Live-action TV series produce their own share of stars, too. Some may stick with television, while others may make the jump to film to expand their audience.
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
- All in the Family: Star-making show for each of the four major leads – Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers - although only Reiner really achieved further fame after the show ended (albeit as a director). O'Connor did have another successful TV role with In the Heat of the Night, and a minor role on Mad About You as Jamie's father. But after that he disappeared.
- The Jeffersons: Star-Making Role for several actors, but most notably Sherman Hemsley, who played lead protagonist George Jefferson. His original role on All in the Family could count to a lesser extent.
- The Andy Griffith Show:
- At age 6, cute little red-headed, freckle-faced Ron Howard became a true star, and it really opened the doors for his later role in Happy Days and his legendary career as a director.
- While he'd earned some coverage for his work in the Soap Opera Search for Tomorrow years before, it was the role of Barney Fife that would truly put Don Knotts on the map.
- Happy Days: Ron Howard was already an established star, thanks to his role as Opie Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show. Several of his co-stars would forever become ingrained in popular culture afterward, most notably Henry Winkler (The Fonz), but also Marion Ross (Mrs. C) and Tom Bosley (Mr. C). Howard would achieve greater notability as a director.
- Tom Hanks in Bosom Buddies.
- Bonanza: Although Michael Landon (the youngest of the four lead characters) had his breakthrough a couple of years earlier with I Was a Teenaged Werewolf, his co-stars — Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts and Dan Blocker — weren't really that well-known until they and Landon appeared one September 1959 evening in living color on NBC. Although this was Blocker's only major role (due to his 1972 death), Greene went on to star in Battlestar Galactica (1978) and Roberts would later become Trapper John, M.D.; Landon, of course, would be forever tied to Little House on the Prairie and Highway to Heaven.
- Jonathan Bailey, Regé-Jean Page, Phoebe Dynevor, Claudia Jessie, Nicola Coughlan, Simone Ashley and Luke Newton start to gain international recognition ever since starring in Bridgerton.
- Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith, Kate Jackson, and Cheryl Ladd in Charlie's Angels.
- The Crown has proven to be the Star-Making Role for the likes of Claire Foy and Vanessa Kirby who portrays the young Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret respectively. Later would prove the launching points for the careers of Josh O'Connor and Emma Corrin, who portrayed Prince Charles and Princess Diana.
- The Dukes of Hazzard: This series provided the first starring roles for series stars John Schneider, Tom Wopat and Catherine Bach. However, the trope truly fits the two other stars of this series – James Best and Sorrell Booke. Both Best and Booke had been somewhat well-known and landed occasional leading roles, but never anything that made them instantly Household Names to fans until their legendary roles as dim-witted sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane and corrupt county commissioner Boss Hogg, respectively.
- The Hogan Family: Jason Bateman had supporting roles in Little House on the Prairie and Silver Spoons, plus starred in the short-lived Sitcom It's Your Move. But it wasn't until his role as eldest teenaged son David Hogan that Jason became a true star, paving the way for his later stints as director and star of Arrested Development.
- Game Shows: Here's a list of several star-making hosting stints for these legendary hosts (note that several of these hosts may have been well known in other genres or as radio hosts):
- Bob Barker: Truth or Consequences
- Tom Bergeron: The Hollywood Squares (1990s-2000s revival)
- Dick Clark: Already famous for American Bandstand, Clark had his first successful game show run with the Pyramid franchise.
- Bill Cullen: Winner Take All, a quiz show from 1948 that was his first long-running gig, although he is better known for his hosting the original The Price Is Right.
- Richard Dawson: As guest panelist on Match Game, as a host on Family Feud (his only truly successful game show hosting stint).
- Bob Eubanks: The Newlywed Game.
- Monty Hall: Although he hosted a game based on a board game called Video Village, his true star-making hosting gig came with Let's Make a Deal.
- Jim Lange: The Dating Game.
- Allen Ludden: G.E. College Bowl, an academic quiz bowl series from the late 1950s, although like Cullen, a later hosting gig – his run at Password is where he is best known.
- Tom Kennedy: You Don't Say, a Password-type game from the mid-1960s. For 1970s audiences and later, he truly came of age with Name That Tune.
- Jimmy Kimmel: Win Ben Stein's Money.
- Peter Marshall: The Hollywood Squares (original version).
- Jim Perry: Card Sharks, the original from 1978.
- Gene Rayburn: Match Game. A curious example in that he hosted both the original 1960s version and most-famous 1970s revival, but is more known for the latter than the former.
- Pat Sajak: Wheel of Fortune. Same with Vanna White.
- Alex Trebek: High Rollers, although to today's audiences, his true die was cast in Jeopardy!
- Wink Martindale: While well known for Gambit in the 1970s, his true superstardom came with Tic-Tac-Dough.
- Chuck Woolery: Like his successor, Pat Sajak, it's Wheel of Fortune. Same with his co-host, Susan Stafford. Although for some reason Wheel doesn't like to acknowledge him. For most people, it was his hosting Scrabble and/or Love Connection that made his career.
- Battlestar Galactica (2003) provided quite a few of these: Katee Sackhoff, Jamie Bamber, Grace Park, Tricia Helfer, Tahmoh Penikett, Aaron Douglas and James Callis.
- French actor Bruno Debrandt was active on stage for 20 years prior to Caïn. The series brought his name to a nationwide audience.
- Charlie Hunnam, Ryan Hurst, Maggie Siff and Kim Coates in Sons of Anarchy.
- Jessica Alba in Dark Angel.
- Tim Allen in Home Improvement.
- Richard Dean Anderson in MacGyver.
- David Hasselhoff in Knight Rider.
- Pamela Anderson, Carmen Electra, Traci Bingham, Nicole Eggert, Yasmine Bleeth, and Kelly Packard in Baywatch.
- Basically the whole cast of Friends as the producers cast nearly unknown actors for all the lead roles. Try calling Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow and to a lesser extent Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc unknown now.
- Christina Applegate, Katey Sagal, David Faustino and Ed O'Neill in Married... with Children. Even today, people still only recognize O'Neill as Al Bundy, although his role on Modern Family may be changing this. Sagal went on to 8 Simple Rules, Futurama and Sons of Anarchy.
- Rowan Atkinson in Blackadder. In the UK, Blackadder had Star Making Roles for Atkinson, Hugh Laurie, Tony Robinson, Stephen Fry and Miranda Richardson. In the U.S., Laurie didn't become a star until the debut of House after Mr. Bean made Atkinson a star there.
- Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, Gina Torres, Morena Baccarin, Jewel Staite, Sean Maher, Alan Tudyk, and Summer Glau in Firefly. The only remaining member of the starring cast, Ron Glass, instead experienced a Career Resurrection.
- Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, January Jones, Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, and Kiernan Shipka in Mad Men.
- Neil Patrick Harris in Doogie Howser, M.D. as a child star, and in How I Met Your Mother (coupled with Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle) as an adult.
- Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders, Lyndsy Fonseca and Cristin Milioti (as a screen actress) in How I Met Your Mother.
- Michael J. Fox (coupled with Back to the Future) in Family Ties. Counts as a Career Resurrection for Meredith Baxter, after having first found fame in the 1970s TV series "Bridget Loves Bernie".
- Claire Danes and Jared Leto in My So-Called Life.
- Eric Idle and John Cleese (tied with Fawlty Towers) in Monty Python's Flying Circus.
- Zhao Wei shot to stardom after Princess Returning Pearl.
- Sean Bean in Sharpe.
- Alan Alda in M*A*S*H.
- Pierce Brosnan in Remington Steele.
- Denzel Washington, Mark Harmon (also see NCIS below), and Howie Mandel in St. Elsewhere.
- Robert Vaughn and David McCallum in The Man from U.N.C.L.E..
