These actors turned in career-defining performances on their first try! For this list, we’ll be looking at the best debut performances in movie history.
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00:00Nice suit.
00:02John Phillips, London.
00:04Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the top 20 acting debuts in movies.
00:10She ain't better than anybody. She ain't nothing but common. Now who you callin' common?
00:16I have a fifth sense.
00:23What do you mean? It's like I have ESPN or something.
00:26For this list, we'll be looking at the best debut performances in movie history.
00:30This must be the actor's first appearance in a film, even if they had previously acted on stage or television.
00:37What do you think is the best debut performance of all time? Let us know in the comments.
00:43Number 20. Alan Rickman. Die hard.
00:46Hans Gruber is one of the greatest antagonists in movie history, and he was played by first-time film presence Alan Rickman.
00:54One, two, three.
01:01I don't know, Alan, I'm telling you. Get on a jet to Tokyo and ask the chairman. I'm telling you, you're just gonna have to kill me.
01:07Okay.
01:09Rickman was an accomplished stage actor at the time, a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, having trained at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
01:18I can't take the time now to mention all the Shakespearean roles you've done.
01:21In 1985, Rickman starred in productions of As You Like It and Troilus and Cressida, and he was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, one year prior to Die Hard.
01:34But it was Hans Gruber that made Rickman a star, his suave performance impressing critics and general moviegoers alike.
01:40Gruber was different from many 80s action villains, stylish, calm, and wickedly intelligent.
01:46When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer.
01:58Benefits of a classical education.
02:00And Rickman played it all perfectly.
02:02Enough jokes.
02:04You made a pretty good cowboy yourself, Hans.
02:07Oh, yes. What was it you said to me before? Yippee-ki-yay.
02:1419. Jason Schwartzman – Rushmore
02:17Directed by Wes Anderson and co-written with Owen Wilson, Rushmore concerns a love triangle between an elementary school teacher, a rich businessman, and a 15-year-old private school student.
02:28Max, can I ask you something?
02:32Sure.
02:34Has it ever crossed your mind that you're far too young for me?
02:38The latter is portrayed by Jason Schwartzman, a member of the iconic Coppola family.
02:43The 17-year-old Schwartzman met the movie's casting director at a party, and he earned the role of Max Fisher over 1,800 other teenagers.
02:52The collaboration between Schwartzman and director Wes Anderson proved an enormous success, and Schwartzman received critical acclaim for his debut performance.
03:00Sic transit gloria. Maybe we'll meet again someday, when the fighting stops.
03:07He's since become a frequent collaborator of Anderson's, both starring in his movies and co-writing the likes of The Darjeeling Limited and Isle of Dogs.
03:15Ready?
03:19I'm not doing this because you commanded me to. I'm doing it because I feel sorry for you.
03:2518. Kate Winslet – Heavenly Creatures
03:29This is Juliet Hume.
03:34Kate Winslet is one of the most acclaimed actresses of our time, the recipient of seven Academy Award nominations, and she began her film career playing a murderer.
03:44Winslet debuted in Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures, which dramatizes the Parker-Hulme murder case of 1954.
03:51One of the criminals was Juliet Hulme, a teenage girl who conspired with her best friend Pauline Parker to murder Parker's mother.
03:59I know what to do about mother.
04:06We don't want to go to too much trouble.
04:11Some sort of accident.
04:15Hulme served five years for the murder, and 40 years later, she was played by future Hollywood legend Kate Winslet.
04:21Winslet was widely acclaimed for her disturbing performance and walked away with various accolades, including an Empire Award and a London Film Critics Circle Award.
04:30Your mother is rather a miserable woman, isn't she?
04:3517. Barbara Streisand – Funny Girl
04:39Serving as one of the most popular and acclaimed musicals of all time, Funny Girl tells the semi-autobiographical story of Broadway star Fanny Bryce and her relationship with con artist Nicky Arnstein.
04:50I'd rather be blue over you than be happy with somebody else.
05:03Smile.
05:04I'm crazy about you.
05:07Debuting on Broadway in 1964, Funny Girl was nominated for eight Tony Awards, including Best Performance by a Leading Actress for Barbara Streisand.
05:17The performance proved so instantly iconic that Streisand reprised the role of Fanny Bryce for the 1968 film adaptation, making her film debut in the process.
