Some actors find success very early in their careers Dakota Fanning, Zac Efron, Abigail Breslin and Daniel Radcliffe are just some examples of the youngsters that are already household names.
But for others the success that they now enjoy doesn't come as easy, with many of them finding acclaim much later in life.
And Melissa Leo, at the age of forty eight, is one of them as her latest film Frozen River is the big breakthrough that has been a long time coming.
Over recent years that actress' profile has steadily grown with great performances in the like of 21 Grams and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada but it's Frozen river that has really grabbed everyone's attention.
The independent movie follows two working class women who smuggle illegal immigrants in the trunk of a car from Canada to the United States in order to make ends meet.
Frozen River was a strong presence during the awards season earlier this year, with Leo's performance gaining a lot of attention winning Best Actress at the Independent Spirit Awards and the Gotham Independent Film Award as well as securing an Oscar nomination.
Off the back of Frozen River the actress has been inundated with work with Everybody's Fine and Welcome to the Rileys both scheduled to be released later this year.
She will also team up with Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale in The Fighter which is expected to be released in 2011.
But Melissa Leo isn't the only actor to find success later in their career. Despite working in New York as a dancer and in the theatre Morgan Freeman didn't make an impact on the big screen until the early eighties.
By this time the popular actor was almost fifty. But they always say that good things come to those who wait and in Freeman's case it's true as he has gone on to become one of the most respected actors of his generation.
He bagged his for Oscar nomination in 1987 for his role in Street Smart and again in 1989 for Driving Miss Daisy.
Despite a third nomination in 1994 the actor had to wait until 2004 to get his hands on an Oscar for Million Dollar Baby.
Despite success on the stage and in some small movies it wasn't until 1990, at the age of forty two, that she found mainstream success and fame.
And it was the role of Annie Wilkes in the adaptation of Stephen King's Misery that altered the course of her career. Winning rave reviews she went on to scoop the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Actor.
Since then her performances in Primary Colours and About Schmit has amassed award nominations as has her work in television such as Six Feet Under and warm Springs.
It's fair to say that Sir Ian McKellan is a bit of a legend when it comes to his work in the theatre so it's hard to believe that it wasn't until the 1990s that he became more well known as a film actor.
he had taken movie roles for most of his acting career but it was the more mainstream work that he ventured into in the nineties that made him the star that he is today.
With performances in Six Degrees of Separation, Richard III and Gods and Monsters cemented him as a real force on the big screen.
In more recent years he has cemented this reputation by being part of both the Lord of the Rings and X-Men franchises that have found major success at the box office.
Other actors that have found success later than they may have hoped include Richard Jenkins, who secured an Oscar nomination this year for The Visitor and, more close to home, Royle family favourites Ricky Tomlinson and Sue Johnston.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Morgan Freeman Melissa Leo