Irish actor Jason O'Mara must have thought he'd finally cracked Hollywood when he was cast in a lead role in the high-profile US remake of the British TV series Life on Mars.

But the 1970s-set crime drama, which was beset by huge production problems, has just been cancelled by the ABC network after 17 episodes, leaving Dubliner O'Mara back at square one.

The failure of the show is the third knockback in a row for the 36-year-old Sandymount-born actor. After graduating with a drama degree from Trinity College, opportunity knocked when O'Mara bagged a part in Steven Spielberg's WWII mini-series Band of Brothers.

O'Mara was then cast in the American drama In Justice, but it was canned after 13 episodes. Straight after that he moved on to crime drama, The Agency, which lasted two seasons before also getting the chop.

Despite these disappointments, O'Mara kept focusing on the positive. "I was really fortunate," he said last autumn. "I got to work with some very high-calibre people, and have had a working relationship with ABC for the last four years. Life on Mars is the culmination of a lot of that work."

Right now, O'Mara says he's taking a break to spend time with his wife, US actress Paige Turco, whom he met on the set of The Agency, and their young son David. O'Mara can afford it for now: he is believed to have pocketed some €1.5m for his work on Life on Mars.

"I was paid very handsomely for what I did so I have what I like to call 'f**k off money'," he said recently. "I can hopefully wait until the next great project comes along."

O'Mara shouldn't stress too much about getting another chance, because today Hollywood is full of stars who managed to rise to the top, even after their supposed 'big break' turned out to be a dud.

Claire Danes and Jared Leto:

Danes was just 15 when she was hired to play Angela Chase in the short-lived (19 episodes) but highly-praised teen angst drama My So-Called Life (1994-1995).

She won a Golden Globe award for her portrayal, but low ratings saw ABC (again) pull the plug. But from that disappointment, Danes managed to launch a respectable movie career mixing crowd-pleasing blockbusters (Romeo and Juliet, Terminator 3, The Family Stone and Stardust) with more low-key indie fare such as Stage Beauty and Shopgirl.

Similarly, Leto (now aged 37 believe it or not), who played monosyllabic love interest Jordan Catalano on the show, went on to star in a range of critical and commercial hits like The Thin Red Line, Panic Room, Requiem for a Dream, Fight Club and American Psycho. What's more, he also fronts and plays guitar for rock band 30 Seconds to Mars.

James Franco, Seth Rogen and Jason Segel

These three guys emerged from the fondly remembered, one-season comedy-drama Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000) to become the newest, brightest stars in Hollywood's comic firmament, thanks to their association with comedy maestro Judd Apatow (who was an executive producer on Freaks).

Franco (31) subsequently won a Golden Globe for playing James Dean in a TV movie, before graduating to the Spiderman trilogy, an inspired turn in Pineapple Express and the role of Sean Penn's lover in this year's Oscar-winning Milk.

Meanwhile, the cuddly, baritone-voiced Rogen, pictured, (27) went on to appear in another failed Apatow TV show, Undeclared (2002), but has since established himself as a major talent, firstly as an Emmy-nominated writer on Da Ali G Show, and then with roles in Knocked Up, The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Zach and Miri Make a Porno.

Rogen was also the writer of Superbad and the aforementioned Pineapple Express, both of which he starred in.

Segel (29) took a bit longer than his one-time co-stars to break through, but he achieved that with last summer's monster hit Forgetting Sarah Marshall (which he also wrote) and this month's bromance comedy I Love You, Man, co-starring Paul Rudd.

Melissa George

Aussie babe George (32) started off her career playing Angel Parrish for three years in perennial student favourite Home and Away, before setting sail to crack Hollywood. Putting Jason O'Mara's career setbacks into perspective, George then starred in no less than four TV dramas that all bombed.

First up was the offbeat horror drama Hollyweird, only one episode of which was ever broadcast. She then appeared in the pilot of HBO's short-lived series adaptation of LA Confidential, before being cast in the drama Thieves, which only lasted three months.

Finally, in 2003, it looked like George's luck was changing when she was cast in the US version of the hit British sitcom Coupling. Alas, she only ever got to act in the unaired version of the pilot, and her part was duly re-cast.

Luckily for the resilient actress, she then landed a killer season-long role in the smash hit spy series Alias, opposite Jennifer Garner, and followed that with a guest role as Ross and Rachel's nanny in Friends.

On the big screen, she scored hits with The Amityville Horror and 30 Days of Night. She most recently played a lesbian doctor on Grey's Anatomy and scored a Golden Globe nomination as a patient obsessed with her therapist (Gabriel Byrne) in In Treatment.

Jessica Alba

Sexbomb Alba first came to attention with the starring role in James Cameron's sci-fi drama series Dark Angel, which drew favourable reviews from critics, but only aired for two seasons between 2000 and 2002. Despite a limited range as an actress, the 27-year-old has kept a high profile career since, with leading (and, it must be said, scantily-clad) roles in Sin City, the Fantastic Four movies, and Into the Blue.

Her screen predilection for skin-tight lycra and bikinis led FHM to name her the Sexiest Woman in the World in 2007.

Matthew Fox

Hunky Fox (42), right, got his break playing the head of the house in the sensitive family drama Party of Five, which ran for six years despite dismal ratings. After that, Fox thought he'd hit paydirt with the paranormal series Haunted, which was such a low-ratings flop that only seven of its 13 episodes were ever aired on television.

Fox then spent two years in the wilderness before landing the lead role in a bizarre new drama series in which survivors of a plane crash find themselves stranded on a mysterious island.

That series was Lost, which has gone on to become the most-talked-about TV show in the world.

Dominic Purcell

Half-Irish actor Purcell (39) left Australia in 2002 to pursue his big break playing the eponymous hero in the TV drama John Doe. Unfortunately, the show remained as anonymous in the public's mind as the show's title character, and it was canned after one season.

Happily for Purcell, he was cast soon after in the second lead role in the gripping, albeit totally daft, guilty-pleasure drama series Prison Break, which is just coming to the end of a successful four-year run.

Michael Cera

The 20-year-old Cera has established himself as an unlikely leading man in movie hits such as Juno, Superbad and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.

His success should come as little surprise to anyone who watched him hone his gift for awkward, deadpan laughs in the brilliant TV comedy series Arrested Development, which, despite an Emmy award and universal acclaim, consistently struggled to find an audience and was unceremoniously dumped from television schedules midway through its third season.