11 Awesome Actors Who Broke Into Hollywood Late

4. Samuel L. Jackson

Samuel L. Jackson is frequently cited as one of the hardest-working actors in Hollywood, racking up almost 200 roles despite his career not really taking off until the 1990s.

After having brief roles in a number of Spike Lee joints, Jackson's true Hollywood breakthrough began with the small but memorable part of incompetent criminal Stacks Edwards in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas.

Jackson was 41 when the crime masterwork hit cinemas, though you can argue he didn't truly become a star until 1994 when he appeared in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction and scored himself a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination.

Despite not getting his big break until he was 45 years old, Jackson has made the absolute most of the 25 years since, starring in an insane 120 projects (the vast majority of them films) and cementing himself as the second highest-grossing actor of all time (behind only Stan Lee, who basically wins on a technicality).

With Jackson looking a good decade younger than his 70 (!) years of age, hopefully he's still got plenty left in the tank.