Beloved Actors Who Got Their Start In Sci-Fi

Science fiction is a genre that thrives on mankind's ability to imagine the future. Sci-fi films take us to galaxies far, far away, or they guide us down the rabbit hole into a computer program. We can visit forbidden planets or envision technologies that transform our own world, exploring space, or learning all too late that in space, no one can hear us scream. Ray Bradbury, author of "The Martian Chronicles," put it this way: "Science fiction is the most important literature in the history of the world, because it's the history of ideas, the history of our civilization birthing itself."

By revisiting the films on this list, however, we can imagine a different sort of future: someone's future acting career. The sci-fi genre has provided a jumping-off point for countless stars who went on to make their mark elsewhere, including future Oscar winners, future comedians, future talk show hosts, future heartthrobs and Handmaids and Hallmark Channel icons. Read on to learn which beloved actors got their start in sci-fi.

Plenty of actors got their start in horror movies, but fewer stars were launched to stardom in sci-fi/horror films. Leonardo DiCaprio has that distinction on his resume. The future heartthrob and Oscar-winner had been on a couple of television shows by the time the 1990s rolled around, but his very first film role came in "Critters 3," the third film in the series about a horde of alien furballs bent on mankind's destruction. In the lackluster, yet enjoyable-enough threequel, DiCaprio plays Josh, a kid who gets unwittingly wrapped up in the multi-movie battle between humans and extraterrestrials. 

We should be clear: DiCaprio would boast about this film, were he not embarrassed by it. After starring in this movie, his career soon escalated to bigger and better films like "The Basketball Diaries," "This Boy's Life," and "What's Eating Gilbert Grape." By 1993, he no longer wanted to talk about "Critters 3." In an interview to promote "This Boy's Life" (via YouTube), DiCaprio was asked about the biggest difference between that film and his sci-fi debut. "Doing 'Boy's Life' was such a step up in my career, and such a difference," he said. "It's like, real acting as opposed to just being cute, or whatever." DiCaprio would spend the next several decades proving he was more than just a pretty face, so in a way, you might say that we have "Critters 3" to thank for "The Revenant."

Long before wrestlers like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, John Cena, and Dave Bautista moved into acting, there was Hulk Hogan. Those other guys can act reasonably well, but Hogan didn't really have an entertainment career waiting for him on the silver screen. He tried, though, as evidenced in 1991, when he led "Suburban Commando," a sci-fi comedy about an alien strongman who comes down to Earth and causes chaos in the suburbs. "Suburban Commando" boasts an impressive cast for, again, a Hulk Hogan vehicle, and he even starred alongside icons like Shelley Duvall and Christopher Lloyd. Oh, and future Emmy winner Elizabeth Moss.

Moss was just a child. She appears several times throughout the film as a little girl crying about her cat stuck in a tree. The first time, Hogan's character lets go of the tree branch, sending the feline flying. The second time, it's Moss's character who's holding on, and "she" goes soaring through the air. It's a decent sight gag, all things considered, made all the better by the fact that it's clearly a dummy.

When Moss appeared on "The View" in 2022, she was shown a clip from "Suburban Commando." She recalled (via Entertainment Weekly), "I was like eight years old, I had booked a job, and that was cool, and he was this big star ... I had a role and something to do, and I took it probably just as serious as I would take anything on 'The Handmaid's Tale.'" 

Hallmark Channel aficionados know Alicia Witt as the star of beloved holiday favorites like "The Mistletoe Inn" and "Christmas on Honeysuckle Lane." Horror fans took notice when Witt gave an incredible, chilling performance in "Longlegs." She's been in the business a while, too, even before showing off her versatility in recent years. In the 1990s, Witt starred on "Cybill." She first debuted at only seven years old, playing the preternaturally-creepy child telepath Alia in David Lynch's "Dune." (That's the same role Anya Taylor-Joy played in 2024's "Dune Part Two.")

When "Dune" came out, Witt was hailed by critics as one of the high points of the film. Her acting talent, combined with a love of piano and the fact that she graduated high school at age 14, led her to be called a "child prodigy" by the media. "I was a little embarrassed by the child prodigy label," she told People. "I hated that term."

She didn't hate making "Dune," though, and she still credits that film with sparking her love of acting. "Being on that set of 'Dune' was all about ... getting to channel the character, feeling her come into me and come out through my mouth and my voice and my body. That was my first experience in the magic of playing characters," Witt recalled. "And I knew from the moment I set foot on the set that I wanted to do that for the rest of my life."

