Movie stars all begin somewhere, and while some of them get lucky with who they know, others have to rely on their talent and a lucky break or two. Thankfully, talent usually shines through, and regardless of some actors’ struggles, they find their breakthrough roles eventually.
The question is, did they get their break playing small roles in big films or being cast as lead roles in small films?
1. Julia Roberts: Pretty Woman (1990)
Perhaps the biggest rom-com of the ’90s was Pretty Woman, a tale of modern-day romance. Julia Roberts, who had already starred as Shelby in Steel Magnolias and Daisy Araújo in Mystic Pizza, was a huge sensation when the movie hit theaters. Despite those earlier roles, Roberts wasn’t the household name she would become after Pretty Woman. She is now one of the most recognizable actresses of all time.
2. Ralph Fiennes: Schindler’s List (1991)
Ralph Fiennes is at the top of the movie star echelon, having served the industry impeccably during his career. Fiennes has played some highbrow roles, including M in the James Bond franchise and Voldemort in Harry Potter, among many others. While his screen debut was in 1992’s Wuthering Heights, Fiennes’s most memorable early role is perhaps his hardest. He played a psychopathic war criminal in Steven Spielberg’s Holocaust biopic Schindler’s List, earning him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
3. Margot Robbie: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Margot Robbie had already starred in several TV shows and the 2013 big-screen feature About Time before she got her big break. However, like Meryl Streep, hers came in only her second movie, with her appearance in Martin Scorsese’s box-office Goliath movie, The Wolf of Wall Street. This film recounted the rise and fall of the stock market Ponzi scheme maverick Jordan Belfort, played by Leonard DiCaprio. Robbie revealed in a Harper’s Bazaar interview that she got the role after she slapped DiCaprio unexpectedly in the audition.
4. Haley Joel Osment: The Sixth Sense (1999)
When the perfect role lands in your lap, you’d best be ready to take it, and no one can deny Haley Joel Osment took his chance as an 11-year-old child actor in The Sixth Sense. He managed to outact the entire cast of adults, which was no mean feat, considering this included Bruce Willis and Toni Collette. Osment was mesmerizing in his screen breakthrough and will always be the kid who can “see dead people.”
5. Charlize Theron: The Devil’s Advocate (1997)
South African-born Hollywood stalwart Charlize Theron had an incredibly successful post-millennial film career after a string of mediocre productions. Her first major success was in The Devil’s Advocate alongside Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves, where she played a devoted wife to her possessed husband. This step paved the way for her Academy Award-winning Aileen Wournos biopic, Monster.
6. Christian Bale: Empire of the Sun (1987)
Younger movie fans may associate Christian Bale with his more recent Batman: Begins role, while others consider American Psycho his breakthrough movie. However, Bale first appeared in the epic World War II drama Empire of the Sun, in which he portrayed a young boy living in a wealthy British suburb in Shanghai who was captured as a Japanese prisoner of war.
7. Octavia Spencer: The Help (2011)
Spencer debuted in the movie adaptation of John Grisham’s A Time to Kill. She would find steady work from 1996 until her big break in 2011. She starred as Minerva “Minny” Jackson in The Help, winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Octavia Spencer would be nominated two more times for 2016’s Hidden Figures and 2017’s The Shape of Water.
8. Jake Gylenhaal: Donnie Darko (2001)
As movie careers go, few actors have such a meteoric rise as Jake Gyllenhaal, one of the new millennium’s most versatile and consistent actors. His emergence began with cult favorite Donnie Darko, a time-traveling dark comedy about the butterfly effect and personal teenage struggles. Gyllenhaal touched a nerve with the young millennial generation for his empathetic, world-weary angst, making him an overnight movie sensation.
9. Kirsten Dunst: Interview with the Vampire (1994)
What better way to make your big screen breakthrough than alongside Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt? That’s how Kirsten Dunst, already with a small role in Brian De Palma’s The Bonfire of the Vanities under her belt, did. The perennial actress began her career as a child vampire in Interview with the Vampire. She would go on to major roles in the following decade, with parts in Spiderman, Marie Antoinette, and Melancholia, propelling Dunst to A-list fame.
10. Zach Galifianakis: The Hangover (2009)
When everybody bought tickets for The Hangover, most of us had no idea who the lovable ball of hair named Zach Galifianakis was. He duly stole the entire movie with his off-the-cuff slacker charm and hilarious comic acting. Galifianakis was so good in The Hangover that the rookie outgunned the established actors on set, making them look like the newcomers.
11. Meryl Streep: The Deer Hunter (1980)
Not many actresses have leaped to cinematic stardom quite like Meryl Streep, whose breakthrough movie was only her second. Following a screen debut in 1977’s Julia, Streep crossed paths with Michael Cimino, who cast her in The Deer Hunter, his magnum opus and Academy Award-winning movie. In an American Film Institute interview, Streep said she believed Robert De Niro was behind her casting after seeing her performance in The Cherry Orchard at the Lincoln Center, New York City.
12. Brad Pitt: Thelma and Louise (1991)
Ladies of a certain age still go weak-kneed during a certain scene in Ridley Scott’s Thelma and Louise, a ’90s mega-movie about two soul sisters who go on a rebellious road trip that goes awry. There’s nothing unmemorable about Pitt’s debut: his iconic cowboy hat-and-hairdryer roleplay in the motel is also one of the veteran actor’s most endearing. We all know the rest is history. Brad is still a high-flying heartthrob.
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