The most famous roles of actors who turned out to be their film debut (15 photos)

It happens that actors take many years to achieve their star roles. And sometimes someone is lucky and the very first role makes a person famous throughout the world.





This is the case when the first pancake is not only not lumpy, but also turns out much better than most pancakes baked in later life. Almost every great actor was forced to go a long way before getting a good role in a successful film, and even playing it successfully. But we are not interested in selections from typical cases!

Today we will look at those actors who made their debut in big films (not short films or TV series) straight from a powerful hit, where they played a prominent role. For some performers, their first role remains the most significant and highly rated.

1. Edward Norton in the movie Primal Fear (1996)



For his performance, the actor was immediately nominated for an Oscar.

2. Eddie Murphy in the movie “48 Hours” (1982)





21-year-old Murphy immediately received a Golden Globe nomination for his role.

3. Mark Hamill in the movie “Star Wars. Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)



Before this, Hamill had only small roles in TV series and filming in commercials, and then suddenly - and the main role in one of the most significant film franchises in history!

4. Alan Rickman in Die Hard (1988)



Where, one wonders, was an actor of this caliber before he was 42 years old? Answer: in the theater. And the role of Hans Gruber really became his first in a movie.

5. Orson Welles in Citizen Kane (1941)



The 25-year-old theater director blew up the world of big cinema both as an actor (he played his hero at a variety of ages) and as a director.

6. Paul Hogan in Crocodile Dundee (1986)



For his debut film role, the already middle-aged Paul Hogan received a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination, and the film became one of the most popular in Australian history.

7. Lupita Nyong'o in 12 Years a Slave (2013)



Having played in a big movie for the first time, the actress immediately received an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

8. Jason Schwartzman in Rushmore Academy (1998)



18-year-old Schwartzman made his debut with the leading role in the film (playing alongside Bill Murray), which ultimately launched not only his successful career, but also that of director Wes Anderson.

9. Jamie Lee Curtis in the movie Halloween (1978)



Having previously only acted in TV series, the actress landed the lead role in the franchise of her life, in which she continued to star 40 years later. And her character Laurie Strode has become almost as iconic as the maniac from the film - Michael Myers.

10. Sharlto Copley in the film “District 9” (2009)



Producer Sharlto Copley had no plans to appear in films, but it just so happened that he played the difficult role of the main character in this breakthrough South African film, while not hesitating to constantly improvise.

We talked about similar cases, when roles in famous films were played perfectly not by professional actors, but by people from other fields, in one of our previous posts.

11. Cameron Diaz in The Mask (1994)



“The Mask” became a fateful film not only for Jim Carrey, but also for the American model Cameron Diaz, who later received several titles in the Hollywood environment a la “breakthrough of the year.”

12. James Dean in East of Eden (1955)



Unfortunately, James Dean managed to play in only three full-length films, but all of them became super hits and cinema classics, and Dean was nominated for an Oscar for two of them. In both cases posthumously.

13. Amanda Seyfried in Mean Girls (2004)



The film stars several rising Hollywood stars (notably Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams), but Seyfried's prominent role was her film debut.

14. Anya-Taylor Joy in the film “The Witch” (2015)



A debut film role, immediately the main role and immediately in a film about which Stephen King himself wrote:

“The Witch” scared the crap out of me. This is a real movie, intense, making you think and feel.