Actors Whose Careers Were Never The Same After Refusing Nude Scenes

There's no denying that nude scenes aren't for everybody. Both viewers and actors alike may take issue with the idea for a plethora of reasons, all of which can be perfectly legitimate. Unfortunately, sometimes Hollywood pushes back too hard and those actors who refuse to strip down on camera can miss out on work because of it. Of course, this isn't always the case, and some actors are able to move on through the industry just fine without the potential for nude scenes at all.

On the positive side of things, "You" star Penn Badgley asked showrunner Sera Gamble for fewer sex scenes ahead of the show's fourth season, hoping to better honor the intimacy in his real-life marriage, and was granted his request. Similarly, Sarah Jessica Parker famously had a "no nudity" clause in her contract that kept her from having to show anything during "Sex and the City," which has continued into the sequel series "And Just Like That." But not everyone gets so lucky with understanding showrunners and directors.

Following are only some of the actors in Hollywood who have refused to do nude scenes (either altogether or for a time), and as a result, have changed the trajectory of their careers. Some simply missed out on meaty roles or future accolades, while others were typecast and kept from pursuing the projects they'd previously dreamed of. Hollywood can be a cutthroat business, so no wonder these stars refused to give in.

In the early 2000s, Neal McDonough was perhaps best known for his work on the HBO series "Band of Brothers," the short-lived "Boomtown," and his role as Dave Williams during the fifth season of "Desperate Housewives," but likely part of the reason he isn't exactly a household name is because of his refusal to do nude scenes. In fact, because of his Catholic faith, and his commitment to his marriage, he refuses to even kiss another woman on camera, something the "Desperate Housewives" writers had to get creative about.

But not everyone was so forgiving. McDonough was fired from the ABC series "Scoundrels" because of his refusal to do sex scenes. "There was a time when I wasn't working," McDonough told Fox News in 2022. "I couldn't get a job because people thought I was this crazy religious guy. But that wasn't the case. I love my wife, but I love my acting too. I was hopeful that, at some point, someone would give me a chance again." Eventually, someone did, as he landed the role of Robert Quarles on "Justified." Although he rarely plays the leading man, McDonough is known as one of the best TV villain actors out there.

"After 'Justified,' everything was kind of forgotten," the actor explained. Since then, McDonough has often been cast in villainous roles that don't require intimate moments of any kind, including Malcolm Beck in "Yellowstone," Hansen in "Van Helsing," and Damian Darhk in DC's Arrowverse franchise.

Having appeared in productions like "Magic Mike XXL," "American Horror Story: Coven," and 2013's "The Host," Raeden Greer was no stranger to the camera. But as it turns out, she had her limits. Having been cast as an exotic dancer in the very first season of "True Detective," Greer told director Cary Joji Fukunaga that she wouldn't go topless for a scene. According to Greer, Fukunaga tried to pressure her into it even after nudity had been taken off the table in prior discussions. The results ultimately led to her being fired.

"Cary said to me at that moment, 'Everybody on this show goes topless. All the women on the show go topless. Your character is a stripper, so you have to,'" Greer told The Brag in 2021. "It [was] going to be very tasteful, or it's just gonna be really insignificant in the background. I was like, 'Well, if it's so insignificant, why is he so insistent that I have to do this?' It was just on and on and on with no budging." Greer's role was ultimately taken over by a background actor on set, and she was abruptly removed from the production.

As a result, Greer hasn't done much in the interim. After a handful of movies that were released in 2015, the only other acting credits to her name are 2018's "Landing Up," an episode of "NCIS: New Orleans," and a role in the 2022 short film "Hellish," which she also wrote and produced.

Known best as Southern belle Zoe Hart on The CW's "Hart of Dixie," actress Rachel Bilson has been around for a while. Bilson played Summer Roberts on "The O.C.," Cindy on "How I Met Your Mother," and Alyssa Greene on "Nashville," and that's not even counting her co-starring role opposite Hayden Christensen in the film "Jumper." Bilson's big-screen debut came in the 2006 rom-com drama "The Last Kiss," a film that earned her a Teen Choice Award nomination for the female choice movie breakout. But Bilson was almost kicked off the movie.

According to the actress, she was nearly fired for refusing to do a nude scene, one that she didn't think needed to be in the movie at all. "Movies can be sexy or sexual without showing things," Bilson explained to Playboy in 2008 (via People)."It's almost a deal breaker. The movie was rated R, and they like to put in nudity wherever they can, but I'm pretty strong willed and believe it can be avoided." As it turns out, she was right. Having fought against having to strip down for the film, she eventually won and the film boosted her popularity.