05:27And what a debut it was.
05:29Streisand put just as much effort in front of the camera as she did on stage, and she won the Academy Award for Best Actress in the process.
05:36Don't quit, don't tell me.
05:39Don't tell me not to live, just sit and putter.
05:42Life's candy and the sun's a ball of butter.
05:45Don't bring around a cloud to rain on my parade.
05:51No. 16, Haley Steinfeld, True Grit.
05:54A lawyer jacket would not wish me to consider anything under $325, but I will settle for $320 if I am given the $20 in advance.
06:04Haley Steinfeld was introduced to acting through her Emmy Award-winning cousin, True O'Brien, who has garnered fame playing Paige Larson on the soap opera Days of Our Lives.
06:14When Steinfeld was 13 years old, she landed the role of Maddie Ross in the Coen Brothers adaptation of True Grit.
06:20It's an incredibly difficult role, with Steinfeld needing to deliver complex, outdated dialogue and starring opposite the legendary Jeff Bridges.
06:29It would be a challenge for experienced actors, let alone a 13-year-old girl.
06:33But Steinfeld was up for the challenge, and she was consistently praised by critics for her debut performance.
06:39For her efforts, Steinfeld received her first and so far only Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
06:45I did not think you would do it.
06:47What do you think now?
06:49One of my short ribs are broken.
06:51You killed my father when he was trying to help you.
06:53I have one of the gold pieces you stole from him, now give me the other.
06:56No. 15, Anya Taylor-Joy, The Witch.
06:59When she was just 14 years old, Anya Taylor-Joy dropped out of school to pursue acting.
07:05She found modelling work instead, having been discovered outside London's Harrods department store.
07:10She subsequently found acting work through her modelling, and made her film debut in Robert Egger's period horror movie The Witch.
07:17She plays Thomason, a banished Puritan who is accused of witchcraft by her family.
07:21I made no bargain.
07:23No soul belongs to Christ.
07:24I made no bargain.
07:25The devil hath no interest in thee.
07:27I am no witch, father.
07:28What did I but see in my house?
07:31Will you not hear me?
07:33Oh, pretty, come back.
07:34Why have you turned against me?
07:35Taylor-Joy is excellent in the role, balancing passivity with outrage, fear, and eventual confidence.
07:42The Witch proved one of the most acclaimed horror films of 2015,
07:45with the screenplay, direction, atmosphere, and performances earning particular attention.
07:51It made Taylor-Joy a star, and she subsequently became one of the most popular actresses of the latter 2010s.
07:58What's that like to live deliciously?
08:02Yes.
08:06What's that like to see the world?
08:1014. Sidney Poitier
08:13No way out.
08:14One of the greatest, most influential, and most groundbreaking actors in movie history, Sidney Poitier
08:20was the star of many iconic films dealing with race relations in mid-century America.
08:25Shut up, shut up.
08:27You're talking to a doctor.
08:29A doctor?
08:31Him?
08:33Lie back and lie still, you're in my charge.
08:35In 2002, Poitier earned an Honorary Academy Award for his historic accomplishments in film.
08:42Poitier made his debut in the controversial 1950 movie No Way Out, playing Dr. Luther Brooks,
08:48an African-American doctor confronted with racism in a hospital prison ward.
08:52The film proved Poitier's talents as an actor,
08:55and signaled his prolific career in films dealing with racial tensions.
08:59He's not even human, he's a mad dog.
09:01You kill mad dogs, don't you?
09:03Don't you think I'd like to?
09:04Don't you think I'd like to put the rest of these bullets through his head?
09:07Then go ahead.
09:08I can't.
09:08Why not?
09:10Because I've got to live, too.
09:11Almost 13 years after the release of No Way Out,
09:14Poitier became the first black man to win the Best Actor Oscar,
09:17which he received for Lillies of the Field.
09:20Well, how'd you get there before I came along?
09:21We walk every Sunday, now we got you.
09:24Now, damn it!
09:25You ain't got me.
09:26Good night, sweetheart.
09:27Now, get that very straight.
09:30And cut that out.
09:31Number 13.
09:32Quevenzhané Wallace – Beasts of the Southern Wild
09:45Wallace auditioned for Beasts of the Southern Wild when she was just five years old,
09:50having lied about her age to break the minimum age requirement of six.
