Whatever Happened To Brendan Fraser?

Fraser had a good run as a movie star beginning in 1992 with Encino Man and leading all the up to 2008's The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Around 2008, he started taking on roles in smaller films or cameos in huge franchises. Eagle eyed viewers can find his uncredited appearance in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. That being said, it's not like he hasn't been in big movies. In 2014, Fraser's voice appeared in The Nut Job, which made $120 million worldwide.

Even though he appeared in some huge hits in the '90s and early 2000s, Fraser ran into financial trouble in the years since. The biggest fiscal issue in Fraser's life in 2013 were the large alimony payments he had to make for his children. At the time, he argued that his alimony payment of $900,000 needed to be decreased because his annual earnings were not the same as they were in the early 2000s. On top of that near million dollar alimony payment, Fraser was also on the hook for paying the legal fees to argue against the payment as well.

On top of the legal battle with his ex-wife, Fraser was involved in a lawsuit based on an alleged assault. In 2012, Todd Moyer, one of the producers of William Tell, claimed that an "intoxicated" Fraser ran into him at the Hilton Hotel in Indianapolis on July 27, 2011, and started to "physically push, verbally threaten and poke [Moyer] in the chest repeatedly." Moyer said that a similar incident occurred six months later in the offices of Brillstein Entertainment Partners. Moyer sued Fraser, asking for $25,000 in damages stemming from the extreme mental anguish and physical pain of Fraser's attack.

You know about the Mandela Effect, right? The phenomenon by which a popular narrative develops that contradicts or misrepresents the truth? Brendan Fraser has suffered brutally at the hands of the critical narrative. By this permutation of the Mandela Effect, the world mostly only remembers Fraser from his early '90s comedies. But those films are only one side of BF. Fraser was praised for his performances in The Quiet American and Gods and Monsters. In the latter, he starred opposite Ian McKellen, who, in an interview with NPR, remembered Fraser with fondness, saying "We got on terribly well. Canadian, theater background, so we rehearsed together sometime - and usually without the director. We went to the script together. We noted things of mutual interest." In 2001, he starred in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in London and received rave reviews. In case you're wondering, it's not easy for a Canadian actor mostly known for Hollywood blockbusters to earn rave reviews from British theater critics. In a four-star review in the Guardian, Michael Billington wrote, "Brendan Fraser, in the more difficult role of Brick, strongly suggests a man whose senses are dulled by his prodigious alcohol intake but who has an acute sense of the corruption and mendacity that surrounds him."

In 2013, Fraser was forced to reveal his monthly expenditures in order to attempt to have his $900,000-per-year alimony payments reduced, and when he did so, the court records showed that he spends $112,803.25 on professional expenses like agents, managers, etc. This is a ton of money but it's not unusual for someone of Fraser's stature. If he was making more money it wouldn't be as big of a deal, but without appearing in HUGE movies or making significant returns on his financial holdings, that amount of money really piles up. At the time of this case he was losing about $87,000 a month.

In 2009, Fraser and his wife, Afton Smith, finalized their divorce after being together since they met at a barbecue at Winona Ryder's house in the early '90s. At the time of their divorce in 2007, Fraser was worth $45 million, which meant that his annual alimony payments worked out to $900,000 a year on top of his $300,000 in child support. In 2013, Fraser's ex-wife accused him of hiding a portion of his earnings, and stated that his earnings of $3 million allow him to make the payments he owes to his family. Fraser denied hiding money from his ex and stated that medical payments were eating up much of his funds.

After filming the successful Journey to the Center of the Earth with director Eric Brevig, Fraser showed his dedication to the director by telling studio executives that Brevig should be allowed to direct the sequel. Fraser supposedly told the production companies that if Brevig was removed from the project that he would walk, a move that Deadline called as "a game of chicken." It's not that New Line and Walden Media didn't like Brevig. Brevig was busy prepping Yogi Bear and the production company wanted to go into production quickly. Eventually, the production execs chose to let Fraser walk in favor of bringing in Dwayne Johnson and director Brad Peyton (San Andreas, Rampage).

Hurricane Sandy had a huge impact on Brendan Fraser's health and well-being in 2012. The actor tweaked his back trying to free a tree that fell on his Connecticut home when the storm hit the East Coast. According to a source close to Fraser: Brendon grabbed his chainsaw and tried to cut the fallen tree free. As the chainsaw went through the bark, Brendan’s back gave way, and he was left in excruciating pain. Fraser had to go through months of rehabilitation, but he says that because of his history of doing many of his own stunts in films like The Mummy, the lingering injuries leave him in pain for most of the day. In 2018, he told People: I believe I probably was trying too hard, in a way that’s destructive. By the time I did the third Mummy picture in China [in 2008] I was put together with tape and ice — just, like, really nerdy and fetishy about ice packs. Screw-cap ice packs and downhill-mountain-biking pads, ’cause they’re small and light and they can fit under your clothes. I was building an exoskeleton for myself daily.

In 2016, Fraser said that he planned on making a transition to Bollywood. He replaced Ray Liotta in the Bollywood crime film The Field as a gun runner “whose illicit dealings with the Indian underworld wedge him in the middle of the family implosion." According to the film's director, Rohit Karn Batra, “The more the script evolved, the more obvious it became Brendan was the best choice for the idiosyncratic role of Charu.” In 2019, the film was released as Line of Descent by Gravitas Ventures.

