Morgan Freeman to Pedro Pascal: The late bloomers from Hollywood

Haley Joel Osment (37), Macaulay Culkin (44), Edward Furlong (48) … The list of actors who came to world fame as children or adolescents, but could not keep it is long and sometimes dramatic. But the exact opposite also has exciting, sometimes surprising names. Some stars, which are literally belonging to the inventory of the dream factory, had to stay afloat with an ox tour of series guest appearances and mew television films before their breakthrough. These actresses were all over 40 – and sometimes even significantly older – when their Hollywood star finally opened.

The latest example of the list. Anyone who is not a big fan of such pots such as “Spinning of Death” or “Bloodsucking Bastard – My Boss is a bloodsucker”, Pedro Pascal should only have been known for his breakthrough role in “Game of Thrones” and at the age of 40. The success is all the more astonishing, after all, his figure Oberyn Martell appears in just seven episodes of the HBO series. Since then, the charming mime can no longer save itself from highly doped offers, has a look in mega franchises such as Marvel, “Star Wars” and DC and already has various other projects in the pipeline.

If the term old star falls, the chances are good that the face of Morgan Freeman will be the first association. At first the date was not so surprising: in 1987 Freeman celebrated his breakthrough with “glittering asphalt”, for which he was nominated as a supporting actor at the Oscars – but at that time Freeman was already 50 years old! The character mime then impressively brought up the previously missed fame: with “Robin Hood – King of Thieves”, “Sieben”, the convicted “,” Mercy “, the” Batman “series of Christopher Nolan or” Million Dollar Baby “, to name just a few. In addition to the latter film, he received his first gold boy in 2004.

The situation is similar with Samuel L. Jackson. The flesh-made coolness still felt in at least five blockbusters per year, especially the Marvel films or when Quentin Tarantino turned again. Tarantino is also the keyword: if Jackson was still dino feed in “Jurassic Park” shortly before 1994, made him “Pulp Fiction” the world star. Before that, he had already worked in many films, but it was only his memorable part as a contract killer with a change of meaning aka Jules Winnfield washed him into Hollywood’s A list. And since then Jackson has not said goodbye.

The character mime Alan Rickman, who died in 2016, is painfully missing, whose sonorous voice alone wrote film history. Rickman celebrated his breakthrough long before his “Harry Potter” part as a professor Snape, but the native of London was not there. Two iconic rapid roles helped him to be aware of international awareness: in 1988 and at the age of 42 as Bruce Willis’ “Die Slow” opponent Hans Gruber and in 1991 as a diabolical sheriff of Nottingham. Increased his wish to cut Kevin Costner as King of the thieves with a spoon: “Because he is dull, you fool. It hurts more!”

Similar to Samuel L. Jackson, Christoph Waltz should also include the director Quentin Tarantino in his daily prayers. Internationally, the native of Viennese only took place after the cult filmmaker was a frightening charismatic shot in “Inglourious Basterd’s” – Waltz was around 53 years old at that time. The rest is history: two supporting actor oscars, in addition to his role as SS standard leader Hans Landa for Dr. King Schultz in Tarantino’s “Django Unchained”. A part as the largest bond nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld. And since then several prestigious inquiries from the dream factory since then.

Everyone knew and loved Bryan Cranston as a quirky father in the sitcom “Malcolm in the middle”, who ran from 2000 to 2006. On the one hand, he was already 44 years old at this point. On the other hand, only another eight years later, his incredible transformation in “Breaking Bad” should lead to Hollywood really becoming aware of him. It was only at well over 50 that he also received more exciting film offers, for example in the “Godzilla” published in 2014 or a year later in the drama “Trumbo”. Cranston received his first and only Oscar nomination for the biography of the screenwriter Dalton Trumbo.

Female late blows are also not uncommon. Kathy Bates, for example, was 42 years old when she became known worldwide thanks to the Stephen-King film “Misery” and promptly received an Oscar for her performance by Annie Wilkes. Both director and screenwriter of the film were considered the big fans of Bates, both of which admired their presence in theater productions. Subsequently, Bates not only received lucrative offers, but also three more Oscar nominations: for “with all might”, “About Schmidt” and “The Richard Jewell case”. In 2024 it also went into series production as a female version of “Matlock”.

Viola Davis belongs to a tiny group of people: the actress has so-called egot status, so I was able to win Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. Her career had really really got rolling at the age of around 45. Of all things, “The Help”, which was published in 2011 and was considered her breakthrough, is now critical of Davis. The film’s story was often criticized as “White Savior” story. Meanwhile, she is completely proud of the film “Fences” by Denzel Washington, an adaptation of the play of the same name. The film brought her the first Oscar, the theater version her second Tony.

No star in this list is as good with Shakespeare as Judi Dench. In the theater, the British drew attention to herself from the 1960s, in the cinema it really only started in the mid -90s. At that time she became the first female M in the James Bond films, starting with “Goldeneye” and Pierce Brosnan as her stubborn 007. After that, thech was over 60, the Oscar academy finally came to afra. From 1998 eight nominations came for them, in 1999 there was the first and so far only gold boys for – how could it be otherwise with her – “Shakespeare in Love”. Last time, lady Judi Dench was nominated for “Belfast” at the age of 87.

Olivia Colman has long been a cinema and series instance. But before she received her well -deserved Oscar for “The Favourite – Intrigen and Madness” at the age of 46 and was in the same year for “The Crown” for Queen Elizabeth II, Colman mostly only took place in smaller roles and/or independent films. She even started in the Klamauk subject – in 2007 with Simon Pegg’s “Hot Fuzz – two gone professionals”. Actor and director Paddy Considine, with whom she played in the film, recognized her talent for dramatic roles and pasted her in his great but Knüppel -hard feature film debut “Tyrannosaur – a love story” in 2011.