Actors and actresses don’t become celebrities without working hard, and celebrities don’t instantly transform into superstars. Very often (most of the time actually), this status is preceded by a difficult path that requires hard work and patience, tons and tons of it.
Many of those Hollywood superstars that make hundreds of millions of dollars a year didn’t just magically turn into that by tapping their shoes, and yes, many stars begin their journey up in the ladder of success, many others started with independent films. Let’s check those who still love it.
Hugh Grant
British actor Hugh Grant made his very first film when he was 22 years old and a student at the University of Oxford. His first job as an actor was a low budget student tragicomedy named Privileged. By the way, at that time, the actor wanted to be an art historian and after school, he used to read books and even started writing his own novel.
Now, a complete showman, Grant hasn’t always had it easy, after his debut, he only got jobs in miniseries and soap operas of rather low quality, it wasn’t until Four Weddings and a Funeral that the actor finally made his breakthrough.
Leonardo DiCaprio
The first peek in the world of cinema for Leo was his role in the comedy-horror film Critters 3, in which he acted when he was a teenager of 15 years of age. By the way, before that, DiCaprio had some minor appearances in soap operas. So, for example, do you remember the actor in Santa Barbara?
Now the Oscar winner is devoting his time (and fortune) to save the planet, through his social media posts, and from his position as an influencer, he speaks out loud about the dangers of global warming and extinction of animals.
Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks also debuted in a horror independent movie called He knows you’re alone with a budget of 250 thousand USD, a standard plot about a crazy maniac who murders brides in 1980. He was still far from Forrest Gump and The Da Vinci Code, but he was getting there.
After his movie debut, Hanks scored a role in Mazes and Monsters, a tv show about a group of college students and their interest on the role-playing game of the same name, you know, they couldn’t afford to pay Dungeons and Dragons’ name copyrights.
George Clooney
Yes, George Clooney also took his first steps in acting in a horror, independent movie. This humble film about the creation of a horror film, Return to Horror High, to some extent, proved prophetic. One of the characters in the movie asked Clooney’s character is he will become a star, the answer, of course, is widely known already, being one of the best-paid actors.
But this hasn’t always been the case, Clooney has had his ups and downs with big budget films, such as his Batman movie, has made him go and come to independent films like Syriana, Criminal, and The Jacket.