Gretchen Mol

Once hailed as Hollywood's next "It" Girl by Vanity Fair in 1998, actress Gretchen Mol failed to live up to the hype before her career was able to take off and suffered the notoriety of starring in a series of commercial failures. The first sign of trouble came with what was intended to be her breakout movie, "Rounders" (1998). That film underperformed at the box office and left Mol the subject of indifference from an industry that sought to build her up in the first place. Both determined and resilient, Mol continued to plow forward with her career, playing Leonardo DiCaprio's girlfriend in Woody Allen's "Celebrity" (1998) and Marion Davies in "Cradle Will Rock" (1999). She enjoyed roles in the remake of "Picnic" (CBS, 2000) before performing in a London stage production of Neil LaBute's "The Shape of Things" (2001), a role she reprised in the director's 2003 film adaptation. After struggling to regain her footing, Mol finally broke through with an acclaimed performance in the title role of the indie biopic "The Notorious Bettie Page" (2006). From there, she co-starred opposite Russell Crowe and Christian Bale in "3:10 to Yuma" (2007) and had a short-lived regular role on the U.S. remake of "Life on Mars" (ABC, 2009). Finding new life on the small screen, Mol had a recurring role as a showgirl and mother on the critically acclaimed "Boardwalk Empire" (HBO, 2010-14), a testament to her ability to shed an image as a flavor of the month.