Star Making Role / Film

Making it big in the film world isn't easy, but a stellar performance on the silver screen can do wonders for one's career.

A No Recent Examples rule applies to this trope. To avoid any knee-jerk reactions, examples shouldn't be added until six months after the work's released or the character first appears (whichever is later).

---

Actors

• Frankie Avalon was a rising star before Beach Party came out, but that movie made him famous.
• Dan Aykroyd in The Blues Brothers.
• John Belushi in Animal House.
• Charles Bronson in Death Wish.
• George Clooney in Out of Sight (although Clooney was already known for ER at the time).
• Abbott and Costello in Buck Privates.
• Billy Crystal in Running Scared (1986).
• Robert Downey Jr. in Chaplin (his career resurrected 16 years later with Iron Man).
• Jeremy Renner (coupled with The Town) and Anthony Mackie in The Hurt Locker.
• Ben Affleck in Armageddon (1998), it was cemented when he starred in Chasing Amy and Shakespeare in Love in his own right after Good Will Hunting but it was Michael Bay's Summer Blockbuster that provided his SMR.
• Alec Baldwin in The Hunt for Red October.
• Gary Busey in The Buddy Holly Story.
• Chris Farley and David Spade in Tommy Boy.
• This seems to be one of Judd Apatow's specialties:
  • Steve Carell in The 40-Year-Old Virgin (The Office (US) had yet to break out in popularity).
  • Seth Rogen in Knocked Up. Yes, there was also Freaks and Geeks but that was nothing more than a cult classic.
  • Jason Segel and Kristen Bell in Forgetting Sarah Marshall (although many would argue that the latter's real star-making roles were on television with Veronica Mars and in animated form with Frozen (2013); ditto with Segel and How I Met Your Mother - Mila Kunis and Russell Brand seem to have benefitted a lot more from this one).
  • Michael Cera, Bill Hader, Jonah Hill (as a leading man), Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Emma Stone (coupled with Easy A) in Superbad.
  • John C. Reilly in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Walk Hard (although a cult hit) and solidified with Step Brothers.
  • Will Ferrell and David Koechner in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. While they both started their careers in SNL, this is the film that helped these SNL alums break out into the film industry. It also helped Paul Rudd gain a place in Judd Apatow"s production posse. See above for Steve Carell.
  • Amy Schumer in Trainwreck. It also helped establish Bill Hader as a leading man in comedy.
  • Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig and Rose Byrne (coupled with Damages and X-Men: First Class) in Bridesmaids.
  • Danny McBride in Pineapple Express.
  • Kumail Nanjiani and Zoe Kazan (coupled with Me And Orsen Welles) in The Big Sick.
• Alan Arkin in The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming.
• Richard Armitage and Luke Evans in The Hobbit.
• Batman Begins.
  • While Christian Bale had been acting for a long time since he was a kid in films like Newsies, Empire of the Sun, American Psycho and Equilibrium, it was the Batman reboot that gave him some major star power.
  • For Cillian Murphy, his star-making role would be a toss-up between this and 28 Days Later, as most of his roles before then had been in independent stage and screen productions in his native Ireland and England. Those two movies helped expose him to American audiences.
• Antonio Banderas in Desperado.
• Chris Tucker in Friday.
• Justin Bartha in National Treasure.
• Ryan Gosling in The Notebook.
• Nicolas Cage in Raising Arizona.
• Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense.
• Lethal Weapon 4 is responsible for introducing American audiences to Jet Li. In fact, it was one of the few things people seemed to universally enjoy about the widely-panned film. Prior to this, Once Upon a Time in China made him a star in Hong Kong.
• Forest Whitaker and Stephen Rea in The Crying Game.
• Paul Bettany as either Geoffrey Chaucer in A Knight's Tale or Silas in the The Da Vinci Code movie
• Jack Black in High Fidelity.
• Dirk Bogarde as the sociopathic juvenile delinquent in The Blue Lamp.
• Humphrey Bogart in 1941 with High Sierra and The Maltese Falcon, after having been a contract player/supporting actor at Warner Bros. since the early 1930s.
• Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire.
• Jeff Bridges in The Last Picture Show.
• Matthew Broderick in WarGames and Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
• Josh Brolin had The Goonies in 1985. Following this, he continued to work steadily, getting roles in films such as Mimic and Hollow Man, but it wasn't until his starring role in No Country for Old Men that he shot to the top of the A-list.
• Gerard Butler and Lena Headey in 300. Headey continued to gain exposure through Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and firmly solidified herself as a star through Game of Thrones.
• Asa Butterfield in Hugo.
• Domhnall Gleeson (coupled with a small role in Harry Potter and Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens) in Frank and Ex Machina.
• James Cagney in The Public Enemy (1931)
• Michael Caine in Zulu
• Bruce Campbell in The Evil Dead (1981)
• Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask and Dumb and Dumber, all of which were released the same year (1994).
• Rumble in the Bronx made Jackie Chan an international star, while Rush Hour made him a US movie star. He'd been huge in Asia for years, with Drunken Master and Snake in the Eagle's Shadow being his breakthrough.
• Chevy Chase in Foul Play.
• Don Cheadle in Volcano as a supporting actor and Hotel Rwanda as a leading actor.
• John Cho and Kal Penn in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle.
• Montgomery Clift in Red River.
• Sacha Baron Cohen had Borat, a movie based on a character from his previous series, Da Ali G Show, to international audiences. He was well-known in his native UK for a long time before Borat.
• The James Bond film series.
  • Sean Connery, George Lazenby and Daniel Craig. Roger Moore was well known with The Saint though one could argue Bond made him a superstar, and Timothy Dalton already had fame in England for his roles in A-List movies and more in particular live theater but his time as 007 led him being more known internationally. Pierce Brosnan's case is more of a Career Resurrection.
  • Mads Mikkelsen as the Big Bad of Casino Royale (2006).
• The Hangover made stars out of Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms (coupled with The Office (US)), and Zach Galifianakis.
• Kevin Costner in The Untouchables and No Way Out (1987).
• Charlie Cox (coupled with Daredevil (2015)) and Mark Strong in Stardust. Strong was in movies before, but after Stardust, his career of playing villains really seemed to take off.
• James Cromwell in Babe.
• Russell Crowe, Djimon Hounsou (coupled with Blood Diamond) and Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator.
• Tom Cruise in Risky Business and Top Gun.
• Tim Curry in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
• Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting.
  • The Bourne Series is an even better example. Matt Damon has mentioned that despite getting wildly critical acclaim for previous movies, it wasn't until The Bourne Identity proved to have enough Box Office clout that film offers really started to show up for him.