Unfortunately, despite the success of "The Last Kiss," Bilson's movie career never quite took off. Sure, she appeared in flicks like "Jumper," "New York, I Love You," and "Waiting for Forever," but one can't help but wonder if what happened behind the scenes affected her big-screen future.

When Jim Caviezel took on the role of Jesus Christ in the Mel Gibson-directed "The Passion of the Christ," it completely redefined his career. The Catholic actor took his faith incredibly seriously in the years following, which led him to some roles and not others. Caviezel took on parts in action shows like "Person of Interest," sports dramas like "When The Game Stands Tall," and other faith-based projects like "Paul, Apostle of Christ," but aside from his outspoken religious and political views, there's another reason why you don't see Caviezel too often on screen anymore.

"I have a hard time getting naked on film," the actor told People in 2002, just two years before playing Christ. "I don't believe in it. I don't think it's right. In my faith, I'm taught that abstinence is important." When shooting love scenes for movies like "Angel Eyes" with Jennifer Lopez and "The Count of Monte Cristo" with Dagmara Dominczyk, Caviezel reportedly took precautions (such as keeping his pants on and placing an object physically between them) to honor and respect his marriage. 

While there are clearly other factors as to why Caviezel's career looks different than maybe it could have, the "Sound of Freedom" star's stance on nudity and sex scenes has in part shaped his career, though he's likely not complaining. The projects he works on now are stories much closer to his heart.

Best known for her role as Michelle Richardson on the British teen drama "Skins," April Pearson didn't always have the best time on set. As her breakout and first real acting gig, Pearson learned a lot about the film industry from her time on "Skins" and the subsequent projects that followed, something she's only recently shared more about. In 2021, the actress took to social media to explain that she was set to star in a feature before being fired and replaced after refusing to go topless.

"I've never talked publicly about this, but I was once fired on the spot during a sex scene from a feature film because I wouldn't renege on my nudity clause, which was that I wouldn't get my breasts out, for the scene," Pearson told her followers on TikTok. "It's a funny one because I, to this day, think 'Did I do the right thing? Would my career be better off now?'" As it stands, most of Pearson's filmography consists of short films, one-off TV appearances, and independent projects (mostly horror films). She's certainly not been in anything as successful as "Skins," which likely contributed to her being cast in this unnamed feature in the first place.

"I think that's a real problem that we have in the industry," Pearson concluded at the end of her video. "That scene was more about a female body than it was about a female character."

If you know Mandy Moore, then most likely you know her from her romantic and family-friendly adventures such as "A Walk To Remember," "Tangled," and the hit NBC family drama "This Is Us." In the early 2000s, this girl-next-door was a staple of the genre, appearing in over a dozen films between 2002 and 2007 — and that's not to mention TV appearances and music videos (she's also a singer-songwriter if you didn't know). But for Moore, less wasn't always more, even if going topless may have pushed her career even further.

"I've turned down several roles where the producers or directors or writers wouldn't budge on that point," Moore told USA Today in 2007, explaining that her refusal to go nude cost her plenty of work in the past. "I'm not saying that it's wrong for someone else to do them, but I think there's a way to be feminine and sexy without posing half-naked." For Moore, it would have been impossible for her to divorce her on-screen work from her interactions with the average person on the street, and that was more than enough of a deterrent to exposing herself on camera.

Having been the official voice of the Disney princess Rapunzel since 2010, it's safe to say that Moore's career wasn't completely demolished as a result. Her stance may have kept her from certain roles that could have catapulted her career further, but she doesn't seem too bothered by that now.

An instant leading lady in John Hughes' 1980s classics "Pretty in Pink," "The Breakfast Club," and "Sixteen Candles," Molly Ringwald was a teen icon until she decided that she wanted to partake in more mature roles. This led to films like "Malicious," where she went topless for the first and only time. But it turns out, there were plenty of sexually suggestive and nude scenes she turned down over the years, including a potential fourth collaboration between her and Hughes. When she spoke up and asked the filmmaker to rework his story, he refused.

"[Ultimately] the film was never made, though there could have been other circumstances I was not aware of," Ringwald told Yahoo Entertainment in 2018, after first revealing that she convinced the director to ditch a nude scene he'd written for "The Breakfast Club" (which didn't even involve her own character). But that unrealized project wasn't the only production that Ringwald was uncomfortable taking on: she also opted against doing "Pretty Woman" for similar reasons. "Julia Roberts was wonderful in it, but I didn't really like the story," she explained. "Even then, I felt like there was something icky about it."

It's unclear how different Ringwald's career might have looked if she had tackled some of these projects (Julia Roberts certainly did well enough), but there's no denying that Ringwald will forever be associated with her iconic teen roles.

