20 Famous Actors Who Landed Roles With No Experience At All

Jennifer Lawrence got her big accidental break while the Kentucky native was vacationing in The Big Apple, when she was just 12 years old. A talent agent spotted her in Union Square and in no time Lawrence was a bona fide teen model. The Hunger Games actress made her debut on the TV series Monk in 2006, and received her first Oscar nod with Winter's Bone in 2010. She won the prize two years later for Silver Linings Playbook, and continued receiving noms for American Hustle and Joy.

Imagine if Channing Tatum had actually accepted that football scholarship and attended West Virginia. Then he probably never would have moved to Miami and been discovered by a talent agent while walking down the street. Tatum did some modeling work for Gap and Nautica, before turning his attention to acting. One of his first acting gigs came as a dancer in Ricky Martin’s "She Bangs" music video.

He then hit the small screen with a role on an episode of CSI: Miami. The Alabama native made his feature film debut in 2005's Coach Carter. Tatum already has over 40 acting credits, including blockbusters like Magic Mike and independent critical darlings like Foxcatcher.

The South African beauty moved to Hollywood when she was 18. Charlize Theron was living in a shady hotel room with dwindling wages she earned modeling in New York City. She was discovered in a bank after having a spat with the teller because he wouldn't cash her last paycheck. The Oscar winner told Oprah during an interview for O Magazine, “I’m like, ‘It’s survival, people.’ If I didn’t cash that check, I wouldn’t have had a place to sleep that night. I said to the teller, ‘You don’t understand — please!’ I was begging and pleading, and a gentleman came over and tried to help. I had to fill out a ton of paperwork and open an account, and I cashed the check.”

As luck would have it, a talent agent spotted the blonde bombshell arguing with the teller, and just like that, Theron had representation. She landed her first role months later in Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest. Within one year, she was cast in Tom Hanks's directorial debut, That Thing You Do!

Texas-born Matthew McConaughey had no interest in following in his father's footsteps and going into the oil business. He did eventually discover that he wanted to be an actor and appeared in a few student films and commercials. While in a hotel bar in Austin, the future Academy Award winner met a producer/casting director who later introduced McConaughey to Richard Linklater, then in the process of casting Dazed and Confused.

It's easy to imagine McConaughey now as "It would be a lot cooler if you did" Wooderson. But at the time, Linklater thought the Texan was too good-looking for the part, especially since the role called for an older sleaze ball who was only interested in partying with much younger high school girls.

A simple mustache and longer hair changed Linklater's mind and "all right, all right, all right" found its way into McConaughey's vocabulary, and the cultural lexicon.

Johnny Depp had nothing better to do one day, so he decided to go with his pal Jackie Earle Haley on an audition for Nightmare of Elm Street. As is the case in these kind of scenarios, Haley didn't get the part, but director Wes Craven saw Depp around the set, and asked him to audition. Depp got the part as Glen, who has one of the most disturbing and iconic kill scenes in horror history.

Depp would of course go on to become one of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood.

Natalie Portman was just a nine-year-old girl eating pizza in Long Island when a rep from Revlon spotted her and got her into modeling. The Academy Award winner quickly grew tired of the modeling business and segued into acting. Portman made her feature film debut in Luc Besson's The Professional, where she played a young girl who learns how to become an assassin.

Portman already has over 30 acting credits, including her Academy Award-winning performance in Black Swan.