Dazed and Confused
Matthew McConaughey
Ben Affleck
Milla Jovovich
Parker Posey
Rory Cochrane
Adam Goldberg
And others
P.S. I had to copy and past Matthew McConowhatever because, man, that’s hard to spell.
You forgot John Belushi and Donald Sutherland.
Apocalypse Now, which features Larry Fishburne.
**Big Chill **1983
Glen Close
Tom Berrenger
Jeff Goldblum
William Hurt
Kevin Kline
Meg Tilly
Mary Kay Place
Jo Beth Williams
…And they cut out Kevin Costner, although he was the dead guy.
Also, Lords of Flatbush
The only star was Leif Garrett - who’s teen heart-throb days were ending.
Matt Dillon had a couple of films in but the others were virtually unknown.
C. Thomas Howell
Patrick Swayze
Tom Cruise
Rob Lowe
Ralph Macchio
Emilio Estevez
Diane Lane
Michelle Meyrink
Sofia Coppola
Tom Waits
Also cameos from:
Flea
Cam Neely
S.E. Hinton herself
Winner. Especially considering the thread title of “before their peaks or near enough to.”
The Outsiders (1983)
Rob Lowe
Tom Cruise
C. Thomas Howell
Patrick Swayze
Diane Lane
Emilio Estevez
Matt Dillon
Leif Garrett
Ralph Macchio
Glenn Withrow
Also…Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers has an un-credited cameo.
NINJA’D!!!
The Color Purple deserves a mention. Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, Oprah Winfrey, Margaret Avery, Laurence Fishburne and Rae Dawn Chong.
The movie was also nominated for eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress for Goldberg and Best Supporting Actress for both Avery and Winfrey (though not for Best Director for Steven Spielberg. Who did the Academy think put the whole movie together?) It failed to win any of them, tying the record set by 1977’s The Turning Point for the most Oscar nominations without a single win
You might look at teen coming of age movies like the Breakfast Club starring Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy…
You’ll never top The Longest Day. John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Richard Burton, Robert Mitchum, Sean Connery, Eddie Albert, Red Buttons, Peter Lawford, Rod Steiger, Rod McDowell… the list goes on.
You fool! The OP said “lots” of actors, not just one!
Umm…I think we’ve drifted off the “before their peaks” criteria…
Might be stretching a bit but Citizen Kane had a lot of people who became fairly to very well known. Most had been in theater with little to no film acting behind them.
There’s Welles, of course. Agnes Moorehead. Joseph Cotten. Plus a lot of people who were frequent secondary characters in movies and on TV for many years. E.g., recognize Gus Schilling? Or Ray Collins who played Lt. Tragg on Perry Mason?
Of course several of them found their careers hampered during the 50s due to their association with organizations like the Mercury Theatre and such. Some might have been significantly well known if not for that.
“Larry” was also in Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, along with Phil Hartman, S. Epatha Merkerson, Natasha Lyonne, and guests Jimmy Smits and Sandra Bernhard. Music by Danny Elfman and Mark Mothersbaugh, who were both in popular bands but not yet known for their solo work as soundtrack powerhouses. Also music by the Residents(!), though doubt they’re household names.
Sixteen Candles came out a year earlier with Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Gedde Watanabe, and John Cuzack.
A 1975 film with some actors who were just breaking through is Report to the Commissioner: