Stars “at their best”: actors who did not become famous immediately (21 photos)

Agree, the film industry before the 80s was not as massive as it is now. Few young people watched old films, even with the most famous actors and actresses, for example, Marilyn Monroe. What can we say about the less famous ones. Many older actors became famous already in the 2000s, although it cannot be said that they had never acted before.





Take, for example, the world famous and beloved Hugh Laurie, who played the cynical Dr. House in the series of the same name. In the early 80s, the actor starred in the British TV series “Black Adder”, then British viewers learned about him. He got the role of House when Laurie was over 40, and only then did the whole world start talking about him.







The heroine of the film “Nanny Terrible” or the prophetess Sybil Trelawney from “Harry Potter” Emma Thompson is known to the world audience not as a young girl, but as a woman of about 40. Before these roles, she mostly played in the theater and participated in television shows.





Ralph Fiennes made his screen debut in 1992, playing in Wuthering Heights. He became famous thanks to the film “Schindler’s List” when the actor was 30 years old. Well, his most memorable role is the role of Voldemort from Harry Potter.







Many people know Helen Mirren as a performer of royal roles. So, the actress played 2 Elizabeths and Catherine II. Few people remember what she looked like in her youth, although Mirren began acting in films at the age of 20.





Harrison Ford began to try himself as an actor in his youth, but he was not given good roles and was generally told that he was a bad actor. He became disillusioned with the profession and went to work as a carpenter, until at the age of 35 life brought him together with George Lucas, who gave him the role of Han Solo, beloved by many viewers.



Anjelica Huston chose modeling over acting, but by the age of 40 she returned to the screen as Marticia Addams, for whose role the actress was remembered by many viewers.





Sean Connery worked as an auxiliary worker at the Royal Theater and as an extra. Connery received his crowning role as agent James Bond when he was over 30 years old.





In her youth, Jessica Chaston played in the theater and in small TV series, and the actress made a real breakthrough in her career in 2011 at the age of 34, when in one year she starred in 6 films at once - “The Tree of Life”, “Shelter”, “Fields” , "The Mark of Evil", "The Servant" and "Coriolanus". Then her career took off.



But Bryan Cranston became popular when he was over 50, playing the main role in the TV series Breaking Bad. After that, he became more popular among filmmakers and they began to call him more often to shoot films.





Alan Rickman has been locally known in the UK since the 1980s as a theater and film actor, especially praised for his voice, which researchers have called one of the best. Rickman played in theater productions around the world, including several appearances on Broadway.



He began to appear in films not at a young age, so at the age of 42 he starred in “Die Hard” and then in “Robin Hood”, after which filmmakers realized how well Rickman plays villains. He played in Perfume, and then in Tim Burton's musical Sweeney Todd, where he also played the role of a villain.



His most famous role was Severus Snape, the potions professor from Harry Potter and the most controversial character in the saga. After the actor’s death in 2016, his fans around the world organized a flash mob in which they raised magic wands, as if sending the actor on his last journey.