Years before he journeyed to Middle Earth in "The Lord Of The Rings" ... even before he fought body-snatching teacher aliens in "The Faculty" ... Elijah Wood got his start in an altogether different sort of sci-fi film. Though he wasn't the lead, Wood makes a memorable appearance in "Back To The Future II," showing up early in the movie, right when Marty (Michael J. Fox) first arrives in 2015. Wood's character and his friend are playing an "old" arcade game at the diner, spouting futuristic slang while dressed in a super-80s version of what 2015 fashion might look like.

In 2015 — the actual 2015 — Wood appeared on "Conan" to discuss his role in the film. The interview took place only a few days before the date from the movie, so Wood and Conan O'Brien took stock of just how many of the movie's predictions have come true in the decades since it was made. "They've got flat screens, they've got video-conferencing. We don't have flying cars, but many of these things have come true," Wood noted.

When Wood participated in Yahoo! Entertainment's "Role Recall," he pointed out that being on a sci-fi set was really cool for a kid. "This world ... was absolutely transportive. For a kid, being on a backlot that was, that sort of production-design was just incredible."

Audiences now mostly remember Leslie Nielsen as the funny-man star of numerous comedies. The man brought huge laughs in movies like "Airplane!," "The Naked Gun," and "Stan Helsing." (Okay, maybe they're not all classics.) But Nielsen had a very long career in Hollywood, and decades before he told people not to call him Shirley, Nielsen got his start as the lead in a classic sci-fi movie that he later said was ripped off by "Star Trek."

"Forbidden Planet" was technically Nielsen's second film role, but it was released mere weeks after his first, "Ransom!" He'd spent the early part of his career appearing on one-off television episodes on programs like "The Philco Television Playhouse" and "Kraft Theatre." In 1956, however, he made the leap to the silver screen as Commander Adams in "Forbidden Planet." The film is a classic for a number of reasons, including the first appearance of Robby the Robot. The iconic android would go on to act in "Lost in Space," "The Twilight Zone," and more, but he got his start where Nielsen did: on a planet terrorized by monsters from the id.

In classic Nielsen fashion, he later told Den of Geek that he didn't have to stretch to play the gruff commander. "Stretched? No, not at all," he said. "I measured myself regularly, and was 6'2″ both before and after each film, or would have been, if my legs weren't bowed and I could get my knees together."

Ethan Hawke has starred in several great sci-fi films over the course of his career, including "Gattaca" and "Predestination" (which co-starred Sarah Snook from "Succession!") It's no surprise, then, that the actor got his start in another sci-fi movie: Joe Dante's 1985 film "Explorers." In that film, Hawke acted opposite the late, great River Phoenix as a precocious young kid who winds up blasting off into outer space. They meet some goofy aliens who have learned about humanity through television, leading to a number of comedic setpieces that, like many kid-focused sci-fi movies, also have a lot of heart.

"Explorers" wasn't just the film that made Hawke's name in Hollywood; the experience, it seems, also provided him an education in filmmaking for other reasons. He told Dread Central that the "Gremlins" director expanded his knowledge of cinema while they were shooting "Explorers," showing him important films that changed the way he thought about moviemaking. "I remember I sat and watched 'The Howling' with Joe Dante when I was 14 years old, and we watched 'Piranha,' he said. "I feel like I'm one of the few people of my generation that has firsthand knowledge of Roger Corman and what those B-movies were about and how great they were, because of working with Joe Dante."

The 2009 "Star Trek" reboot was meant to reintroduce a whole new generation to the iconic franchise. Beloved characters were taken over by the stars of the day: Zachary Quinto assumed the role of Spock from Leonard Nimoy, and Chris Pine played William Shatner's character James T. Kirk. "Star Trek" also introduced audiences to a then-new actor, someone who would soon go on to star in some of the most-successful films of all time: Chris Hemsworth.

That's right, Thor's first movie role was as George Kirk, Captain Kirk's father. He only appears in a few quick scenes at the beginning of the film, but the part was Hemsworth's first movie role, and it all seems to have come about rather quickly. In an interview with Tim Lammers, he recalled, "I was cast on Friday night at J.J. Abrams' office. He said, 'You got the job — you start Monday.' I didn't know much about what I was doing, but I left myself open and available to what I was doing and tried to find the truth in it." Hemsworth added, "It was a lot of fun."

"Star Trek" wound up leading directly to bigger and better things for the Aussie actor. He explained, "'Star Trek' actually came out when I was auditioning for 'Thor' — and Ken [Branagh] has said he had seen the film and was impressed. It was perfect timing."

