I guess not every actor gets it right the first time. From Flavorpill comes this compilation of great actors’ first performances, including the good, the embarrassing, and the performances so fleeting you probably missed them.
Everyone will have their own favorite roles here, but for me it’s the last category—the fleeting—that makes this compilation so fun. While it starts with some more widely infamous appearances—like Nicolas Cage, Anthony Edwards, and Eric Stoltz in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, a movie that gave many stars their start—it proceeds to point out roles that you might have missed over and over. Did you realize that was Jonah Hill in that great dinner scene in I Heart Huckabees? Sharon Stone on that passing train in Stardust Memories? Have you ever spotted Renée Zellweger in Dazed and Confused?
Of course some gave breakout performances in their first roles, but for every Eddie Murphy in 48 HRS. there’s a Sylvester Stallone in The Party at Kitty and Stud’s, which is every bit as soft-core as it sounds. (Via Kottke.)
Previously:
A Long Time Ago, An Art-House George Lucas
Is This Robert Altman’s First Film?
Every Wes Anderson Overhead Shot of Hands, Scored to Music
