Before getting their big break in Hollywood, some actors started out in low-budget horror films. Needless to say, these actors have since left their humble beginnings behind and made a name for themselves in mainstream cinema, but every flourishing career has to start somewhere.
While not all of these actors made their debut in horror, the early roles helped to propel their careers long after cult-classics like Friday the 13th, Halloween, and A Nightmare on Elm Street spawned multiple sequels and the remake/reboot treatment several times over. From their brief appearances in these spine-tingling features, an onslaught of these performers have gone on to nab Emmys and Oscars in their respective field of genres.
And while some of these stars might be more recognizable or successful than others on this list, there’s absolutely no denying how significant all their careers have been individually — thanks to the massive horror genre, of course.
Matthew McConaughey
Matthew McConaughey, who went on to star in Dallas Buyers Club (2013) and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), actually had his breakout role with a supporting performance as David Wooderson in the coming-of-age comedy Dazed and Confused (1993) in which he co-starred with Renée Zellweger (there’s some relevance to that fact, we promise). Two years later, McConaughey would enter the horror scene with a lead role in Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, the fourth installment in Tobe Hooper’s slasher franchise, aptly named Vilmer Slaughter.
Paul Rudd
Everyone knows him as Marvel’s Ant-Man, but Rudd wasn’t always a high roller. In 1995, Rudd made his on-screen debut as Josh in the coming-of-age teen comedy Clueless. Just months later, Rudd landed a role as Tommy Doyle in the less-than-memorable Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers. While Halloween had exhausted all its sequel potential at that point, Rudd starring alongside Donald Pleasance (RIP) as Dr. Sam Loomis was almost enough star power to excuse the severe lack of Laurie Strode.
Patricia Arquette
Patricia Arquette, sister to Rosanna Arquette, Alexis Arquette, Richmond Arquette and Scream‘s very own David Arquette, did actually make her film debut in a horror film: A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987). While Arquette missed out on snagging a role in the original Freddy Krueger flick, she made her mark on Hollywood as final girl Kristen Parker. Nine years later, her brother would follow in her footsteps and appear as beloved fan-favorite Dewey Riley.
Renée Zellweger
See? We told you it would be significant to mention Zellweger sooner. Nowadays, she’s known as Bridget Jones in the romantic comedy saga of the same name and Judy Garland in Judy (2019), but just like McConaughey, she first started to make waves in Dazed and Confused. In Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, Zellweger portrays Jenny, the valiant yin to McConaughey’s zany yang.
Tom Hanks
One of Hollywood’s finest actors, Tom Hanks, otherwise known as Woody in Toy Story, Scott Turner in Turner & Hooch (1989) and Forrest Gump in, well, Forrest Gump (1994), made his on-screen debut as Elliot in He Knows You’re Alone (1980), a slasher co-starring Caitlin O’Heaney and Elizabeth Kemp. Amy (O’Heaney) is due to be wed, but in the weeks leading up to her special day, she becomes the victim of stalking. By now, you might have guessed that (spoiler alert!) Hollywood heartthrob Tom Hanks is the culprit.
Jamie Lee Curtis
The whole world knows her name, a luxury that Curtis owes to John Carpenter (and partly maybe her parents, Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh). In 1978, Curtis made her feature film debut as Laurie Strode in Halloween, establishing her as a scream queen among the horror fanbase. From there, Curtis began to consistently star in a string of horror films, including The Fog (1980), Prom Night (1980), Terror Train (1980) and Roadgames (1981). She reprised her role as Laurie Strode in several Halloween sequels and David Gordon Green’s 2018 reboot trilogy that concludes with the upcoming Halloween Ends (2022).
Leonardo DiCaprio
Another shameless heartthrob is Leonardo DiCaprio, whose career skyrocketed with Romeo + Juliet (1996). Unbeknownst to most, however, DiCaprio was stealing hearts long before then. Critters is a science-fiction comedy horror franchise that appears to indirectly parody the 1984 horror Gremlins. In the third film, DiCaprio stars as Josh in the straight-to-video sequel. In the future, he would go on to star in Inception (2010) and The Great Gatsby (2013) among many other successful and influential features.
Johnny Depp
One of the industry’s most recognizable talents, Johnny Depp made millions as Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, then had the misfortune of returning to the public eye for all the wrong reasons in the high-profile defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife Amber Heard. Before all that commotion, plus the hardcore drugs, Depp made his feature-film debut as Glen Lantz in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) with perhaps one of the most graphic deaths in the whole genre.
Kevin Bacon
Like Depp, EE’s ambassador Kevin Bacon kick-started his lustrous career in a long-standing horror franchise. Bacon portrayed Jack Burrell in Friday the 13th, the first of many slasher films centered on immortal villain Jason Vorhees. However, Friday the 13th wasn’t Bacon’s first-ever film role. He starred as Chip Diller in the comedy film National Lampoon’s Animal House and went on to appear in the likes of Apollo 13 (1995), X-Men: First Class (2011) and R.I.P.D. (2013).
Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Aniston, who we all know as Rachel Green in the cultural phenomenon Friends, landed her first major film role as Tory Redding in the 1993 horror comedy Leprechaun. She doesn’t appear in any of the sequels, and when one of them is called Leprechaun In the Hood, it isn’t hard to understand why. It’s campy, it’s cringey and it’s silly, but it became a sleeper hit and horror fans are still talking about it to this day. That’s a win in our book.
