The 90s were an amazing time to be a movie star. The era of the big-budget blockbusters saw many young stars rise to prominence alongside the names who had made the 80s their own. The action got wilder, CGI began to take hold in cinema, and the planet's hottest stars sold-out movie theaters with just their name on a poster.
When a studio wanted to make megabucks with their films, they called in their major A-listers. Though some grossed more than others thanks to their involvement in hit films and franchises, the biggest movie stars were very rarely background players in their respective movies.
10 Arnold Schwarzenegger Was The Ultimate Hero Of 90s Action Movies
The awesome, outrageous action movies of the 80s only got bigger and more explosive in the following decade. This suited Arnold Schwarzenegger perfectly. Terminator 2, Total Recall, and Kindergarten Cop got the 90s off to a great start for Schwarzenegger, and he certainly didn't let up before the turn of the century.
Few movie stars have ever attracted such an audience with just their name, but that's exactly what Arnie was doing for the better part of a decade. The Austrian Oak was undeniably one of the biggest movie stars on the planet and though his star was made in the 80s, the 90s was when he was in his prime.
9 Harrison Ford Continued His Hot Streak After An Awesome 80s
With there being so many high points in Harrison Ford's incredible Hollywood career, it's almost impossible to pinpoint his heyday. While the 70s and 80s gave Harrison iconic roles as Indiana Jones and Han Solo, the 90s saw Ford continue his hot streak with movies like Patriot Games, The Fugitive, and Air Force One.
The 90s proved that Ford didn't need his fedora or the Millenium Falcon to sell movie tickets. His star would fade somewhat in the early 2000s, but to this day he remains one of the most popular and beloved actors on the planet.
8 Julia Roberts Became A Megastar Thanks To Pretty Woman
Julia Roberts was red hot at the start of the decade thanks to the release of Pretty Woman. The late 80s had seen Roberts rise to stardom, but her show-stealing performance opposite Richard Gere in Garry Marshall's classic rom-com cemented her as a genuine megastar.
Roberts followed up this smash hit with leading roles in Sleeping with the Enemy and The Pelican Brief while also adding a delightful supporting turn as Tinkerbell in Steven Spielberg's Hook to her resume. As the decade came to a close, Roberts truly dominated with Notting Hill, My Best Friend's Wedding, and a fitting reunion with Richard Gere in Runaway Bride.
7 Will Smith Went From Bel-Air To Hollywood And Never Looked Back
While Will Smith may have been late to the 90s Tinseltown party thanks to his big box office break coming in 1995 with Bad Boys, the two movies that The Fresh Prince star followed it up with were absolute highlights of the decade.
1996's Independence Day became the second highest-grossing movie ever at the time, and 1997's Men in Black was an out-of-this-world hit that spawned a successful franchise. Up next was another success in Enemy of the State, and Smith would only go from strength to strength in the 2000s.
6 Few Stars In The 90s Were As Reliable As Tom Cruise
Few movie stars have ever maintained the consistency at the top of the A-list like Tom Cruise. A bankable name since the 80s, Cruise only continued his rise in the decade of Furbies, grunge, and the much-maligned curtains haircut.
In the 90s Cruise helmed too many hits to list. From Jerry Maguire to A Few Good Men to Mission: Impossible, Cruise's name was up in the lights for the entire decade. He wasn't just selling tickets either, Cruise actually nabbed an Academy Award nomination in 1999 for his performance in Magnolia.
5 Jim Carrey Was The 90s' King Of Comedy
Jim Carrey is unsurprisingly one of the top 50 highest-grossing actors in Hollywood history. The 90s saw the comedian bring his most hilarious hits to the big screen, and few of his movies in the years since have managed to top the laughs he delivered in the decade before the millennium.
1994 alone saw the release of Dumb and Dumber, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, and The Mask. Though he was firmly established as an A-list funnyman, the latter end of the era saw Carrey dive deep into drama with The Truman Show and Man on the Moon.
4 Mel Gibson Was One Of Hollywood's Most Sought After Talents
Though no one is more to blame for the fall of Mel Gibson's stock and star power than the man himself, the Australian actor is impossible to ignore as one of the biggest hitmakers of the 90s.
Gibson ruled Hollywood with movies like Braveheart, Lethal Weapon 3 and 4, Payback, Ransom, and Bird on a Wire. It's hard to imagine now, but the Mad Max star was everywhere during the decade. Mel Gibson was truly at the top of his game in the 90s.
3 Bruce Willis Stayed On Top Of Tinseltown For Ten Years
Bruce Willis is now, unfortunately, most closely associated with direct-to-streaming duds and phoned-in performances. It's because of this that it's easy to forget just how huge of a star he was during the 90s. The phenomenal follow-up to Die Hard kickstarted this era for Willis, and he finished the decade just as strongly with The Sixth Sense in 1999.
In between these two classics, Willis headlined the likes of Armageddon, 12 Monkeys, and The Fifth Element. He also starred in what is perhaps the decade's defining movie, Quentin Tarantino's 1994 game-changer, Pulp Fiction.
2 Robin Williams Expanded His Range And Became One Of The World's Most Beloved Actors
Some of the most beloved films in all of modern cinema owe their success to Robin Williams, and many of those movies were made between 1990 and 1999. With his remarkable likability and unmatched improvisation skills, Williams created some of the most hilarious and memorable moments of the period.
Mrs. Doubtfire, Jumanji, Aladdin, Hook, and Good Will Hunting are just a few of Robin Williams' standout works from this decade. Few stars are as synonymous with the 90s as Robin Williams.
1 The 90s Saw Tom Hanks Cement Himself As One Of The Greatest Hollywood Stars
Tom Hanks undeniably fits the billing for "most bankable star," yet there is no need to restrict him to a single decade. Hanks has been at the top of Hollywood for almost 40 years, and that fact doesn't appear to be changing any time soon.
Many of Hanks' headliners from the 90s are now held as all-time great pictures, including Toy Story, Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan, and The Green Mile. If a studio wanted to sell tickets to their movie in the 90s, there Tom Hands was almost certainly the most reliable man for the job.