8 Actors Who Got Famous Off Just One Scene

7. Andy Serkis - The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers

Steve Carell Bruce Almighty
Warner Bros.

The story of Gollum may have been summarised in The Fellowship of the Ring - complete with a brief look at this tormented soul - but it was in The Two Towers that Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movies fully showcased the character.

In doing that, audience were left in awe at what they saw from Andy Serkis' Gollum. Never before had a CGI-created character looked so lifelike or been delivered in a mo-cap way that was every inch a living, breathing performance.

With that role Serkis was made into a star, and he's become known as the apex of motion capture performance work - plus, he's a pretty damn impressive actor in a live-action setting, too, of course.

If there's one scene that was responsible for shining a light on the talents of Andy Serkis, it's the moment in The Two Towers where we see the duelling personalities of Gollum and his former self, Sméagol, battle it out while Frodo and Sam get some sleep.

It's erratic, it's heartfelt, it's as real as real can be, and it was a groundbreaking moment in the very history of cinema - not to mention the career of Andy Serkis.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Chatterer of stuff, writer of this, host of that, Wrexham AFC fan.