09:54The director, Ben Zeitlin,
09:56was reportedly impressed by her ability to burp on command,
09:59winning her the part of Hush Puppy.
10:01The movie sees Hush Puppy and her temperamental father, Wink,
10:04living in a secluded Louisiana bayou.
10:07Wallace gave an impassioned, complex, and mature performance
10:10of someone far beyond her years,
10:12and won a slew of accolades throughout the 2013 awards season.
10:16No crying yet?
10:20No crying.
10:22She also became the youngest actress ever nominated
10:25for the Academy Award for Best Actress,
10:27beating Whale Riders' Keisha Castle-Hughes by four years.
10:30Number 12.
10:31Robert Duvall – To Kill a Mockingbird
10:43Prior to his role in To Kill a Mockingbird,
10:45Robert Duvall was an accomplished stage actor working in New York.
10:49In 1957, he starred in a play called The Midnight Caller,
10:53which was written by Horton Foote.
10:55Duvall's performance impressed Foote,
10:57and when he adapted Harper Lee's iconic novel for the screen,
11:00he recommended Duvall to the movie's producers.
11:03Duvall was cast as the famous recluse Boo Radley,
11:06and the rest is movie history.
11:08Hey, Boo.
11:11Mr. Gene Louise.
11:13Mr. Arthur Radley.
11:16I believe he already knows you.
11:18Like the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird was a resounding success,
11:22earning eight nominations at the 35th Academy Awards.
11:25Unfortunately, Duvall was not one of them.
11:27No matter, he would later earn seven,
11:30the first of which came one decade later with The Godfather.
11:33Number 11.
11:34Oprah Winfrey – The Color Purple
11:36This period drama proved an enormous departure for director Steven Spielberg,
11:41who, prior to this, had been known for his summer blockbusters.
11:44The Color Purple, on the other hand,
11:46is a dramatic and introspective look into the African-American experience
11:50of the early 20th century.
11:51You children are so clean.
11:53Would you like to work for me?
11:55Be my maid?
12:01Hell no.
12:03It's based on a Pulitzer-winning novel
12:04and stars Whoopi Goldberg as a rural Georgian named Celie.
12:08Oprah Winfrey stars opposite Goldberg as Sophia,
12:12a strong-willed woman who refuses to be oppressed.
12:15At the time, Winfrey was working as a morning talk show host in Chicago.
12:19With The Color Purple,
12:20she proved her incredible capabilities as an actress
12:23and earned both a Golden Globe and Academy Award nomination.
12:27I never thought I had to fight in my own house.
12:32I loves Hoppo.
12:34God knows I do.
12:37God knows I do.
12:40But I'll kill him dead, for I'll let him be me.
12:43Number 10.
12:44Edward Norton.
12:46Primal Fear
12:47For his film debut, Edward Norton was forced to play two people.
12:51Kind of.
12:52He plays a sociopathic murderer named Roy,
12:55who pretends to suffer from dissociative identity disorder
12:58in order to get out of a murder charge.
13:00I surely would be great.
13:01Great for anything you could do for me.
13:03You're welcome.
13:04Now, your full name is?
13:07What?
13:09Aaron Luke Stampler.
13:13At the time, Norton was a struggling New York actor working in theater.
13:17He was then discovered by a casting director named Shirley Rich,
13:20who introduced Norton to the executive producers of Primal Fear.
13:24He obviously got the job and was often singled out in reviews
13:27as the best aspect of the movie.
13:29It sounds to me like they're gonna shoot old Aaron so full of poison,
13:32it's gonna come out his eyes.
13:36Where is Aaron?
13:37Aaron's crying off in some corner somewhere.
13:39You scared him off.
13:40You gotta deal with me now, boy.
13:42I'm gonna give you a beating on principle.
13:44Norton earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor,
13:48the movie's only Oscar nomination, and Norton's first of three.
13:51There never was a Roy.
13:54Jesus Christ, Marty.
13:55If that's what you think, I am disappointed in you.
13:59I don't mind telling you.
14:03There never was an Aaron.
14:06Number 9.
14:07Gabourey Sidibe
14:08Precious
14:09A Harlem native, Gabourey Sidibe was working as a receptionist
14:13when she decided to audition in a nationwide casting call for Precious.
