Glen Powell has become a household name among movie fans. You may have seen him in a few Richard Linklater movies and box office successes like Top Gun: Maverick and Anyone But You. Before becoming famous, Powell made a bad decision that ended up being a real turning point in his life.
Before Glen Powell’s A-list status, he worked alongside Denzel Washington in The Great Debaters and had guest-starring roles in CSI: Miami and Rizzoli & Isles. After moving from Austin to the Los Angeles pool house of a college friend’s mom, Powell told Vanity Fair he decided to have the Hollywood experience of throwing a party in someone else’s house. Here was his reasoning:
“I came from that college-party mentality where there are no boundaries,” said Powell. “Nobody gives a fuck about you in Hollywood if you can’t offer them something. I made a mistake and offered the house.”
As you can imagine, 75 uninvited people flooded the pool and the main house. This angered Powell’s friend’s younger sister when she returned home. She evicted the Hidden Figures actor before telling him words familiar to him — that he would never make it in Hollywood.
“She laid into me that night, and rightfully so. But I’ve probably been told, ‘You’ll never make it in this town’ more than any individual alive. The odds are so slim that people hand that quote out like candy.”
Glen Powell seemingly understood that throwing a big party at someone else’s house was wrong, but he learned from it.
“I was like, ‘You know what? This is where you deserve to be, you piece of s—.’ It was like the worst hangover ever. But every major turning point in my time out here has always come from a hit in the face.”
What Glen Powell’s Career Looks Like Today
Fifteen years after Glen Powell’s wild party, it’s safe to say his acting career has really turned around for the better. You can consider him the second most bankable star today because of Top Gun: Maverick and Anyone But You. This month, he’ll be playing a master of disguise in Richard Linklater’s Hit Man and chasing tornados in this summer’s disaster film Twisters. With all of this newfound fame, Vanity Fair reported everyone’s been able to recognize Powell and long-time friends are even coming to him asking to read their scripts!
Glen Powell still has a few more projects up his sleeve that we have to look forward to. He’ll be co-starring with Margaret Qualley in A24’s revenge thriller Huntington. There’s also Edgar Wright‘s remake of The Running Man for Paramount and he will be doing a sports comedy series on Hulu. With Top Gun 3 reportedly in the works, I’m assuming he’ll take part in that one. There’s also buzz he might collaborate with fellow The Blue Angels producer J.J. Abrams again for his next movie.
Given his many projects, it’s fortunate Glen Powell’s bad decision he made at 19 served as a career wake-up call. It looks like his party days are over and he’s now focusing on establishing himself as a professional actor.
