10. Kylie Minogue - From Soap Star & Hollywood Starlet To Interesting & Challenging Roles
After making a name for herself as the star of Australian soap Neighbours, Kylie Minogue endeavored to translate this success first into a musical career and then, ultimately, into Hollywood movie roles. Whilst her collaborations with hits factory Stock, Aitken and Waterman allowed for the singer to conquer the charts, Minogue's attempts to transform herself into a leading lady fell flat at the first hurdle - Street Fighter, a cinematic adaptation of the popular video game, was so critically loathed that it seemed her acting career would be over before it began. Her next film, a small performance in the even more widely panned Bio-Dome, seemed to confirm this. With Minogue's movie career seemingly in tatters by the mid 1990s, her next moves galvanized her career movie and established her as an indie darling in completely unexpected ways. Remembering that America is not the be-all and end-all for any actress, Mingoue began her rejuvenation by teaming up with fellow Australian and making an appearance in the spectacularly successful Moulin Rouge! As the first critically acclaimed movie of her career to date, Minogue did the opposite of what was expected of her and, instead of trying to shoe horn herself into more Hollywood blockbusters, began to look for exciting opportunities around the globe. An opportunity to appear in the (at that time) most expensive Bollywood film ever made, Blue, was graciously accepted and, more recently, Minogue played a significant part in the Cannes pleasing (and multi-lingual) Holy Motors - a fantastical movie by French -maker Leos Carax. It's not many actresses who can write on their CV that they've appeared in Jean-Claude Van Damme movies, Oscar winners, Bollywood thrillers and films that rocked Cannes.
From ignoble beginnings, Minogue has, against all odds and expectations, ended up with one of the most varied acting CVs in recent times.