10 Unknown Actors Who Kicked Serious Ass In Major Films

8. Dev Patel - Slumdog Millionaire

Apart from a supporting role in Channel 4 drama Skins, British-born Dev Patel had had no acting experience until auditioning for Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire. Patel played the central character, Jamal Malick - a product of the poverty in Bombay, India. As there were was little recognition of any of the actors cast in the film (certainly from a Western viewpoint at least, and Frieda Pinto aside), it paved the way for Patel's performance, as the lead, to become its focus. Boyle's reasons for casting Patel were due to the actor's personality, looks and the very fact he didn't look like a hero. Boyle found that too many of Bollywood's leading men had the physique and persona of a triumphant protagonist. As a character, Jamal Malick had to discover those qualities over the course of the film and Boyle saw the potential in Patel to pull that off. Plus, his daughter recommended him after watching an episode of Skins. The film received huge plaudits from audiences and critics alike and a lot of credit was attributed to Patel's performance. He found himself nominated for several awards including a BAFTA and a Screen Actors Guild Award and a career that lead him to star alongside the cream of British acting talent in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and a regular role in Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom. It's not a bad meteoric rise, as meteoric rises go.