The Gist
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Stars like Adam Driver, Zendaya, and Molly Ringwald spun a hit TV show into a career spanning far beyond the small screen.
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George Clooney famously left ER in Season 5 to become a movie star.
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Other celebrities like Disney breakout Oli as musicians
Landing a role on a TV show can be the pinnacle of an actor‘s career—or it could be just the beginning.
Ever since television emerged as a popular medium in the ’40s and ’50s, the small screen has churned out celebrities. While some cast members are content with forever being identified with a character they played in a hit series, others strive to rise above their TV beginnings and move into the more glamorous world of film. For every successful example—George Clooney, Zendaya, Will Smith—there are others who don’t quite surpass the fame they found with shortform projects.
Film isn’t the only future for a TV star. A multitalented celebrity may trade acting for music and launch a singing career that eclipses their early roles. Then there’s the actor-turned-director, like Ron Howard, who chooses to step behind the camera rather than stay in front of it.
Whatever path they took, with luck, talent, and hard work, the below stars became bigger than the shows where they got their start.
Adam Driver
Star Wars actor Adam Driver had lived quite the life before becoming a household name for playing Kylo Ren in the space-epic franchise. By the time he first wielded ‘the Force,’ he’d served in the U.S. Marine Corps, graduated from Juilliard, and been nominated for three consecutive Emmys.
He received those early awards nods for his performance as Adam Sackler, the misanthropic boyfriend of Lena Dunham’s character, in the HBO series Girls. The show’s sixth and final season aired in 2017, a little under two years after Driver appeared in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. He told ABC News playing Kylo Ren made fans more “aggressive” about approaching him.
Post-Star Wars, the two-time Oscar nominee has continued to advance his film career with projects likeHouse of Gucci and Ferrari.
Zendaya
Zendaya is a bona fide movie star, but in the 2010s, it was her roles on the Disney Channel that put her in the spotlight. She started out playing the fierce, dance-loving Rocky Blue on Shake It Up before starring and producing in the spy-themed sitcom K.C. Undercover. But one year before K.C. Undercover aired its final episode, her feature film debut in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming launched her to a whole new level of stardom.
With two Emmy Awards for her more mature turn as Rue in HBO show Euphoria—and a slate of critically acclaimed and commercially successful films like The Odyssey on her resume—it’s safe to say Zendaya has far surpassed her big break on Shake It Up. Outside of acting, she’s a fashion icon and one-half of the world’s favorite celebrity couple with husband Tom Holland.
George Clooney
Depending on what generation you’re from, you might not even realize that film industry titan George Clooney launched his career on the small screen. The Oscar-winning actor first won hearts as the dreamy Doug Ross on long-running NBC medical drama ER.
Although he could have spent more years playing the life-saving heartthrob, Clooney left the series during Season 5 to free up his schedule for his burgeoning film career. The rest is Hollywood history. Today, ER is but a footnote in Clooney’s storied career as an actor and director, with his most recent project—2025 Noah Baumbach dramedy Jay Kelly—garnering him his 14th Golden Globe nomination.
Molly Ringwald
Before she was helming ’80s teen classics like Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, and The Breakfast Club, Brat Pack member Molly Ringwald cut her teeth on two prominent sitcoms. The then-child actress made her television acting debut in 1979’s Diff’rent Strokes before landing a main role in The Facts of Life. But, at 12 years old, Ringwald was fired from the show.
“What they said is, they wanted something closer to Lisa Whelchel, who played Blair, they wanted something closer to her age and I was too young at the time. I was a little bit of a different generation,” she recalled to Entertainment Weekly in 2019.
Thankfully, that wasn’t the end of the road for the Feud actress. Her subsequent career in film (and a few returns to television) cemented her status as a household name. She’s even set to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Donald Glover
His beloved Community character, Troy Barnes, put Donald Glover on the map, but it was his music that elevated him from small-screen player to superstar. He stepped back from the show in 2013, appearing in only a few episodes of Season 5. But music wasn’t the driving force behind his exit. In a since-deleted Instagram post , he explained to followers, “I didn’t leave Community to rap. I don’t wanna rap. I wanted to be on my own.”
Besides becoming a 5-time Grammy Award winner for hits like “This Is America” (released under the stage name Childish Gambino), Glover has continued to work in TV on both sides of the camera, creating Emmy-winning FX comedy-drama Atlanta and Prime Video’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith and starring in both. He’s also done film acting, joining Zendaya in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming among other projects.
Olifore her breakthrough with 2021 power ballad “drivers license,” the Sour artist was a child actress. The California native got her start on the Disney Channel, first co-starring in Bizaardvark with Madison Hsu before achieving wider recognition as Nini Salazar-Roberts in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series in 2019
Her performance on the latter show garnered praise, but it wasn’t until 2021 that “drivers license” showed the world the strength of her songwriting. She proceeded to leave the Disney series to focus on her music career. Fast forward a few years, and Rodrigo is the pop-rock tour de force behind three No. 1 albums—as well as an outspoken advocate for various causes. In 2026, she held the inaugural Daisy Chain Fields music festival, which raised over $10 million for women’s charities.
Miley Cyrus
Another Disney-star-turned-pop-princess is Miley Cyrus. Her breakthrough role as Hannah Montana on the Disney Channel series of the same name (which she starred in alongside her father, Billy Ray Cyrus) is one she’ll forever be associated with. But she wasn’t just playing a pop star on TV—she had the makings of a real one. Her accomplishments since the show ended include winning Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance for “Flowers” at the Grammy Awards in 2024.
Although she’s a pop and rock icon now, the “Wrecking Ball” singer hasn’t forgotten the show that gave her her start. When she was named the youngest-ever Disney Legend in 2024, she told reporters, “Hannah Montana is the beginning for everything that I’ve been able to become…She is such a part of me and taught me everything that I know.” In March 2026, she executive-produced and starred in the Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special, revisiting her beloved character and the show’s lasting impact.
Read the original article on InStyle