- NYPD Blue:
- David Caruso had been a cast member for only the first season and was labeled the next big thing, but a series of Box Office Bombs shifted him to back burner status. Then CSI: Miami came around, and the rest... is history.
- Dennis Franz has been in several shows and films before, but playing the iconic Andy Sipowicz landed him several awards throughout the show's run.
- Nicholas Turturro, James McDaniel, Jimmy Smits, Amy Brenneman, Sharon Lawrence, Kim Delaney, Gail O'Grady, Charlotte Ross, and Henry Simmons all got major career boosts for starring in this series.
- Richard Jenkins, Michael C. Hall (tied with Dexter), Frances Conroy, Peter Krause, Lauren Ambrose, and Rachel Griffiths in Six Feet Under.
- George Clooney, Julianna Margulies, Alex Kingston, Laura Innes, Kellie Martin, Goran Višnjić, Scott Grimes, Ming-Na Wen (coupled with Mulan) and Noah Wyle in ER. Anthony Edwards and Eriq La Salle are already well-established actors before the show, but their tenure here is what netted them several accolades.
- The Daily Show put quite a few people on the map. Obviously, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Trevor Noah got the biggest boosts from the show (and in Colbert's case, a spinoff series based on parody trailers from the show). It's also given a shot in the arm to John Oliver, Aasif Mandvi, Rob Corddry and (debatably) Lewis Black.
- Other well known Daily Show alums include Ed Helms and Steve Carell.
- Katie Couric on Today.
- Scott Bakula in Quantum Leap. It also gave Dean Stockwell a Career Resurrection.
- Ted Danson, Shelley Long, Kirstie Alley, Rhea Perlman, George Wendt, John Ratzenberger, Bebe Neuwirth and Woody Harrelson in Cheers.
- Cheers spawned Frasier, which provided Star Making Roles for Kelsey Grammer (although Cheers itself could count.) and later David Hyde Pierce.
- Pauley Perrette, Michael Weatherly, Sasha Alexander, Cote de Pablo, and Emily Wickersham in NCIS. Mark Harmon's case is more of a Career Resurrection as he is well-known for his roles in St. Elsewhere and Chicago Hope; ditto David McCallum who had been a major star in The '60s thanks to The Man from U.N.C.L.E. but was relatively unknown among the younger generation.
- Alyssa Milano in Who's the Boss?.
- Teri Hatcher and Dean Cain in Lois & Clark.
- Doctor Who: David Tennant and Matt Smith. Also Christopher Eccleston (to an extent), John Barrowman, Billie Piper (as an actress; this is considered a Career Resurrection when her music career is taken into account), Freema Agyeman, Jenna Coleman, and Karen Gillan. This trope happens for most of the Doctors and their companions, particularly William Hartnell and Tom Baker.
- Averted with the Twelfth Doctor, Peter Capaldi. His Star Making Role was in The Thick of It, although this was an SMR on an international scale.
- Also averted with John Hurt, who had a long and prolific career in stage, film, and TV before playing the War Doctor.
- One more aversion with Peter Davison, whose star-making role was in All Creatures Great and Small (1978).
- Alexis Bledel, Lauren Graham, Scott Patterson, Liza Weil, Milo Ventimiglia (coupled with Heroes), Matt Czuchry and Melissa McCarthy in Gilmore Girls. Jared Padalecki is much more associated with Supernatural nowadays.
- Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, Topher Grace, Wilmer Valderrama and Laura Prepon in That '70s Show. It also provided Kurtwood Smith a Career Resurrection.
- Charlie Murphy on Chappelle's Show, following the C: True Hollywood Stories skits in the second season.
- The Olsen twins, Mary-Kate and Ashley, on Full House. They started much younger than most examples. This trope would also apply to the likes of Bob Saget, Dave Coulier, Lori Loughlin and Candace Cameron Bure. John Stamos had already been a big star for five years, since starting out on General Hospital. The sequel series Fuller House is this to the child actors.
- Hayden Panettiere (arguably coupled with Remember the Titansnote ), Zachary Quinto (coupled with the 2009 Star Trek film), Ali Larter (coupled with Final Destination), and Masi Oka in Heroes.
- Ty Pennington from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
- John Ritter and Suzanne Somers in Three's Company.
- Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran, Roxann Dawson, Tim Russ, and Jeri Ryan in Star Trek: Voyager.
- Adam Savage, Jamie Hyneman, Grant Imohara, Tory Belleci, and Kari Byron from Mythbusters.
- William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Walter Koenig, George Takei, James Doohan, and Nichelle Nichols from Star Trek: The Original Series
- Will Smith in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Independence Day and Men in Black carried Smith to greater heights on the silver screen.
- Martin Lawrence in Martin.
- Amanda Tapping, Michael Shanks, Christopher Judge, and Don S. Davis in Stargate SG-1. For Richard Dean Anderson, however, it was a Career Resurrection as he was already well-known for being MacGyver. Stargate Atlantis served as this for Joe Flanigan, Rachel Luttrell, David Hewlett, Torri Higginson, and, by far most famously, Jason Momoa.
- Bob Vila from This Old House
- Robin Williams in Mork & Mindy.
- Herbert Joeks in Pipo De Clown
- Taxi produced a few: Tony Danza, Andy Kaufman, Judd Hirsch, Danny DeVito and Christopher Lloyd
- Buffyverse:
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer provided several: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alyson Hannigan, Charisma Carpenter, Nicholas Brendon, David Boreanaz, Eliza Dushku, James Marsters, Juliet Landau, Alexis Denisof, Amber Benson, and to a lesser degree, Michelle Trachtenberg.
- J. August Richards and Amy Acker in Angel.
- Schitt's Creek: Daniel Levy, Annie Murphy, Emily Hampshire, Tim Rozon, Sarah Levy, Dustin Milligan, and Noah Reid have all done extremely well since being cast as the younger generation on the Canadian cult comedy.
- It would take a while to name all of the big-time sportscasters who became famous after anchoring Sports Center, however some of the most notable are:
- Chris Berman
- Dan Patrick
- Keith Olbermann; he would eventually become more famous for Countdown with Keith Olbermann.
- Rich Eisen
- Mike Greenberg
- Stuart Scott
- Robin Roberts; she would eventually achieve further fame through Good Morning America.
- Saturday Night Live has generated many, many stars over its long run. Most of those people have DVD sets dedicated to their best performances on the show. To name a few (regular cast members only, not guest hosts):
- Jimmy Fallon
- Tina Fey
- Chris Farley
- Will Ferrell
- Phil Hartman
- Adam Sandler
- Rob Schneider
- Bill Hader
- Chevy Chase
- Dan Aykroyd
- John Belushi
- Julia Louis-Dreyfus
- Eddie Murphy
- Amy Poehler
- Bill Murray
- David Spade
- Rachel Dratch
- Whether the public agrees or not is debatable, but Chris Rock feels that SNL is this for him.
- Exception to the above: Steve Martin was never a member of the regular cast, but hosted often enough to be quite close.
- SCTV made stars out of John Candy, Eugene Levy, Rick Moranis, and Catherine O'Hara, to name a few.
- Some reporters and the news stories that made them famous:
- Wolf Blitzer rose to prominence by covering The Gulf War.
- Geraldo Rivera shot to fame by reporting on treatment of the mentally retarded, but it was the Al Capone's Vault thing that really skyrocketed him.
- Nancy Grace became famous by commenting on the Natalee Holloway disappearance. She got another big boost from the Casey Anthony trial.
- Dan Rather first gained prominence covering the John F. Kennedy assassination for CBS. Before that; Rather first came to CBS' attention in 1961 when Rather - then lead anchor and news director for CBS' Houston affiliate KHOU-TV 11 - led coverage
of Hurricane Carla; including providing early use of a number of hurricane coverage techniques that would be perfected in later years, resulting in CBS hiring him as a network correspondent the following year. - Similarly, ABC reporter Peter Jennings gained notice for covering the kidnapping and eventual murder of 11 Israeli athletes during the 1972 Summer Olympics by the Palestinian terrorist group Black Septembernote .
