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

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.