14:16The movie is based on the novel Push by Sapphire,
14:19and concerns the illiterate and pregnant Clarice Jones,
14:22living in poverty in 1980s Harlem.
14:25Jones lives in Section 8 housing with her unemployed and mean-spirited mother, Mary.
14:30She say I eat all the time, but she always making me eat.
14:34Then she call me a fat mess.
14:36She said her apartment little because of me.
14:39Only time she ever leaves is to play her numbers.
14:42Sidibe proved an exceptional and natural actress,
14:45thrilling critics with her tender debut performance.
14:48She was also one of the leading names of the 2010 awards season,
14:52receiving Best Actress nominations at the Golden Globes,
14:55BAFTAs, Screen Actors Guild Awards, and Academy Awards.
14:59No, I never knew what you was until this day.
15:02Not even after all them things you did.
15:07Maybe I was too stupid.
15:09Maybe I just didn't want to.
15:13You ain't gonna see me no more.
15:14Sidibe rode this success to a prominent career in television,
15:18starring in Fox's Empire and numerous seasons of American Horror Story.
15:22I didn't know that there even were black witches.
15:25As it turns out, I'm an heir to Tituba.
15:28She was a house slave in Salem.
15:31She was the first to be accused of witchcraft.
15:33Number 8.
15:34Jennifer Hudson – Dreamgirls
15:45Like Funny Girl, Dreamgirls is often hailed as one of the greatest Broadway musicals of all time.
15:50Debuting in 1981, Dreamgirls won six Tony Awards during its initial Broadway run,
15:56including Best Performance by a Leading Actress for Jennifer Holliday playing Effie White.
16:1725 years later, American Idol contestant Jennifer Hudson took the reigns,
16:22proving herself both a commendable actress and a tantalizing performer in the process.
16:26The movie was praised for its musical numbers and performances,
16:30particularly those of Hudson and Eddie Murphy.
16:33Both received Academy Award nominations, with Hudson winning for Best Supporting Actress.
16:38Effie White is one of the all-time great Broadway characters,
16:54and Hudson beautifully inhabited the role in a thrilling movie debut.
16:58Number 7.
17:08Eddie Murphy – 48 Hours
17:10And speaking of Eddie Murphy,
17:12he enjoyed a commendable movie debut himself in the buddy cop comedy 48 Hours.
17:27Murphy plays an imprisoned criminal named Reggie Hammond,
17:34who reluctantly teams up with a cop to help catch his criminal boss.
17:38Murphy had made a name for himself on Saturday Night Live,
17:41serving as both a cast member and writer.
17:4348 Hours proved his acting capabilities,
17:46and the movie received praise for the chemistry and comedic interplay
17:50between Murphy and co-star Nick Nolte.
17:57Murphy received a Golden Globe nomination for New Star of the Year,
18:08and it would prove to be his first of six.
18:11Number 6.
18:12Jamie Lee Curtis – Halloween
18:28By October of 1978, Jamie Lee Curtis, the daughter of Hollywood legends Tony Curtis
18:34and Janet Leigh, was a little-known television actress, having starred in an episode of Columbo
18:39and the first season of an ABC sitcom called Operation Petticoat.
18:43She was subsequently cast as Laurie Strode in Halloween,
18:46with producer and co-writer Debra Hill admitting that Curtis was mainly cast for the publicity,
18:51her mother being such a prominent horror actress.
18:54Luckily, Curtis proved an excellent actress in her own right,
18:57and helped popularize the morally pure final girl trope through her performance.
19:02She exuded intelligence and proved a great screamer,
19:05becoming the seminal example of the scream queen.
19:12She carried this reputation into numerous future slashers,
19:15including Prom Night and Terror Train.
19:18Number 5.
19:19Julie Andrews – Mary Poppins
19:21An AFI Life Achievement Award recipient,
19:24Julie Andrews is one of the all-time greatest performers, with a career spanning nine decades.
19:41Andrews was a prominent stage actress throughout the 50s and 60s,
19:45starring in Broadway productions of My Fair Lady and Camelot.
19:49She earned a Tony Award nomination for both.
19:52After being passed over by producer Jack L. Warner for his My Fair Lady movie adaptation,
19:57Disney approached Andrews about starring in their upcoming movie Mary Poppins.