- Finally, while he was already their lead anchor by this point, NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw gained a new level of prominence for being the only network anchor to report live on location as the Berlin Wall began to come down in November 1989.
- Brokaw's successor Brian Williams gained NBC's attention for his role in the coverage for CBS' New York City flagship WCBS-TV 2 of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
- David Mitchell and Robert Webb on Peep Show. Mitchell has claimed that they would have kept doing radio and perhaps a television sketch show as a Double Act, but this was what made them household names.
- The series was also Olivia Colman's big break.
- Breaking Bad:
- Definitely for Bryan Cranston. Cranston had become "that redheaded guy whose name you don't know" because of his roles on Seinfeld, Malcolm in the Middle and various bit parts in other shows and movies. While Malcolm had a cult following, it's his turn as Walter White that has made Cranston a star winning him four "Best Actor" Emmys and making him an in-demand actor for supporting roles in films starting in 2010.
- Aaron Paul, a relatively great actor, was best known for a recurring role on Big Love before Breaking Bad. After landing the role of Jesse Pinkman he is now a three-time Emmy winner for his role and is moving on to even bigger roles in the near future.
- Anna Gunn, RJ Mitte, Dean Norris, Betsy Brandt, and Giancarlo Esposito, too. It also served as a Career Resurrection for both Bob Odenkirk and Jonathan Banks.
- And to a lesser extent, Matt Jones and Krysten Ritter (coupled with Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23, but her role on Breaking Bad came first — plus, it's obviously the much better remembered show of the two. These days, many consider her stint as the titular protagonist of Jessica Jones (2015) as her true SMR.).
- Kamen Rider:
- Hiroshi Fujioka in Kamen Rider.
- Hiroshi Miyauchi in Kamen Rider V3.
- Tetsuo Kurata and Masaki Terasoma in Kamen Rider BLACK.
- Joe Odagiri in Kamen Rider Kuuga.
- Hiro Mizushima, Yuki Sato, Hidenori Tokuyama, and Kazuki Kato in Kamen Rider Kabuto.
- Takeru Sato in Kamen Rider Den-O.
- Masaki Suda in Kamen Rider Double.
- Sota Fukushi, Fumika Shimizu and Ryo Yoshizawa in Kamen Rider Fourze
- Mahiro Takasugi in Kamen Rider Gaim
- Ryoma Takeuchi in Kamen Rider Drive
- Toshiki Seto, Ruka Matsuda, Shoma Kai, and Tetsuya Iwanaga in Kamen Rider Ex-Aid
- Atsuhiro Inukai and Eiji Akaso in Kamen Rider Build
- Fumiya Takahashi and Hiroe Igeta in Kamen Rider Zero-One
- Darren Criss, Chris Colfer, Lea Michele, Dianna Agron, Naya Rivera, Heather Morris, Cory Monteith, Kevin McHale, Jayma Mays, Dot Marie Jones, Matthew Morrison, and Jane Lynch in Glee.
- Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Penn Badgley, Ed Westwick, Chace Crawford and Taylor Momsen (although some people will say hers was The Grinch) in Gossip Girl.
- Dancing with the Stars:
- Julianne Hough
- Some of the other pros, including her brother, Derek, to lesser extents.
- Ironically enough, there have actually been a few contestants who got a biggest SMR from Dancing With The Stars than they could've dreamed of getting with their normal career: these include Brooke Burke, Melissa Rycroft, Rumer Willis, Noah Galloway, and Bindi Irwin.
- Various from Super Sentai:
- Naoya Makoto in Himitsu Sentai Gorenger.
- Naoya Uchida and Machiko Soga in Denshi Sentai Denziman.
- Koutarou Tanaka, Sayuri Uchida, Mikiko Miki, and Toshihide Wakamatsu in Choujin Sentai Jetman.
- Yuta Mochizuki, Reiko Chiba, and Shiro Izumi in Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger.
- Keiichi Wada and Tatsuya Nomi in Gosei Sentai Dairanger.
- Teru Ogawa, Hiroshi Tsuchida, and Kane Kosugi in Ninja Sentai Kakuranger.
- Yuji Kishi in Gekisou Sentai Carranger.
- Masaya Matsukaze in Denji Sentai Megaranger.
- Mika Katsumura, Masahiro Karanuki, and Shuhei Izumi in Mirai Sentai Timeranger.
- Tetsuji Tamayama in Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger.
- Nao Nagasawa in Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger.
- Koichiro Nishi and Koutaro Tanaka in Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger.
- Ryuji Sainei, Tsuyoshi Hayashi, Yousuke Itou, Ayumi Kinoshita, Mika Kikuchi, and Tomokazu Yoshida in Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger.
- Ayumi Beppu and Hiroya Matsumoto in Mahou Sentai Magiranger.
- Riki Miura and Yuka Hirata in Juken Sentai Gekiranger.
- Yasuhisa Furuhara, Rina Aizawa, and Yumi Sugimoto in Engine Sentai Go-onger.
- Tori Matsuzaka, Rin Takanashi, and Suzuka Morita in Samurai Sentai Shinkenger.
- Ryota Ozawa, Yuki Yamada, Mao Ichimichi and Junya Ikeda in Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger.
- Ryo Ryusei, Akihisa Shiono, and Marie Itoyo in Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger.
- Jun Shison and Ryusei Yokohama in Ressha Sentai ToQger.
- Takumi Kizu in Uchu Sentai Kyuranger.
- Asahi Ito and Kousei Yuki in Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger.
- Metal Heroes:
- Kenji Ohba in Space Sheriff Gavan.
- Hiroshi Watari in Space Sheriff Sharivan.
- Hiroshi Tsuburuya and Naomi Morinaga in Space Sheriff Shaider.
- A Song of Ice and Fire:
- Game of Thrones:
- Peter Dinklage had been around a long time before this, but he was known as little more than "that midget guy from Elf" and was usually only cast in bit parts; however, this brought him to the attention of A Song of Ice and Fire scribe George R. R. Martin, who listed Tyrion as his first, last and only choice for the role. Appropriately, he was the only actor the producers auditioned. Dinklage signed the contract before the meeting was over, and went on to be nominated for a Best Supporting Emmy for every season the show had, winning a record-setting four times. (He dueled with Aaron Paul for the award; between the two of them, there were only three years in The New '10s where anyone else won the award.)
- Maisie Williams, who was completely unknown before the role of Arya, is now many people's favourite badass in Television. Especially considering it's her first role, dealing with extremely heavy material, and having to work with long established veterans, such as Charles Dance.
- Likewise, Sophie Turner's desperate, emotional performance as Sansa Stark has been landing her major film roles ever since, such as Jean Grey and Mary Shelley.
- Nikolaj Coster-Waldau: Before landing the role of Jaime, Coster-Waldau rarely had one role a year. He appeared in three movies in 2013 and in 2014, starred alongside Cameron Diaz in The Other Woman.
- Emilia Clarke. She was virtually unknown outside her native Britain before Game of Thrones, with just two small television credits on her resume, alongside several stage roles of varying prominence. By 2015, she was famous enough to score the iconic lead role of Sarah Connor in Terminator Genisys, along with the coveted title of "Sexiest Woman Alive" from Esquire magazine.
- Pedro Pascal spent many years scraping by in minor roles and obscure plays, until he became Oberyn Martell. With his charisma and emotional range exposed to a larger audience, he's since done everything from portraying Shakespeare villains on stage, to headlining the most-acclaimed Star Wars project of The New '10s.
