There are some celebrities who have seemingly become famous overnight after getting cast in iconic movie roles! Whether they had been in the industry for a long time or happened to be fortunate newcomers, playing these characters catapulted them to instant success.
The Harry Potter franchise gave several young actors the big break of a lifetime, while some of today's biggest stars were relative unknowns before appearing in popular films. Click through the slides to find out about a bunch of actors and actresses who made it big thanks to one role!
A Single Role Made These Celebs World Famous
Jennifer Grey
Jennifer Grey famously starred as "Baby Houseman" in the 1985 rom-com Dirty Dancing. While she had appeared in various television shows and played "Jeanie Bueller" in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, "Baby" remains Grey's best known role to this day.
Elijah Wood
Elijah Wood may have started out as a child actor, but he broke onto the scene in a major way when he played "Frodo Baggins" in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in 2001. This role instantly made Wood beloved among fantasy fans, and he reprised the character in the trilogy's subsequent films, The Two Towers and The Return of the King.
