In Hollywood, actors and writers usually have to grind away for years, sometimes even decades,
before their break comes along.
A big part of that struggle is pursuing the perfection of the craft - honing their skills
to the point where their talents can't be ignored.
It can be an all-consuming process and leave little time for pursuing any other dreams.
This makes it all the more impressive when a Hollywood star known primarily for acting
sneaks behind the keyboard and works on a script.
Here are some of the Hollywood stars who secretly helped write your favorite movies.
Carrie Fisher
As far as career-defining roles go, you could do a lot worse than Princess Leia, one of
the great onscreen heroines of all time.
Fortunately for us, the late, great Carrie Fisher wasn't keen to settle for just being
iconic on screen.
According to Slash Film, she also made a living as a screenwriter and as one of the most in-demand
script doctors in Hollywood.
Fisher was the primary screenwriter for the semi-autobiographical film Postcards From
the Edge, as well as These Old Broads, and she helped fix a variety of scripts over the
course of her career - her fingerprints are on everything from Hook to Sister Act to Mr.
and Mrs. Smith.
She's also on record as saying she rewrote some of her dialogue as Leia on Return of
the Jedi, and even helped out with the script for what ended up being her final film, Star
Wars Episode 8: The Last Jedi.
Joel Edgerton
Over the last several years, Joel Edgerton has proven himself a reliable actor, performing
very well in films like Warrior and Zero Dark Thirty.
His filmography is peppered with a writing credit here and there, but in 2015, he made
his proper debut with a riveting thriller called The Gift, which he wrote, directed,
and starred in.
The script draws heavily from the structure and pacing pioneered by acclaimed directors
like Alfred Hitchcock and Brian DePalma, and critics praised both his performance and the
work he did offscreen as well.
Edgerton will be back as a writer and director with the film Boy Erased - and it's looking
like another career highlight.
Wentworth Miller
In 2005, Wentworth Miller hit TV screens everywhere on the TV show Prison Break.
He proved to be a charismatic, intense performer and later went on to bring life to comic book
supervillain Captain Cold on the CW's The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow.
Despite how talented he is onscreen, his work is considerably mainstream.
His writing?
Not so much.
Miller made his screenwriting debut with Stoker, a tense, erotic thriller that takes a sadistic
glee in winding its characters through a downward spiral.
The screenplay is incredibly effective, but unfortunately, his follow-up, The Disappointments
Room, wasn't well-received at all.
Here's hoping Stoker wasn't a fluke.
Justin Theroux
With movie star looks and an easygoing charisma, Justin Theroux is the kind of actor who could
easily coast by with a career in mainstream action movies and romantic comedies.
But his career has been anything but conventional.
Theroux is well known for his appearances in films like Mulholland Drive and for his
leading role in the HBO series The Leftovers.
The only thing more surprising than Theroux's choices as an actor is the path he's taken
as an accomplished writer.
His two most notable scripts are 2008's acclaimed comedy Tropic Thunder and Marvel's Iron Man
2, and he also worked on Rock of Ages and Zoolander 2.
Theroux tends to apply his acting talents to more artistic fare while utilizing his
knack for blockbuster storytelling as a screenwriter - which seems like a pretty cool career choice.
Paul Rudd
It's tough to point to a leading man in modern comedy more reliable than Paul Rudd.
From The 40-Year-Old Virgin to Ant-Man, his easygoing charm and sense of humor have made
for a great career in the genre.
It only makes sense that he'd have a knack for it behind the keyboard as well.
Rudd has writing credits on two of his films.
The first is Role Models, a 2008 comedy directed by Rudd's longtime friend and collaborator
David Wain.
The second featured his biggest role yet, in 2015's Ant-Man.
According to Deadline, after the film was handed off from attached director Edgar Wright,
Rudd did a rewrite of the script with Anchorman writer and director Adam McKay.
It seems like Rudd may be most memorable onscreen when he's written the parts he's playing.
Jim Rash
In addition to guest-starring on a wide array of TV comedies, Jim Rash was also a series
regular on the acclaimed cult classic Community.
With credits like that, you may be surprised to find that Rash's big-screen debut as a
writer is significantly more serious than his work as an actor.
Rash collaborated with director Alexander Payne on 2011's The Descendants, an acclaimed
Oscar-nominated family drama for which Rash won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.
His follow-up was the coming-of-age dramedy The Way Way Back, which was met with similarly
wide acclaim.