- Gwendoline Christie, Michelle Fairley, Kit Harington, Jack Gleeson, Alfie Allen and Richard Madden. In fact, only a handful of the main cast members had their star-making role prior to the show. Some, like Jason Momoa, Natalie Dormer and Lena Headey, were somewhat well-known beforehand but really shot to superstardom with their Game of Thrones work.
- House of the Dragon
- Young Rhaenyra for Milly Alcock. She had only small parts in Australian series that few non-Aussie people watch.
- Adult Rhaenyra for Emma D'Arcy. They weren't prominently known prior to the series due to mostly being a stage actor in the UK.
- Game of Thrones:
- Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny in The X-Files. Duchovny had done movies and TV before (notably, he played a transvestite DEA agent on Twin Peaks), but The X-Files turned them both into household names.
- Terry O'Quinn, Matthew Fox (coupled with Party of Five), Evangeline Lilly, Michael Emerson, Jorge Garcia, Elizabeth Mitchell, Josh Holloway, Daniel Dae Kim, Kim Yunjin, Naveen Andrews, Emilie de Ravin (see also entry for Roswell below), Henry Ian Cusick, Harold Perrineau and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje in Lost. And while this show did first give Ian Somerhalder, Maggie Grace and Rebecca Mader recognition, most people will point to The Vampire Diaries, Taken and Once Upon a Time as their true star-making roles.
- The Vampire Diaries Universe:
- Nina Dobrev, Ian Somerhalder, Paul Wesley, Joseph Morgan, Candice Accola, Kat Graham and Chris Wood in The Vampire Diaries.
- Charles Michael Davis, Leah Pipes, Danielle Campbell and Danielle Rose Russell in The Originals.
- Kaylee Bryant, Jenny Boyd, Aria Shahghasemi, Peyton Alex Smith and Lulu Antariksa in Legacies.
- Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman (outside the UK), Andrew Scott, Louise Brealey, Lara Pulver and Lars Mikkelsen in Sherlock.
- Both Claire Holt and Phoebe Tonkin in H₂O: Just Add Water.
- The various Law & Order series have brought us:
- Sam Waterston (tied with The Killing Fields), the late Jerry Orbach, Dann Florek, Chris Noth, Benjamin Bratt, Angie Harmon, S. Epatha Merkerson, Elisabeth Röhm (coupled with Angel), Jill Hennessy, Annie Parisse, J. K. Simmons and Jesse L. Martin (as a screen actor) in the original series.
- Kathryn Erbe and Jamey Sheridan in Criminal Intent. Most of their co-stars are either well-established actors or well-developed Transplants from the parent show.
- Christopher Meloni, Mariska Hargitay, Ice-T (as an actor), Stephanie March, Diane Neal, Tamara Tunie, Kelli Giddish and Raúl Esparza in SVU.
- John Boyega (paired with One Episode Wonder on Law & Order: UK.
- Don Adams on Get Smart.
- Kathryn Morris and Danny Pino in Cold Case.
- Melissa Leo, Željko Ivanek, Richard Belzer, Reed Diamond, Andre Braugher, Callie Thorne, Clark Johnson and Daniel Baldwin in Homicide: Life on the Street.
- Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman on I Dream of Jeannie, though Dallas became much more of this for Hagman.
- Patrick Duffy, Jim Davis, Ken Kerchaval, and Linda Grey in Dallas.
- Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz on I Love Lucy.
- Catherine Bell on JAG.
- A.J. Cook (coupled with Final Destination 2), Shemar Moore (coupled with The Young and the Restless), Paget Brewster, Aisha Tyler, Kirsten Vangsness, and Matthew Gray Gubler on Criminal Minds.
- Dennis Haysbert, Elisha Cuthbert, Leslie Hope, Sarah Clarke, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Carlos Bernard, Marisol Nichols, Xander Berkeley, Annie Wersching, and Reiko Aylesworth (as a screen actress) in 24. Lead star Kiefer Sutherland borders more on Career Resurrection.
- Tom Welling, Allison Mack, Kristin Kreuk, Michael Rosenbaum, Erica Durance, Sam Jones III, John Glover, Annette O'Toole, Justin Hartley, Serinda Swan, Alan Ritchson, and Cassidy Freeman in Smallville.
- Stephen Amell, Colin Donnell (as a screen actor), David Ramsey, Paul Blackthorne (tied with The Dresden Files), Colton Haynes (tied with Teen Wolf), Emily Bett Rickards and Caity Lotz in Arrow. For Katie Cassidy this is more of a Career Resurrection.
- Grant Gustin (coupled with Glee), Candice Patton, Keiynan Lonsdale, Rick Cosnett, Violett Beane, Carlos Valdes, and Teddy Sears in The Flash (2014).
- Ciara Renée, Franz Drameh, Falk Hentschel, and Maisie Richardson-Sellers in Legends of Tomorrow.
- Melissa Benoist (coupled with Glee), Mehcad Brooks, Jeremy Jordan, (as a screen actor), and Nicole Maines in Supergirl (2015)
- Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore in The Dick Van Dyke Show.
- Tom Cavanagh and Justin Long in Ed. Julie Bowen could count as well, but she eventually got more recognition for Modern Family than this show.
- Jennifer Garner, Victor Garber (as a TV actor), Michael Vartan, Carl Lumbly, David Anders, Rachel Nichols, Melissa George (though in her native Australia, it's Home and Away) and Ron Rifkin in Alias. Bradley Cooper also considers this show as his initial big break, and it was prior to landing his true SMR in The Hangover despite being the lead in the short-lived Kitchen Confidential.
- Speaking of Mary Tyler Moore, The Mary Tyler Moore Show brought Ed Asner, Valerie Harper, Ted Knight, Cloris Leachman and Georgia Engel to prominence. Betty White and Gavin MacLeod could count, as well, though White is typically more well-known for her work on The Golden Girls, while MacLeod is more associated with his work on The Love Boat.
- Peter Capaldi in The Thick of It in the UK and Doctor Who internationally.
- Julia Sawalha in Absolutely Fabulous. She'd previously had a public profile as Lynda Day on Press Gang, but AbFab was the show that gave her name recognition beyond the children's TV arena.
- Wayne Brady on the U.S. version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?.
- Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke (coupled with Roseanne), Donald Faison, Judy Reyes, and Neil Flynn in Scrubs. Ken Jenkins and John C. McGinley were veteran actors at that point, but Scrubs gave each of them their first really big role.
- Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco, Kunal Nayyar, Melissa Rauch, and Simon Helberg in The Big Bang Theory. Johnny Galecki, however, is also pretty well-known for his earlier work on Roseanne. Cuoco had earned some notoriety as well for appearing as one of the late John Ritter's kids in 8 Simple Rules, but it was this show that really made her a household name. Also, the series became a Career Resurrection case for Mayim Bialik after she largely went into semi-retirement following her time as the title character on Blossom to pursue her education.
- The Office for Ricky Gervais, Martin Freeman and Lucy Davis.
- The American remake also did this for Steve Carell (coupled with The 40-Year-Old Virgin), Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, Ed Helms (alongside The Hangover trilogy), Craig Robinson, B.J. Novak, Mindy Kaling, and Ellie Kemper. The latter two solidified themselves further with their respective leading sitcoms, The Mindy Project and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. It also provided a large boost to Michael Schur's writing career as well, as working on The Office later enabled him to create Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and The Good Place.
- Stana Katic, Seamus Dever, Jon Huertas, and Molly Quinn in Castle. Lead star Nathan Fillion was already well-known in TV circles thanks to Firefly, but this was his first commercially successful hit.
- Dominic Purcell, Wentworth Miller, Robert Knepper, Amaury Nolasco, Sarah Wayne Callies and Wade Williams in Prison Break.
- Leonid Bronevoy in Seventeen Moments of Spring.
