10 Hollywood Stars You Didn't Know Began Their Career In Soap Operas

3. Guy Pearce

Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue might have enjoyed most of the limelight back when Guy Pearce was making his early appearances on the Australian soap Neighbours, but these days he's clearly ended up with the career to die for, having already appeared in films by Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott and a long list of other A-list directors. Pearce was a regular fixture on Neighbours, with no less than 496 episodes under his belt before he moved on to pastures new. A very brief stint on rival Aussie soap Home And Away followed, before 1994's The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert, in which he played a drag queen on a road trip with Hugo Weaving and Terence Stamp, catapulted him towards movie stardom. Pearce remains a prolific actor up to the present day, appearing in half a dozen movies in 2013 alone. His upcoming film Genius, in which he plays F. Scott Fitzgerald, could be just the ticket for his first proper bid for Oscar success.