It’s a testament to Mickey Rourke‘s talent and tenacity that he’s been able to successfully resurrect an acting career that many in Hollywood had left for dead. With his latest role, playing the Russian villain Ivan Vanko in Iron Man 2, one of the most anticipated sequels of the year, his days of being the Hollywood outcast are behind him. Rourke’s rocky career began in the 1980s, when he rose to fame with memorable performances in movies like Diner and 9 1/2 Weeks. As his filmography grew, so did his reputation as an unstable bad boy; a reputation that only grew larger following his retirement from acting in 1991 to pursue a boxing career. Rourke returned to acting in 1995, taking small parts where he could get them. The road from Hollywood has been to to the acclaim and Oscar nomination he received for his role in The Wrestler hasn’t always been pretty. For every memorable role in a great movie, he has starred in an equal number of movies that could best be described as preposterous and forgettable.

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Wild Orchid (1990)

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Desperate Hours (1990)

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Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991)

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Exit in Red (1996)

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Double Team (1997)

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Out in Fifty (1999)

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Shades (1999)

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Get Carter (2000)

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The Informers (2008)