- In Living Color! is known today for making many of its cast members into stars. Besides the producer Keenen Ivory Wayans, who was already well known for his classic parody film, I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, many of his family members showed their talents and became stars later in television and film as well. Some of the cast members on the show include:
- Damon Wayans, would later star in some hit movies, but is best known for his sitcom My Wife and Kids.
- Brothers Shawn and Marlon Wayans later worked together and made some successful parody films. See the film section.
- Jim Carrey went on to become a movie star. See the film section for his star-making role.
- David Alan Grier starred in a number of films and television shows afterwards.
- Tommy Davidson starred in some hit comedy films, however, is best become known as a voice actor for western animation shows.
- Jamie Foxx, who later went on to have a hit sitcom on The WB, and successful careers in film and music.
- The show A Different World is know for making Jasmine Guy, Lisa Bonet, and Jada Pinkett Smith into stars.
- Simon Pegg, Jessica Stevenson and Nick Frost in Spaced.
- Laura Vandervoort in Instant Star, Smallville and V (2009).
- Sara Paxton in Darcy's Wild Life.
- Sofía Vergara, Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Rico Rodriguez, Julie Bowen (see Ed above), Ariel Winter, Sarah Hyland, Adam Devine and pretty much the entire main cast aside from Ed O'Neill in Modern Family.
- Kevin Sorbo in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, and Lucy Lawless from both Hercules and especially its spinoff, Xena: Warrior Princess.
- Raymond Burr in Perry Mason
- Frankie Muniz and Jane Kaczmarek in Malcolm in the Middle (but not Bryan Cranston, see above).
- Nickelodeon:
- Amanda Bynes, Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell in All That
- Drake Bell and Josh Peck first in The Amanda Show, but moreso in Drake & Josh.
- Miranda Cosgrove in Drake & Josh. This show also introduced Jerry Trainor, Yvette Nicole Brown, and Allison Scagliotti to the world, all of whom would have success afterwards in other shows.
- Jennette McCurdy, Nathan Kress, Reed Alexander, and Noah Munck in iCarly. Jerry Trainor was known for his recurring role in Drake and Josh but became more famous through this show.
- Jamie Lynn Spears, Sean Flynn, Erin Sanders, Matthew Underwood, Christopher Massey, and Victoria Justice (coupled with Victorious) in Zoey 101.
- Emma Roberts and Malese Jow in Unfabulous.
- Devon Werkheiser, Lindsey Shaw, Daniel Curtis Lee, and Christian Serratos in Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide.
- Elizabeth Gillies, Daniella Monet, Avan Jogia, Matt Bennett, Leon Thomas III, and Ariana Grande in Victorious.
- Keke Palmer, Ashley Argota, Matt Shively and Robbie Amell in True Jackson, VP.
- Kendall Schmidt, Logan Henderson, James Maslow, Carlos PenaVega, Ciara Bravo, Tanya Chisholm, Stephen Kramer Glickman, Challen Cates, and Katelyn Tarver in Big Time Rush.
- Amber Montana, Breanna Yde, and Benjamin "Lil' P-Nut" Flores, Jr. in The Haunted Hathaways.
- Kira Kosarin, Jack Griffo, Diego Velasquez, Addison Riecke, and Audrey Whitby in The Thundermans.
- Jace Norman, Cooper Barnes, Riele Downs, Sean Ryan Fox, and Ella Anderson in Henry Danger.
- Aidan Gallagher, Casey Simpson, Mace Coronel, and Lizzy Greene as the respective title characters of Nicky, Ricky, Dicky, and Dawn.
- Isabela Moner, Owen Joyner, and Jaheem Toombs in 100 Things to Do Before High School.
- Brec Bassinger, Coy Stewart, Jackie Radinsky, Buddy Handleson, Lilimar, Haley Tju, and Rio Mangini in Bella and the Bulldogs.
- Cree Cicchino, Madisyn Shipman, and Thomas Kuc in Game Shakers.
- Jade Pettyjohn, Aidan Miner, Ricardo Hurtado, Lance Lim, and Tony Cavalero in School of Rock.
- Mr. T (coupled with Rocky III) and Dwight Schultz in The A-Team.
- Kat Dennings (coupled with Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist) and Beth Behrs in 2 Broke Girls.
- Nick Offerman, Rashida Jones (coupled with The Office (US)), Aziz Ansari, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Pratt (coupled with The LEGO Movie and Guardians of the Galaxy), Adam Scott and Retta in Parks and Recreation. Plus it gave Amy Poehler recognition beyond her work on Saturday Night Live.
- James Van Der Beek, Katie Holmes, Joshua Jackson and Michelle Williams in Dawson's Creek. Jackson was somewhat established beforehand, although the other three were unknown.
- Roseanne Barr, John Goodman, Sara Gilbert, Johnny Galecki, and Laurie Metcalf in Roseanne.
- America Ferrera, Becki Newton, and Christopher Gorham in Ugly Betty.
- House is this for Hugh Laurie (only for American audiences, though this might also be tied with his role in Stuart Little), Olivia Wilde (although some might argue her movie career fits this more), Omar Epps, Lisa Edelstein, Jennifer Morrison, and Jesse Spencer.
- Danny McBride in Eastbound & Down.
- Idris Elba, Dominic West, Aidan Gillen, Lance Reddick (coupled with Fringe), Michael K. Williams, Jamie Hector, Wendell Pierce, Andre Royo and Chad L. Coleman (coupled with The Walking Dead) in The Wire.
- Patrick Stewart (as a television actor), Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn, Brent Spiner, Marina Sirtis and LeVar Burton (coupled with Roots (1977)) in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
- Also Ashley Judd as her first role was a two-episode guest shot as Ensign Robin Lefler.
- Gilbert Gottfried and Rhonda Shear as host of the wraparound segments on USA Network's USA Up All Night. Gottfried hosted on Saturdays (1989-1998), and Shear hosted on Fridays (1991-1998).
- Jon Bernthal, Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Melissa McBride, Chandler Riggs, Lauren Cohan, Emily Kinney, Danai Gurira, Sonequa Martin-Green, Christian Serratos, Tom Payne, Brighton Sharbino, and Lauren Ridloff (coupled with Eternals) in The Walking Dead. Lead star Andrew Lincoln is already well-known for his role in Love Actually, same goes for Laurie Holden from her roles in Silent Hill, The Mist and even The X-Files.
- Manu Bennett, Jai Courtney (coupled with Jack Reacher), Katrina Law, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Liam McIntyre, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, and Peter Mensah (coupled with his One-Scene Wonder 300) in Spartacus. It was also building up to be this for the late Andy Whitfield until his tragic illness ensued.
- Alison Brie (tied with her recurring role on Mad Men), Gillian Jacobs, Joel McHale (tied with The Soup), Yvette Nicole Brown (tied with her recurring role on Drake & Josh), Donald Glover, Jim Rash, and Danny Pudi in Community. It also served as a Career Resurrection for Chevy Chase and helped Ken Jeong escape the shadow of The Hangover.
- Chad Michael Murray, James Lafferty, Bethany Joy Lenz, Hilarie Burton and Sophia Bush in One Tree Hill (although Murray had played a couple of successful recurring roles right before on Gilmore Girls and Dawson's Creek which in fact were basically the reason she was asked to star on the show, but this role certainly became his break-out one).
- Ellen Pompeo, Sandra Oh, Kate Walsh, TR Knight, Justin Chambers, Jessica Capshaw, Sara Ramirez, Eric Dane, Chyler Leigh, Chandra Wilson, Isaiah Washington, and Patrick Dempsey in Grey's Anatomy.
- Shiri Appleby, Emilie de Ravin and Katherine Heigl in Roswell. Lost and Grey's Anatomy will respectively give de Ravin and Heigl further boost.
- Kristen Bell in Veronica Mars, though to this day fans are still divided whether this or Forgetting Sarah Marshall or even Frozen is her SMR.
