By 2018, it was no longer seen as a step down or a sign of a career in decline for a movie actor to do a television show. In fact, there is a growing number of movie-first actors whose best roles are on TV. This trend allowed a show like FX’s “Trust” to have multi-award-winning film actors Donald Sutherland and Hillary Swank lead a massive ensemble that also included Brendan Fraser. With all 10 episodes of the single season of “Trust” currently available to stream on Hulu, it’s the perfect time to binge this critically acclaimed show. And who knows, maybe if enough people boost its numbers on streaming, those long-dormant Season 2 plans could yet be revived.
“Trust” tells a fictionalized version of the real-life Getty family, whose wealth is matched only by how miserable and prone to tragedy they seem to be. And speaking of tragedy, the one that the series focuses on involves the kidnapping of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty’s (Sutherland) grandson and the suffering he endures in the process. Swank plays J. Paul’s daughter-in-law and the mother of the kidnapped John Paul Getty III (Harris Dickinson).
Fraser gets one of the few fun roles in the series — not only because he plays J. Paul Getty’s larger-than-life chief of security but also because he’s allowed to break the fourth wall as he delivers key exposition to the audience throughout.
Fraser’s 2010s TV work led to his 2020s movie renaissance
Brendan Fraser’s complicated journey from ’90s action stud to Oscars darling probably wouldn’t have been possible without him first using the small screen to ease back into acting. After voicing a character in the 2014 animated movie “The Nut Job,” Fraser didn’t have another film credit until 2020. In the interim, he began to rack up key roles in well-received television shows like “Trust.”
But it was actually another TV show that launched Fraser back into the spotlight — the 2015 History Channel miniseries “Texas Rising.” While it was far from critically acclaimed, it was his first major role in a mainstream production in several years and helped to get him back into the pop culture conversation.
After “Texas Rising,” Fraser was a recurring cast member on the highly acclaimed Showtime drama “The Affair.” “Trust” would debut the year after “The Affair” ended, with 2018 also seeing him begin his stint playing the DC Comics character Robotman — first in two episodes of “Titans” and then all four seasons of “Doom Patrol.” Moving into the 2020s, Fraser has used his renewed fame to star in Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale” — which landed Fraser a best actor Oscar — and 2025’s acclaimed “Rental Family.”