Whatever Happened To Liv Tyler?
In the early 2000s, Liv Tyler had all the makings of Hollywood's next big star. She hailed from entertainment royalty as the daughter of Aerosmith's Steven Tyler, even featuring in her father's music videos. Tyler appeared in films like "Silent Fall," "Heavy," and "Empire Records" in the early-to-mid 1990s and then quickly transitioned to mainstream success with "That Thing You Do!" Tom Hanks' feature writing and directorial debut.
Tyler spent the rest of the '90s building up an impressive resume. She played the lead role in the coming-of-age film "Inventing the Abbotts," and she had a supporting part in the Michael Bay blockbuster "Armageddon." Even back then, Tyler was hesitant about pursuing films just for the sake of it, telling The Guardian, "I'm not really in this to do amazing things in my career — I just want it to be special when I make a movie."
A few years later, Tyler's gut instinct would take her all the way to Middle-Earth, joining Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy as Arwen. The character's role was greatly increased for Jackson's films, which turned Arwen from a little-remembered supporting character into one of the most integral parts of the story. That only begs the question: How does a promising young movie star like Liv Tyler all but vanish from Hollywood? Here's why you don't see much of her anymore.
Liv Tyler feared acting after The Lord of the Rings
A lot of actors would have been intimidated by Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, but Liv Tyler was just excited about having job security. However, once the films were completed in 2003, Tyler felt ready to move on from Middle Earth and explore new acting opportunities. As she described to MTV, "I would sit on the set of 'Lord of the Rings,' and I absolutely loved what I was doing, but I would sort of dream of laughing and doing comedy and not crying all the time."
In her first film after "The Lord of the Rings," Tyler struggled to get used to performing without the safety net of Jackson's grand plans for the trilogy. She starred opposite her former "Armageddon" co-star Ben Affleck in Kevin Smith's "Jersey Girl," which she recalled as a terrifying experience compared to "The Lord of the Rings." Without the makeup, costumes, and post-production trickery involved in playing Arwen, Tyler had nothing to rely on but her own performance. "I felt so scared and vulnerable and almost kind of naked," she revealed.
It took a few independent dramas for Tyler to feel comfortable stepping back into the realm of mainstream blockbusters. After solid performances in "Lonesome Jim" and "Reign Over Me" in the mid-2000s, Tyler joined Ed Norton in 2008's "The Incredible Hulk" as Betty Ross, which was much closer to her experiences on the set of "The Lord of the Rings."
Her horror movie debut didn't go down very well
Liv Tyler lucked out in the year 2008, starring in two big movies: "The Incredible Hulk" and writer-director Bryan Bertino's horror film "The Strangers," in which she plays a woman who is terrorized by a trio of masked intruders. The attention didn't exactly suit Tyler. Speaking to Chud.com about that summer's double Liz Tyler feature, she said, "I'm not very good at the publicity work part of it; I always get really shy and self-conscious."
Whereas "The Incredible Hulk" was more up Tyler's alley given her experiences on "The Lord of the Rings," "The Strangers" was a completely different beast. The horror film was shot in sequence, which was no easy feat but certainly helped set the mood for the project. She credited Bertino's hands-off approach for her performance. "He would see us so upset and so disturbed, and I think that he didn't always want to get involved," she told Blackfilm. "He created everything for us and then stood back and just watched in a way."
Despite the film being one of Liv Tyler's most nuanced performances, "The Strangers" was subject to mixed reviews upon release, with many criticizing its story and its failure to properly subvert horror film tropes. While Tyler's turn in the film was praised, the movie's overall reception likely dissuaded her from exploring the horror genre further.
Her personal life became her main focus after her divorce
As the late 2000s rolled around, Liv Tyler's acting career took a backseat to her personal life. After five years of marriage to Spacehog singer Royston Langdon, which included the birth of their son, Milo, Tyler and Langdon amicably separated in 2008. A "rough couple of years" followed for Tyler, she told Bust magazine in a candid interview. She revealed that she felt a desire to readjust her priorities after her divorce. "Milo and I have been in such transition — I've been rebuilding and trying to be patient," Tyler said (per the Daily Mail). Tyler didn't return to the screen for two years after "The Incredible Hulk," eventually appearing in James Gunn's superhero flick "Super" in 2010.
Tyler never went back to the pace she was at before or after "The Lord of the Rings." In 2014, she began dating entertainment manager David Gardner, and the pair would soon become engaged. They went on to have two kids together, one in 2015 and another in 2016. During the relationship, Tyler relocated to London to spend more time with her family, which kept her far away from the bright lights of Tinseltown and her Hollywood stardom. Although Tyler and Gardner split in 2021, they remain active co-parents, and the actor continues to prioritize her family over acting opportunities.
