Margot Robbie & 9 Other Movie Stars Who Got Their Start On Neighbors

Actors are often discovered in strange ways, but of the Australian stars who now seemingly run Hollywood, such as Margot Robbie and Chris Hemsworth, they were all mostly found in the same place.

Neighbors is an Australian soap opera, which might not be popular in the U.S. but is a big hit in its native country, and even in the U.K., and it’s where a lot of promising up-and-comers cut their teeth. Whether these actors got their Hollywood breakthrough in a Martin Scorsese movie or for becoming known as Thor, they all started in the same happy-go-lucky soap opera.

10 Adelaide Kane – The Purge, Teen Wolf, Cosmic Sin

Adelaide Kane had a main role in Neighbors for 46 episodes in 2007, when she was just 17 years old. Following that, after a few TV roles, she starred in the 2013 movie The Purge, which was the beginning of a blockbuster franchise. She then went on to star in MTV’s Teen Wolf.

Most recently, though it largely went under the radar, the actor starred alongside Bruce Willis in the sci-fi movie, Cosmic Sin. She doesn’t yet have a huge Hollywood resume, but she’s still young and she’ll likely see even more success in the coming years.

9 Holly Valance – DOA: Dead Or Alive, Taken & More

It’s easy to forget that Holly Valance acted in blockbuster movies, as she was a pop star first and foremost. However, she’s also an actor, and her acting career started with Neighbors. And she was in it for the long haul, as Valance had a main role that spanned 330 episodes.

She then had a leading role in the 2006 martial arts film, DOA: Dead or Alive. But funnily enough, despite having starring roles in movies in the 2000s, her most memorable role from a film buff’s perspective is when she played the pop star “Sheerah” in Taken, one of the best action thrillers about parenthood.

8 Russell Crowe – Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, American Gangster & More

Russell Crowe is easily the most established actor who started on Neighbors, but everyone has to start somewhere. The actor was in four episodes of the soap opera in 1987, four years before his first major role in a movie.

The Academy Award winner went on to star in several American classics, including Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, and American Gangster, among many others. Next year, the actor will be inducted into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as he’ll be playing Zeus in the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder.

7 Alan Dale – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Entourage & More

Alan Dale is one of the Neighbors elder statesmen, as he has starred in close to an astounding 1,200 episodes of the soap opera. The actor was on the show for eight years between 1985 and 1993, and he even returned for a victory lap in 2018.

In the years between his departure and return, Dale had a ton of success playing detectives and councilmen in movies like The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. But more than anything, he continued to have success on TV in much bigger shows, including Entourage and 24.

6 Chris Hemsworth – Home & Away, Thor, Jay & Silent Bob Reboot & More

Though Chis Hemsworth was in Neighbors, it was just for one episode in 2002. However, the Thor star did go on to have a major role in Home and Away, another famous Australian soap opera, for 189 episodes, and he stayed on the show for three years. But it wasn’t long after that until he got the biggest gig of his life.

As it was basically the only credit in his acting portfolio at the time, it’s almost as if Hemsworth has the soap opera to thank for getting the role of Thor. But his career doesn’t begin with Australian soaps and end with the MCU, as Hemsworth has some great roles outside of Thor too, such as James Hunt in Rush and a hilarious cameo in the Jay & Silent Bob Reboot.

5 Bella Heathcote – Dark Shadows, Fifty Shades Darker, The Man In The High Castle & More

After starring in nine episodes of Neighbors in 2009, it didn’t take long for Bella Heathcote to get tons of attention and quickly switch to film. She featured in the 2011 sci-fi thriller In Time, the Tim Burton-directed Dark Shadows, and the second movie in the Fifty Shades series, Fifty Shades Darker.

And just like Alan Dale, Heathcote has carved out her role on the TV medium just as much as she has film. The actor had a leading role in two seasons of Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle, and she’s set to get a lot more attention, as she has a main role in the upcoming Netflix thriller series, Pieces of Her.

4 Margot Robbie – Suicide Squad, The Wolf Of Wall Street, & More

Margot Robbie had a major role in Neighbors for three years, and she starred in more than 350 episodes. Though it’s hard to imagine Martin Scorsese sitting down and watching that many melodramatic episodes of a soap opera, he must have seen at least a little bit of it to cast her in her breakthrough role.

The actor became an instant star after playing Naomi in The Wolf of Wall Street, and then she lowkey became the face of the DCEU, playing Harley Quinn. She has made the biggest moves of any Neighbors actor too, as Robbie has not only become an Academy Award-nominated actor, but she has also moved into producing with Promising Young Woman.

3 Liam Hemsworth – The Hunger Games, Independence Day: Resurgence & More

Just like his brother, Liam Hemsworth got his start in Australian soap operas, only it happened in an opposite way. Where Chris was in a string of Home and Away episodes, Liam was in just one episode, and where Chris was in one episode of Neighbors, Liam was the star of the show for 25 episodes in 2007 and 2008.

He followed in his big brother’s footsteps, as Liam Hemsworth quickly found himself in a string of blockbusters shortly after leaving the show. The actor has starred in loads of action movies and thrillers, but he’s best known for his relationship with Katniss in The Hunger Games.

2 Guy Pearce – Memento, Prometheus, Iron Man 3

Neighbors was Guy Pearce’s very first acting gig, and he was in it for the long haul too, as the actor starred in almost 500 episodes of the Australian soap. The actor’s tenure on the soap was between 1986 and 1989, and he also moved on to Home and Away, in 1991.

Pearce then moved to Hollywood in the ’90s and has starred in as many blockbuster movies as he has indie darlings. His first leading role was as Leonard in Memento, one of the best Christopher Nolan movies, and he also starred in major blockbusters, like Prometheus and Iron Man 3.

1 Ben Mendelsohn – Rogue One, Captain Marvel & More

Ben Mendelsohn starred in 19 episodes of the lauded soap opera and started on the show when he was just 17 years old in 1986. Since then, he has seemingly become one of Disney’s go-to actors for any property.

Though it took him a while between leaving the show to get to where he is today, he played Director Krennic in Rogue One, along with Talos, the leader of the Skrulls in Captain Marvel. The actor has the range to play one of the evilest people in the galaxy and one of the most heroic people in the galaxy, and he’s believable as both.