The recent one that comes to mind is “No Country For Old Men”, that brought Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem to the attention of the public. Interesting to see that the two shared equal billing on the poster with Tommy Lee Jones and Woody was not mentioned. His role was a much smaller one but he has a lot of drawing power.
Dennis
“Dallas Buyer’s Club” made Jared Leto into a star.
If I remember correctly, Brad Pitt got his chance by being noticed in the background of some scenes in Philadelphia. I’m not sure if he even had any lines, or if he was just “that hunk in the background”.
He probably got a bigger boost from Thelma and Louise.
Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds
Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator
Edward Norton in Primal Fear
Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny
Alan Rickman in Die Hard.
This is going to sound a little wonky but…
Bronson Pinchot. His one scene in Beverly Hills Cop launched him into Perfect Strangers. BHC was his second on screen credit. Two years later - playing essentially the same character - he got 151 episodes of a well-rated sitcom. Even after it ended he’s worked steadily. For an actor, that’s success.
I’m not sure if he is considered a “star”, but Graham Greene completely upstaged Kevin Costner in Dances With Wolves, and he completely upstaged Val Kilmer in Thunderheart.
The Pink Panther was intended to be the first of a series about David Niven’s character. Peter Sellers not only stole the show, but the series.
Steve Carrell somehow out-Jim-Carreyed Jim Carrey in BRUCE ALMIGHTY right before stealing any number of scenes out from under Will Ferrell in ANCHORMAN the year after that; the year after that, he got to star in THE 40-YEAR OLD VIRGIN and start his run on THE OFFICE, but success was kind of a foregone conclusion after that one-two punch.
Jack Nicholson became a star after appearing for about 15-20 minutes in Easy Rider
Harrison Ford in Star Wars (His hatred of the film/role notwithstanding)
It’s easy to forget, but Anthony Hopkins only has about 20 minutes of screen-time in the 2+ hours of Silence of the Lambs
The Egg and I starred Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray.
Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride, playing Ma and Pa Kettle became the stars of the nine sequels.
Anthony Hopkins was already a huge name by the early 90’s though.
Everybody knew who John Travolta was before he earned that Best Actor nomination in PULP FICTION – but I guarantee that everybody who walked into a theater wondering just who the heck Samuel L Jackson was left said theater thinking “I don’t care whether that guy just earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination; he’s clearly a movie star with leading-man qualities and a riveting screen presence.”
I think Jackson’s first, or almost first, credited screen role was the guy who tried to hold up the McDowell’s burger joint in Coming to America. His role was that of a nasty punk but for such a short amount of screen time he made an impression.
Strange, I had thought that I’d noticed Jackson in A Time to Kill and The Long Kiss Goodnight, before Pulp Fiction, but apparently PF came out before both of those.
I feel like maybe he didn’t really become noticed until Star Wars, Shaft, and Snakes on a Plane came out to cement his “awesomeness”, but maybe I’m misremembering.
Personally, I sort of wish he was able to play more varied roles (like Mitch Henessey) than just Badass Motherfucker. It was nice seeing him as the Uncle Tom character in Django Unchained was sort of nice to see, except the old man makeup was poorly done and distracting.
Tom Hiddleston in Thor. Kenneth Branagh wanted to cast him in the part because he had worked with him on Wallander and he wanted Tom to get some big-screen time.
Orlando Bloom in Lord of the Rings. He’d done a few uncredited roles, but mostly just joined the cast straight from acting college. See, he was performing in a play at school and there was this guy in the audience named Peter Jackson…
Matthew McConauhey in Dazed and Confused (1993)
He’s a star in my book.
R Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket
Goldie Hawn in There’s a Girl in My Soup
Jackson was doing really well pre Pulp Fiction. He had already been in the huge hit Jurassic Park, for example. Pulp Fiction just changed his career by pushing him up into star level, which I guess is pretty much what this thread is looking for.