're not being paid equally and that we're having to have
this conversation in 2016?
It's insane that we're even discussing this.
It shouldn't exist."
The actor said she couldn’t "put her foot down" over unequal pay outside of the Scream
movies, admitting that, " if there's a choice [to cheat actresses], you're always going
to get less."
Hollywood sexism may not only have impacted potential pay, but also the number of good
roles available as Campbell grew older.
Focus on family
Campbell admitted to turning down roles for a time because she wanted to better focus
on being there for her family after becoming a mom in 2012.
She told Business Insider,
"I, as a mom, wanted to be really present for my son in the first couple of years, because
I know that those years are very important for a kid."
After her hiatus, Campbell is cautious about easing back into acting.
She’s taking baby steps, and taking little roles in shows like Mad Men or Manhattan.
Comeback kid?
Neve Campbell's career is beginning to pick up traction again thanks to a juicy role on
the hit Netflix series House of Cards.
Campbell plays Leann Harvey, a character Business Insider described as a "natural" addition
to the show, who "feels like she had been there all along."
With high praise for a role on a popular show, the success of the part could open doors for
Campbell to take on more high-profile projects.
Now that Campbell knows who she is, and is in a good place in her life, she seems in
a great position for a potential movie comeback.
And that makes her fans want to, well...you know...
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