Stars’ Big Breaks

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Halle Berry, Jungle Fever

Spike Lee cast the married mom of two as the addict girlfriend of Samuel L. Jackson in 1991's Jungle Fever, though the director is said to have been initially hesitant to do so because he declared Berry too beautiful to play a drug user. Lee's Jungle Fever also launched the career of Queen Latifah.

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Angelina Jolie, Hackers

Rising to fame in the 1995 crime thriller, Jolie appeared alongside Jonny Lee Miller (whom she married in 1996), Matthew Lillard and Lorraine Bracco as Kate. Meeting her next husband, Brad Pitt, on the set of Mr. and Mrs. Smith years after her Hackers success, Jolie has also starred in the blockbusters Girl, Interrupted and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, among the dozens of other films on her resume.

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Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone

Discovered by a model scout while on vacation in New York City at age 14, Lawrence earned her first big screen starring role — and Oscar nomination! — for 2010's Winter's Bone. The Kentucky native also appeared as Lauren on The Bill Engvall Show from 2007-2009.

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Ryan Reynolds, Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place

Blake Lively's husband enjoyed mild success appearing as pre-med student Berg on NBC's sitcom costarring Nathan Fillion, Traylor Howard, Richard Riccolo and Suzanne Cryer. Reynolds starred on the series for four seasons until its cancellation in 2001.

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Jena Malone, Stepmom

One year after appearing as young Ellie in 1997's Contact, Malone — now even more famous because of The Hunger Games — won raves as Susan Sarandon's level-headed daughter forced to deal with her mother's terminal cancer — and her father's new wife, played by Julia Roberts.

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Leonardo DiCaprio, This Boy's Life

Starring as Luke on TV's Growing Pains in 1991, DiCaprio took on the role of Toby in the coming-of-age 1993 flick costarring Robert De Niro and Ellen Barkin. In the years since, DiCaprio won critical raves with films including The Basketball Diaries, Titanic, The Departed and Django Unchained, among others.

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Bryan Cranston, Malcolm in the Middle

Long before he was a meth cooking science teacher on Breaking Bad, Cranston earned three Emmy nominations for his performance as Hal in the dysfunctional family comedy costarring Frankie Muniz and Jane Kaczmarek. Previously, Cranston was known for his role as Jerry Seinfeld's dentist Dr. Tim Whatley on Seinfeld.

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Matthew McConaughey, Dazed & Confused

The role that launched the Texas native to superstardom? 1993's Dazed and Confused, in which McConaughey played stoner David Wooderson — known even to folks who haven't seen the flick for the rationale he gives for chasing younger women. "That's what I love about these high school girls, man," Wooderson says. "I get older, they stay the same age."

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Demi Moore, St. Elmo's Fire

The classic 1985 coming-of-age tale, about a pack of recent Georgetown grads doing their best to navigate the real world, made Demi Moore a household name.

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Brad Pitt, Thelma & Louise

Then just 28 years old, Pitt nearly stole the show in the 1991 Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon-helmed classic. In 2011, George Clooney told The Hollywood Reporter it took a long time to stop being bitter after he lost out on the part to Pitt. "I was stuck doing some bad TV [then] ... I auditioned and auditioned and auditioned," the Catch-22 star shared. "He got it. I couldn't watch that movie for a couple of years."

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Julia Roberts, Mystic Pizza

At age 21, Roberts secured her spot as America's Sweetheart thanks to her starring role in the 1988 romantic dramedy.

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George Clooney, The Facts of Life

Still a relatively unknown actor, Clooney captured the attention of TV watchers everywhere as hunky handyman George Burnett in the sitcom, which ran from 1979 to 1988.

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Dawson's Creek

If it weren't for the hit WB drama, which ran from 1998 to 2003, people might not recognize the names James Van Der Beek, Katie Holmes, Joshua Jackson and Michelle Williams today. "I had so much fun working on that show," Holmes told Good Morning America in November 2011. "I loved everyone so much and I think about it with such fond memories."

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Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis, That '70s Show

The couple, who were friends for years before they started dating, played lovebirds Kelso and Jackie on the sitcom, which ran from 1998 to 2006.

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Christian Bale, Newsies

Long before he was Batman, Bale showed off his singing chops as Jack Kelly in the 1992 movie musical, Newsies.

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Johnny Depp, 21 Jump Street

Depp played Officer Tom Hanson in the beloved late '80s crime series — and made an uncredited, surprise cameo in the 2012 flick loosely based on his old show, which starred Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill.

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The 1993-1995 Mickey Mouse Club Cast

Britney Spears! Ryan Gosling! Justin Timberlake! Christina Aguilera! All four former castmembers would go on to enjoy massive success in their post-Disney lives.

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Jessica Biel, 7th Heaven

The future Mrs. Timberlake, who starred as Mary, the Camden family's quasi-rebellious eldest daughter, caused a stir among fans of the show when she posed semi-nude at just 17 for Gear magazine. Producers of the family-friendly soap weren't pleased and reportedly used the photoshoot as a reason to slowly write her off the series in season five.

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Kristen Stewart, Into the Wild

Stewart had a few feature films under her belt before she signed on to 2007's Into the Wild (The Panic Room with Jodie Foster at age 11, most notably). Still, her performance in the flick based on Jon Krakauer's book got her noticed by Twilight's casting director -- as well as her future boyfriend, Robert Pattinson.

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Emma Stone, Superbad

Stone's big break came thanks to Judd Apatow, who cast her in 2007's Superbad. Apatow was also, interestingly enough, responsible for the red hue that would become her signature. "I had been blonde my whole life," Stone told BellaSugar in November 2011. "[At casting] Judd Apatow walked in and said, 'Make it red.'"

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Tom Cruise, Taps

The then-unknown A-lister played a cadet at a military academy alongside Sean Penn in the 1981 thriller. Though he only uttered one line during his audition, Cruise felt confident he'd landed the part. "It wasn't arrogance," he told Esquire mag. "I had a quarter in my pocket — and that was it." After hitchhiking back home, "I walked up the driveway and saw my mother ... She looked at me and I looked at her, and I thought, I got it."

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Friends

Even though it went off the air in 2004, TV watchers still recite lines from the massively successful ensemble comedy starring Matthew Perry, Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow.

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Anne Hathaway, The Princess Diaries

Hathaway made her film debut at the age of 18 in the 2001 Disney flick about reluctant royal Mia Thermapolis.

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Robert Pattinson, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

The Twilight hunk first captured moviegoers' attention in 2005 thanks to his part in another major film franchise: Harry Potter. (Pattinson played Cedric Diggory.)

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Freaks and Geeks

Though it only ran for one season (from 1999 to 2000), Busy Philipps, James Franco, Jason Segel and Seth Rogen all played major parts in the now-cult classic dramedy.