Top 10 Actors Who Were Cast on Their Very First Audition

Hunter Schafer has become one of the breakout stars of HBO’s acclaimed series, “Euphoria.” Prior to “Euphoria,” Schafer was a professional model, working for some of the biggest names in fashion, from Prada to Vera Wang. Schafer is trans and when she saw that HBO was casting a trans girl for an upcoming show, she was curious. Then a few days later, as luck would have it, her agency told her that she had been called in to audition. Although Schafer was initially hesitant, she decided to give it a shot. And as they say, the rest is history. Not only was the show her acting debut, but it was also the first acting job she had ever auditioned for.

Like Hunter Schafer, Ashton Kutcher also started off modeling before getting into the acting thing. For Kutcher, his big break came on his first audition when he went out for the role of Michael Kelso in “That ‘70s Show.” And while the role made him a star and sent him on a path to fame and fortune, Kutcher didn’t have much faith in his abilities in the beginning. As he told Rolling Stone magazine, “The first five episodes of ‘That '70s Show,’ I was convinced I was going to be fired, because I was terrible.”

Sometimes it’s all about ‘who you know.’ And that was very much the case for Jason Schwartzman’s big break. Who he knew was his cousin Sofia Coppola (yes, the daughter of Francis Ford Coppola). At an event one night when Schwartzman was just 17, Coppola introduced him to the casting director working on Wes Anderson’s film, “Rushmore.” Schwartzman didn’t think he had a shot at getting the role, but thought it would be a cool story he could tell later, so he gave the woman his address and she sent him the script. And not only was the audition that followed his first ever, it was even the first script he’d ever read.

While we wouldn’t recommend giving your boss attitude, it was a move that worked for Alexis Bledel during her audition process for “Gilmore Girls.” It was her first audition so she was relatively naive to the whole process, but she was also not feeling well at the time and started to get annoyed by all the callbacks. This led to her, after yet another audition, asking “Are you guys going to bring me back again…?” To which show creator Amy Sherman-Palladino responded “I like that, that’s perfect.” And we think fans will agree, Bledel was the ‘perfect’ choice.

By the time she landed the role of Buffy Summers, Sarah Michelle Gellar was an old pro at the acting and auditioning thing. Having starred in movies, TV shows and even soap operas by the time she was 16. And it all started back when she was just four years old and was approached by an agent while eating at a restaurant. From there things happened fast as it was just two weeks later that she had her first audition for a role in the TV movie, “An Invasion of Privacy.” 4-year-old Geller slayed the audition and she got the part.

Imagine making your acting debut in what would become one of the biggest film franchises in history? Now imagine that movie being the first time you ever auditioned? Don’t worry, we can’t imagine it either. But Emma Watson sure can, because that’s exactly what happened to her. Watson was studying at Headington School in Oxford when her theater teacher introduced her to “Harry Potter” casting agents. And while it was her first audition, she did have 8 callbacks before she finally secured the role of Hermione Granger that would change her life forever.

Even in high school, there was something about Cameron Diaz. And by the time she was 16, she was signing a modeling contract with Elite Model Management. However, it wouldn’t be until she turned 21 that she would get into the whole acting thing. And it all came about when one of her modeling agents recommended her for the role opposite Jim Carrey in “The Mask.” Diaz got the part without having any previous acting experience. So much so that after securing the role, she began taking acting lessons.

It sounds like Anna Paquin has her sister to thank for her impressive career. You see, when Paquin was younger, she took ballet and gymnastics and played the cello and the piano. She had a lot of hobbies and participated in many extracurricular activities but acting wasn’t one of them. The most acting she did was playing a skunk in a school play. So, when director Jane Campion held open auditions for the role of the main little girl in her film, “The Piano” it was Paquin’s sister who saw the ad and went to audition. Well, seeing her sister do it made Anna want to give it a shot as well. And she nailed it, leading to an Oscar-winning performance.

Sometimes it’s just all about being in the right place at the right time. And though Rosario Dawson had a small appearance on “Sesame Street” as a kid, it’s the 15-year-old version of the actress that we’re referring to here. The right place happened to the steps of the teenager’s front porch watching a commercial being filmed, while the right time was when director Larry Clark and writer Harmony Korine happened to be in the neighborhood scouting locations for their film, “Kids.” The two came over to Dawson and asked her if she wanted to be in the movie. According to Dawson, Korine said, “Oh my God, I wrote this character for you without even realizing. I didn't even know you.” He begged her to come in for an audition. Which she did.

Some kids grow up wanting to be famous actors and some kids are Gabourey Sidibe. Sidibe never had an interest in acting and was studying psychology at college when a friend told her about the auditions for the film, “Precious.” She was familiar with the novel, on which the movie is based, but hesitated going to the audition because she didn’t want to skip class. While we normally wouldn’t recommend skipping class, in this case it definitely worked out for the best as she got the role, an Academy Award nomination and the start of a career in Hollywood.