• Though Edward Scissorhands made Johnny Depp a bit of a cult/indie film favorite, it wasn't until Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl that he really became a big Hollywood 'star'.
  • Keira Knightley also experienced a career boost from this film, and from her earlier star turn in Bend It Like Beckham. Plus, it helped Orlando Bloom escape from Legolas's shadow.
• James Dean in East of Eden, the only one of the three movies he starred in to be released before his death.
• Robert De Niro in Mean Streets, The Godfather Part II and Taxi Driver (the latter also counting for Jodie Foster).
• Vin Diesel in Pitch Black and The Fast and the Furious.
  • Noteworthy that he was offered a tailored role in Saving Private Ryan by Steven Spielberg after he saw a short film of Diesel's conception.
• Leonardo DiCaprio, had hits like What's Eating Gilbert Grape (which gave him an Oscar nomination) and William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet on his resume, but Titanic shot him to worldwide megastardom. Same deal with Kate Winslet, who also had an Oscar nomination for Sense and Sensibility but was arguably even less known than DiCaprio prior to Titanic.
• Vincent D'Onofrio and R. Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket.
• Michael Douglas in Romancing the Stone.
• Michael Clarke Duncan and Patricia Clarkson in The Green Mile.
• Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Lucas Grabeel and Monique Coleman in High School Musical.
• Chiwetel Ejiofor and Lupita Nyong'o in 12 Years a Slave (though the former was already reasonably well-known in his native Britain).
• Chris Evans (coupled with Captain America: The First Avenger) and Ioan Gruffudd in Fantastic Four (2005).
• Michael Fassbender in Inglourious Basterds and X-Men: First Class.
• Chow Yun-fat in A Better Tomorrow.
  • In the US The Replacement Killers put him on the map. He never quite fleshed out as a star there, but it did lead to many of his older films gaining cult status there, particularly Hard Boiled.
• Colin Firth in The King's Speech. Firth was in movies prior (and was already a superstar in the U.K.), but The King's Speech was what really got him attention.
• Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars, although Eastwood was already known as a TV star (Rawhide) by that time.
• Warwick Davis in Willow
• The Star Wars saga has made stars out of many of its lead actors:
  • Mark Hamill (coupled with Batman: The Animated Series as a voice actor), Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford (coupled with Raiders of the Lost Ark) in Star Wars (Episode IV: A New Hope).
  • Ian McDiarmid in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
  • Ewan McGregor (coupled with Trainspotting from a few years before), Natalie Portman, and Ray Park (coupled with the first X-Men movie and the G.I. Joe movies) in The Phantom Menace.
  • To a lesser extent, Hayden Christensen in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.
  • Daisy Ridley as Rey in Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. Ridley was completely unknown prior to the film, only appearing in one independent horror film that never saw a major release and one-time parts in many little-known British shows.
  • John Boyega (as Finn) was also this, combined with the cult hit Attack the Block and initial exposure through 24: Live Another Day. Boyega has gone on to win a BAFTA and The Empire Award for "Rising Star/Best Newcomer" for his role as Finn.
  • Episode VII was also this for Adam Driver (as Kylo Ren), combined with his role on HBO's Girls.
  • Several other cast members rose to cult stardom, such as Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, Ahmed Best, Temuera Morrison, Daniel Logan, Jay Laga'aia, and Matthew Wood.
• Spider-Man Trilogy:
  • James Franco was a virtual unknown movie star before Spider-Man, and while Tobey Maguire had had moderate success with roles before that, this was the film that propelled him to stardom. Some of the older supporting actors, such as Willem Dafoe, Rosemary Harris, and Cliff Robertson, were established actors who were introduced to a whole new generation of fans by that film.
  • Bryce Dallas Howard (coupled with The Village (2004)) in Spider-Man 3. Thomas Haden Church (coupled with Sideways) was more of a Career Resurrection, as he was well-known for Wings beforehand.
  • J. K. Simmons too, with Whiplash providing a further boost.
• Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland in Captain Blood.
• Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future (he was already known from Family Ties but even that didn't become the mega-hit it was until after the film was released). Also for Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson.
• Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, and to a lesser extent, Arnold Vosloo and Oded Fehr in The Mummy (1999).
• The Marvel Cinematic Universe seems to have a knack for giving actors big breaks:
  • Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston in Thor.
  • Hayley Atwell, Dominic Cooper and Sebastian Stan in Captain America: The First Avenger, but moreso for Sebastian in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
  • Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson.
  • Dave Bautista (as an actor) and Chris Pratt in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).
  • Elizabeth Olsen (already known among indie fans for Martha Marcy May Marlene; coupled with Godzilla (2014)) as Scarlet Witch in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
  • Tom Holland as Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War.
• Morgan Freeman in Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption, and Se7en. 1987's Street Smart can be pointed to as being Freeman's first true breakthrough role (before that, he was likely still best known to most people as Easy Reader on The Electric Company (1971)) as it earned him his first Academy Award nomination.
• James Earl Jones in The Great White Hope.
• Bela Lugosi in Dracula (1931).
• Boris Karloff in Frankenstein (1931).
• Robert Mitchum in The Story of G.I. Joe.
• The Matrix trilogy:
  • Although Keanu Reeves was somewhat well-known for roles such as Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Speed, the Matrix made him a household name overnight.
  • Hugo Weaving is now one of the highest-grossing actors of all time thanks to three blockbuster trilogies (This one, The Lord of the Rings, and the Transformers Film Series) plus Captain America: The First Avenger.
  • Although Laurence Fishburne has been acting since childhood and appeared in some great films, and even earned an Oscar nomination for What's Love Got to Do with It (1993), it wasn't until his mentor role as Morpheus in The Matrix where he achieved superstar status.
  • Ditto for Carrie-Anne Moss, who gained significant recognition for playing Neo's Action Girlfriend, Trinity.
• Paul Giamatti (as a leading actor) in Sideways.
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt in (500) Days of Summer.
• Hugh Grant and John Hannah (coupled with The Mummy Trilogy) in Four Weddings and a Funeral.
• Gene Hackman in The French Connection.
• Colin Hanks in Orange County.
• Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah in Splash. Big would solidify Tom Hanks as it earned him his first Oscar nomination.
• Woody Harrelson (coupled with Cheers) and Rosie Perez in White Men Can't Jump.
• Richard Harris in This Sporting Life.
• Taylor Hickson's minor role in Deadpool gained her recognition.