Years before cementing his sci-fi legacy as a rebellious Stormtrooper named Finn, John Boyega got his start in another instant-classic sci-fi movie. Boyega debuted in Joe Cornish's 2011 sci-fi action thriller "Attack the Block," which sees Boyega's character Moses and his friends come under attack from an invading force of vicious extraterrestrial animals. It's funny and heartfelt, and it also features some of the most memorable, badass creature design in recent sci-fi history.

Boyega told Interview that he liked having his first role be a sci-fi film like this, where he got to use his imagination to act against creatures he couldn't actually see on set. "[It] was incredibly fun," he said. "I just always compare it to being a kid and running around and imagining things that aren't there. It's the same thing, just in a professional, controlled environment."

The "Pacific Rim: Uprising" star enjoyed his experience so much, in fact, that he's eager to revisit Moses in an upcoming sequel. Joe Cornish told The Kingcast that Boyega is on board, and furthermore, and they know where the story is headed. "We're very, very quietly confident and excited about what we've got," he said. "We think about 'Alien' and 'Aliens' and 'Terminator' and 'Terminator 2,' and we wanna take a shot at doing our version of what people did for [those movies]." Count us in!

In 2000, Angelina Jolie won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress thanks to her role in "Girl, Interrupted." She's now a respected actor, a director, a tabloid fixture, a humanitarian, and more, and a mere seven years before she won the Oscar, Jolie debuted in a little-known film called "Cyborg 2: Glass Shadow."

Jolie had technically acted before with a very small part, as Angelina Voight, in the Jon Voight-starring 1982 film "Lookin' to Get Out." But "Cyborg 2" was her first proper leading role — and the first time she was credited as "Angelina Jolie," rather than sticking to her father's last name. In the sci-fi sequel, Jolie plays "Cash," a kickboxing cyborg built to be a bomb, but instead, she runs off with her martial arts teacher (Elias Koteas).

The movie is so little-seen that it doesn't even have a Rotten Tomatoes score, though every review on the site is indeed marked "Rotten." Jolie herself would likely agree with that rating. "I threw up," she told Buzzfeed. "I did. I saw it and I threw up. Just nausea ... I was 17, and I think I thought I was making a real movie, which is odd, since there's a scene when I'm decapitated and talking ... as one does. But, yeah, I saw it and got really sick." Hey, we've all got to start somewhere! 

Audiences everywhere fell in love with a young Drew Barrymore as the ultra-adorable Gertie in "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial." Gertie is the younger sister of Elliott (Henry Thomas), the kid who finds a Reese's Pieces-loving alien in his backyard. When she filmed the movie, she was so young that Barrymore famously thought E.T. was real. She used to chat with the animatronic during her lunch breaks, and director Steven Spielberg even assigned two crew members to make sure the alien would respond. "I had a very wild imagination," Barrymore confessed on her talk show.

But that's not why Barrymore is on this list. "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" was actually Barrymore's second film role, and it was her second sci-fi film, too. In 1980, she starred as Margaret Jessup in Ken Russell's "Altered States," a film about a scientist who discovers a way to reach a higher plane of consciousness. Her memoir "Little Girl Lost" describes in third-person how the precocious youngster got the part. During an audition with multiple children, Russell asked the group a question. "When nobody answered, Drew looked around, stepped forward, and offered a reply that made everyone laugh. Russell asked a second question and the same thing happened. Soon, he and Drew were carrying on a private conversation while the other girls drifted off, and before she and her mother left, Drew got the part." The rest, as they say, is Hollywood history.

The 1986 film "SpaceCamp" is about a NASA training camp for teenagers, putting kids through their paces to see if they have what it takes to someday be an astronaut. When they're accidentally shot into space, they have to figure out how to return to Earth safely. The film stars a very-80s all-star cast, including Kate Capshaw, Lea Thompson, Tate Donovan, and Kelly Preston. The youngest member of the cast, though, was a kid who went by the name of Leaf Phoenix. These days, he calls himself Joaquin.

In his first film role, Phoenix plays Max. He's the youngest kid at camp, and he befriends a persnickety robot named Jinx. It's a film that the Oscar winner no longer seems to stand by, at least according to a no-longer-available video interview with MTV. On HAB1, a forum for aficionados of the real-life NASA Space Camp, posters recapped the contentious conversation. Even though Phoenix evidently insisted that he doesn't regret the movie, he wasn't interested in discussing the film at length. "It didn't seem like he really wanted to talk about it!" one person wrote. "That was hilarious though. 'Enough! Enough of this!'"