20 Actors Who Had To Wait DECADES Before Hitting Big

2. Samuel L. Jackson

Samuel L. Jackson is such an indelible cinematic icon - not to mention being the single highest-grossing actor of all time - that it's easy to forget that he got his big break a little later in life. 

Though Jackson had over 40 screen acting credits to his name between 1972 and 1994 - including parts in Coming to America, Goodfellas, and of course Jurassic Park - it was his unforgettable performance in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction that changed everything virtually overnight.

At age 45, with an Oscar nomination for his work on Pulp Fiction, Jackson became an immensely sought-after performer, spending the latter half of the '90s starring in the likes of Die Hard with a Vengeance, A Time to Kill, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Jackie Brown, The Negotiator, and Deep Blue Sea.

Jackson has of course remained an immensely popular and well-respected actor ever since, but he's such an ever-present Hollywood staple that one might mistakenly assume he blew up early.