Before Fame: The Horror Roles That Made Movie Stars

Think your favorite actors were always A-listers? Think again — their first screams came from horror.

Before Fame: The Horror Roles That Made Movie Stars takes you back to where it all began — in the dark corners of Hollywood’s favorite horror sets. This quick feature from Screen Rant uncovers the forgotten genre origins of today’s biggest stars.

Before Dallas Buyers Club and The Wolf of Wall Street, Matthew McConaughey and Leonardo DiCaprio were screaming their way through Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation and Critters 3. Adam Scott was slicing through Hellraiser: Bloodline, Patricia Arquette was battling Freddy Krueger in Dream Warriors, and Octavia Spencer was meeting her fate in Halloween II.

These unlikely horror appearances highlight how the genre quietly launched some of the most acclaimed actors of our time. Whether it’s Oscar winners or sitcom favorites, their early horror roles show that even Hollywood royalty had to survive a few scares before fame found them.

0:00 When Hollywood stars began in horror
0:23 Adam Scott’s eerie debut
0:57 Patricia Arquette vs Freddy in Dream Warriors
1:21 McConaughey’s over-the-top villain
1:53 Octavia Spencer’s horror cameo
2:25 DiCaprio’s strange Critters 3 start
2:59 The horror legacy behind today’s stars

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Video by: Shaurya Thapa & Ali Hamza

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