10 Actors Who Didn't Realise They Were Auditioning For Movie Roles

What at first seemed like little more than a favour to a pal who was desperately trying to get a passion project off the ground soon set the stage for a development that emphatically changed Sharlto Copley's life.

With the future acting star hardly even considering a career in front of the camera back in the mid-noughties, Copley was much more focused on setting up his own TV station than being a Hollywood superstar.

But his path changed somewhat the second the South African's Johannesburg school friend Neill Blomkamp asked his pal if he would show up as a bumbling bureaucrat in some test footage he wanted to show Peter Jackson in a bid to get his idea for a sci-fi film off the ground.

This "found footage" tester more than did the trick in the end, with Jackson being all too happy to produce the flick. But it also convinced both The Lord of the Rings titan and eventual District 9 director that Copley was actually the guy to lead the incoming movie.

And despite Copley openly admitting to thinking "It’s impossible! I didn’t even know I could do it!” in regards to leading such a high-profile project, District 9 went on to become a smash hit and established the unexpected talent as Hollywood's latest new star.