• William Holden in Sunset Boulevard. Contrary to popular belief, it is not an SMR for Gloria Swanson but a Career Resurrection, as she, like her character, was a successful silent film actress.
• Andrew Garfield in The Social Network and The Amazing Spider-Man.
  • Jesse Eisenberg and Armie Hammer in The Social Network, especially for the former as prior to this film, he was perceived as the Poor Man's Substitute to Michael Cera. Eisenberg's Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for playing the lead role of Facebook head honcho Mark Zuckerberg officially cemented his credibility as an actor.
• Both Christoph Waltz and Daniel Brühl to non-German speaking audiences, and Mélanie Laurent to non-French speaking audiences in Inglourious Basterds.
• Richard Gere in American Gigolo and An Officer and a Gentleman.
• Mel Gibson in Mad Max.
• Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon.
• Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate.
• Anthony Hopkins outside the U.K. in The Silence of the Lambs.
• Terrance Howard in Crash and Hustle & Flow.
• Tom Hardy (coupled with The Dark Knight Rises) in Inception. Since his original intended SMR, Star Trek: Nemesis failed badly, this essentially doubles as a Career Resurrection.
• Ice Cube (as an actor) and Cuba Gooding Jr. in Boyz n the Hood.
• Nick Robinson in Jurassic World.
• Justice Smith In Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Pokémon Detective Pikachu.
• Harvey Keitel in Mean Streets.
• Gene Kelly in For Me and My Gal.
• Bob Hoskins in The Long Good Friday.
• Robert Englund in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).
• Jeff Goldblum in The Fly (1986) and Jurassic Park. The former proved just how talented a performer who, up to that point, had mostly done ensemble pieces and secondary roles really was; the latter was a massive international blockbuster. It should be noted that both characters are Gibbering Genius scientists, albeit with very different personalities (Seth Brundle is awkward and dorky — at least pre-metamorphosis — while Ian Malcolm is a Deadpan Snarker).
• Hugh Jackman, Rebecca Romijn, and James Marsden in X-Men.
• Samuel L. Jackson (coupled with Jungle Fever) and Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction. It also revived John Travolta's career.
• Dwayne Johnson in The Mummy Returns coupled with The Scorpion King as a film actor. He was, however, a very well-established star in WWE at the time. To be specific, the former was the first film in which he got attention while the latter (which is a prequel taking place in the same universe) was the first starring role that propelled him into a real acting career. The Scorpion King also served as this for Kelly Hu.
• Michael B. Jordan in Chronicle and Fruitvale Station. His true rise to fame is Creed, especially after the horrible stumbling block that was Fantastic Four (2015).
• Michael Keaton in Night Shift, Beetlejuice and Batman (1989).
• Val Kilmer in Top Secret!.
• Greg Kinnear in As Good as It Gets.
• Vladimir Kulich in The 13th Warrior.
• Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner in The Killers.
• Martin Lawrence and Téa Leoni in Bad Boys (1995). The film is also Will Smith's very first hit on the big screen, though his major breakthrough would be Independence Day.
• Heath Ledger got plenty of attention in 10 Things I Hate About You and Brokeback Mountain, (and to a lesser extent A Knight's Tale) but the role that truly immortalized him was that of The Joker in The Dark Knight (despite that it was the last role that he played before his untimely death due to accidental overdose).
• Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon, the last film which would be fully completed before his untimely death. The Big Boss made him a national hero in Hong Kong.
  • His son, Brandon, died filming what would have been his own SMR in The Crow (1994).
• The Karate Kid
  • Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, William Zabka, and Martin Kove in The Karate Kid (1984).
  • Yuki Okumoto in The Karate Kid Part II.
  • Thomas Ian Griffith in The Karate Kid Part III.
• Matthew Lillard in either Scream (1996) or Scooby-Doo.
• Kyle MacLachlan in Dune (1984).
• Michael Madsen and Steve Buscemi in Reservoir Dogs.
• Steve Martin in The Jerk.
• James McAvoy's career has had a much more gradual climb than most established actors. He first got noticed by international audiences with The Chronicles of Narnia, received critical acclaim for his performances in The Last King of Scotland and Atonement, and mainstream audiences recognize him as the younger Professor X after the release of X-Men: First Class.
• Matthew McConaughey in A Time to Kill.
• Malcolm McDowell in If.
• Ezra Miller in The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
• Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd and Kelly Macdonald in Trainspotting.
• Juliet Mills in Carry On Jack.
• Rick Moranis in Little Shop of Horrors.
• Kenneth More in both Genevieve and Doctor in the House (1954).
• William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes, Georgie Henley, and Ben Barnes in The Chronicles of Narnia.
• Eddie Murphy in 48 Hrs. and firmly solidified by Beverly Hills Cop.
• Bill Murray in Meatballs.
• Liam Neeson (coupled with Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace), Embeth Davidtz, and Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's List.
  • Ralph would also gain more notability for his role as Voldemort in the Harry Potter film adaptations.
• Paul Newman in Somebody Up There Likes Me.
• Jack Nicholson in Easy Rider. Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda also did very well out of it.
• Chuck Norris in Good Guys Wear Black.
• Chris O'Donnell in Scent of a Woman.
• Edward James Olmos and Rutger Hauer (outside of the Netherlands) in Blade Runner.
• Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia.
• Ed Oxenbould, Kerris Dorsey (coupled with Ray Donovan), and Dylan Minette (tied with Goosebumps (2015) and 13 Reasons Why) in Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
• Al Pacino, James Caan, Diane Keaton, Robert Duvall, John Cazale, and Talia Shire (coupled with Rocky) in The Godfather.
• Robert Patrick, and to a lesser extent Edward Furlong, in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
• Chris Pine, Zoe Saldaña (Tied with Avatar, which came out the same year) and Karl Urban (tied with The Lord of the Rings) in Star Trek (2009).
• Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall.
• Guy Pearce in L.A. Confidential and Memento.
• Simon Pegg and Nick Frost along with director Edgar Wright would later gain fame outside of the U.K. with the films Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.
• Richard Pryor in Silver Streak.
• Randy Quaid in The Last Detail.
• Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Tom Felton, and Evanna Lynch (and pretty much all the child actors) in Harry Potter, although in Robert Pattinson's case Twilight fits this better.
• Claude Rains in The Invisible Man (1933).
• Basically, anyone who dons the legendary cape of Superman on the big screen.
  • Christopher Reeve in Superman and sequels.
  • Brandon Routh in Superman Returns.
  • Henry Cavill in Man of Steel. Though he did have lead roles in The Tudors and Immortals, the Superman reboot provided the biggest boost to his career.
• Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
• Sir Michael Redgrave shot to fame and became a matinée idol on the release of his debut film, Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes (1938), through his pitch-perfect performance of the male lead, Gilbert Redman.
