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The Best...soap stars-turned-Hollywood movie stars

Guy Pearce in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
  • Posted at 1:00pm
  • 20 March 2008
  • by RichardRees-RT
  • 7 comments

There's a smug "truth" oft-cited by lazy film critics that, no matter how successful, TV actors are congenitally unable to cross over to movie stardom.

The most oft-cited example of this is David Caruso, who was poised for Hollywood success after wowing us in NYPD Blue and, er, TJ Hooker, only to bomb with Jade et al to return to what he must have always known he did best – starring on the small screen, in CSI: Miami. Then there's the curse of Friends (the odd Scream excepted, have you ever seen Breast Men? The Shrink Is In? I rest my case).

But hang on - isn't David Caruso just slightly lacking in wide-screen charisma anyway? And weren't Rachel, Ross, Joey Bloggs, Bingo and the other two just lucky haircuts-on-legs who happened to be served with great scripts? But telly does have a tradition of nurturing talent for its bigger brother and strangely enough, it's often from the lowly soap that the brightest stars emerge. George Clooney, best supporting actor Oscar for Syriana in 2006 and nominated for last year's Michael Clayton? Made his name as the good Dr Doug in soapy drama ER. Denzel Washington, best actor Oscar for Training Day in 2002? I saw him first in St Elsewhere, mate.

(Bizarrely, Forest Whitaker waited until he'd delivered an Oscar-winning performance in The Last King of Scotland before getting soaped-up in ER - perhaps he had a jealous eye on the cinema-to-suds success of our own Babs "EastEnders" Windsor and Patsy "Emmerdale and Holby City" Kensit...)

I don't pretend it's a logical progression. On one hand, you might think it would be easy – after all, soaps are the most popular TV genre, consistently topping the viewing charts; ergo their stars have a ready-made mass audience who would surely flock to see their idols on the big screen. However, soap fans are a bit more Kathy Bates than that - they just don't like seeing their cock-a-doodie actors change, so to see the likes of Brenda Fricker (Megan Roach in countless episodes of Casualty) win Oscars proves they have had something really special to break free of the pack.

I mean, Sir Ben Kingsley played Coronation Street's Ron Jenkins in the mid-60s, but conversely it's a little hard to see Norris Cole as Gandhi, or Ken Barlow as Sexy Beast's Don Logan ("Keep looking at me I'll put you in the f***ing ground, promise you!").

But surely the most impressive leap from small-screen soap to big-screen star must be Guy Pearce. The smart money had been on Kylie but, apart from being the voice of Florence in The Magic Roundabout, her major cinematic achievement now is the collective "eeeurgh!" inspired by an alleged affair with Jean-Claude Van Damme on the set of Street Fighter; and while "Jason Donovan's movie career" has forever been an oxymoron, Neighbours's nice-but-dull hunk Mike has come a long way, quietly racking up excellent performances in such quality films as The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, LA Confidential and Memento.

True to his unassuming Mike-ness he seems to have been a bit quiet of late, but check out his eclectic roster of upcoming movies: The Hurt Locker, an Iraq drama directed by Kathryn Bigelow; The Road, co-starring with Viggo Mortensen in an adaptation of Cormac "No Country for Old Men" McCarthy's novel; and then there's Bedtime Stories, in which I have no doubt our man will work his understated alchemy on that most base of things, an Adam Sandler family comedy. Yep, no doubt about it, for soap stars-done-good, Guy's your guy.

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Comments

  • Posted on 26 March 2008
  • at 11:49am
  • by H666

the aforementioned Melissa George has a pretty decent career as Hollywood's latest scream queen - 30 days of Night, Paradise Lost, WAZ and the new (admittedly rubbish) Amityville.

  • Posted on 23 March 2008
  • at 4:00pm
  • by samsue
i am feeling like we are in a bit of pub quiz & as i watch at lot of tv am taking this quite seriously! if you count dallas as a soap (?) then you have brad pitt - cant remember what character he played but i think he kept meeting the poisoned dwarf in the barn
  • Posted on 21 March 2008
  • at 8:41pm
  • by MickG

Wasn't Russell Crowe also in Neighbours? Surely he has a more impressive CV than Guy Pierce!

  • Posted on 21 March 2008
  • at 5:51pm
  • by kgrant

Melissa "Angel off of Home & Away" George's three-minute turn in big-screen debut Dark City knocks Guy Pearce's entire film career into a cocked hat as far as I'm concerned. I was 17 and wept tears of joy when I saw it.

  • Posted on 21 March 2008
  • at 12:20pm
  • by cremeegg

i thought joey in Lost in Space was apt

  • Posted on 20 March 2008
  • at 10:13pm
  • by Jelliebean

George Clooney also played a regular part in Roseanne. Due to an alarming 'achey breaky' haircut, he had not quite reached the full hunksome status he later enjoyed on ER.

  • Posted on 20 March 2008
  • at 9:38pm
  • by webbo1968

What about Kylie's role as the Green Fairy in Moulin Rouge? Understated brilliance. There's no way that Pearce pretender could have pulled it off.

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