You probably have heard the phrase, “There’s no one road to success.” If you’re just starting out or suffering a professional dry spell, success can seem simultaneously elusive and desirable. But by exploring the different routes famous actors took to eventually see their name in lights, you can lay out a road map and furnish that vital spark of inspiration.
Here’s how eight famous Australian actors made it happen.
1. Margot Robbie: cold-calling success story
Before roles in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), I, Tonya (2017), and Barbie (2023) made her one of the most famous Australian actors, Margot Robbie found her footing in 328 episodes of Neighbours. That crucial initial break came from relentless cold-calling.
“I was just cold-calling the casting agent’s office,” Robbie told Variety. “I kept calling and then one day they let me through to her. I don’t know why. I think it was a mistake. And then she was like, ‘How old are you?’ And I was like, ‘I’m 17.’ She’s like, ‘Oh, we need a 17-year-old girl right now. Come in next week.’”
Persistence (and a dash of luck) clearly paid off, but keep searching for open casting calls between making cold calls.
2. Keiynan Lonsdale: leveraging a plethora of skills
Keiynan Lonsdale made his name in movies such as Divergent: Insurgent (2015), Love, Simon (2018), and Work It (2020), but acting is only one string on this Sydney native’s bow. Multitalented to the Nth degree, he’s a gifted dancer, singer, songwriter, and former MTV veejay.
Having multiple skills instead of just acting allowed Lonsdale “to be very open and explore a lot of different options,” he told Hero. “When I booked Insurgent, that was the moment that defined the rest of my career. I had to choose acting because it was blowing up into something bigger than I ever imagined. I didn’t think that I would be working in that capacity as an actor, but it happened.”
3. Cate Blanchett: flourishing in drama school
One of the most respected Australian actors of all time, Cate Blanchett has two Academy Awards and a list of credits ranging from Queen Elizabeth I in Elizabeth (1998) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) to an internationally successful conductor who gets cancelled in Tár (2022).
Blanchett has credited her time at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) for her success. “NIDA gave me a foundation,” she said. “It taught me how to approach a character, how to find the truth in the performance, and, most importantly, how to trust myself as an actor.” Blanchett’s intense training at NIDA was followed by a successful theatrical career before she became a household name in Hollywood.
4. Jason Clarke: surviving on small parts
Before Jason Clarke made it big with leading roles in Zero Dark Thirty (2012), Everest (2015), and Terminator Genisys (2015), he spent years taking small parts. One-episode roles on shows such as Diagnosis Murder in 1996 and The Bill in 2001 ran alongside bit parts in Wanted (1997) and Dilemma (1997) before Clarke finally broke through as a co-star on Brotherhood (2006).
“That’s one of the challenges of acting,” Clarke told Esquire. “You can’t expect that you’re going to be successful, but you’ve got to put your heart and everything you have into it.… That defines what type of actor you are, what kind of people want to work with you, and whether you can do this job for a long, long time.”
5. Rebel Wilson: writing her own success
Although a stint at NIDA set Blanchett on the right track, the institute reportedly rejected Rebel Wilson five times. Finding few roles to suit her, she took matters into her own hands. “No one was interested in me,” Wilson told Elle. “All the roles were for, like, Bikini Girl, age 18. I thought, I know: I’ll write my own characters, then people can see what I can do.”
She wrote, produced, and starred in the 2002 stage musical The Westie Monologues, followed it up with Spunks and Confessions of an Exchange Student in 2008, and then moved to TV with Bogan Pride in 2008. Several parts in Australian shows and films led to an international breakthrough with movies such as Bridesmaids (2011), Pitch Perfect (2012), and Bachelorette (2012).
6. Charmaine Bingwa: committing to climbing the ladder
After Charmaine Bingwa earned acclaim in Australia for her role in a Sydney revival of the play Doubt: A Parable, she fully committed with a move to Hollywood – and it paid off. The first woman of colour and openly gay recipient of the Heath Ledger Scholarship, she has become one of the best Aussie actors around, showing off her talents in shows such as The Good Fight (2017–2022) and movies such as Emancipation (2022).
It’s Bingwa’s work ethic and positive attitude that made it happen. “I knew there would probably be a year or two of just building from the ground up,” she told Equity magazine. “With the auditioning process, I’ve always pictured it as building, rather than going for something and getting rejected. I would notice, ‘Oh, hang on, I’ve been seen five times by the same casting director in one year,’ and the message I would take away was, ‘They like my work. They’re just trying to find where they can put me, which job is the best fit.’ It’s about building those relationships, doing phenomenal work and always putting your best foot forward.”
7. Geoffrey Rush: starting with theatre
Success as an actor needn’t revolve around the screen. Many find fulfilling careers on the stage – as Geoffrey Rush certainly did. After being spotted by the Queensland Theatre Company at university, Rush spent four years performing in classical plays and pantomime, remaining in theatre for decades.
“I worked happily in theatre for about 24 years,” Rush told Big Issue. “Then suddenly I got the letter to say the film of Shine was going ahead. That was just my second feature film and I was 43.”
He’s now singular among Australian actors in achieving the Triple Crown of Acting, with an Academy Award for Shine (1996), a Primetime Emmy for The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004), and a Tony for Exit the King (2009).
8. Remy Hii: collaborating with new writers
Remy Hii’s break playing Van Tuong Nguyen in the four-part miniseries Better Man (2013) was followed by roles in Marco Polo (2014), Crazy Rich Asians (2018), and Wellmania (2023), but he truly got his start working with emerging Australian playwrights.
“A fantastic co-op theatre company in Brisbane run by Dr. Errol Bray allowed me to hone my craft as a young actor and recognise the importance of new writing in Australia,” Hii said in an interview with the Joy House. “It was through performing there that I was asked to audition for a new play at the Queensland Theatre Company.... It won the Queensland Premier’s Drama Award in 2006 and I was playing the title role to sold out shows for an extended season.”
Additional credits: DFree/Fred Duval/Kathy Hutchins/Ovidiu Hrubaru/Shutterstock
