How many actors come out with a bang and just own their part and acheive virtual screen immortality on their first try? Or their first major role outside of the standard Horror/Teen flick.
Sydney Greenstreet first role: **Kaspar Guttman ** in the classic Maltese Falcon.
I don’t think many can beat this.
Her first big role in *Jerry Maguire * really turned me on to Renee Zellweger . Even though it isn’t her first film, she glowed.
Edward Norton was superb in his debut in Primal Fear. He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor.
James Dean in “East Of Eden”
Harold Russell won Best Supporting Actor for his debut role in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946).
One thing I’ve noticed is that actors who “owns their parts” in their first films often have a hard time later in their careers. Sometimes it’s because an actor gets typecast. Other times it’s because the actor just has a very limited range–they may play that one role perfectly but can’t do anything else.
For example, consider Haing S. Ngor. He won an Oscar for his very first film role in The Killing Fields and it’s hard to imagine anyone playing the character of Dith Pran much better. Unfortunately, Dr. Ngor had an extremely limited range. Nothing but roles in martial-arts crapfests until his tragic murder.
A similar example, is R. Lee Ermey. He burned up the screen in Full Metal Jacket, but let’s face it: he’s not a versatile actor.
I thought Kate Winslet’s debut in ‘Heavenly Creatures’ was pretty amazing.
A rather obvious choice here would be F. Murray Abraham’s debut performance in “Amadeus.” And he continued to have a decent career.
Natalie Portman in Luc Besson’s Leon.
Orson Welles in Citizen Kane trumps Greenstreet.
Kenneth Branagh in Henry V. Especially impressive because Lawrence Olivier already owned the part and Branagh took it from him.
Since they only appeared in one silent film (which only had one public screening), Groucho and Chico Marx in The Cocoanuts should count. (Harpo appeared in a silent film without the other two).
Brad Dourif in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Sigourney Weaver in Alien.
Malcolm MacDowell in Clockwork Orange.
Richard E. Grant in Withnail and I.
Russell won the Academy Award, and then didn’t appear in anything else until 1980 and then appeared in only one other film. I don’t even know if that counts as a career.
Leonardo DiCapprio got very, very high marks for “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.”
I thought Helen Slater was fantastic as both Billie Jean Davy in The Legend of Billie Jean and as Supergirl, her two debut films. Sure, Supergirl is cheesy, but can you imagine anyone else playing the part? I can’t.
Tons of peple in MAS*H
How about Glenn Close in The World According to Garp?
I gotta agree that Orson Welles will be hard to top, though.
and more tons in ** American Graffiti **
I was going to say Ben Kingsley in Gandi, but it turns out it was his second movie.
Except that Abraham had been making movies for a decade before Amadeus.
Henry V made Branagh’s name for him, but it was the 16th movie he had appeared in, not the first. I knida agree about the ‘took’ though.
DD
D’oh! My bad. Those were all TV movies or series. 'Enry was, indeed, his first feature film which I think is the intent of the OP.
DD