Back in the earlier days of television movie stars either refused, or were not allowed to do TV commercials. Hollywood thought it was beneath their star power to hawk products on television. But once a few actors saw the benefits of doing commercials, plus the big pay day and residuals it all changed. Suddenly networks and various companies couldn’t wait to have their product presented by a Hollywood star on TV.
Here is a short list of just ten now famous stars who went on to movie and TV stardom by doing TV commercials.
Dustin Hoffman – He was virtually an unknown when he did a humorous commercial for Volkswagen in 1966. He was quickly snapped up by Hollywood. A year later he would become a major star through the movie “The Graduate” with Anne Bancroft. From that all kinds roles, “Rain Man”, “Midnight Cowboy” to name a couple and awards and nominations followed.
Leonardo Di Caprio – He did commercials for Bubble Yum and Kraft singles in the 80’s. That led to a role on the TV show “Growing Pains” and then forthcoming movie stardom as an actor, director and producer..
John Travolta – His looks and singing in a Band Aids commercial in the 70’s led to “Welcome Back Kotter’ on TV and then a huge movie career with films like Grease, Saturday Night Fever, Pulp Fiction, Urban Cowboy to name a few.
Tina Fey – She was an unknown in 1995, but after doing a commercial for Mutual Savings Bank, her career began to take off and then all kinds of TV shows, most notably “30 Rock” brought her stardom.
Mark Hamill – Back in the 70’s he was a struggling actor, like many, but landed a one time Kodak Camera commercial. His showing in that spot was enough to kick start his career and lead to becoming Luke Skywalker.
Ben Affleck – Back in the 80’s he was unknown but landed a couple of commercial spots for Burger King and their “Sometimes you gotta break the rules” campaign. Once they aired, the movie offers started coming along with future stardom.
Brad Pitt – In 1989 Pitt was doing walk ons as an extra in films, no lines, just bits. Then he did a Pringles commercial and that changed everything. From that one commercial, he went from extra to budding movie star.
Bryan Cranston – Back in the 80’s jobs were scarce but Cranston got a shot through commercials. His spots for Preparation H would launch an acting career that would bring awards and classic shows his way in big numbers.
Anna Hathaway – Her very first time in front of a camera was in 1997 for a very dramatic commercial for Better Homes and Gardens. But that one 60 second spot was enough to convince Hollywood they had a star on their hands.
Morgan Freeman – Today he is one of the most cherished and respected actors in Hollywood. But back in the 70’s he was doing soap opera work and commercials. One of them for Listerine would jump start his career towards movie stardom.
That was just ten of the stars whose work in commercials led to future stardom. Among some of the others are Steve Carell, Jodie Foster, Paul Rudd, Bruce Willis, Jennifer Lawrence, Demi Moore, Wesley Snipes, Tom Selleck, Keanu Reeves, Farah Fawcett and many more that you can check out. Needless to say, not only did it pay the rent and kick start careers, but those residuals they received sure made for a nice future nest egg. Today, for the lead spokesperson in a commercial, not only is the initial salary big, but residual payments can be $50,000 to $150,000 a year or more. Doing TV commercials is a very lucrative career. For example actress Stephanie Courtney, who plays Flo on the Progressive commercials makes $1 million a year, not counting residuals, and she is not alone, some even make a little more.
