Summary

• Thelma And Louise marked Brad Pitt's first big breakthrough in the movie industry.
• Seven established Pitt as a leading man with a classic performance in this twisty crime thriller.
• Moneyball showcases Pitt's career as a producer beyond acting, earning him Oscar nominations.

Since breaking through in the early 1990s, Brad Pitt has enjoyed a long and successful career as one of Hollywood's true movie stars, and there have been some important milestones on his journey to the top. Pitt has a remarkable range as an actor. His good looks and abundant charm mark him out as natural leading man material, but he has a variety of quirky roles which display his ability to disappear into his characters.

Pitt has worked with some of the greatest directors of the modern era, including David Fincher, Quentin Tarantino and Ridley Scott. This has helped him compile an impressive filmography consisting of movies in many different genres. Among these movies, a few have marked important milestones in his career. Without massive hits like Fight Club and Ocean's Eleven, and impressive acting showcases like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and 12 Monkeys, Pitt wouldn't have made it to where he is today.

10 Thelma And Louise (1991)

Ridley Scott gave Brad Pitt his breakthrough role

It was inevitable that he would step into the spotlight, but Pitt could easily have built himself a career as a character actor based on the evidence of Thelma and Louise.

Brad Pitt's first big breakthrough in the film industry was in Ridley Scott's feminist road trip movie Thelma and Louise. Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis star as two friends who embark on a vacation away from the men in their lives, but their road trip takes a dark turn when they are forced to kill a man in self-defense at a roadside bar. Brad Pitt plays a cowboy hitchhiker with a criminal background who runs into the two women at a gas station.

Thelma and Louise is one of Ridley Scott's best movies, even though he's perhaps more famous for high-concept sci-fi stories and epic historical dramas. Brad Pitt is key to the movie's allure, even though he only plays a supporting role. His good looks and inimitable charm are on full display at such an early stage of his career. It was inevitable that he would step into the spotlight, but Pitt could easily have built himself a career as a character actor based on the evidence of Thelma and Louise.

9 Seven (1995)

Brad Pitt's first collaboration with David Fincher established his caliber as a leading man

Pitt had played leading roles before, in A River Runs Through It and Legends of the Fall, for example, but Seven was his first massive hit.

Pairing up with Morgan Freeman just a year after The Shawshank Redemption would be a tall order for any actor, but Brad Pitt showed that he was more than capable of matching the biggest stars in Hollywood. Seven (also frequently stylized as Se7en) is a twisty crime thriller that features Pitt and Freeman following the tracks of a serial killer who uses the biblical seven deadly sins as motivation for his elaborate murders.

Pitt had played leading roles before, in A River Runs Through It and Legends of the Fall, for example, but Seven was his first massive hit. It remains a classic for fans of murder mysteries almost 30 years later. Seven's unforgettable twist ending put the cherry on top of Pitt's superb performance as a volatile rookie detective. It also provided him with one of his most famous film quotes: "What's in the box?"

8 12 Monkeys (1995)

Brad Pitt got his first Oscar nomination for Terry Gilliam's sci-fi thriller