Do you remember "Monster's Ball"? That's the drama about the corrections officer who gets involved with the widow of the man he helped execute. The film won Halle Berry an Oscar for best actress and, alongside "X-Men" and "Swordfish," really jumpstarted her career. But did you know that Angela Bassett was originally sought out for the role? It turns out that Bassett, who hadn't starred in a major movie role in a number of years, turned down the part of Leticia Musgrove for one reason: character.

"I wasn't going to be a prostitute on film," she told Newsweek in 2002. "I couldn't do that because it's such a stereotype about black women and sexuality." Bassett didn't go so far as to criticize Berry for tackling the role, but she did note that Meryl Streep won plenty of Academy Awards without sexually exploiting herself on camera. "Film is forever," the actress remarked, standing by her choice to turn "Monster's Ball," and possibly an Oscar, down.

It may have taken her an extra decade or two, but nowadays Bassett is doing just fine and is well-known for her roles as Athena on "9-1-1" and Queen Ramonda of the fictionalized Wakanda in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Having played the latter on a number of occasions starting with 2018's "Black Panther," most recently in the 2022 sequel "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," Bassett has proven that the long way around is sometimes the one with the best results. 

Drew Barrymore didn't always refuse nude scenes in movies — she once flashed David Letterman on live TV — but there came a point where she was no longer interested in unclothed work of any kind. According to Barrymore, after she posed nude for Playboy, none other than Steven Spielberg himself told her to cover up, a message she took to heart. So when the script came for "Showgirls," Barrymore had to turn it down, and given how controversial that one turned out, it may have been for the best. Barrymore wasn't the only actor who passed on "Showgirls," but she was among the most notable.

Following her decision to reinvent herself, the late '90s-era comedies "The Wedding Singer," "Never Been Kissed," and "Ever After" all came into her purview. Soon the actress had successfully rebranded herself as a rom-com icon. None of this would have likely been possible had she not turned down the suggestive "Showgirls." Even after engaging in some pretty risque material prior, Barrymore wasn't going to let her past limit her.

"My life choices are not supposed to be the gateway to somebody else's. That's my journey," Barrymore told ABC News years later, hoping her daughter would make different choices than she did. "The best kind of parent you can be is to lead by example, and whatever I've experienced in my life is a part of my story and I'm proud of that."

Before Julia Roberts took on the role of Vivian Ward in "Pretty Woman," there were plenty of other leading ladies up for the part. Michelle Pfeiffer was one of them, though she opted to pass. Today, we know Pfeiffer best for her work in "Hairspray," "One Fine Day," and superhero movies such as "Batman Returns" and "Ant-Man and the Wasp." But before all of that, despite having gone nude in a handful of movies before, Pfeiffer wasn't interested in "Pretty Woman." Nor did she want to do "Basic Instinct," a film with a particularly revealing moment for Sharon Stone, who ultimately took the part.

"I just couldn't do ['Basic Instinct'], because of the sexual parts, the nudity. My father was still alive. I'm kind of prudish," Pfeiffer explained in 2007 (via Contactmusic). "And honestly? I am not that uninhibited about my body. I'm modest." Pfeiffer later explained that there could be a plethora of reasons why she turned some of these roles down. "It's not necessarily because you don't want to do it," she reflected years later on the "Today" show (via People). "There's a conflict, you're committed to something else. Typically, it was something like that."

There's no denying that Pfeiffer has been relatively picky with the roles she chooses. Not all of that is likely due to her refusal to do nude scenes over the past few decades, but also because of her desire to focus on her family as well.

Did you know that Dana Delany could have been the lead in "Sex in the City"? It's crazy to think that the "Tombstone" actress — who made waves in the animation world as the voice of Lois Lane in "Superman: The Animated Series" — could have been Carrie Bradshaw, but it's true. Delany, who isn't known to play the same sorts of roles more than once, was asked by creator Darren Star to consider playing Carrie, but Delany refused.

"I had done a movie called 'Live Nude Girls' with Kim Cattrall that was somewhat similar. It was women sitting around talking about sex," Delany told The Los Angeles Times in 2008, around the time that she was making waves as Katherine Mayfair on "Desperate Housewives." "I had just done 'Nude Girls' and 'Exit to Eden' and I just said to Darren, 'I cannot do a show with 'sex' in the title.' People will lynch me if I do one more thing about sex." It's worth noting that Delany went completely nude in both of those previous projects, which likely contributed to her passing on "Sex in the City." 

Sure, Delany could have had a much bigger career — and likely still could have kept herself out of any sex scenes just as Sarah Jessica Parker did — but given that the actress loves to play new and exciting characters, distancing herself from being typecast may have been the right move.