Some actors are lucky enough to secure themselves that one big role that will shape and define their career. Sure, they’ll appear in plenty of other movies, but they’ll always be known for that one iconic role. Not every actor can be this lucky, but, sometimes, lightning can actually strike twice.
Over the years there have been a handful of actors that have appeared in several of the biggest movie franchises of their eras. There are fewer still who have had major parts to play in them. Harrison Ford is renowned for having done so, but he’s not the only one.
10 Harrison Ford (Han Solo & Indiana Jones)
When Harrison Ford agreed to take on the role of Han Solo in Star Wars, he likely had no idea of the impact that it would have on his career. What many saw as a low-budget project with little chance of succeeding ended up becoming one of the largest and most profitable film franchises of all time. It also helped to catapult Ford into stardom. He starred in three more Star Wars movies over the years and made an uncredited cameo in 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker.
Outside of Star Wars, Ford’s had plenty of other big roles including Rick Deckard in the Blade Runner movies and Dr. Richard Kimble in The Fugitive. His most notable, however, is undoubtedly Indiana Jones. Ford has played the intrepid adventurer on four occasions, with a fifth, as yet untitled, Indy movie expected to arrive in 2022. Sadly though, he has never appeared in any of the Indiana Jones games.
9 Arnold Schwarzenegger (Conan & The Terminator T-800)
Arnold Schwarzenegger still holds the record for being the youngest winner of the Mr. Olympia competition, first doing so at the age of just 23. It was thanks to his success in the bodybuilding scene that he was able to transition into movies, with his first lead role coming in the 1970 movie Hercules in New York. It would not be until 1982, however, that Schwarzenegger really made it to the big time when he landed the titular role in Conan the Barbarian.
A sequel arrived two years later, but Schwarzenegger’s biggest movie from that year was The Terminator, where he so famously played the T-800. It’s a role that he has since reprised on four additional occasions, missing only Terminator Salvation due to other commitments. Even then, his likeness was added to the movie using CGI.
8 Sylvester Stallone (Rocky & Rambo)
Schwarzenegger later went on to appear in The Expendables trilogy, the first of which was written and directed by another of the big action stars from the ’80s. Sylvester Stallone has featured in more than 80 movies since 1970, but one of his biggest roles came in the 1976 title Rocky. Stallone played the titular character and this is a role that he reprised on six further occasions over a period of 42 years. He is set to do so again in Creed III at some point in the future.
Six years after first putting on his boxing gloves, Sly appeared as John Rambo in First Blood. The movie was poorly received by critics but was a huge hit at the box office. This lead to four more Rambo movies, with the last being 2019’s Rambo: Last Blood. There have also been seven Rambo video games and the character was recently added to Mortal Kombat 11 as one of the series’ many guest characters.
7 Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool & The Green Lantern)
Ryan Reynolds is one of the funniest and most likable actors in Hollywood and is perhaps best known for playing Deadpool. What many don’t realize however is that he actually made his first appearance as the merc with the mouth way back in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine. He played a fairly minor part in the movie though and it wasn’t until Deadpool released in 2016 that the character really became popular.
Of course, Reynolds is also one of a small number of actors to have played a major character in both the Marvel and DC universes. He was cast as the lead in the 2011 movie Green Lantern, although the movie failed to have anywhere near the same impact as Deadpool. He also played the titular character in Detective Pikachu in 2019.
6 Sir Ian McKellen (Magneto & Gandalf)
Sir Ian McKellen is one of the most successful stage actors of all time, having played the lead in many of Shakespeare’s biggest works. He’s no stranger to the silver screen though and, like Reynolds, also has experience in Marvel movies. McKellen played Magneto in five X-Men movies, often lining up alongside his personal friend Patrick Stewart, who has also had his fair share of big roles.
McKellen’s most recognizable role however was undoubtedly Gandalf. The character appears in all three of The Lord of the Rings movies as well as every entry of The Hobbit trilogy. McKellen also provided the voice for the character in four Lord of the Rings video games around the turn of the century.
5 Orlando Bloom (Legolas & Will Turner)
When Orlando Bloom was cast as Legolas in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, his only previous performance of note had been as a rentboy in the 1997 movie Wilde. Unlike Sir Ian McKellen, casting Bloom was therefore a huge risk on the production team’s part. Thankfully, it paid off big time. Bloom really made the role his own, becoming so popular that he was later written into The Hobbit trilogy.
Bloom rode the momentum from his appearance in The Fellowship of the Ring to secure the role of Will Turner in the 2003 hit, Pirates of the Caribbean. He played the character in the next two movies but was absent from the third. He did however return for the 2017 title Dead Men Tell No Tales.
4 Johnny Depp (Edward Scissorhands & Captain Jack Sparrow)
Pirates of the Caribbean may have been one of Orlando Bloom’s first big movies, but the movie’s lead was already an established name by that point. Johnny Depp’s experience was clear for all to see and, much like Bloom with Legolas, he really made the Captain Jack character his own. He played the role in all five of the series’ currently released movies, although won’t be making an appearance in its sixth.
Captain Jack may be Depp’s most recognizable character, but he’s had plenty of other standout roles throughout his career. The first of these came in Tim Burton’s 1990 movie Edward Scissorhands. Depp’s portrayal of the titular character helped to jumpstart his career and cemented his place as one of Hollywood’s biggest names.
3 Tom Cruise (Lt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell & Ethan Hunt)
Although Tom Cruise was able to find success in a number of smaller roles at the beginning of his career, it was not until the release of the movie Top Gun that he became a household name. Cruise played the cocky but loveable Maverick and helped to make the movie a huge success. As a result, he began to get offered bigger and bigger roles.
Perhaps the largest of these came in the 1996 classic, Mission Impossible. Cruise played IMF agent Ethan Hunt and has reprised the role in five subsequent movies as well as a number of video game adaptations. He’s also done a great job playing Jack Reacher in recent years, although the series hasn’t quite made the same impression.
2 Alan Rickman (Hans Gruber & Severus Snape)
Cruise may have been one of the era’s best action heroes, but, when it comes to the best villain of the late ’80s, there can be little debate. Alan Rickman’s performance as Hans Gruber in Die Hard was as fantastic as it was memorable and his chemistry with Bruce Willis was spot on. He may have only played the character in one movie, but it was one incredible performance.
Rickman played plenty of other major roles throughout his career, but none were bigger than Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series. The paradoxical potions professor was a firm fan favorite and one of the most complicated characters in the series. The final twist provided the character with a moment of redemption and also highlighted just how perfect Rickman’s performance had been over the course of the eight movies.
1 Robert Pattinson (Cedric Diggory & Edward Cullen)
Snape may have bitten the bullet in the final Harry Potter movie, but spare a thought for poor Cedric Diggory, who was one of the very first important characters to die in the series. Cedric was Robert Pattinson’s first big role, but he didn’t make it through a single movie before Voldemort deemed him to be a spare. Thankfully though, things didn’t go too badly for Pattinson after that.
The actor was soon cast as Edward Cullen in the Twilight series and played the brooding vampire in all five movies. Since then, Pattinson has appeared in several other big movies, although his biggest is arguably yet to come. He’s set to play the caped crusader in The Batman, which is currently scheduled for release at some point in 2022.
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