- Emily VanCamp and Gabriel Mann in Revenge. For Madeleine Stowe this is a Career Resurrection.
- John Kassir in Tales from the Crypt (albeit a voice acting role).
- Jennifer Love Hewitt, Neve Campbell (coupled with Scream) and Lacey Chabert in Party of Five. Subverted with the male leads, as Matthew Fox gained a bigger boost from LOST and Scott Wolf went nowhere after the show ended.
- Patrick Wilson in Angels in America.
- Charles Dance has two. He got his big break in his native UK for appearing in the mini-series, The Jewel in the Crown. But most people in America know him best for playing Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones.
- Mark Gatiss in The League of Gentlemen. To American audiences Sherlock tends to fit this better.
- Mia Wasikowska in In Treatment. Alice in Wonderland (2010) would later give her a very big boost.
- Natalie Dormer, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Sarah Bolger, and Henry Cavill in The Tudors. Dormer and Cavill will respectively get a much bigger boost in Game of Thrones and Man of Steel.
- Tim Daly (coupled with (Superman: The Animated Series), Steven Weber, Tony Shalhoub (coupled with Monk) and Thomas Haden Church in Wings.
- Keri Russell and Scott Foley in Felicity.
- Jensen Ackles (tied with Smallville), Jared Padalecki (tied with Gilmore Girls), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (coupled with Grey's Anatomy), Katie Cassidy (coupled with Taken), Jim Beaver, Misha Collins and Mark Sheppard in Supernatural.
- William Katt in The Greatest American Hero.
- Robin Lord Taylor, Cory Michael Smith, and Erin Richards in Gotham.
- Taylor Schilling, Danielle Brooks, Taryn Manning (as an actress), and Uzo Aduba in Orange Is the New Black. Strangely enough, the show also launched supporting cast members, Laverne Cox, Ruby Rose, Kimiko Glenn and Diane Guerrero, to a level of stardom rivaling the leads. Kate Mulgrew, Natasha Lyonne, and Laura Prepon also experienced Career Resurrections because of the show.
- Lee Pace and Anna Friel in Pushing Daisies. Kristin Chenoweth, an acclaimed stage actress, also established herself as a screen actress after starring in the show.
- While Murder One is not well known today, it launched the career of Stanley Tucci, who appeared as the season one Anti-Villain Richard Cross.
- Allison Janney, Dulé Hill, Richard Schiff, Janel Moloney and Bradley Whitford in The West Wing.
- Sarah Paulson, Lily Rabe (as a screen actress), Taissa Farmiga, Evan Peters, and Finn Wittrock in American Horror Story. It also introduced Jessica Lange to a new generation of fans.
- Kyle Chandler (coupled with Early Edition), Connie Britton (coupled with Spin City), Taylor Kitsch, Minka Kelly, Aimee Teegarden, Jesse Plemons, Zach Gilford, Adrianne Palicki, Scott Porter and Michael B. Jordan in Friday Night Lights.
- Lana Parrilla, Josh Dallas, Meghan Ory, Colin O'Donoghue and Rebecca Mader in Once Upon a Time.
- Chloe Bennet, Brett Dalton and Elizabeth Henstridge in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Additionally, it firmly established Clark Gregg's star he began to build in the movies, and provided a Career Resurrection for Adrianne Palicki.
- James D'Arcy in Agent Carter. Plus it firmly established Hayley Atwell and Dominic Cooper (to a lesser extent) as S.H.I.E.L.D. did to Clark Gregg.
- Elden Henson, Toby Leonard Moore and Élodie Yung in Daredevil (2015). It also made Charlie Cox (already known for Stardust, Boardwalk Empire and The Theory of Everything) and Deborah Ann Woll (already known for Jessica Hamby in True Blood) more well-known.
- Jessica Brown Findlay, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Michelle Dockery, Dan Stevens, Joanne Froggatt, Rob James-Collier, Allen Leech, Rose Leslie (coupled with Game of Thrones), Elizabeth McGovern, Sophie McShera, Dan Stevens and Lily James in Downton Abbey. Additionally, the show gave many long-established British stars international recognition, such as Hugh Bonneville, Brendan Coyle, and Penelope Wilton ( though the latter was also known for her role as Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North in Doctor Who). The only actor already globally famous going into the show was Maggie Smith, and even that was mostly for one role.
- Tatiana Maslany, although not a superstar, was fairly well-known in her native Canada when Orphan Black premiered, but that role marked her first as a lead and heightened her profile greatly. Internationally, however, Maslany was all but unknown prior to the show.
- Matt Ryan, Angélica Celaya and Charles Halford in Constantine.
- Bridget Regan in Legend of the Seeker.
- Ginnifer Goodwin in Big Love. Further solidified with Once Upon a Time and Zootopia.
- Dylan McDermott, LisaGay Hamilton, Michael Badalucco, Steve Harris, Lara Flynn Boyle (coupled with Twin Peaks), Kelli Williams, Marla Sokoloff (also known for her stint in Full House) and Camryn Manheim in The Practice.
- Ben McKenzie, Rachel Bilson, Mischa Barton, Adam Brody, Autumn Reeser, Willa Holland (coupled/tied with Arrow) and Kelly Rowan in The O.C..
- Zachary Levi and Yvonne Strahovski in Chuck.
- Allison Tolman in Fargo.
- Tyler James Williams and Terry Crews in Everybody Hates Chris.
- Rhea Seehorn and Michael Mando (coupled with Orphan Black) in Better Call Saul.
- Lena Dunham and Allison Williams in GIRLS. While Adam Driver got some exposure here, his true breakout is nowadays considered to be Kylo Ren in The Force Awakens.
- Jake Johnson, Lamorne Morris, Max Greenfield and Hannah Simone in New Girl.
- Miami Vice made both Don Johnson and Edward James Olmos.
- Matt Dallas and Jaimie Alexander (tied with Thor) in Kyle XY.
- House of Cards (US):
- Kate Mara, who played Zoe Barnes, is an interesting case. She was already recognized for her roles in films like Brokeback Mountain, We Are Marshall, and 127 Hours, and had small roles on 24 and American Horror Story: Murder House, but she was still a relative unknown when she took on the part. Her performance gained tons of praise and helped her escape the shadow of her more famous sister, Rooney Mara. Since then, she's appeared in films like the hugely successful The Martian and the not-so-successful Fantastic Four (2015).
- Played perfectly straight for Michael Kelly, Kristen Connolly, and Corey Stoll. It also gave Robin Wright a further boost in fame and a Career Resurrection for Kevin Spacey.
- Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, Rob McElhenney, and Kaitlin Olson (but not Danny DeVito) in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
- Hugh Dancy in Hannibal.
- Dara O'Briain, Andy Parsons, Frankie Boyle, and Hugh Dennis in Mock the Week (of course, all were successful stand-up comedians beforehand).
- Harry Lennix, Fran Kranz, Enver Gjokaj and Dichen Lachman in Dollhouse.
- Stephen Moyer, Alexander Skarsgård, Joe Manganiello (though known for the Spider-Man Trilogy), Deborah Ann Woll and Anna Camp (coupled with Pitch Perfect) in True Blood.
- Brittany Snow (coupled with the one two combo of John Tucker Must Die and Hairspray, and eventually the Pitch Perfect trilogy.), Vanessa Lengies and Rachel Boston in American Dreams.
- Kerry Washington was an established actress in many films, but it's her starring role on the television show Scandal that made her into a superstar.
- The Power Rangers Franchise:
- Amy Jo Johnson, Jason David Frank, Walter Emanuel Jones, Johnny Yong Bosch, and Barbara Goodson in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.
- Patricia Ja Lee and Melody Perkins in Power Rangers in Space.
- Cerina Vincent and Archie Kao in Power Rangers Lost Galaxy.
