Which celebrity surprised you the most by becoming an ENORMOUS star?

[Oslo_Ostragoth]

@Surbey

Adam Carolla

Was a wacky voice on a radio show in the morning.

Went on to have several television shows, two nationally syndicated radio shows, hosted network specials, all kinds of things. If you have ever heard him read his Social Security history and see that he made something like 60 thousand dollars over 15 years before he made it, many of the years he declared 0 dollars for pay. It’s quite remarkable that he is not, in his words, literally a millionaire.

Not sure how to say this, but, there is no way I consider him a star. I only remember him from “The Man Show”, where I thought him a talentless dick. YMMV.

[Oslo_Ostragoth]

@Le Ministre de l'au-delà

k d lang. I first saw her in a bar in Edmonton in 1984. My friend Martin and I toughed out one whole set and got out of there. We hadn’t even closed the door behind us before we said ‘What was that?’ Everything about that set had scratched a raw nerve with us - she wasn’t in tune, the band was sloppy, and worst of all, she had this ironic stage manner as if she didn’t respect any of the material she was doing. She just came off as faux hip, arrogant and untalented.

About a year later, I saw some article in the Toronto Star about her brilliant rise. Friends kept telling me about her, and I’d check it out, thinking, that must have been an off night. Nope.

One of many artists whose popularity has always baffled me.

You’ve never heard “Pullin’ Back the Reins”? 'Cause that’s one of my alltime favorite songs.

[Millit_the_Frail]

I’m still blown away that Shia LeBeouf is the next generation’s action star. WTF?! The nerdy kid from the Disney Channel? Good on him–that kid’s got one hell of an agent!

[Robot_Arm]

Re: Peter Jackson

@Max Torque

2. He’s actually a talented director. Granted, it takes some doing to spot the creative visual styling in Bad Taste and Dead Alive, but the man’s got an eye.

I’ve seen Meet the Feebles; an interesting movie, and I recommend it to people who are of the certain frame of mind to appreciate its charms, but there’s nothing in it that makes me think “there’s the guy who can do justice to Tolkien.”

[Sage_Rat]

@Robot Arm

Re: Peter Jackson
I’ve seen Meet the Feebles; an interesting movie, and I recommend it to people who are of the certain frame of mind to appreciate its charms, but there’s nothing in it that makes me think “there’s the guy who can do justice to Tolkien.”

Heavenly Creatures is probably the best film to get an idea of his skillz up to that point, though The Frighteners is the first movie he made (that I’ve seen) which had professional looking special effects and cinematography.

[Scissorjack]

@Annie-Xmas

My vote is for Hugh Laurie. Prior to “House” he was a British song-and-dance comedian, one-half of Fry & Laurie. Who would have guess what darkness lurked there and how it would propel Laurie into enormous stardom?

He might not have been known in the States, but he was a household name in Britain after his incomparable work in “Blackadder” and then “Jeeves And Wooster”.

My vote goes to Kylie Minogue: Aussie soap actress becomes popular in Britain, becomes a cheesy manufactured pop star - and keeps becoming a bigger and bigger: should have had the lifespan of a depressed mayfly, but is still going strong after over 20 years. Damn, that girl has a good agent.

[Rilchiam]

Madonna. Back in 1984, the media was constantly pitting her against Cyndi Lauper, generally in Lauper’s favor. Newsweek put CL on their cover when they did a feature on women in rock, for instance. Lauper was older*, more seasoned and was said to take music seriously, while Madonna was regarded as a tarty gimmick with a weak voice. (*Madonna was claiming at that time to be several years younger than she actually was, while Lauper was coy about her own, but regardless, the gap was significant.)

And over the years, Madge kept reaching what seemed like inevitable stopping points. Shanghai Surprise? Can she recover from that? The Sex book? That’s gotta be the end of it! And so forth. But she just kept going and going and going. Meanwhile, Lauper has finally found her niche, after a looooooong dry spell.

[Annie-Xmas]

Nobody has mentioned Steve Martin. The guy went from playing the bango, making balloon animals, and wearing an arrow on his head to stardom.

[CalMeacham]

He might not have been known in the States, but he was a household name in Britain after his incomparable work in “Blackadder” and then “Jeeves And Wooster”.

He was well-known in the States for that, too. He was also in the live action 101 Dalmations. But it was always as a blatantly comic and generally ridiculous character. “House” shows a completely different side of him.

[OneCentStamp]

@UncleRojelio

Hillary Swank, from The Next Karate Kid to two Oscars?

I came here to mention two people: this one and Greg Kinnear. I mean, not only was he the host of Talk Soup, he was a bad one at that! Next thing I know, he’s a pretty big movie star.

[What_Exit]

@Annie-Xmas

Nobody has mentioned Steve Martin. The guy went from playing the bango, making balloon animals, and wearing an arrow on his head to stardom.

But we all knew he would be a star. After all, he was a **wild ** and **crazy ** guy.

[cmkeller]

Adam Sandler, for me. I never thought any of his SNL recurring bits were all that funny, and for the life of me, I can’t imagine who decided he could headline a movie.

[Skald_the_Rhymer]

@jayjay

Laura Linney. Admittedly, she’s not an ENORMOUS star yet, but she’s recognizable and fairly famous, and getting more films by the year. And yet I remember her as Mary Ann in “Tales of the City” 15 years ago more than anything she’s done later.

No one loves Laura Linney more than I, but she is not an enormous star, nor shall she ever be, I fear.

[jimmmy]

If you saw me watching St. Elsewhere in ~1988 and told me that in 20 years Dr. “Denzel Washington” Chandler will have a couple Oscars and a couple of more nominations, and a mantle with some Golden globes and still be making movies for wide release after a fairly long and respectable movie career starring or co-starring in 3 big movies a year - I would have said you were crazy or maybe if I believed you:

“Mark Harmon has the sexiest man alive chops,” 1988 Jimmy says "Howie Mandel has the comedy chops and Ed Begley has that dorky intensity/integrity - certainly they and Alfre Woodward are his equal … If that is true then they must be near Gods too in that far off land of 2008 … "

[divemaster]

@Phase42

Garth Brooks, at least when compared to other artists who debuted the same year. His debut album came out at roughly the same time as Clint Black’s debut.

I totally agree. I like Brooks but I remember when his and Black’s first CDs were released. I thought for sure Black was going to be the mega star and Brooks would just poke along. By all measures Clint Black is a major country music star, but Brooks just went stratospheirc.

My nomination comes from the world of sports. In the 1989-90 college basketball season, LSU had a mega star big man (7-footer) we all felt for sure was ticketed for college glory, if not eventual hall of fame stardom. A dominant player that LSU fans were waiting for b/c he was ineligible the previous year. His name: Stanley Roberts. And oh, by the way, did you see that other kid, Shackeel O’Neal or whatever? He might be good too, one day. But he’s got nothing on Roberts.

(Of course Roberts bailed college after 1 year and went on to an injury and drug-plagued ignominious NBA career; and we all know what Shaquille O’Neal has done)