• Hot Tub Time Machine made Craig Robinson (coupled with The Office) Rob Corddry and Clark Duke into moviestars.
• Keanu Reeves in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.
• Edward G. Robinson in Little Caesar.
• Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in Love Finds Andy Hardy, though Garland as an individual player would not become internationally recognized until The Wizard of Oz.
• Adam Sandler in Billy Madison.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger in Conan the Barbarian (1982), solidified considerably by The Terminator, easily his signature role.
• Steven Seagal in Above the Law (1988) and firmly solidified by Under Siege.
• Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt and Sally Kellerman in M*A*S*H.
• Jean-Claude Van Damme in Bloodsport.
• Richard Dreyfuss in American Graffiti.
• George Segal in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.
• Peter Sellers (outside the UK) in The Pink Panther (1963) and Dr. Strangelove.
• Wesley Snipes in New Jack City and Passenger 57; even more so with Blade.
• Kevin Spacey (coupled with Se7en) and Benicio del Toro in The Usual Suspects.
• Jason Statham in The Transporter.
• Sylvester Stallone and Carl Weathers in Rocky.
  • Mr. T in Rocky III (coupled with The A-Team).
  • Hulk Hogan in Rocky III as well. This movie is what made him popular enough to headline the WWF's Golden era.
  • Dolph Lundgren in Rocky IV.
• Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing.
• Robert Townsend in Hollywood Shuffle.
• John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever and Grease.
• Michael Vartan in Never Been Kissed.
• Vince Vaughn in Swingers. He would later be famous for Todd Phillips movies in Old School and Starsky & Hutch and become a marketable leading man in Frat Pack films like Dodge Ball A True Under Dog Story and Wedding Crashers.
• Max von Sydow in The Seventh Seal.
• Mark Wahlberg, Heather Graham (coupled with Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me), Thomas Jane, and Philip Seymour Hoffman in Boogie Nights.
• Jake Gyllenhaal and his sister Maggie in Donnie Darko.
• Channing Tatum in Step Up (coupled with G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, even though ironically, he has considered it extreme Old Shame to him despite providing a boost to his acting career and star power that would follow).
• Ian McKellen (as a film actor) in Richard III.
• Christopher Walken in The Deer Hunter. Though he actually played a supporting part, it won him more recognition than the high-profile starring roles he took in the following years.
• Denzel Washington in Glory, where he also won an Academy Award for best supporting actor. Malcolm X, released in 1992, later established Washington as a leading man.
• Ken Watanabe (outside of Japan) in The Last Samurai.
• John Wayne in Stagecoach.
• Billy Dee Williams (coupled with The Empire Strikes Back) in Lady Sings The Blues. The film also showed what a powerful actress music icon Diana Ross could be, as she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress.
• Robin Williams (as a film actor) in Good Morning, Vietnam as it earned him an Oscar nod.
• Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman in Die Hard. Rickman would later gain further fame as Snape in the Harry Potter adaptations.
• Owen Wilson in Shanghai Noon.
• Elijah Wood, Andy Serkis, Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom, Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd in The Lord of the Rings.
• Jack O'Connell in 300: Rise of an Empire and Unbroken.
• Freddie Highmore in Finding Neverland (coupled with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, in part because Johnny Depp, after working with him on the former, recommended him for the latter).
• Peter Weller and Kurtwood Smith in RoboCop (1987).
• John Cusack in Say Anything....
• Zachary Gordon, Robert Capron, and Devon Bostick in Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
• Ryan Reynolds in Van Wilder.
• Ice-T and Chris Rock in New Jack City.
• Dudley Moore and Bo Derek in 10 (1979)
• Kevin Bacon in Footloose.
• Sean Penn and Jennifer Jason Leigh in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
• Edward Norton in Primal Fear.
• Eric Bana in Chopper.
• Bill Nighy, Andrew Lincoln (coupled with The Walking Dead) and Thomas Brodie-Sangster in Love Actually.
• Joel Edgerton and Frank Grillo in Warrior. The film also solidified both Nick Nolte and Tom Hardy's Career Resurrections (the latter's CR starting with Bronson and Inception).
• Peter Sarsgaard in Garden State.
• Kurt Russell in Escape from New York.
• Cary Elwes, and Mandy Patinkin in The Princess Bride.
• Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook in She's All That.
• Oscar Isaac (coupled with Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens) in Inside Llewyn Davis.
• C. Thomas Howell, Emilio Estevez and Rob Lowe in The Outsiders.
• Dev Patel and Freida Pinto in Slumdog Millionaire.
• Chadwick Boseman in 42 and Get On Up. Cemented in Black Panther (2018).
• Ansel Elgort in The Fault in Our Stars. Divergent also got him attention, but this is the film that shot him to the stratosphere.
  • Miles Teller, also known from Divergent, got the attention of everyone with Whiplash.
• Michael Shannon in Revolutionary Road.
• Bill Skarsgård in It (2017). And to a lesser extent, the entire cast of child actors with the exception of Finn Wolfhard, who was already famous for Stranger Things.
• Dane Dehaan in Chronicle.
• Neel Sethi in The Jungle Book (2016).
• Tye Sheridan in Mud.
• Burt Reynolds in Deliverance.
• Mark Ruffalo first got noticed by critics in You Can Count on Me (2000), but it was the one-two punch of The Kids Are All Right (2010) and The Avengers (2012) which made him a true star.
• O'Shea Jackson Jr.., Corey Hawkins, and Jason Mitchell in Straight Outta Compton.
• Geoffrey Rush in Shine.
• William Hurt in Altered States.
• Eddie Redmayne (coupled with My Week with Marilyn and Les Misérables (2012)) and Felicity Jones in The Theory of Everything.
• David Oyelowo in Selma. Oyelowo was somewhat known before, but Selma raised his profile significantly.
  • He would also get some recognition as the voice of Agent Kallus in Star Wars Rebels.
• Taron Egerton, Sofia Boutella, and Sophie Cookson in Kingsman: The Secret Service.
• Toby Kebbell in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
• Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Lucas Black, and Brian Tee in The Fast and the Furious.
  • While Gal Gadot first gained recognition outside of Israel through her role in these films, most people will point to her role as Wonder Woman (either in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice or her first solo outing) as her true ascension to superstardom.
• Stefan Kapičić in Deadpool (2016).
• Damon Wayans in The Last Boy Scout (coupled with In Living Color!).
• Johnny Weissmuller was well known as the fastest Olympic swimmer of his era, but the role of Tarzan, starting with Tarzan the Ape Man (1932), made him a film icon.
• Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner in Twilight.
• Blake Michael in Lemonade Mouth.
• Gaspard Ulliel in A Very Long Engagement.
• Matt Letscher in The Mask of Zorro.
• Timothée Chalamet in Call Me by Your Name.
• Tobin Bell already had a decade-long character acting career, but the role of John "Jigsaw" Kramer in the Saw films established him as a horror icon.

