Early roles of famous actors that might surprise you

Many actors we now see as flawless icons once took on bizarre gigs to kickstart their careers. Glen Powell, for instance, played a random kid with notably long fingers in a 2003 sci-fi flick. Imagine being 13 and getting a role so forgettable the director didn’t even bother giving you a real name. Meanwhile, Jacob Elordi’s breakout wasn’t some grand Shakespearean drama but a Netflix rom-com where he played a brooding high school heartthrob—hardly the role that screams "future Sexiest Man Alive. " Some early roles are so odd they border on cringe. Take Nicole Kidman, who starred in a low-budget Australian comedy about teens on BMX bikes chasing criminals. It’s the kind of movie that feels like a forgotten relic from the ‘80s, yet it was her first real taste of acting fame. Simone Ashley, now a Bridgerton star, once played a journalist in a kids’ show debating whether werewolves were real—hardly the dramatic roles she’s known for today. Even Christoph Waltz, long before his Oscar-winning villain turns, started on a bizarre Austrian children’s show with a nonsensical name and no real plot.Not all early roles were harmless fun. Sam Rockwell starred in a horror movie where killer clowns terrorized his character’s family, but the behind-the-scenes story was far darker. The director was later convicted of serious crimes, making the film’s legacy far more disturbing than its actual content. Emma Stone’s first credited role wasn’t in a blockbuster but as the voice of a spoiled Pomeranian in a Disney Channel show—a far cry from her later Oscar-winning performances. Some actors leaned into their weird early roles. Benicio Del Toro once spent months imitating his childhood dog’s barking to land a role as a dog-faced man in a circus movie. Jack Black, before becoming a comedy legend, played a stoner who gets killed off in a slasher film—hardly the kind of role that sticks in people’s memories. And Eva Mendes and Scarlett Johansson once starred in a bizarre kids’ movie about a boy turned into a pig, a film so unremarkable it faded into obscurity almost immediately.