11 Awesome Actors Who Broke Into Hollywood Late

6. Jacki Weaver

Jacki Weaver's acting career started back in 1964 at the tender age of just 17, and she spent the majority of the 1970s and 1980s appearing in more than 40 Australian films and TV shows before deciding to return to the stage after struggling to win meatier roles.

But fortune came a-knocking in 2010 when, at 63 years of age, Weaver starred in David Michôd's thriller Animal Kingdom, which received universal acclaim for Weaver's performance in particular, netting her the first Oscar nomination of her career in the process.

In the near-decade since, Weaver has been an in-demand character actor, working with the likes of David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook, for which she received a second Oscar nod), Chan-wook Park (Stoker), Woody Allen (Magic in the Moonlight), James Franco (The Disaster Artist), Steve McQueen (Widows) and Susanne Bier (Bird Box).

Needless to say, it's a trajectory just about nobody could've seen coming, and much like Christoph Waltz, she was clearly just waiting for Hollywood to make the belated call.