Seagal has been described as a “pathological liar”[22] due to his propensity of making greatly exaggerated or outright fabricated statements about his personal life and achievements.

[33] Above the Law was a success, grossing $18,869,631 in the U.S.[34] and Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times stated "It contains 50 percent more plot than it needs, but that allows it room to grow in areas not ordinarily covered in action thrillers.

"[36] Seagal achieved mainstream success in 1992 with the release of Under Siege, which reunited him with director Andrew Davis for what critics described as "Die Hard on a battleship".

The site's consensus states: "A well-directed action thriller that makes the most of its confined setting, Under Siege marks a high point for early '90s action—and its star's spotty filmography.

The series' long-time executive producer Lorne Michaels and cast-members David Spade and Tim Meadows called Seagal the show's "worst host ever".

"[43] The cast and crew's difficulties with Seagal were later echoed on-air by Michaels during guest host Nicolas Cage's monologue in the September 26, 1992, Season 18 premiere.

"[44] Seagal directed and starred in On Deadly Ground (1994), featuring Michael Caine, R. Lee Ermey, and Billy Bob Thornton in minor supporting roles.

Former Warner Bros Vice President Bill Daly later stated Seagal agreed to the role in exchange for the studio forgiving him losing his director's salary due to going over-budget with On Deadly Ground.

In another environmentally conscious and commercially unsuccessful film, Fire Down Below (1997), he played an EPA Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance agent fighting industrialists dumping toxic waste in the Kentucky hills.

Maximum Conviction, Force of Execution, Gutshot Straight, Code of Honor, Sniper Special Ops, The Asian Connection, The Perfect Weapon, Cartels, and China Salesman all exemplify this trend.

At the height of his career, Seagal was one of the biggest action movie stars in the world, and one of the most successful martial arts actors of the 1980s and 1990s, alongside Jean-Claude Van Damme.

[60][61] Credited with popularising aikido in film, Seagal is considered an important figure in the development and popularization of East Asian martial arts in the West.

Vern describes themes of government corruption (particularly involving the CIA), environmentalism, and adoption of foreign cultures as being examples of recurrent motifs in Seagal's films, among a variety of others.

[72] Thom Jurek of AllMusic panned the album, rating it 1.5 stars out of 5 and stating that Seagal's guitar playing "rarely rises above bar band pedigree" and that "all of this music takes itself so seriously that it borders on delusional excess.

In the late 1980s, after teaching the deputies martial arts, unarmed combat, and marksmanship, then-sheriff Harry Lee (1932–2007) asked Seagal to join the force.

[80] In 1997, Seagal was to be featured in an action video game for the Nintendo 64 and the original PlayStation called Deadly Honor, but it was cancelled for undisclosed reasons in its beta phase of development.

[113][114] The Estonian musician Tõnis Mägi, the minister of Foreign Affairs, Urmas Paet, and Parliament's Foreign Affairs chairman Marko Mihkelson had all condemned inviting Seagal into the country,[114] with Paet saying, "Steven Seagal has tried to actively participate in politics during the past few months and has done it in a way which is unacceptable to the majority of the world that respects democracy and the rule of law.

"[115] In August 2014, Seagal appeared at a Night Wolves-organized show in Sevastopol, Crimea, supporting the Crimean annexation and depicting Ukraine as a country controlled by fascists.

[125][126] In 2021, Seagal gave a katana to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as Russia's Foreign Affairs Ministry special envoy while visiting Canaima National Park.

[129] In March 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Seagal visited Moscow where he organized his birthday party, attended by many people connected to Vladimir Putin, including some affected by international sanctions.

[136] In May 1991 (during the filming of Out for Justice), Warner Brothers employees Raenne Malone, Nicole Selinger, and Christine Keeve accused Seagal of sexual harassment.

[140] On April 12, 2010, 23-year-old Kayden Nguyen filed a lawsuit against Seagal in a Los Angeles County Superior Court, requesting more than one million dollars in damages.

[150] On November 9, 2017, Dutch model Faviola Dadis posted a statement on her Instagram account stating that she also had been sexually assaulted by Seagal years earlier.

[154] In March 2018, Regina Simons publicly claimed that in 1993, when she was 18, Seagal raped her at his home when she arrived for what she thought was a wrap party for the movie On Deadly Ground.

[155] In September 2018, Los Angeles prosecutors refused to charge the actor based on Regina Simons accusations, due to California's statute of limitations.

[164] Seagal has been accused by former stunt performers who have worked with him, including Kane Hodder, Stephen Quadros, and Gene LeBell, of intentionally hitting stuntmen during scenes.

[168] LeBell was requested to confirm the on-set incident publicly in an interview with Ariel Helwani in 2012, but he avoided answering the question, albeit implying that it was true.

"[171] Authentic or not, the reports of this incident led LeBell to be counted in 1992 as an additional member of Robert Wall's "Dirty Dozen", a group of martial artists willing to answer to a public challenge made by Seagal.

[173] Allegations of mistreatment towards stuntmen have continued throughout Seagal's later career, with both stuntman Peter Harris Kent (Arnold Schwarzenegger's stunt double) and Mike Leeder publicly criticizing his on-set antics.

[174] Actor John Leguizamo also claimed that during rehearsals on Executive Decision, in retaliation for laughing at him, Seagal caught him off guard and knocked him into a brick wall.