I saw John Mayer perform as part of the duo Lo-Fi Masters (with Clay Cook) on a Four-Act Friday at Eddies Attic in Decatur, GA back in 1998, I think. For about the next year he had a pretty regular gig at Eddies, and he played in the cafe at the Borders bookstore on Cobb Pkwy every once in a while. My friends and I came to see him, but it was amazing seeing people in other parts of the store walk over to listen for a bit. He also played at least twice at a coffee shop in Vinings (the Moonbeam Cafe, I think) - once outside in nice weather, and once inside with an audience of about 6 people - me included.
Altogether I’d say I saw him at very small venues about 20 times before he blew up.
For a time during high school and college I watched soaps on CBS. There were more than a few people whose performances stood out. Meg Ryan, Marisa Tomei, Julianne Moore, Kevin Bacon, Melina Kanakaredes, Nia Long, Parker Posey, and Tamara Tuney were all on CBS soaps while I was watching.
They all sort of stood out. There were a few other actors I thought would become well known, that didn’t. I often see them in episodes of Law & Order.
I remember seeing Seth Rogen in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and thinking that he was going to be the future Will Ferrell. Granted that wasn’t too long before he became a big star, but he was still an unknown to me.
I was so freaking impress by one chorus person when I saw the musical Caroseul 1n 1992 that I got her autograph and remembered her name–Audra McDonald.
I want to mention two people who represent for me the extremes of the spectrum so that perhaps you can think of similar, perhaps better, examples of the two types.
First there’s Edward Norton who basically hit the ground running in Primal Fear (1996) even though this role was not the very first one credited to him at IMDB.
Then there’s Charles Bronson for whom even with 164 credited roles a large number of those roles would be classified as bit parts, extras, and utility roles with an emphasis on heavies and thugs. After a long period of “paying his dues” he eventually became an international superstar, even if the performances themselves were rarely spectacular.
In Bronson’s case, I didn’t see him on screen to realize who he was until probably at least five years into his career, but surely by the time of The Magnificent Seven (1960) he was one of my favorite character types, along with James Coburn, Robert Vaughn and others like them who made the rounds of TV cop and detective shows and Westerns.
So, if you can think of even better examples of these extremes of the Fame Scale and the Overnight Success Scale, please mention them.
This is the one I came in to cite. While Pitt was taunting Davis’s husband (played by the always wonderful Christopher McDonald) with wild pelvic thrusts while in policy custody on a stairwell. I knew he was a star.
I think it was around the same time that he played Larry Flynt’s lawyer in The People v. Larry Flynt. Between the two, I knew he would be a huge talent.
Sadly, I read that he is a difficult person to work with, so I kind of understand why his career has been a little different than what might have been. Sure, he’s worked steadily, and in some good films, but I expected more.
I went to the same high school as John Barrowman. I was a freshman when he was a senior, and I had the privilege of seeing him perform in the variety show and the spring musical. I guess every high school has that one music/drama kid who everyone thinks is going to make it big as a professional. Just in this case, we were right!
I was blown away by the scene in Boogie Nights where Philip Seymour Hoffman was sitting in the car having a meltdown. I knew right then and there that someday he would win an Oscar.
I saw Widespread Panic before they had anything other than a self-released album on cassette and knew they would do well (I still have the cassette, btw).
I also saw Black Crowes before they had a record deal, and knew they would hit the big time.
Ditto for Derek Trucks (I think he was 6 the first time I saw him), The Flaming Lips, Asleep At The Wheel, Driving & Crying, Mojo Nixon, Living Colour, Murphy’s Law, etc.
Of course, since I work in rock&roll/theatre/movies/TV I’ve seen a lot of people before they hit it big.
ETA: I knew as soon as I saw him onscreen in Brain Candy that Brendan Fraser would someday be a big star.
I’m no good at this. I saw Chris Rock back when he was doing standup in small clubs and I thought he sucked.
In fairness, I still think he did suck back then. He’s gotten better.
I also saw a lot of music acts before they hit it big, but I would be lying if I said that I just knew so-and-so was going to be a huge star. In fact, some of the best acts (IMO) never made it big. It all seemed hit-and-miss.
I used to watch George Strait in the late 70’s when he was still playing dance halls in Grueene, TX. I didn’t much care for him but it was obvious he was going to be big.
I watched “One Life to Live” from the late 80s to the early 90s. In that time, Marcia Cross (famous for “Melrose Place” and “Desperate Housewives”), Ryan Phillipe (“Cruel Intentions”), Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien of ST:TNG & DS9), Yasmine Bleeth (“Baywatch” babe), Barbara Garrick (“Tales of the City”), Roma Downey (“Touched By An Angel”) and Nathan Fillion (“Firefly”) all came & went.
In music, I saw Ani Difranco play at coffee-house nights at colleges around Buffalo during the same time period. I specifically recall the night I first saw her, she was advertised on the promo leaflet and my friend pointed her out and said “She is real HOT! She is going to be big!” At one point, Difranco did a show and said she was moving away to NYC. A few years later, she returned and said something about how it was nice not having to sleep in the back seat of her car anymore.
I saw U2 open for The J. Geils Band around 1982 or so. I still remember Bono’s opening line: “We’re U2 and we’re an Irish band!”
In my experience, most unknown opening bands were booed no matter how good they were. But not these guys. They had the audience eating out of their hands from the first note. I remember thinking that they might do pretty well for themselves.
I saw the debut of Alanis Morrissette’s “You Oughta Know” video on MTV and went out to buy the album that day. They were stocking it on the shelves when I got there.
Edward Norton, for sure. Primal Fear was unbelievable, and to follow it up with Fight Club and American History X made me think he’d be a much BIGGER star in ten years than what he actually became. Norton is well known, but he’s not the “biggest ever” that I assumed he would be.
I saw the Christopher Reeve movie **Street Smart **when it first came out and told several people that the bad guy in the movie … one Morgan Freeman … was a riveting presence who was bound for stardom.