20:01She agreed to star as the title character,
20:03and it launched one of the greatest careers in movie history.
20:06Andrews won the Academy Award for Best Actress,
20:09and Mary Poppins herself quickly became a cinematic icon.
20:19Number 4.
20:21Natalie Portman – Leon the Professional
20:24Natalie Portman got off to quite a weird and disturbing start.
20:27In 1992, she became an understudy in the off-Broadway play Ruthless,
20:32which is about an ambitious young actress who commits multiple murders, including matricide.
20:37She then made her film debut in Luc Besson's Leon the Professional,
20:41which is about a hitman training a 12-year-old girl to commit murder
20:44so she can avenge her dead brother.
20:49The young Portman was continuously praised for her mature performance,
21:04with many finding her a great companion to seasoned French actor Jean Reno.
21:09It was a movie and a performance beyond Portman's years,
21:11and the breakout role helped ensure Portman's reputation
21:14as one of Hollywood's greatest child actors.
21:20Number 3.
21:28Anna Paquin – The Piano
21:30This period drama concerns Ada and Flora McGrath,
21:33a mother-daughter duo who travel to New Zealand after Ada is sold into marriage by her father.
21:50To cast Flora, the producers hosted an open casting call that resulted in over 5,000 auditions.
21:56The role went to a young New Zealand-Canadian girl named Anna Paquin.
22:00Both Paquin and lead actress Holly Hunter were unanimously praised by movie critics,
22:05and they both won Academy Awards for their performances.
22:08Hunter for actress, Paquin for supporting actress.
22:11Paquin was just 11 years old when she won the coveted Oscar,
22:14which makes her the second youngest performer to win a competitive Academy Award.
22:19Number 2.
22:30Tatum O'Neill – Paper Moon
22:32Young Tatum O'Neill was born to actors Joanna Moore and the Oscar-nominated Ryan O'Neill.
22:37In 1973, Tatum and Ryan starred together in the road comedy Paper Moon,
22:42which sees a con artist taking a young girl under his wing during the Great Depression.
22:49I heard you through the door talking that man, it's my money you got and I want it.
22:53The movie received strong reviews, with most of the praise going to first-time actor Tatum O'Neill.
22:59O'Neill won the most promising newcomer award at that year's Golden Globes,
23:03and just a few months later, she took home the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
23:08Being just 10 years old, O'Neill became, and remains,
23:11the youngest performer to win a competitive Academy Award.
23:14I gave her a $20 bill, I know I did, it was a birthday present for my Aunt Helen in Wichita,
23:20and she wrote Happy Birthday Addie on the end of it, you just go look and see.
23:26That's it right there, that's my $20 bill.
23:29It's a once-in-a-lifetime achievement for a once-in-a-lifetime child performance.
23:33Before we unveil our number one pick, here are some honorable mentions.
23:37Owen and Luke Wilson – Bottle Rocket
23:40Wilson brothers make extraordinary debuts in this Wes Anderson crime comedy.
23:52Sherald Toe Copley – District 9
23:54The South African actor makes his movie debut as a bureaucrat in this sci-fi classic.
24:10Cameron Diaz – The Mask
24:16This comedy launched the career of Diaz, a model with no prior acting experience.
24:32Suraj Sharma – Life of Pi
24:35Sharma beat out 3,000 people, including his own brother, for the role of Pi Patel.
24:51Amanda Seyfried – Mean Girls
24:53Seyfried, a model and soap actress, made us all laugh as the idiotic Karen Smith.
25:04Orson Welles – Citizen Kane
25:28Orson Welles was just five days shy of his 26th birthday when Citizen Kane premiered
25:33at New York's Palace Theatre. It's an extraordinary accomplishment considering
25:37the young Welles wrote, produced, directed, and starred in the now iconic film.
25:42Welles was prominent in radio at the time, and in 1939,
25:46he signed a controversial contract with RKO Radio Pictures to create two films.
26:03First was Citizen Kane, which is now regarded as the most influential movie ever made.
26:08Welles stars as the titular Charles Foster Kane,
26:11proving himself just as capable in front of a camera as he was behind a microphone.
26:26The movie was well-received and earned nine nominations at the 14th Academy Awards,
26:31including Best Director and Best Actor for Welles.
26:34Do you agree with our picks? Check out this other recent clip from Ms. Mojo,
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