I could name several.

But one of the problems making a list of them is that those people weren't stars AT THE TIME, so I'm not sure where the line is drawn. Once a film becomes popular, suddenly the actors are "stars" so it's a bit of a chicken and egg thing.

Halloween comes to mind as a good example. Of course now everyone knows Jamie Lee Curtis but at the time it was a low budget effort done on a shoestring budget with a bunch of nobodies.

One could argue that Star Wars didn't have any "stars" in it but now everyone in it is a household name. Because the movie MADE them popular.

Hell, how about Purple Rain? Prince was a musical star but not as an actor and no one else in that film qualifies as a-list.

kpowers said:

So many to think of, but the original Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series was great, as well as two recent films, Minari and the work of Wong Kar-Wai, as well as Parasite and Cold War. Many of the best movies of any given year have little-known or unknown actors in them

Blair Witch Project
Resevoir Dogs (Harvey Keitel)
Tree's Lounge (Steve Buscemi)
Office Space
The Exorcist
Fear of a Black Hat
She's Gotta Have It (Spike Lee)
Phantom of the Paradise (Paul Williams)
Napolean Dynamite
Paranormal Activity
The Gods Must Be Crazy
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Rocky Horror Picture Show
IT: Chapter One

...

Does it count if the people weren't stars at the time? The people I put in parentheses are the biggest "stars" in those films and Ben Affleck wasn't a star when Dazed & Confused came out so I count those. Know one ever heard of Mel Gibson before Mad Max.


Because that criteria would really expand the list. A lot of the movies that popped in my head featured actors who weren't YET famous but made their star turn in that particular film so now they're, of course, "Famous Movie X; Starring Famous Actor Y" and everyone knows who they are.

Cool thread. Lotta horror movies for some reason.

[Edited 6/3/21 15:22pm]

I forgot about the most fgamous one of all:

By "Stars" I guess you mean "Hollywood" stars because that's the only place where actors are considered stars. Also, I see everybody has included "before they were stars" movies as well...

Mentioning French, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, etc. quality movies is risky because the top actors/actresses in those countries are famous/established leading men/women, but certainly not "stars" in the USA. But at the same time, many European moviegoers would definitely see them as stars, perhaps bigger stars than many "Hollywood" stars...

Before "stardom"

Mad Max 1 and 2

Gallipoli

Lethal Weapon (Gibson's career was going nowhere by 1987 and this was Glover's first (co)-leading role; I mean, this wasn't Harrison Ford + Eddie Murphy)

Mean Streets

Rocky

The Terminator

Dr.No

Alien

A Fistful of Dollars

The cast of Bonnie and Clyde other than Beatty, whose popularity was declining by 1967...

Jurassic Park (Spielberg specifically handpicked good actors but not "stars").

SPECIAL MENTION: The Godfather Pt.I (other than Brando, who made a comeback), and Pt.II (other than Pacino/Duvall/Keaton, who became "stars" with Pt.I, much like Ford-Hamill-Fisher with SW).

-

Eh...never "stars"?

Duel

Night of the Living Dead

A Nightmare on Elm St.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Chariots of Fire

2001 Space Odyssey

Los Olvidados

The Killing Fields (other than Malkovich)

Do The Right Thing

Robocop

Crocodile Dundee

Manhunter

Come and See

La Haine

City of God

Mongol

United 93

REC 1 and 2

Paranormal Activity

Sideways

[Edited 6/4/21 13:23pm]

^^^Johnny Depp was in Nightmare on Elm Street^^^

JoeTyler said:

By "Stars" I guess you mean "Hollywood" stars because that's the only place where actors are considered stars.

So you're saying Chow Yun Fat, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Maggie Cheung, etc are not considered stars in Hong Kong/China or Aishwarya Rai in Bollywood movies in India or Continflas in Mexico?

Genesia said:

Yes - lots of them.

Same. Used to be obsessive about indie movies. Probably started with Clerks or Reservoir Dogs, whichever came first, and lasted until about 10 years ago.

EmmaMcG said:

phunkdaddy said:

Fruitvale Station

No one knew who Michael B Jordan was at that time.

I sure as hell didn't recognize the rest of the cast either.

Octavia Spencer was in it but even then I didn't recognize her as

a household name.

Michael B Jordan was, is and always will be Wallace from The Wire to me. Every time I see him in anything I just imagine D'Angelo Barksdale shouting "Hey String, where the boy at?".

The Wire had so many great actors in it I'm glad a few of them have gone on to bigger, continued success. The last couple seasons of that show drag because they basically keep doing the same thing over and over but the first three seasons are SO GOOD! Was just talking with a friend about re-watching it because they've never seen a single episode.

Cerebus said:

thirtysomething had all unknowns back in the day.

PJMcGee said:

And they all pretty much went right back to obscurity. Acting's a tough gig.

thirtysomething was one of those rare gigs.

The acting on that show was so authentic that anything they could've, or have, done could compare.

Bearded ginger was in Field of Dreams but I don't think I could name anything the rest of them did.

The man on the far left (Timothy Busfield) had a recurring role on The West Wing.

The red head girl on the far right (Melanie Mayron) I remember first seeing in "Car Wash".

The blond on the far left (Patricia Wettig) had a role in "Brothers and Sisters".

And the dark haired man in the middle (Ken Olin) has segued into directing many shows and currently directs "This is Us".

Yeah, that's him. Timothy Busfield was in Field of Dreams. Which I only know because my mother has been obsessed with Kevin Costner since forever.

Great list

JoeTyler said:

By "Stars" I guess you mean "Hollywood" stars because that's the only place where actors are considered stars. Also, I see everybody has included "before they were stars" movies as well...

Mentioning French, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, etc. quality movies is risky because the top actors/actresses in those countries are famous/established leading men/women, but certainly not "stars" in the USA. But at the same time, many European moviegoers would definitely see them as stars, perhaps bigger stars than many "Hollywood" stars...

Before "stardom"

Mad Max 1 and 2

Gallipoli

Lethal Weapon (Gibson's career was going nowhere by 1987 and this was Glover's first (co)-leading role; I mean, this wasn't Harrison Ford + Eddie Murphy)

Mean Streets

Rocky

The Terminator

Dr.No

Alien

A Fistful of Dollars

The cast of Bonnie and Clyde other than Beatty, whose popularity was declining by 1967...

Jurassic Park (Spielberg specifically handpicked good actors but not "stars").

SPECIAL MENTION: The Godfather Pt.I (other than Brando, who made a comeback), and Pt.II (other than Pacino/Duvall/Keaton, who became "stars" with Pt.I, much like Ford-Hamill-Fisher with SW).

-

Eh...never "stars"?

Duel

Night of the Living Dead

A Nightmare on Elm St.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Chariots of Fire

2001 Space Odyssey

Los Olvidados

The Killing Fields (other than Malkovich)

Do The Right Thing

Robocop

Crocodile Dundee

Manhunter

Come and See

La Haine

City of God

Mongol

United 93

REC 1 and 2

Paranormal Activity

Sideways

[Edited 6/4/21 13:23pm]