Fame doesn’t always come with a clean record. Some Hollywood stars traded red carpets for courtrooms when their real-life roles turned criminal. Shelley Malil stabbed his girlfriend twenty-three times in 2008, Matthew Broderick’s 1987 car crash killed two people, and Johnny Lewis’s rampage ended in tragedy. Even Johnny Depp, Amber Heard, and James Franco faced scandals that blurred fame with infamy. Here is a list of Hollywood actors who committed horrifying crimes.
Amy Locane
Amy Locane went from Melrose Place to an actual prison cell after a 2010 DUI crash killed a woman in New Jersey. Originally handed a three-year sentence, courts later called it too soft. After years of appeals and prison time, she walked free in December 2024—fourteen years after the crash.
Johnny Lewis
Johnny Lewis, once a rising star on Sons of Anarchy, spiraled into violence in 2012 after a string of bizarre outbursts. He killed his 81-year-old landlady, Catherine Davis, and her cat before falling to his death from a rooftop. Police ruled it accidental, though nothing about that night made sense.
Danny Masterson
Danny Masterson, once the cool guy from That ’70s Show, saw his Hollywood run end in 2023 with a 30-year-to-life sentence for raping two women back in 2003. Not even Scientology’s connections could save him. It took two decades, but justice finally caught up with Hyde.
Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Depardieu’s résumé is stacked with awards, but his name now comes with a courtroom footnote. In 2020, the French icon faced sexual assault charges that led to a 2025 conviction on two counts. He denied everything, even testified himself, and now the 75-year-old actor is appealing the verdict—again.
Ryan Grantham
Ryan Grantham, once a familiar face from Diary of a Wimpy Kid, stunned everyone when he confessed to murdering his mother in 2020. The Canadian actor was just 24 at the time. In 2022, he received a life sentence, with the possibility of parole only after 14 years.
Jared Fogle
Jared Fogle went from Subway’s smiling sandwich guy to one of Hollywood’s most disturbing headlines. After cameoing in Jack & Jill and Sharknado—cinema gold, obviously—he was convicted of child pornography and sexual exploitation of minors. His fame crumbled fast, proving not every comeback story deserves a sequel.
Matthew Broderick
In 1987, Matthew Broderick’s Irish vacation turned tragic when his car veered into the wrong lane, killing a mother and daughter instantly. He claimed he couldn’t remember the crash. Prosecutors dropped “dangerous driving” to “careless driving,” and Broderick paid a $175 fine—less than a speeding ticket today.
Shelley Malil
Shelley Malil went from The 40-Year-Old Virgin to a real-life horror story. In 2010, he was sentenced to life for stabbing his girlfriend, Kendra Beebe, twenty-three times. She survived; his career didn’t. Somehow, Malil was out by 2018—eight years for attempted murder feels shorter than most Hollywood marriages.
James Franco
James Franco’s acting school turned into a headline factory after the 2018 Weinstein fallout. Several women accused the Oscar-nominated actor of exploiting his students for “opportunities.” Franco later admitted to sleeping with his students, settling lawsuits out of court. It’s safe to say his acting lessons weren’t what anyone signed up for.
O.J. Simpson
O.J. Simpson almost played the Terminator in 1984, but producers thought he looked “too nice” to kill anyone. A decade later, that irony hit hard when he was accused of murdering his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman. Acquitted criminally, he was still found liable in civil court.
Joe Son
Joe Son, once known as “Random Task” in Austin Powers, turned out to be far scarier off-screen. DNA from a vandalism case linked him to a brutal 1990 torture crime, earning him a life sentence. Then things got darker—he killed his cellmate in prison. Not exactly the sequel anyone wanted.
Lillo Brancato
Lillo Brancato once shared the screen with Robert De Niro in A Bronx Tale—then swapped movie sets for a prison cell. After a 2005 burglary gone wrong that left Officer Daniel Enchautegui dead, Brancato dodged a murder charge but got first-degree attempted burglary. He’s out now, sober, and surprisingly back to acting.
Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby’s image as “America’s Dad” didn’t survive the truth. Decades of sexual assault allegations caught up with him in 2018 when he was convicted and sent to prison. A legal loophole freed him in 2021, but no appeal could fix what fame, power, and hypocrisy already destroyed.
Michael Jace
Michael Jace, who played Officer Julien Lowe on The Shield, lived a double life far darker than his TV role. In 2014, he shot and killed his wife, April, in front of their children. The actor was sentenced to 40 years to life—proof that real justice isn’t scripted.
Mark Salling
Mark Salling’s story ended in tragedy long before sentencing. The Glee actor was caught with over 50,000 files of child sexual abuse material and pleaded guilty. Facing years in prison, he took his own life in 2018 at 35—a grim reminder that fame doesn’t erase the consequences of choice.
Paul Bateson
Paul Bateson’s realism in The Exorcist wasn’t acting—he actually was a radiologic technologist. Six years after the 1973 classic, he was convicted of murder. The chilling part? Some believe he may have been linked to a string of unsolved killings in New York.
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