- Mike Chat, Keith Robinson, and Rhett Fisher in Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue.
- Erin Cahill, Jason Faunt, Michael Copon and Dan Southworth in Power Rangers Time Force.
- Pua Magasiva and Sally Martin in Power Rangers Ninja Storm.
- Emma Lahana and James Napier in Power Rangers: Dino Thunder.
- Brandon Jay McLaren in Power Rangers S.P.D..
- Anna Hutchison and David DeLatour in Power Rangers Jungle Fury.
- Eka Darville, Adelaide Kane and Rose McIver in Power Rangers RPM.
- Ciara Hanna, Christina Masterson, Andrew Gray, John Mark Loudermilk, and Azim Rizk in Power Rangers Megaforce.
- Brennan Mejia, Yoshi Sudarso, Camille Hyde, James Davies, Michael Taber, Jarred Blakiston, Davi Santos, Claire Blackwelder, and Alistair Browning in Power Rangers Dino Charge.
- Michael Cera, Will Arnett, Alia Shawkat and Tony Hale in Arrested Development. The show also provided Career Resurrections for Jason Bateman, Portia de Rossi, David Cross, Jeffrey Tambor and Jessica Walter. Judy Greer also considers this show as her SMR despite appearing in numerous films in the past.
- Calista Flockhart, Greg Germann, Portia de Rossi, Jane Krakowski and Lucy Liu in Ally McBeal.
- Sacha Baron Cohen in Da Ali G Show.
- Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser in Mad About You.
- Jenna Elfman in Dharma & Greg.
- Disney Channel:
- Hilary Duff, Lalaine, Adam Lamberg, and Jake Thomas in Lizzie McGuire.
- Raven-Symoné, Orlando Brown, Anneliese van der Pol, and Kyle Massey in That's So Raven.
- Dylan and Cole Sprouse, Brenda Song, Ashley Tisdale, and Phill Lewis in The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.
- Debby Ryan, Doc Shaw, and Zoey Deutch in The Suite Life on Deck.
- Miley Cyrus, Emily Osment, Mitchel Musso, Jason Earles and Moises Arias in Hannah Montana.
- Jason Dolley, Maiara Walsh, and Madison Pettis in Cory in the House.
- Selena Gomez, David Henrie, Jake T. Austin, Jennifer Stone, Maria Canals Barrera, David DeLuise, and Gregg Sulkin in Wizards of Waverly Place.
- Chelsea Kane and Nicole Anderson in JONAS.
- Hutch Dano, Adam Hicks, and Ryan Newman in Zeke and Luther. Daniel Curtis Lee had already gotten recognition from Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide at that point.
- Logan Miller, Caitlyn Taylor Love, Stephen Full, and Greg Baker in I'm in the Band.
- Bridgit Mendler, Bradley Steven Perry, Mia Talerico, Shane Harper, and Logan Moreau in Good Luck Charlie.
- Kelsey Chow, Geno Segers, and Ryan Ochoa in Pair of Kings.
- Bella Thorne, Zendaya, Davis Cleveland, Adam Irigoyen, Kenton Duty, and Caroline Sunshine in Shake it Up.
- Leo Howard, Dylan Riley Snyder, Mateo Arias, Alex Christian Jones, and Olivia Holt in Kickin' It.
- China Anne McClain, Sierra McCormick, Jake Short, Stefanie Scott, Allie DeBerry, Carlon Jeffery, and Aedin Mincks in A.N.T. Farm.
- Ross Lynch, Laura Marano, Raini Rodriguez, and Calum Worthy in Austin & Ally.
- Billy Unger, Kelli Berglund, Spencer Boldman, and Tyrel Jackson Williams in Lab Rats.
- Peyton List, Karan Brar, Cameron Boyce, and Skai Jackson in Jessie (the former two share this with Diary of a Wimpy Kid).
- Cole Jensen, Landry Bender, Oana Gregory, and Aaron R. Landon in Crash & Bernstein.
- Francesca Capaldi in Dog with a Blog. G Hannelius was already well-known at that point for several earlier projects on Disney Channel and Blake Michael was famous for his role in Lemonade Mouth.
- Dove Cameron, Joey Bragg, and Tenzing Norgay Trainor in Liv and Maddie.
- Rowan Blanchard, Sabrina Carpenter, Peyton Meyer, Corey Fogelmanis, and August Maturo in Girl Meets World.
- Paris Berelc in Mighty Med.
- Jacob Bertrand, Olivia Stuck, Tiffany Espensen, Cade Sutton, and Mekai Curtis in Kirby Buckets.
- Jenna Ortega and Ariana Greenblatt in Stuck in the Middle. In 2022, Ortega would get other breakout roles in Scream and Wednesday.
- Madison Hu, Olivia Rodrigo, DeVore Ledridge, and Ethan Wacker in Bizaardvark
- Rami Malek (coupled with Night at the Museum), Carly Chaikin, and Portia Doubleday in Mr. Robot. Furthermore, it served as a Career Resurrection for Christian Slater.
- Skyler Samuels and Billie Lourd in Scream Queens (2015). The show is also Nasim Pedrad's first first big break after her stint on Saturday Night Live.
- Adam Arkin, Héctor Elizondo, Vondie Curtis-Hall and Thomas Gibson (coupled with Dharma & Greg) in Chicago Hope.
- Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle in the Pride and Prejudice (1995) BBC miniseries.
- Anna Torv, Seth Gabel and John Noble (coupled with The Lord of the Rings trilogy) in Fringe.
- Mary-Louise Parker (coupled with The West Wing), Justin Kirk, Romany Malco, Hunter Parrish and Alexander Gould (coupled with Finding Nemo) in Weeds.
- Gina Rodriguez, Justin Baldoni and Yael Grobglas in Jane the Virgin.
- Travis Fimmel, Katheryn Winnick and Clive Standen in Vikings. The show also provided a Career Resurrection for Alexander Ludwig.
- Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Mario Lopez, Elizabeth Berkley, Lark Voorhies, Tiffani Thiessen, Dustin Diamond, and Dennis Haskins in Saved by the Bell.
- Matt Bomer in White Collar.
- Ron Livingston and Ross McCall in Band of Brothers.
- Damian Lewis and David Harewood in Homeland. Although both men have appeared in several critically acclaimed works in the past, both gained recognition for appearing in this series, the former especially. Likewise, the show also provided an epic Career Resurrection for Claire Danes (already began with Temple Grandin but solidified by this show), Morena Baccarin and Rupert Friend.
- Michael Cudlitz (coupled with both Band of Brothers and The Walking Dead) and Kevin Alejandro (coupled with True Blood) in Southland. It also gave Benjamin McKenzie a Career Resurrection after The O.C. was cancelled.
- Dean Winters, Lee Tergesen, Kirk Acevedo (coupled with Fringe) and Terry Kinney in Oz.
- James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Michael Imperioli, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Tony Sirico, Steven Van Zandt (as an actor) and Drea de Matteo in The Sopranos. Lorraine Bracco is equally known for being in the critically-acclaimed film Goodfellas.
- Caitríona Balfe and Sam Heughan in Outlander.
- Melanie Scrofano in Wynonna Earp.
- Gael García Bernal in Mozart in the Jungle.
- Millie Bobby Brown in Stranger Things. For that matter, the entire cast of child actors on the show. David Harbour was the adult cast member who had this happen to him as the breakout role of the series.
- The actors playing the teens were relatively unknown prior to the series as well: Charlie Heaton, Natalia Dyer, Joe Keery, Dacre Montgomery, Maya Hawke, and Joseph Quinn.
- Steve McQueen (actor) in Wanted: Dead or Alive
- Clint Eastwood in Rawhide.
- Roger Moore in The Saint.
- Diana Rigg and Patrick Macnee in The Avengers (1960s).
- Bruce Lee in The Green Hornet.
- David Carradine in Kung Fu (1972).
- Daniel Craig and Mark Strong in Our Friends in the North.
- BRIAN BLESSED earned his stripes playing PC "Fancy" Smith in the Police Procedural Z Cars.
- Derek Jacobi in I, Claudius.
- Adam West, Burt Ward, Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, and Yvonne Craig in Batman.
- Lynda Carter in Wonder Woman (1975). her stint as the eponymous superhero made her a household name and cultural icon.
- Ray Stevenson, Kevin McKidd, James Purefoy, Tobias Menzies, Polly Walker, and Kerry Condon in Rome.
- Katherine Langford in 13 Reasons Why.
- Katie Leclerc and Vanessa Marano (coupled with Gilmore Girls) in Switched at Birth.
- Jessica Henwick has two. In her home in the U.K., it's Spirit Warriors. Everywhere else, it's Colleen Wing in Iron Fist (2017).
- Eliza Taylor, Bob Morley, Ricky Whittle, Lindsey Morgan, Eli Goree, and Alycia Debnam-Carey in The 100.
- Luke Perry, Tori Spelling, Jason Priestley, Kathleen Robertson, Ian Ziering, Jennie Garth, Gabrielle Carteris, Brian Austin Green, and Shannen Doherty (coupled with Heathers) in Beverly Hills, 90210, plus Jessica Stroup, Jessica Lowndes, Ryan Eggold (coupled with The Blacklist), Annalynne Mc Cord, and Shenae Grimes in the Sequel Series.
- KJ Apa, Lili Reinhart, Camila Mendes, and Madelaine Petsch in Riverdale. Cole Sprouse was really the only lead actor who was well-known going into the show.
- Fran Drescher, Charles Shaughnessy, Nicholle Tom (tied with Beethoven), and Madeline Zima in The Nanny.
- Lucy Hale, Ashley Benson, Troian Bellisario, Shay Mitchell, Janel Parrish, Sasha Pieterse, and Ian Harding in Pretty Little Liars.
- Rachel Bloom in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.
- Ian McShane became a star in his native UK thanks to Lovejoy then became a big name in the USA with Deadwood before finally jumping to the big leagues with strong supporting roles in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and John Wick.
- Eva Longoria, Felicity Huffman (coupled with Sports Night), Marcia Cross (coupled with Melrose Place), Jesse Metcalfe, Andrea Bowen, and Brenda Strong in Desperate Housewives.
- Dana Delany and Jeff Kober in China Beach.
- Kyle MacLachlan, Ray Wise, Dana Ashbrook, Mädchen Amick, Lara Flynn Boyle, Sherilyn Fenn, Sheryl Lee, and James Marshall in Twin Peaks.
- Cress Williams and Nafessa Williams in Black Lightning (2018).
- John Wesley Shipp got the attention of critics in his daytime soap appearances in Santa Barbara, Guiding Light, and As the World Turns. However, it is his short but beloved stint as the eponymous superhero in The Flash (1990) that gave him devoted fans.
- Gary Cole in Midnight Caller. The show was a rare heroic role; since then, Cole has mostly played either villains or very ruthless good guys.
- Anna Diop, Teagan Croft, Curran Walters, and Conor Leslie in Titans (2018).
- Here Come the Brides turned David Soul and Bobby Sherman into teen idols, while Starsky & Hutch established Soul an an adult actor and introduced the world to Paul Michael Glaser.
- Peter Davison in All Creatures Great and Small (1978).
- Paul McGann in The Monocled Mutineer.
- John Thaw in The Sweeney.
- Essentially, the entire cast of the Chespirito shows. Some of them were already well-known in Mexico (although some of them, such as Chespirito himself and María Antonieta de las Nieves, had distinguished roles not as live-action actors), but those shows skyrocketed them into continental stardom.
- The Big Valley, in addition to starring Barbara Stanwyck in her television debut as Stanwyck's film career began winding down, provided the first major roles for Lee Majors and Linda Evans before both became bigger stars on later series (Majors on The Six Million Dollar Man and then The Fall Guy; Evans on Dynasty (1981)).
- Peter Wyngarde in Department S.
- Dylan O'Brien, Tyler Posey, Holland Roden, Crystal Reed, Tyler Hoechlin, Shelley Hennig, Arden Cho, and Dylan Sprayberry in Teen Wolf.
- Bob West (as a voice actor) as the titular purple dinosaur in Barney & Friends.
- Kaitlin Becker, Carly Ciarrocchi, Tim Kubart, Emily Borromeo, and Kelly Vrooman with The Sunny Side Up Show.
- Johnny Depp in 21 Jump Street.
- Michael Douglas in The Streets of San Francisco.
- Ashley Leggat and Michael Seater in Life with Derek.
- Xolo Maridueña, Tanner Buchanan, Mary Mouser, Vanessa Rubio, and Courtney Henggeler in Cobra Kai.
- Sydney Sweeney in Euphoria.
- Stephanie Beatriz, Joe Lo Truglio, Melissa Fumero, and Chelsea Peretti in Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
- Betty Gilpin, Jackie Tohn, Britt Baron, and Sydelle Noel in GLOW (2017).
- Britt Robertson in Life Unexpected.
- Judith Light in One Life to Live.
- Just about the entire cast of Freaks and Geeks aside from the actors who played the parents: Linda Cardellini, James Franco, Jason Segel (who really hit the jackpot five years later), Seth Rogen, Busy Phillipps, John Francis Daley and Martin Starr. Samm Levine does not appear to have translated his role into a stereotypically "successful" Hollywood career, being prolific but not particularly established as of this writing.
- Wednesday: Emma Myers as Enid Sinclair and Hunter Doohan as Tyler Galpin.
- The Witcher lauched the careers of Joey Batey (Jaskier), Freya Allan (Ciri), and Anya Chalotra (Yennefer).
- Ted Lasso:
- Brett Goldstein was a minor actor/writer with no exposure outside the UK. Thanks to the role of Roy Kent, he's now an internationally-recognized Emmy winner.
- While she was already a beloved West End and Broadway superstar and well known to musical theatre aficionados, the role of Rebecca Welton is what made Hannah Waddingham an Emmy Award-winning international treasure.
- Lou Ferrigno as The Incredible Hulk. While the general public might have learned of Lou Ferrigno in the documentary Pumping Iron, it was this role that propelled him into stardom.
Mexican Voice Actors (dubbing only)
- Jesse Conde in Quantum Leap as Al, plus Kozo Fuyutsuki.
- The late Carlos Petrel in Star Trek: The Original Series as Mr. Spock, along with Darth Vader in the original edition of the first trilogy and Scar.
- Gaby Willert in The Wonder Years as the young Kevin Arnold, along with Li Meiling and Motoko Kusanagi.
- Mario Castañeda in the same series as Kevin's adult self, along with adult Goku, Kanon and Nephrite; while Moonlighting cemented him as the official voice of Bruce Willis.
- Roberto Carrillo in Knight Rider as Michael Knight.
- Mónica Manjarrez in The Nanny as Fran Fine, along with Lady Oscar and Sailor Mars.
- Alfonso Obregón Inclán and Gisela Casillas as Fox Mulder and Dana Scully in The X-Files
Chilean voice actors (dubbing only)
- Rosario Zamora as Ana Jacinta de Sao José aka Beija, from the Brazilian telenovela Dona Beija, and later Ryoko and Miyuki Kobayakawa.
Japanese voice actors (dubbing only)
- Risa Shimizu and Eiji Hanawa in Game of Thrones as Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow (plus Jiren) respectively.
- Takuya Kirimoto in Dexter as the titular protagonist, plus J.Geil and Soji Murakumo.
European French voice actors (dubbing only)
- Serge Sauvion as Columbo.
- Patrick Béthune as Jack Bauer in 24.