Actresses

• Amy Adams in Enchanted. She had already received an Academy Award nomination for her role in Junebug, but it was the live-action Disney princess film that put her on the map.
• Jessica Alba in Honey.
• Karen Allen in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
• Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins.
• Awkwafina in Crazy Rich Asians.
• Lauren Bacall in her debut film, To Have And Have Not.
• Drew Barrymore in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (as a child actress) and The Wedding Singer (as an adult actress).
• Kim Basinger in 9½ Weeks and cemented by Batman.
• Kathy Bates in Misery.
• Jennifer Beals in Flashdance.
• Annette Bening in The Grifters.
• Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca internationally, though she was already famous in Europe for a few years.
• Halle Berry in Boomerang (1992).
• Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth.
• Kate Bosworth in Blue Crush
• Lorraine Bracco in Goodfellas.
• Sandra Bullock in Speed.
• Julie Christie in Darling and Doctor Zhivago. Her supporting role in Billy Liar also helped get her noticed.
• Jill Clayburgh in An Unmarried Woman.
• Toni Collette in Muriel's Wedding.
• Lily Collins in Mirror, Mirror.
• Laura Dern in Jurassic Park.
• Cameron Diaz and Ben Stiller in There's Something About Mary.
• Kirsten Dunst in Interview with the Vampire as a child star. She later established her adult career with Spider-Man. Jumanji and Bring It On bridged the gap in her teen years.
• Anna Faris and Regina Hall in Scary Movie.
• Dakota Fanning in i am sam.
• Elle Fanning in Super 8 and Maleficent.
• Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby.
• Rebecca Ferguson in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.
• Isabelle Fuhrman in Orphan and The Hunger Games.
• Jane Fonda in Cat Ballou.
• Though she did get attention for the aforementioned Taxi Driver and The Accused being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in the former and winning the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role in the latter, Jodie Foster did not become a superstar until The Silence of the Lambs.
• Jennifer Garner in 13 Going on 30.
• Mia Goth in X.
• Melanie Griffith in Working Girl.
• Tiffany Haddish in Girls Trip.
• Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn and Lance Henriksen in The Terminator. Aliens further boosted the latter two, especially Henriksen.
• Marcia Gay Harden in Miller's Crossing.
• Anne Hathaway in The Princess Diaries.
• Salma Hayek, whose role in Desperado and striking turn as the vampire stripper in From Dusk Till Dawn - and her striking bikini - instantly catapulted her to stardom.
• Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday.
• Kate Hudson, Zooey Deschanel, Patrick Fugit, and Billy Crudup in Almost Famous.
• Olivia Hussey and Michael York in Romeo and Juliet (1968).
• Kristanna Loken and Nick Stahl in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
• Jessica Lange in Tootsie.
• Lucy Liu in Charlie's Angels (2000).
• Jennifer Love Hewitt in I Know What You Did Last Summer.
• Scarlett Johansson in Lost in Translation (Girl with a Pearl Earring can count too, but as Lost in Translation was released first and was the much bigger hit of the two, and got the Oscar nomination, it is much more likely to be cited as her SMR.) It also served as a Career Resurrection for Bill Murray.
• Natalie Portman in The Professional and The Phantom Menace.
• Angelina Jolie in Girl, Interrupted and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.
• Milla Jovovich in The Fifth Element.
• Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge! and The Others (2001). While she first gained notice with Dead Calm and enjoyed reasonable success throughout The '90s, for most of that decade she was best known as "Mrs. Tom Cruise", and many people believed that she owed her career to her husband. Her headlining two hit movies in 2001, just months after her divorce from Cruise, demonstrated that she was a genuine talent and A-lister in her own right without any help from Cruise.
• Nastassja Kinski in Tess.
• Though she did get attention for Winter's Bone and X-Men: First Class (even getting an Oscar nomination for the former), Jennifer Lawrence never became a superstar until The Hunger Games.
  • The Hunger Games also applies to Josh Hutcherson, Alexander Ludwig, Lenny Kravitz (as an actor) Amandla Stenberg, Willow Shields, Dayo Okeniyi, Sam Claflin, and Liam Hemsworth.
    • Though Josh Hutcherson was pretty well-known from his childhood roles in Bridge to Terabithia and Journey to the Center of the Earth. Ditto for Alex in Race to Witch Mountain. Liam Hemsworth was mostly known for his relationship with Miley Cyrus before The Hunger Games.
• Lisa Kudrow in Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (coupled with Friends).
• Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind on the international scene. She already had some renown for native British films and in theater prior Clark Gable, who many incorrectly assume also broke out with this film, was already established at that point.
• Jennifer Lopez in Selena. This was before her music career began, by the way.
• Rooney Mara and Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) and The Millennium Trilogy respectively.
• Sophie Marceau internationally (who was already a big star in France) in Braveheart.
• Marilyn Monroe in Niagara.
• Demi Moore in Ghost (1990).
• Julianne Moore in Short Cuts.
• Mandy Moore in A Walk to Remember.
• Elliot Page in Juno, which continued to boost Michael Cera's popularity.
• Molly Ringwald in Sixteen Candles.
• Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman.
• Saoirse Ronan in Atonement, which got her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination at the age of 13.
• Rene Russo in Lethal Weapon 3.
