There are so many actors in Hollywood that we love, mostly for the roles that have defined them.
But no actor just lands into a defining role. Most of the time, they have to work their way up in Hollywood.
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These are the roles they did while they were working their way to the top.
1. Zac Efron
Before he was making every Wildcat (and kid who watched the High School Musical movies, for that matter) sing-along, he played a young version of Dr. Simon Tam in an episode of Firefly .
2. Matthew McConaughey
This was the Oscar winner’s very first role. Before he had the Oscars, before he was the king of rom-coms, before Dazed and Confused even, he played a murder victim on Unsolved Mysteries .
3. Sebastian Stan
Before he was an expert assassin in the Marvel movies, Sebastian Stan played a teenage sniper who was kidnapped on Law & Order .
So it looks like he’s being typecasted.
4. Meghan Markle
Before becoming literal royalty (and then ditching that royalty), even before Suits , Meghan, Duchess of Sussex was a murderer on Castle .
There’s definitely an ironic joke about the royal family in there somewhere.
5. Leslie David Baker
Surly Stanley did some things before he had his breakout role in The Office , like when he played a Janitor in this episode of That ’70s Show .
Looks like Stanley moved up in the world!
6. Ellen Pompeo
Yes, Ellen Pompeo was on Friends . We all remember this episode of Friends , don’t we?
It combined two of our favorite Tv shows, Friends and Grey’s Anatomy .
7. Tiffany Haddish
Tiffany Haddish is one of the funniest women in Hollywood ( Tuca and Bertie , come on people).
But before she was making us laugh our pants off with her cartoon antics, she was making us laugh our pants off on That’s So Raven .
8. Andrew Garfield
He was Spider-Man (for a while). He was also nominated for an Academy Award for his portrayal of Desmond Doss in Hacksaw Ridge .
But before all that, he was in this little known show about a time-travelling Doctor…
9. Orlando Bloom
Before he was in two of the biggest franchises in the world ( Lord Of The Rings and Pirates Of The Carribbean ), he played a womanizer in a show called Midsomer Murders .
10. Yara Shahidi
Yara Shahidi did a lot before she was in Black-ish .
She was young Olivia Pope in Scandal , she was “Little Girl” in one of the Family Guy : Star Wars episodes, she was even in Entourage !
11. Shay Mitchell
The same Shay Mitchell that was huge on Pretty Little Liars briefly appeared in Degrassi: The Next Generation as a model.
Well, she certainly had the look for the part!
12. Rainn Wilson
We all know him as Dwight from The Office , but before he was making us laugh with his bear facts he was on a show called Charmed , where he played a demon alchemist.
13. James Corden
Yes! Even late-night talk show hosts like James Corden worked on TV shows before they were famous.
Luckily, he had a pretty good start for himself on Dr. Who .
14. Gina Rodriguez
It was a time where she wasn’t making us fall in love with her on Jane The Virgin .
She was different back then, playing small roles like a victim’s cousin on The Mentalist .
