Five actors who proved that the role of a lifetime can never come too late
Hollywood is a temperamental and tricky business for all those who are involved in it. While some actors seem to find their niche fairly early, working with great directors and building up a filmography that reflects their talents, others find themselves being typecast, blacklisted, or shunned to projects that don’t match their talents.
For some, the journey to success is not a linear one, with some struggling for years before reaching that one role that changes everything. For others, they might consistently work throughout the entirety of their career, but never on projects that truly scratch the surface of their interests and leave them feeling entirely unfulfilled.
However, as seen many times, sometimes the role of a lifetime can come much later in someone’s career and change their life in the most unexpected way. One minute, Mikey Madison is known for being a scream queen, and the next, she’s winning an Academy Award for her work with Sean Baker. It’s an unpredictable business, and you never know what’s around the corner.
While some might prefer their success earlier on, perhaps it’s best enjoyed when you can truly relish and appreciate it. And so, here are five actors who proved that the role of a lifetime can never come too late.
Five actors who proved that success can never come too late
The Substance (Coralie Fargeat, 2024)
And lastly, there was perhaps no film as genuinely explosive as The Substance, the body horror that blew apart the toxicity of our beauty standards for women and the dangers of an anti-ageing obsessed world. Through the campy violence and constantly escalating series of disasters, the film shows a middle-aged woman who is being shunned out of Hollywood after hitting 40, discovering a mysterious drug that will magically transform her into a younger version of herself.
It’s an extremely demanding role, with Moore dipping into both comedy, drama and gory action sequences as the procedure gets out of control and she finds herself battling against herself, showing the extremes we go to to preserve beauty and the violence we wage against ourselves to do so. Moore has had a tough go of it in Hollywood, with the story resonating with her own experiences and leading to a loaded performance that captures the true insanity of a business that is extremely unkind to women. But 2024 became Moore’s year, with her performance becoming one of the greatest of the year and bringing her back into the limelight.
Everything Everywhere All At Once (The Daniels Brothers, 2023)
Everything Everywhere All At Once swept over the world in a way that hadn’t been seen since a pre-COVID world, with rumblings about the story of a Chinese immigrant who experiences all her alternate lives spreading like wildfire across the cinephile community. From the bizarre comedy and heart-wrenching monologue from Ke Huy Quan, it became an overnight success, elevating the careers of all those who were a part of it (and annoyingly giving Jamie Lee Curtis an entirely undeserved Oscar win).
It’s hard to pick a standout star from the film, given that Quan and Stephanie Hsu are both spectacular, but seeing Michelle Yeoh win the Academy Award for ‘Best Actress’ was such a wonderful moment and truly deserved honour. The actor highlighted her struggles in Hollywood over the years and how this film had revitalised her career in ways she never thought possible. Unless you’re a heartless monster, it’s impossible not to cry when her character does and feel her ups and downs with her throughout the crazy universe-crossing journey, eventually coming back to herself and making peace with her story.
Severance (Ben Stiller, 2024)
There is perhaps no actor who surprised audiences as much as Adam Scott after the release of Severance, who was previously known for comedic roles on shows like Party Down and Parks and Recreation. However, after his role in Big Little Lies, Scott began his upward trajectory as a dramatic actor, something that completely exploded after his leading role in the record-breaking Apple Original show.
Scott himself described how he had been waiting his whole life to play a character like Mark, with the dystopian drama taking place in a world where people can split their brains between their working and personal life, following one man who has had this procedure and his mysterious role at a company called Lumon. It’s a gnarly mystery that spirals into new directions each time you try to unpick it, with a rich world that presents an endless number of dramatic challenges for Scott to dig his teeth into. It’s one of the grittiest roles of his career so far, playing the journey from being a depressed corporate worker to a determined whistleblower in a truly enlightened and moving way.
Queer (Luca Guadganino, 2023)
From the very first scenes of Queer, in which you see the looming figure of Daniel Craig lurking in dark alleys to the soundtrack of Nirvanna’s Come As You Are, we immediately see as side to him that was lost for the many years that he played James Bond. In Queer, he plays a lonely ex-pat who is searching for intimacy and true connection, falling in love with a young man who cannt quite meet what he wants.
Guadagnino described it as a tale not of unreciprocated love, but unsynchronised love, an idea that Craig beautifully captures as he longs for something that’s within reach but not quite obtainable, with a desperate sense of yearning as he holds onto the scraps of love thrown his way. It was a turning point in Craig’s career after years in the franchise business, signalling a new era for the actor and a return to more emotional storytelling.
The Studio (Seth Rogen, 2025)
Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s latest creation is like the avengers assemble of Hollywood, with familiar faces like Zoe Kravitz, Zac Efron and Charlize Theron joining the series as themselves and filmmaking gods like Martin Scorsese and Ron Howard even being thrown into the star-studded mix. However, while there are a host of outrageous characters who perfectly embody the smarm and schmooze of such a toxic business, there is one actor who completely nails the part of a high-flying filmmaking mogul, with Catherine O’Hara returning to our screens for the role of a lifetime as Patty Leigh.
After a glittering career in the comedy world, starring in beloved classics like Beetlejuice, Home Alone and Waiting for Guffman, perhaps the best roles do arrive later down the line, with O’Hara stealing every scene through her character’s tough-love approach to the business and sometimes two-faced persona. She doesn’t miss a single beat with her quick wit and scathing jokes about everyone from Warren Beatty to Scott Rudin, making her one of the best additions to the central ensemble.