• Susan Sarandon in Atlantic City
• Elisabeth Shue in Adventures in Babysitting.
• Jean Simmons was first noticed for her portrayal of teenage Estella in David Lean's adaptation of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations (1946), and as Kanchi in Black Narcissus (1947). However, her breakthrough came when she played Ophelia in Laurence Olivier's's rendition of William Shakespeare's Hamlet (1948), which led to her first Academy Award nomination. Her first significant achievement in a leading role was in The Blue Lagoon (1949), which also launched co-star Donald Houston's career. In Hollywood, she was first noticed in Angel Face but her breakthrough as a leading lady came with The Robe.
• Maggie Smith in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie established herself as a leading film actress and won her first Academy Award.
• Kristen Stewart in Twilight
• Julia Stiles in 10 Things I Hate About You.
• Emma Stone as a leading lady in Easy A though Superbad and Zombieland made huge blips on the radar.
• Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct.
• Meryl Streep in Kramer vs. Kramer.
• Hilary Swank and Chloë Sevigny in Boys Don't Cry.
• Charlize Theron in 2 Days in the Valley and The Devil's Advocate as a supporting actress and Monster as a leading actress.
• Kathleen Turner in Body Heat.
• Liv Tyler in Stealing Beauty and Armageddon (1998).
• Naomi Watts in Mulholland Dr..
• Sigourney Weaver in Alien.
• Rachel Weisz in The Mummy (1999)
• Olivia Wilde in TRON: Legacy (although some may argue that her role in House helped her quite a bit as well).
• Catherine Zeta-Jones in The Mask of Zorro.
• Brigitte Bardot and Jean-Louis Trintignant in And God Created Woman.
• Shirley Temple in Bright Eyes.
• Betty Grable and Carmen Miranda in Down Argentine Way.
• Sissy Spacek, Amy Irving and Nancy Allen in Carrie (1976).
• Diane Kruger outside of Germany in Troy
• Rachel Griffiths and Toni Collette in Muriel's Wedding.
• Angela Bassett for What's Love Got to Do with It (1993).
• Linda Cardellini in the Scooby-Doo franchise (Freaks and Geeks was never a mainstream hit).
• Carla Gugino, Daryl Sabara, and Alexa Vega in Spy Kids.
• Whoopi Goldberg in The Color Purple (1985).
• Alicia Silverstone, Stacey Dash, Brittany Murphy, Breckin Meyer and Paul Rudd (coupled with I Love You, Man) in Clueless.
• Mira Sorvino in Mighty Aphrodite.
• Anna Kendrick in Up in the Air and Pitch Perfect.
• Rebel Wilson and Adam Devine in Pitch Perfect.
• Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers (as actors) in Camp Rock.
• Danielle Panabaker (coupled with Friday the 13th (2009)) and Michael Angarano in Sky High (2005).
• Chloë Grace Moretz and Aaron Johnson in Kick-Ass.
• Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny, which won her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
• Anna Paquin in The Piano. She won the 1993 Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role at the age of eleven, becoming the second-youngest winner in Oscar history after...
• Tatum O'Neal in Paper Moon.
• Abigail Breslin and Paul Dano in Little Miss Sunshine. It also served as a Career Resurrection for Alan Arkin.
• Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween (1978).
• Winona Ryder (coupled with Beetlejuice) and Christian Slater in Heathers.
• Piper Perabo in Coyote Ugly. Maria Bello was already known from ER, but got a significant boost from this film as well.
• Monica Keena in Freddy vs. Jason.
• Reese Witherspoon in Election and Legally Blonde.
• Gwyneth Paltrow (coupled with Se7en and Emma) in Shakespeare in Love.
• Final Destination film series:
  • Ali Larter (coupled with Heroes) and Devon Sawa in Final Destination.
  • A.J. Cook (coupled with Criminal Minds) in Final Destination 2.
  • Mary Elizabeth Winstead (coupled with Sky High) in Final Destination 3.
  • Shantel VanSanten in Final Destination 4.
  • Nicholas D'Agosto, Emma Bell and Jacqueline Maclnnes Wood (coupled with The Bold and the Beautiful) in Final Destination 5.
• AnnaSophia Robb (coupled with Bridge to Terabithia) in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
• Rachel McAdams (coupled with The Notebook) in Mean Girls. Amanda Seyfried may also count, but Mamma Mia! gave her more boost than this film.
• Mia Wasikowska (coupled with In Treatment) in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (2010).
• Emily Browning in A Series of Unfortunate Events.
• Maggie Grace (at the time, already well known for her role on Lost) and Katie Cassidy in Taken. The film also redefined Liam Neeson's career.
• Geena Davis in The Fly (1986). Up to that point she'd only had secondary/tertiary roles in three movies and was best known if at all for her work on television, mostly in sitcoms; this proved she could handle much meatier roles on a larger canvas.
• Andie MacDowell and James Spader in sex, lies, and videotape.
• Goldie Hawn in Cactus Flower, which won her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress (since the better-known Ingrid Bergman was billed above her).
• Elizabeth Banks in the one-two punch of Spider-Man and Seabiscuit, both released one year after the other. She would also find fame later with Invincible.
• Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally....
• Ayelet Zurer (outside of Israel) in Munich.
• Neve Campbell (coupled with Party of Five) in Scream (1996).
• Vera Farmiga in The Departed.
• Isla Fisher in Wedding Crashers.
• Robin Wright in either The Princess Bride and Forrest Gump.
• Kate Beckinsale in Underworld (2003).
• Carey Mulligan (coupled with the Doctor Who episode "Blink") in An Education.
• Emma Thompson and Helena Bonham Carter in Howards End.
• Lindsay Lohan as twins in The Parent Trap. The fireworks fly in the opening credits when "Introducing Lindsay Lohan" appears.
• Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain in The Help. The Tree of Life also earned Chastain acclaim the same year.
• Emily Blunt in The Devil Wears Prada.
• Christina Ricci in The Addams Family.
• Shailene Woodley was somewhat well-known before Divergent and The Fault in Our Stars but it is generally agreed that these two movies were her true Star Making Roles.
  • More straightforward examples from Divergent include Theo James, Zoë Kravitz, and Jai Courtney.
• Margot Robbie outside of Australia in The Wolf of Wall Street and firmly solidified by Suicide Squad (2016).
• Charlotte Rampling in The Night Porter.
• Rila Fukushima and Tao Okamoto in The Wolverine.
• Taraji P. Henson in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
• Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan in Fifty Shades of Grey.
• Bette Midler in The Rose.
• Sienna Miller became a star in her home country, Great Britain, with her very first two roles in Layer Cake and Alfie, and (coupled with G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) to American audiences in Foxcatcher and American Sniper.
• Michelle Pfeiffer in Scarface (1983).
• Maggie Q in Naked Weapon.
• Hailee Steinfeld achieved cult stardom thanks to the 2010 remake of True Grit, which was literally her first-ever acting role. Her ascension to the mainstream came five years later with Pitch Perfect 2. And that's all without bringing up her music career, which only brought her further into superstardom.
• Gabrielle Union in Bring It On.
• Alicia Vikander in Testament of Youth, Ex Machina and The Danish Girl.
• Frances McDormand, Peter Stormare and John Carroll Lynch (coupled with The Drew Carey Show) in Fargo.
• Marion Cotillard became a star in Francophone countries with A Very Long Engagement and worldwide with her Oscar-winning La Vie en Rose.
• Glenn Close in The World According to Garp.
• Brie Larson in Room. Larson's been acting for years beforehand, appearing in hits like United States of Tara, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, and 21 Jump Street, and has had a following in the indie circuit thanks to Short Term 12. However, her performance as "Ma" in the adaptation of Emma Donoghue's popular novel earned her a Best Actress Oscar, leading her to land the role of Carol Danvers in Marvel Cinematic Universe's Captain Marvel (2019). Room is also the breakout for Jacob Tremblay.
• Debra Winger in Urban Cowboy.
• Léa Seydoux has appeared in several hit films prior to Blue Is the Warmest Color, such as Inglorious Basterds and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, but it was her role in the French drama that truly got her name out there. Since then, she's appeared in several hit films like the Wes Anderson film The Grand Budapest Hotel and the James Bond film Spectre. It's played perfectly straight, however, for Adele Exarchopoulos, who was almost completely unknown prior to the film.
• Amanda Seyfried in Mamma Mia!. She had some prior recognition with Big Love and, especially, Mean Girls.
• Sean Young in Blade Runner.
• Renée Zellweger in Jerry Maguire.
• Audrey Tautou in Amélie
• Brianna Hildebrand in Deadpool (2016).
• Irene Dunne in Cimarron.
• Odeya Rush in The Odd Life of Timothy Green and The Giver
• Dafne Keen in Logan.
• Lily James in Cinderella (2015)
• Joan Chen in The Last Emperor.
• While well-established actors in China, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon boosted the careers of Chow Yun-fat, Zhang Zi Yi, Cheng Pei-Pei, and Michelle Yeoh (coupled with Tomorrow Never Dies) internationally.
• Connie Nielsen in The Devil's Advocate.
• Katharine Isabelle in Ginger Snaps.
• Alexandra Daddario and Logan Lerman in Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief.
• Evan Rachel Wood in Thirteen (2003).
• Jena Malone in Bastard out of Carolina.
• Virginia Madsen and Tony Todd in Candyman.
• Tippi Hedren in The Birds.
• Martha Higareda's first major role in Amar Te Duele made her famous in native Mexico.
• Sophia Lillis in It (2017).
• Madison Iseman in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.
• Olivia Cooke in Ready Player One.
• Kathryn Newton in Pokémon Detective Pikachu even though her first lead role was in the fourth Paranormal Activity.
• Rosa Salazar as the eponymous Alita: Battle Angel.
• Jordana Brewster, Elsa Pataky and Michelle Rodriguez (coupled with her cult hit Girlfight) in The Fast and the Furious.
• Sofia Carson in Descendants.
• Hayley Kiyoko and Naomi Scott in Lemonade Mouth.
• Geraldine Viswanathan in Blockers.
• Gina Carano in Haywire.
• Tamlyn Tomita in The Karate Kid Part II.
• The Bond Girls in James Bond film series. Specifically, Ursula Andress, Jane Seymour (Actress), Barbara Bach, Kim Basinger (though it was an "unofficial" Bond film), Barbara Carrera (same case and film as Basinger), Maryam d'Abo, Carey Lowell (although some will argue Law & Order), Talisa Soto, Famke Janssen, Rosamund Pike (although some will argue Gone Girl), Eva Green, Gemma Arterton and Olga Kurylenko.
• Jennifer Connelly in Requiem for a Dream. She's already known before this, but this is the film attributed to her being a credible actress.
• Ana de Armas in Knives Out. She's already known for Knock Knock (2015) and Blade Runner 2049, but this was the film that cemented her standing.
• Rachel Zegler and Ariana Debose in West Side Story (2021). While the film underperformed, the critical acclaim the two received, Zegler won a Golden Globe and Debose won an Oscar, skyrocketed their careers.
• Joanna Pacuła first gained prominence through her work with the Warsaw Dramatic Theatre, but it was her role as Irina Asanova in the film adaptation of Gorky Park that gained her international attention.
• The 1969 film Baby Love first put Linda Hayden on the map, but it was her creepy, charismatic performance as Angel Blake in The Blood on Satan's Claw that truly propelled her into cult stardom.

