EXCLUSIVE: The Roles They'd Rather Delete! We Reveal the Parts Hollywood A-Listers Wish They Could Banish to the Cutting Room Floor
Discover the roles Hollywood A-listers regret and wish they could erase from their careers.
March 18 2025, Published 12:30 a.m. ET
Before they graced red carpets and headlined blockbusters, these stars took on roles they probably hoped you'd forget – like George Clooney battling killer tomatoes or Jennifer Aniston in a low-budget horror flick, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
From forgotten TV appearances to blink-and-you-missed-'em parts, their early gigs prove that even the biggest names had humble beginnings. Here's a look at the surprising first roles of today's A-listers.
George Clooney battled killer tomatoes, while Jennifer Aniston faced a leprechaun, and John Travolta rose from the dead.
John Travolta
This superstar had a bit part on the TV drama Emergency! in 1972, followed by his movie debut in a supporting role as a cult leader who rises from the dead in the 1975 horror film The Devil's Rain.
George Clooney
The Syriana Oscar winner played suave ladies' man Matt Stevens in 1988's comedy-horror film Return of the Killer Tomatoes – a sequel to 1978's Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.
Jack Nicholson
Nicholson first appeared on TV as the son of a musician on Matinee Theatre in 1956. He thrilled movie audiences as a young hostage taker in 1958's The Cry Baby Killer.
Cameron Diaz
There was no masking Diaz's talent and appeal when she debuted as Jim Carrey's love interest in the 1994 blockbuster comedy romp The Mask.
Meryl Streep
The perennial Oscar nominee made her film debut in 1977's Julia, about a playwright who smuggles money into Nazi Germany. Three decades later, Meryl would play Julia Child in Julie & Julia!
Matthew Mcconaughey
Mcconaughey was "alright, alright, alright" as Guy #2 in the 1993 zombie comedy, My Boyfriend's Back, then played a bad boy in Dazed and Confused the same year.
Jack Nicholson played a hostage taker, while Tom Cruise started with a teenage romance and Drew Barrymore met E.T.
Tom Cruise
Cruise's Mission: Impossible journey to the top began with a modest role in the 1981 tale of forbidden teenage romance, Endless Love.
Jim Carrey
The funnyman's film debut was in the 1983 Canadian comedy All in Good Taste. In his first Hollywood movie, 1985's Once Bitten, he plays a man who falls for a vampire.
Drew Barrymore
Darling Drew became famous at age 7 as Gertie in Steven Spielberg's 1982 classic E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, but she'd already appeared in two TV movies and the 1980 sci-fi thriller Altered States.
Meryl Streep smuggled money, and Scarlett Johansson joined a global adventure.
Anthony Hopkins
Cinema's legendary Dr. Hannibal Lecter broke into British TV on A Matter of Degree in 1960, then made his big-screen debut in the dark British movie The White Bus in 1967.
Johnny Depp
Depp's dream of stardom began when he was 21, and he became a victim of Freddy Krueger in the 1984 horror classic A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett's career took off at age 10 with a small part alongside fellow child star Elijah Wood's title character in 1994's North, about a boy who travels the world in search of new parents.
Morgan Freeman started on TV, and Julia Roberts served pizza before stardom.
Morgan Freeman
To become God in Bruce Almighty, Freeman's first heavenly step came in a 1969 episode of New York Television Theatre. He made his movie debut with a small part in the 1971 drama Who Says I Can't Ride a Rainbow!
Jennifer Aniston
The Friends icon's first movie role was in a 1993 film called Leprechaun, which is generally considered a totally cheesy and fairly bad horror movie. She said: "There's loads of movies where you're thinking: 'Oh God, this is just... how am I going to survive this in my future?' And then it's a cult... 'something' because it's so embarrassing."
Tommy Lee Jones
Known for Men in Black and The Fugitive, Jones got his break playing Ryan O'Neal's roommate in 1970's Love Story and followed with a starring role as a police investigator in 1978's Eyes of Laura Mars.
Tommy Lee Jones shared a dorm with Ryan O'Neal, and Leonardo DiCaprio fought furry aliens.
Matt Damon
The Martian was out of this world in his minor role as Steamer Windsor in the 1988 movie Mystic Pizza, about friends working in a seaside Connecticut pizzeria. The film shot Matt's pal Julia Roberts to fame.
Julia Roberts
Appearing on a 1987 episode of the Chicago TV series Crime Story led to Julia's big-screen debut in Satisfaction in 1988, followed that same year by a lead role in Mystic Pizza.
Jake Gyllenhaal
Gyllenhaal was smooth as silk in his bit part in Billy Crystal's 1991 comedy hit City Slickers.
Robert De Niro's first role was in a French film, Denzel Washington played an illegitimate son, and Angelina Jolie debuted with her dad.
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Leonardo Dicaprio
Now one of the biggest stars on the planet, DiCaprio was 5 years old in 1979 when he appeared on the TV series Romper Room and Friends. Other TV spots led to a small movie role in 1991's Critters 3, about furry aliens in L.A.
Robert De Niro
The Raging Bull legend was a foreign import – he got his start in European cinema in the uncredited role of Client at the Diner in the 1965 French film Trois chambres à Manhattan, aka Three Rooms in Manhattan. His second part was in Brian De Palma's 1968 dark comedy Greetings.
Denzel Washington
The two-time Oscar winner's debut went by in a flash, or rather a flashback, in the 1977 TV movie Wilma. His first film role was as the illegitimate son of a white man (George Segal) in the 1981 comedy-drama Carbon Copy.
Nicole Kidman saved a farm, Jim Carrey chased vampires, and Johnny Depp fell victim to Freddy Krueger.
Angelina Jolie
At age 7, Jolie’s film debut was a family affair – she had a role in the 1982 movie Lookin' to Get Out, alongside her father, Jon Voight.
Nicole Kidman
The Eyes Wide Shut icon got her start in the 1983 Australian film Bush Christmas, about a family trying to save their farm from foreclosure.