She wrote a book with her grandmother
During Liv Tyler's hiatus from acting, she branched out into writing. She collaborated with her grandmother, Dorothea Johnson, on the 2013 book "Modern Manners," which the publisher describes as "an elegant guide to 21st-century manners and etiquette for professionals who want to be confident and successful in the business and social arenas." Although the project was spearheaded by Johnson (who founded the Protocol School of Washington), Tyler's contributions were integral in modernizing the lessons for the technology and digital interaction era.
Speaking to W Magazine about their working relationship, Tyler said, "Naturally this thing started to evolve that had to do with the fact that she was my grandmother and I was her granddaughter and this sort of generational dynamic that we had." As of 2023, "Modern Manners" has been Tyler's only foray into book writing. It seems to have been a one-off occurrence, born from her grandmother's passion for politeness. Despite co-writing it, even Tyler has found it to be a valuable tool for her personal life, telling AnOther magazine how it "gives great examples of how taking the time to treat people with kindness and thoughtfulness is so valuable."
She turned to supporting parts on TV
By the mid-2010s, Liv Tyler's film appearances had dwindled, but she wasn't ready to step away from acting completely. In 2014, she began a run on the HBO series "The Leftovers," which ran for three seasons until 2017. Although she only appears in around half of the show's 28 episodes across its three seasons, Tyler is a huge presence as Meg Abbott, the leader of a rebellious religious group that springs up following the sudden disappearance of 2% of the world's population.
Speaking to Gold Derby, Tyler discussed how showrunner Damon Lindelof gradually made her character a more angry one as the story progressed. "It was scary because it was something that I didn't feel comfortable doing," she said. "It became pure joy to play this bizarre, wonderful and crazy person." Tyler would also admit to being confused by the character's trajectory throughout the story. She told The Hollywood Reporter that she "could never figure her out" and, despite her efforts to learn more from Lindelof, she felt like Meg "was one of the characters you never got to know really well."
Hollywood ageism led to a lack of offers
Liv Tyler was in her mid-20s when she shot to global stardom playing Arwen in "The Lord of the Rings." When she entered her 30s and became a mother in real life, she began to see the first signs of industry ageism, an issue that has plagued female actors in Hollywood for years and is still prevalent to this day. "When you're in your teens or 20s, there is an abundance of ingénue parts which are exciting to play," she told The Guardian in 2015, when she was 38 years old. "But at [my age], you're usually the wife or the girlfriend — a sort of second-class citizen."
As she's gotten older and the types of roles she used to be offered are no longer coming her way, Tyler has thought about giving up on acting altogether. The rise of social media made things more difficult for her, as she told The Irish News in 2017, then aged 40. "I think naturally as a person I'm a little bit shy, and the way the world is now, with social media and modern times, you're kind of expected — the role of an actor or an entertainer has shifted away from just being an entertainer to actually sort of promote yourself, and do actor things, and there is the whole other thing." Tyler actually told herself that if she didn't get the part of Meg Abbott in HBO's "The Leftovers," she was going to turn her back on Hollywood for good.
She's been working in Britain instead of Hollywood
When the #MeToo movement took off following a series of allegations against the now-disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein in 2017, Liv Tyler championed efforts to increase pay equality and gender imbalances in Hollywood. In an interview with Hunger, she reminded people that the fight was larger than the entertainment industry. "We take that for granted, being free, young, independent women in this Western world, who can make anything we want happen if we put our minds to it," she said. "There's a lot of women who don't have the opportunity." These social issues persuaded Tyler to join the BBC's period drama series "Harlots," which focuses on sex workers in Victorian London.
This isn't the only British show that Tyler appeared in after moving to London. In 2017, she played Anne Vaux in the BBC historical miniseries "Gunpowder," a dramatization of the failed assassination of King James I by English Catholics, who sought to end the persecution of those practicing the religion in England. Anne is the staunchly religious and loyal daughter of a Catholic baron. "Anne is a really interesting, strong woman for her times," Tyler told the Daily Mail. "I enjoyed being able to get inside her and totally focus for hours, without looking at my phone, and also using my British accent again. I had to practice with my dialect coach — the muscle memory was there from 'The Lord of the Rings,' but I needed to tweak it."
She made a belated return to modeling
Liv Tyler was a model before she made it big in acting, taking part in her first shoot at age 14. In 2017, when she was approaching her 40th birthday, she made a return to modeling in a partnership with Triumph of Europe, wearing the company's Essence collection of lingerie for a series of tasteful photos. She described the experience of modeling lingerie after so many years away as terrifying, though she quickly found her feet. "I dropped my robe and stood there and in five minutes it was fine," she told Yahoo! "And I didn't feel shy anymore. I'm fine with this. I smiled and laughed. And celebrated my body and the good parts and bad parts."