Japanese voice actors (dubbing only)

• Kensho Ono as the titular Harry Potter, along with Tetsuya Kuroko & Giorno Giovanna.
• Miyu Irino as Haku in Spirited Away, along with Sora.
• Chiaki Nagatomi in the Star Wars new trilogy as Rey.
• Makoto Tamura and Jun'ya Enoki Alongside with Shion Kiba,Pannacotta Fugo, and Yuji Itadori in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Black Panther and Spider-Man.

Mexican voice actors (dubbing only)

• Sergio Gutiérrez Coto in The Dark Knight Trilogy as Batman.
• Salvador Nájar in the original edition of the Star Wars original trilogy as Luke Skywalker, along with Arthur.
• Livier Zuñiga and Abraham Vega in the Star Wars new trilogy as Rey and Finn respectively.
• Jessica Ángeles in The Hunger Games as Katniss Everdeen, along with Princess Zelda.
• Martín Soto in Ghostbusters (1984) as Egon Spengler, whom he'd also dub in the animated series
• José Lavat as either Captain Georg von Trapp in The Sound of Music (and the World Masterpiece Theater version, Trapp Family Story) or Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.
• Luis Alfonso Mendoza in The Karate Kid as Daniel "Daniel-san" Larusso

Spaniard voice actors (dubbing only)

• Axel Amigo as Daniel Radcliffe's Harry Potter.
• Nacho Aldeguer as Haley Joel Osment's immortal performance in The Sixth Sense.
• Jordi Boixaderas as Russell Crowe's Maximus in Gladiator.
• Jordi Brau voicing Robin Williams' John Keating in Good Morning, Vietnam.
• Camilo García as Anthony Hopkins (Hannibal Lecter) in The Silence of the Lambs and Harrison Ford (Han Solo) in the first Star Wars film.
• Mario Gas as Ben Kingsley's Gandhi.
• Miguel Ángel Jenner as Samuel L. Jackson's Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction.
  • Daughter Michelle Jenner became known when voicing Emma Watson Hermione Granger in Harry Potter. As a live-action actress she became known for the comedy TV series Los Hombres de Paco.
  • Son David Jenner as Sean Astin's Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings.
• Gabriel Jiménez as Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) in X-Men.
• Ramón Langa for voicing Bruce Willis' John McClane in the first Die Hard film, though he voiced Willis before in Moonlighting.
• Pepe Mediavilla had a career that began between the late '60s and early '70s but his biggest and most famous role, aside from almost religiously voicing many of Morgan Freeman's roles, came in 2001 as Ian McKellen's Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings.
• Laura Pastor as The Other Darrin for Hermione Granger in Harry Potter.
• Luis Posada as Jim Carrey's characters in The Mask and Dumb and Dumber as well as Leonardo DiCaprio's Jack Dawson in Titanic. Though Capt. Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is probably the most famous to date.
• The late Constantino Romero in the original trilogy of Star Wars as Darth Vader.
• Claudio Serrano as Christian Bale's Batman in Batman Begins was his start as the official voice for the Cape Crusader in various related media.
• Ricardo Solans had a career dating back to the '60s, including being the official voice of Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro, but his true breakout as de Niro was the 1991 remake of Cape Fear, which became a Memetic Mutation with the "Counselor!" (translated as "¡Abogado!" in Spanish) catch phrase.
• Marta Tamarit as Meg Ryan's Sally in When Harry Met Sally....
• Salvador Vidal as Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) in the Star Wars original trilogy.

European French voice actors (dubbing only)

• Adrien Antoine as Jake Sully in Avatar.
• Hervé Bellon as Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) in Blade Runner.
• Daniel Beretta as the official voice actor for Arnold Schwarzenegger since Ivan Danko in Red Heat.
• Dominique Collignon-Maurin as Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) in the original Star Wars trilogy.
• Emmanuel Curtil as the main voice of Jim Carrey starting with Stanley Ipkiss/The Mask in The Mask and Ace Ventura.
• Richard Darbois as Biff Tannen in Back to the Future and the main voice of Harrison Ford with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade as Indiana Jones (he had voiced him before in Blade Runner).
• Alain Dorval as Sylvester Stallone's voice since Rocky.
• Bernard Gabay as Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) in The Lord of the Rings and Detective Mac Taylor in CSI: NY. Skyrocketed even further with Tony Stark/Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
• Luq Hamet as Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) in Back to the Future.
• Pierre Hatet as Doc Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd) in Back to the Future.
• Bernard Lanneau as the voice of Kevin Costner since Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
• Francis Lax as the early voice of Harrison Ford as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (though he was also fairly well known as the voice of Shaggy Rogers in Scooby-Doo a few years before A New Hope).
• Céline Monsarrat as the main voice of Julia Roberts with Vivian Ward in Pretty Woman.
• Michel Papineschi as the main dubbing voice of Robin Williams. He started dubbing Williams in 1990 with Awakenings, but it really took off with Peter Banning/Peter Pan in Hook.
• Patrick Poivey as the main voice of Bruce Willis since John McClane in Die Hard.

Canadian French voice actors (dubbing only)

• Émile Mailhiot, Xavier Dolan (as a voice actor), and Stéfanie Dolan as Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger respectively.

---