An interesting case is Barbra Streisand whose first movie role in Funny Girl in 1968 was preceded by many years of work on TV as a singer, not to mention her recording successes before she turned to acting.
TV work is a gray area, as I see it. So many movie actors cut their teeth in TV roles, some over the course of years to decades, before making it to the big screen. Paul Newman and Robert Redford, to name just two, got over their bit parts and nowhere roles on TV before getting into movies.
We could name dozens of TV show stars, Eastwood, McQueen, Vaughn, Garner, just for starters, who were already household names by the time they got big movie roles.
Dick Van Dyke in the Golden Globe nominated Bye Bye Birdie, reprising the Broadway role for which he had won a Tony and directly led to him being cast as Rob Petrie.
I think you’ll find a lot of child actors that fit the OP. For example, Tatum O’Neal won the Best Supporting Actress for her debut performance in Paper Moon, which was probably enough of a hit to qualify.
How about James Earl Jones? I see two TV guest roles, one episode each, before Dr. Strangelove.
(I always thought Strangelove was his first credit, but looked it up just to be sure.)
Sofia Coppola in The Godfather Part 2. She was Baby Michael Jr., the kid getting baptized while Daddy’s goons were settling scores all over Vegas, Miami and Lake Tahoe.
Olivia Thirlby (Juno’s friend Leah in Juno and current indie star): first credit was United 93.
John Malkovich had an uncredited appearance in a forgettable movie, did some forgettable TV work, then had his first credited film role in Places in the Heart.
Here’s one. Yun-jin Kim (who plays “Sun” on Lost) had her first film appearance (at least according to the IMDb) in Shiri, one of Korea’s biggest box-office hits of all time. It was a major part, too.
That couldn’t have been much of a debut. According to IMDb, it was just a few transition scenes to be shown between acts of Mercury’s production of the play Too Much Johnson. The production was never staged. Nor, presumably, was the film screened.
Another false one is Vivien Leigh. A lot of people think she was discovered for Gone With The Wind. In fact, it was literally the halfway point in her career. She only had twenty credits as an actress and that was her tenth one.
Hands down- Max Pirkis. His first role ever as Midshipman Lord Blakeney in Master and Commander- The Far Side of the World was a stunner at age 14, and he followed it up with role #2, of the young Gaius Octavian on season one of HBO’s Rome.
That’s it, by the way. He’s a kid, hanging out, going to school- no movies since, and none in the pipeline. He’s very talented but can’t be bothered, apparently.
