- Some of today’s biggest movie actors started out in small roles
- Many have had significant glow-ups since their first appearance on the big screen
- Most started out in films as teenagers – but some got their break in later life
Many of the biggest movie stars of today got their first breaks when they were still children – but have they changed much since their first appearances on the big screen?
Then and now
Florence Pugh is a hot property now in Hollywood. The 28-year-old English actress is in demand, having appeared in recent blockbusters such as Oppenheimer and Dune: Part Two. But she looked a little different in her first film role in 2014 drama The Falling where she played a schoolgirl.
Another English actor, Tom Holland, first came to many people’s attention when he played Spider-Man for the first time in Captain America: Civil War. But that wasn’t his first appearance in a movie. His first, at age 16 – although he looked a lot younger – was in ‘The Impossible’ in 2012.
Austin Butler is now renowned for his good looks and acting ability – he has been linked with the role of James Bond – but even he couldn’t have foreseen what he would become when he was a floppy-haired schoolboy in 2005’s Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide.
Anya Taylor-Joy is another hot property in Hollywood right now, after starring roles in films such as Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. She left school at 16 to pursue her acting dream, and got her first break in historical horror film The Witch in 2015 when she was 19.
Some others get their break later in life. For instance, Pedro Pascal, who at age 49 is one of the hottest properties in Hollywood with upcoming appearances in Gladiator and The Fantastic Four, only appeared in his first movie, 2005’s Hermanas, when he was 30.
Keep watch
So when you next watch a film with one of these big stars in, keep an eye out for the children and young people in minor roles – because in a decade or so, they could also be one of the biggest stars on the planet.
