We are having some nostalgic fun today as we look back at some of Hollywood’s biggest leading men and ladies and their very-first feature film acting debut. These are all A-List movie stars who have grossed millions….perhaps billions of dollars at the box office and won countless awards for their performances. However, everyone has to start somewhere and these are the big screen debuts of 10 of the most well known actors, all of whom are still going today!
Johnny Depp – A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
For a first movie role, Johnny Depp’s role as Glen Lantz, the boyfriend to one of the most iconic horror final girls of all time, Nancy is a pretty big one! Johnny Depp plays the role of a loving boyfriend really well. However, what makes this such an iconic and memorable role for the young Johnny Depp is that the way Freddy takes him out, sucking him into the bed, and then blasting blood all over the room is still one of the most memorable kills in the entire Nightmare on Elm Street franchise that often appears on many 10 ten lists about Freddy or the Nightmare on Elm Street series!
Brad Pitt – The Dark Side of the Sun (1988)
Next up we have Brad Pitt who played the leading role of Rick Clayton, a young man who has this rare skin disease that causes him to be fatally allergic to the sun. Now, Brad Pitt did actually have some smaller roles in other movies before this in 1987, but this was his first main role. This rather sad drama has a very interesting history as it was a joint effort by American and Yugoslavian production companies, but it would not see a release in the USA for many years later, well after Brad Pitt had already become a major Hollywood superstar. His charm, devilish good looks and even some of that legendary acting ability are all here right from the start.
Jodie Foster – Napoleon and Samantha (1972)
1972’s Napoleon and Samantha would be the big screen debut for Jodie Foster who would go on to be in so many epic movies, we could do a whole top 10 list based on her! The plot of this movie sees a young Jodie Foster playing the titular Samantha and she and her friend Napoleon along with a rooster and a lion run away together and trek through the wilderness! The most notable thing about this movie is that Jodie Foster was actually attacked by one of the lions and she still has the scars to this day. How many other Hollywood leading ladies can say they were mauled by a lion and lived to tell the tale?
George Clooney – Grizzly II: Revenge (1983)
Now this is a fun one! Grizzly II: Revenge is a sequel to 1976’s Grizzly. A mama bear is on the hunt for poachers who took her cub and will stop at nothing to get her revenge! While it has made our list for being the first movie that George Clooney was in, this movie is packed with fun bits of trivia. As well as being George Clooney’s first “big screen” role. Laura Dern and Charlie Sheen can also put Grizzly II as one of their earlier movies. Also, despite being made in the early 80s, this movie would not see a full worldwide release until 2020, long after Clooney, Sheen, and Dern were all Hollywood stars!
Leonardo DiCaprio – Critters 3 (1991)
Sure Leonardo DiCaprio may be known for being one of the most talented actors of his generation and for winning countless awards. However, before Titanic and even before The Basketball Diaries, there was Critters 3. The first two Critters movies were big sci-fi B movie hits and this third one sees the Critters once again causing all kinds of trouble as they head out of the town of Grover’s Bend for the first time. Young Leonardo DiCaprio plays the role of a kid called Josh who gets to hear all about how dangerous the Critters are from the series hero, Charlie McFadden.
Tom Cruise – Endless Love (1981)
No doubt it was 1983’s Risky Business that made Tom Cruise a star, but his long running and amazing theatrical career started here in 1981’s Endless Love. This is a rather strange movie about a love affair between a 17 year old and a 15 year old so you probably will not hear to much about this movie these days! Tom Cruise plays the role of a teenager called Billy and it is an important role as he is one of the friends of David, the main character who is in love with Brooke Shields’s Jade. Granted, Billy’s advice does not exactly do much good for David, but hey, Tom Cruise had a great career after this!
Kurt Russell – It Happened at the World’s Fair (1963)
1963’s It Happened at the World’s Fair is best known as the Elvis movie where he plays the role of a crop duster pilot. However, the King is not the reason this movie has made our list. This would be the very first theatrical appearance by Kurt Russel, he was just a kid at the time and the role is actually uncredited, his character does not even have a name! He is simply known as the kid who kicks David, what makes this an interesting first role to have is that David is the character Elvis played! Kind of cool that Kurt Russell first appeared on the silver screen in a scene with the King!
Christian Bale – Empire Of The Sun (1987)
Ok, so we have a bit of a technicality here as depending on where you live, Mio in the Land of Faraway may be Christian Bale’s first theatrical role for you as that and 1987’s Empire of the Sun were released in the same year. However, we feel that Christian Bale’s performance (at the young age of 13) as the lead Jim Graham, a young British boy living in Japan who is taken as a prisoner of war during World War II is the one we need to talk about. This breathtaking performance was directed by Steven Spielberg and it certainly put Christian Bale on the road to Hollywood stardom from a very young age.
Angelina Jolie – Lookin’ to Get Out (1982)
Here we have a really fun one. Lookin’ to Get Out is a comedy about two guys heading to Vegas to try and win money to pay off a gambling debt. The movie stars Jon Voight in the lead role as Alex and in a brief scene his real life daughter, Angelina Jolie, who is credited in this movie as Angelina Jolie Voight has a cameo as his daughter Alex. She was only seven years old when she did this, but the fact that her big screen debut was with her dad is a really cool piece of movie trivia. Incredibly, Angelia Jolie would not appear on the big screen again until 1993’s Cyborg 2.
Morgan Freeman – The Pawnbroker (1964)
The Pawnbroker from 1964 really is a fascinating movie to talk about. This is a hard hitting drama about the holocaust and it was the movie that made Rod Stieger a star due to his incredible and hard hitting performance. It also had a gay character, making this one of the first big Hollywood movies to do so and it also had nudity in it, the first movie to do so and still get the “production code” stamp. However, that is not why this movie has made our list, Morgan Freeman playing a random guy on the street is why we are really here to talk about The Pawnbroker, and when you consider this man has played God, helped Batman and even been a Lego character, it is interesting that his career started as an extra in such an important movie.
So there you have it! These are just SOME of the many current successful actors out there whose film acting debut might have surprised you. We find it interesting that some of these had small roles, some even not having an actual name for the character or role they played. Whereas others started their big screen careers with more prominent roles, a couple even in the lead! No matter what you take from this list, it just goes to show that no matter how many billions at the box office an actor’s movie has made or how many awards they have won for a role, every actor’s career has to start somewhere! If you’d like to see more first movie roles of your favorite celebrities then be sure to check out this video on YouTube. Enjoy!
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