10 Movie Actors Who Were Discovered In Unusual Ways

4. Alden Ehrenreich Was Discovered By Steven Spielberg At A Bat Mitzvah

Han Solo A Star Wars Story Alden Ehrenreich
Lucasfilm

Another Han Solo actor who got his big break in an unusual fashion, Alden Ehrenreich had no idea that a random home video he made with his friend would one day catch the attention of the legendary Steven Spielberg.

The video - which Ehrenreich has since described as "a piece of sh*t" - consisted of the young lad trying on his female friend's clothes, and then making up a song. In other words, they were both just messing around, with no real goal in mind.

From here, the two friends decided to play the video at an upcoming bat mitzvah, which turned out to be a really good decision on their part, because guess who happened to be attending this exact same event? That's right - Steven freakin' Spielberg.

Spielberg must've noticed a glimmer of talent somewhere within this strange home video, because afterwards, he invited Ehrenreich to meet with him to discuss future opportunities. From here, the actor was cast in 2009's Tetro - directed by Francis Ford Coppola - before portraying Han Solo in the 2018 Star Wars prequel.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!