10 Movie Actors Who Were Discovered In Unusual Ways

8. Harrison Ford Was Discovered While Installing A Door For Francis Ford Coppola

Vin Diesel Fast and Furious
Lucasfilm Ltd.

It's impossible to imagine the last half-century of Hollywood history without the rugged charm of the great Harrison Ford, but if he hadn't been in this one specific place at this one specific time, then things could've been very different indeed.

Even though Ford had just worked with George Lucas on 1973's American Graffiti, he was never under consideration for the role of Han Solo in 1977's Star Wars, and hell, he wasn't even enjoying a lucrative acting career at this time. In fact, it's fair to say that his movie career was on very shaky ground, which is why he still carried on his carpentry day job, so he had a relatively steady stream of income to fall back on.

And, as luck would have it, it was this carpentry job that led him back to Lucas, which, in turn, saw him become the face of the Star Wars franchise.

While Ford was installing a door for The Godfather and Apocalypse Now helmer Francis Ford Coppola, Lucas just so happened to walk into the room. From there, the pair got chatting, and Lucas - who was prepping Star Wars at the time - eventually decided that Ford would be a good fit for Han Solo.

And the rest is billion-dollar history.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.