If celebrities had their way, we would know them only for the major roles they are proud of and became stars in. Unfortunately, the record of history is not so charitable. Many of today’s hottest celebrities got their start in roles they wouldn’t be caught dead in these days. The following are 14 examples of embarrassing breakout roles of today’s stars.

Arnold Schwarzenegger (Hercules in New York)

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Arnold Schwarzenegger made career for himself as an unforgiving assassin and action hero in various blockbuster films, but it might make ‘The Governator’ blush when remembering some of his previous film roles. One examples is his breakout role  in the 1970′s fantasy adventure Hercules in New York. Watching the toga-clad Schwarzenegger roam around NYC because Zeus banished him from Olympus is not only so bad its embarrassing, but it is a far cry from the Terminator.

Kevin Bacon (Animal House)

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Many Hollywood stars are known for being highly ambitious, and it’s been reported that Kevin Bacon “felt that nothing less than stardom would be enough” in his career. You can imagine his disappointment when his debut role as a sniveling fraternity pledge in Animal House did not exactly land him a lifelong meal ticket. According to Wikipedia, Bacon ” returned to waiting tables and auditioning for small roles in theater” after  this role.

Jim Carrey (Copper Mountain)

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After years of trying to shed his happy-go-lucky Ace Ventura persona, and then reinventing himself as a serious actor (Eternal Sunshine For The Spotless Mind, anyone?), Carrey would most likely prefer to forget his breakout role as a skirt-chasing ski resort goer in the 1983 comedy Copper Mountain. Perhaps the most embarrassing thing about starring in this movie is that it’s not really a movie at all; as Wikipedia describes, it is …”half country singing and half infomercial for the now-closed Club Med village at Copper Mountain.”

Jennifer Aniston (Leprechaun)

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The quintessential girl next door, Jennifer Aniston, is known more for her role on Friends and for staring in movies like The Breakup. Her breakout performance in Leprechaun, however, deserves mention. In the seminal comedy horror, Aniston plays the daughter of a man whose family unknowingly moves into the abandoned house of a 600 year old leprechaun on an undying, violent crusade for his lost gold.

While the film has become a cult classic among fans of slasher movies, critics have not been so kind, and to date Leprechaun has an average 4/10 (or 30% rating) on Rotten Tomatoes.

Sean Penn (Fast Times at Ridgemont High)

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It’s no secret that Sean Penn is embarrassed about his breakout role in the 80′s comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High. While Penn has starred in only three comedies since this film (preferring to remake himself as a serious actor/anti-war activist), his stigma as hair-metaled burnout from yesteryear has been tougher to shake than he imagined. To many, however, Penn will always be remembered as this dim-witted (awesome) stoner from Fast Times.

Daniel Craig (A Kid in King Arthur’s Court)

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Daniel Craig is to be commended for accomplishing what many thought would be impossible: winning over  the James Bond fans who did not want to see Pierce Brosnan go. But that doesn’t mean Craig has always been a  leading man. In recent interviews, Craig has admitted to being ashamed of his early films, calling them “crap” and recalling that “…there was a time when I’d go into Blockbuster Video, and if they had a film of mine on the shelf I used to throw it under the counter.”

Perhaps he was referring to his role as Master Kane in A Kid in King Arthur’s Court, which Sean Penn turned down and derided as “subpar, to say the least.”

David Hasselhoff (Revenge of the Cheerleaders)

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Long before David Hasselhoff was the object of every woman’s desire and every man’s envy on Baywatch, he broke into entertainment as Boner.  This was his character’s name,(fitting), wherein he played the boyfriend of a bimbo cheerleader in the 1970′s gag/soft-core porn film Revenge of the Cheerleaders.

Jeff Goldblum (Deathwish)

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Jeff Goldblum is best known for Jurassic Park, Law & Order, and doing voice overs on iMac commercials. But, back in 1974, he made his on-screen debut in crime-drama, Deathwish as a sadistic rapist who forces the main character’s daughter to perform fellatio on him.

Adam Sandler (Going Overboard)

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If Adam Sandler isn’t embarrassed by this colossal flop of a film, he should be. Filmed entirely on a cruise ship traveling to the “Miss Universe Pageant”, going Overboard consistently ranks on the IMDB’s “Bottom 100″ list. This is perhaps due to having such a low budget – to which Sandler  has remarked, it wasn’t “…a low-budget movie, but a no-budget movie!” It definitely shows, this movie is extremely difficult to watch.

Courtney Cox (Masters of the Universe)

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A mega-successful career spanning roles on Friends and the Scream trilogy (and now her own show on FX) still don’t excuse Courtney Cox’s participation in the 1987 Mattel He-Man film, Masters of the Universe. The fact that the entire movie is played by action figures and centers around their imaginary plot should suffice to explain Cox’s embarrassment with this one!

Nicholas Cage (Valley Girl)

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Nicholas Cage has gone to great lengths to create a persona he can carry with him from film to film: a calm, collected man who is nevertheless ready to leap into action when the situation calls for it. But that was hardly the role he started out playing in Valley Girl, the 1983 flick that casts Cage as a Hollywood punk who frequents nightclubs and spouts forgettable lines like “fuck off, for sure, like totally.” Special note, he also had an extremely minor role in Fast Times, in which he had no speaking part.

Tom Hanks (Mazes & Monsters)

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Unbeknown to many, Tom Hanks cut his film teeth as the 26 year-old star of Mazes & Monsters. This 1982 made-for-TV movie depicted a group of college students and their obsession with the hot role-playing game of the time: Mazes and Monsters. How do we know Hanks is embarrassed about it? We don’t. But its strange that the DVD cover shows a much more recent picture of him and features modern, scary-looking graphics that are nowhere to be found in the movie itself are some clues!

Sylvester Stallone (The Party at Kitty and Stud’s/The Italian Stallion)

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The man best known as Rocky and Rambo got his start in a far less – shall we say – family-friendly film: the 1970′s porn flick The Party at Kitty and Stud’s. While the film was later re-released as an edited, milder film called The Italian Stallion (after the success of Rocky),  the original is a full-blown, no-holds-barred, X-rated pornography!

Benicio Del Toro (Big Top Pee-Wee)

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Benico del Toro’s last big role was 2005′s smash hit Sin City, but back in 1988, he was just breaking into film with his role in Big Top Pee-Wee. This sequel to Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, is a  tad bit softer  (and much worse) than the gun-weilding, corrupt cop character of Jack Rafferty that del Toro played a few years ago. It is somehow strangely reminiscent of Del Toro’s role in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, however.