24 Actors Who Kind of Became Movie Stars By Accident

You hear a lot about celebrities being “discovered,” mostly because it’s nice to believe that a big shot could see something special in you when you’re just standing in line at Walmart, but it’s usually not such a magical story. Most of the time, a talented person toils in the background for years, if not decades, before landing their “breakthrough” role. That, or they make the wise decision to be born into families that are either wealthy, already famous or otherwise connected. 

Honestly, it’s mostly that last one.

In fact, the mythical “discovery” is so rare that Redditor Certain_Guitar6109 told r/Movies, “I’m wondering what actors out there were truly ‘discovered’ by someone in the industry and how. Not actors who made their way through family connections or that simply worked their way up, ones that were completely unknown but someone saw their talent and they made it big from that.” 

They then asked for stories about “actors that were truly ‘discovered,’” and their fellow Redditors compiled a whole new world of names.