In 2011, Brendan Fraser agreed to star in The Legend of William Tell: 3D with Eric Brevig directing. After Fraser and producer Todd Moyer agreed that the script needed a more family-friendly rewrite, the actor claims that he started turning down conflicting roles after he received a written agreement that the film was set to go into production. According to Fraser, he was promised $2.25 million with a 10 percent holding fee. Not only did the film not stay on schedule, it never went into production. Fraser sued Moyer for a minimum of $3 million plus damages. It's unclear if this suit was settled out of court.

When it was announced that Universal would be bringing back The Mummy franchise, Fraser wasn't involved in the reboot. After starring in three fun and successful films about the ancient menace, Universal announced that they were replacing him with Tom Cruise in order to jump start their "Dark Universe." Universal's plan didn't work out the way they thought it would. 2017's The Mummy did considerably less business than was expected and the Dark Universe was shelved. However, there's still talk of a fourth Mummy film with Fraser in the starring role. When asked if he was down he said he was all about it: Absolutely! Just gotta say, I know how hard it is to make that movie. I tried to do it three times, and the essential ingredient is fun. You gotta remember to have fun. So if there’s a fun way to approach it again, I’m all in. Fraser was enlisted to return to The Mummy franchise in 2025. It was announced that both he and co-star Rachel Weisz would reunite for the next installment, due out in theaters in 2027.

Brendan Fraser played the role of leading hunk for most of his film career. Throughout the '90s and the 2000s, much of his onscreen appeal centered around the fact that he was funny and really good looking, but he changed things up in the 2010s. For the film Furry Vengeance, Fraser decided to put on weight in order to create his comedic viability. Fraser told Parade Magazine: I needed a bigger butt on account of there was going be a lot of physical comedy. I get thrown around a lot in the movie. But let’s just face it, it’s funny. Kids love it. Adults love it. They’re like, ‘Ha-ha, look! Brendan Fraser, the guy who was really buff in all those action movies, has gotten fat.’

In 2012, Fraser was set to star in the TNT pilot for Legends, an action-y spy show about "an undercover agent who has the ability to transform himself into a different person for each job." According to people on the production, the split was due to "creative differences," but there are no hard feelings. Fox 21 President Bert Salke told The Hollywood Reporter: Brendan is an incredible actor and we have wanted to work with him for a very long time. While this particular project may not have been the right fit, we are excited to develop cable properties with him that will showcase his amazing talent. Legends may not have worked out, but in the 2010s he became a major presence on television. He had a small arc on The Affair and he has a starring role on DC's Doom Patrol.

For whatever reason, people don't see Fraser as a dramatic actor in spite of his roles in School Ties and Crash. Maybe it's because so many of his biggest roles were comedies, but it's hard to tell without an insight into casting practices. Paul Haggis, who wrote and directed Best Picture winner Crash, says he was only able to secure funding for the film after casting Brendan Fraser. He recalls: I said, 'I’ve got Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Thandie Newton, and Sandy Bullock. I should be able to get my $7 million, right?' The money people said, 'No, you need a good name for this last role.' When Brendan said yes, I went, 'Oh, my God, I’ve got a film.' Fraser earned positive reviews in a film with a stellar cast, standing out from a gaggle of critical favorites and Oscar nominees and winners. Yet, even after Crash won the Academy Award for Best Picture, he was never given dramatic roles.

In an interview with GQ, Fraser contends that while at a Hollywood Foreign Press Association luncheon at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2003, he was sexually assaulted Philip Berk, former president of the HFPA. He says that while on the way out of the even Berk called him over and grabbed him around a butt cheek and beneath his genitals in front of a group of people. He said the assault put him in a deep depression: I felt ill. I felt like a little kid. I felt like there was a ball in my throat. I thought I was going to cry. I felt like someone had thrown invisible paint on me. Fraser never received a real apology from Berk of the HFPA, and he says that the even put him into a funk that he only started coming out of towards the end of the 2010s. He still believes that he's been blacklisted by the HFPA for angering the wrong people.

Fraser’s oldest son, Griffin, is 15 and the actor says that he’s on the autistic spectrum. He notes that while he’s been away from the screen he’s been working on taking care of his children, and making sure his eldest gets the personal attention that he needs. Fraser explained to GQ: [Griffin is] a curative on everyone who meets him, I noticed. People have some rough edges to them. Or he just makes them, I don't know…put things into sharper relief and maybe find a way to have a little bit more compassion. They don't put themselves first so much around him. According to Fraser, he uses his horse, Pecas, as a kind of therapy animal for his son. Whether he's riding or brushing the animal the repetitive motion helps ease his son's mind.

In 2022, Fraser wowed audiences with his powerful portrayal of a 600-lb man named Charlie in The Whale. Charlie, a reclusive teacher who seeks to repair the relationship with his daughter as his health fails, was a figure who Fraser said: I felt like I knew this guy in a composite sort of way... He reminded me of a mentor of mine from school. He reminded me of friends in theater. He reminded me of my favorite characters from literature and films. From the response that I’m seeing to this movie, I think everyone knows Charlie. That relatability and the pure powerful performance from Fraser earned the actor numerous award nominations as well as a Best Actor Academy Award. After The Whale, Fraser continued to get roles, including one in Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon. In 2025, it was also announced that Fraser would be returning to The Mummy franchise.