The experience was important for Tyler, especially given that she had given birth to her third child a year earlier. She told Yahoo! that while "it does take work," there's no reason you can't be happy with your body after becoming a mom. "Birth is intense, and being pregnant is intense," she said. "You can transform yourself. You can be strong." Many in society — particularly those in the entertainment industry — tend to make women feel ashamed of growing older, but Tyler has grown more confident with age. "More than pressure, I feel a sense of a real desire to get my body to a place where it feels strong."
She was misused in Ad Astra
After some time away from the film world, Liv Tyler made two high-profile movies at the end of the 2010s. The first one, 2018's "Wilding," marked Tyler's first producing credit, opening up a new career for her behind the camera. The following year, she appeared in the sci-fi drama "Ad Astra," which garnered awards buzz for leading man Brad Pitt's performance and originality in the science fiction genre. Tyler portrays Eve, the wife of Pitt's character, whom he becomes estranged from while trying to find his lost father (Tommy Lee Jones) in space.
Lots of people criticized the film for misusing Tyler, with critics lamenting the fact that her character wasn't fleshed out enough. "I'm positive that if she were given even a fraction of Brad's onscreen time, she would have been able to create a rich internal life for Eve," said Vulture. Articles from publications like Elle and The Ringer echoed these sentiments, pointing to Tyler's notable absence throughout "Ad Astra" in their reviews and championing the idea of a Liv Tyler-led sci-fi film. Perhaps this goes to show that there's still an audience for Liv Tyler if only Hollywood executives would listen.
She quit her Fox series because of the COVID-19 pandemic
In 2020, Liv Tyler made a return to television with a lead role in Fox's "9-1-1: Lone Star," co-starring Rob Lowe. The series follows the lives of emergency workers in Texas, including firefighters and paramedics. It premiered in January 2020, though shortly after it aired, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the entertainment industry and put many projects on hold. Luckily for "9-1-1: Lone Star," the series survived and was renewed for a second season, which premiered in 2021. However, the cost of COVID-19 would be losing Liv Tyler as a series regular going forward.
Shortly after the second season was reordered, Tyler announced that she would not return to "9-1-1: Lone Star" because she didn't want to be away from her London-based family. Fox's quarantine rules would have meant extended periods away from her loved ones. "We loved working with Liv and will be forever indebted to her for her haunting, powerful portrayal of Michelle Blake," co-creator, executive producer, and showrunner Tim Minear told Deadline. "While we were able to tell a complete chapter in Michelle's story, as with Connie Britton on our mothership, we also feel like there are more stories to be told. The door here will always be open for a return."
She's still associated with The Lord of the Rings
It's been over 20 years since Liv Tyler first played Arwen in "The Lord of the Rings," though it's still the role she's most associated with. This is unlikely to ever change, and casting directors in Hollywood are well aware of this. For Tyler's part, she has made no effort to distance herself from the trilogy despite the fact that her association with it might make it hard for audiences to accept her in other roles. Tyler remains close with her "The Lord of the Rings" co-stars, as evidenced by the reunion assembled by Josh Gad in 2020 for his YouTube series "Reunited Apart."
Although the experience of working on the films is far in the past for Tyler, nothing has ever been as special to her. During an appearance on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," she brought along Arwen's actual sword from the movie, delighting the host (who is a huge fan of the franchise) and the audience. Even though so much time has passed since "The Lord of the Rings" took the world by storm, Peter Jackson's magnum opus remains ingrained in pop culture, and Tyler wouldn't have it any other way.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe could be her big comeback
Although Liv Tyler isn't the A-list Hollywood star she seemed primed to become after her time in "The Lord of the Rings," she's set to rub shoulders with the elite once more in the near future. In 2023, it was reported that Tyler would be reprising her role as Betty Ross in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's upcoming movie installment, "Captain America: Brave New World." Tyler last played the role all the way back in 2008's "The Incredible Hulk," and she has not yet had the opportunity to act opposite Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner since the actor inherited the role.
Considering how tight-lipped actors involved in the MCU have to be when it comes to giving interviews, fans likely won't get to hear what inspired Tyler to reprise her role until closer to the film's release, which is scheduled for 2025. Tyler's appearance could spell a new beginning for her career in Hollywood, especially if Marvel has plans to adapt any of Betty's storylines from the comics – fans would no doubt love to see the Harpy or Red She-Hulk on the big screen.