It can be a long and hard road to the top if you want to walk on red carpet and be internationally lauded by obsessive fans and be acknowledged by peers. Today’s movie stars might be the toast of Tinsel Town, but such people do not magically appear on the A-list. After making the brave move to sunny California to wait tables, pay for acting classes and attend countless auditions for bit-parts in films, the would be actor goes through an odyssey of trials and tribulations in order to land that first role and then pray that they have the ‘right stuff’ to catch the eye of director looking for their next star.
Before they became bankable and adorned every tabloid magazine in the entire world, they had to start somewhere and here are a few clips that captures today’s celebs at the bottom of the golden ladder that leads to million-dollar mansions in the Hollywood hills and their names emblazoned in the bright lights of Stardom.
Nicole KidmanBefore Nicole Kidman became the most dominant leading female figure in cinema, she started out as a gangly ginja-ninja mop top with pasty skin who befriends a rabble of suburban bandits who dish out sweet BMX justice to a bunch of baddies. BMX Bandits (1983) made kids the world over wanna’ cruise in a badass two-wheeled posse and do “bunny-hops” up curbs. Check out the clip and be dazzled by Nicole's fluent French ramblings (it's overdubbed in French actually).
Sylvester StalloneHe may look way too similar to his Mom in the looks department these days and could use some 'subtitles' to go with his more recent films, but before he kicked ass in Rocky and before wielded the “thousand-yard stare” as Vietnam-Vet Rambo, Sly slapped some booty and got his freak on in a different area of the film industry. When things were tough before Hollywood, Sly used his "wood" in a soft-core porn film called Party at Kitty and Studs (1970) which was then later renamed The Italian Stallion when he became more prominent.
Courtney Cox She might be married to the zany David Arquette and be best remembered for her pedantic character in Friends, but ol' Courtney started out where most young folk in America do in life... a two-bit fast food diner called Robby's. Her role in the Dolf Lungren action classic Masters of the Universe was the film that started it all.
Brad PittHe may be the most multi-cultural dad around these days, but back in the day, Brad was just a fresh-faced lad hungry to land a decent film role. He got his chance in 1988 and starred in The Dark Side of the Sun (an American/Yugoslavian production) as a sickly teen with a rare skin disease. The film didn't see the light of day until 1997, but that didn't seem to hinder his rapid ascension up the star-studded ladder.