8 Actors Who Got Famous Off Just One Scene

1. Tom Cruise - Risky Business

Steve Carell Bruce Almighty
Warner Bros.

Tom Cruise is one of the biggest movie stars of the modern era. Few actors have had the same sort of success as 'The Cruise' has through his 40-year career - and the one scene that started his ascension towards superstardom can be pinpointed as his famous pants-dancing scene in Risky Business.

A 21-year-old rookie actor at the time, Cruise's appearance in that 1983 picture marked him out as somebody to keep an eye on.

It's no surprise that the years following Risky Business saw Tom Cruise embark on a run that went from Top Gun, to The Color of Money, to Cocktail, to Rain Man, to Born on the Fouth of July, to Days of Thunder as the actor cemented himself as one of the best in the game.

That was all just the tip of the iceberg for Cruise, as Days of Thunder's release in 1990 was followed by a further 30 years and counting of memorable movies and iconic roles.

Even now in 2020, Tom Cruise is just as popular as he's ever been, with the Mission: Impossible franchise proving to be a constant box office powerhouse for Cruise - not to mention Top Gun: Maverick and an Edge of Tomorrow sequel as two other Cruise vehicles that are on the horizon.

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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.