You're idly watching a movie or sampling the TV smorgasbord and suddenly some bit player's talent, sex appeal, comic timing or blast of charisma leaps out and hits you.

That's a BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE

After such a fiery spike, fame is no longer fleeting. The actor has switched on the klieg lights.

Here's a select list of BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE roles that propelled actors to stardom.

Ann Bancroft left the pack after playing Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker, first on Broadway (1959) and then on screen, which won her an Oscar in 1962.

Warren Beatty assumed his leading man mantle with Natalie Wood in Splendor in the Grass (1961).

Jean Paul Belmondo became an international icon in Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless (1960).

Humphrey Bogart, the Hollywood legend, first chiseled his on-screen persona in High Sierra (1941).

George Clooney charmed as pediatrician Doug Ross on ER (1994) but hit it big with Quentin Tarantino's cult classic, From Dusk Till Dawn (1996).

Russell Crowe became a global gladiator after his standout as a skinhead gang leader in Australian hit, Romper Stomper (1993).

Tom Cruise made the unforgettable slide to stardom in Risky Business (1983).

Leonardo DiCaprio triumphed over early critter-and-horror flicks by beating out 400 hopefuls to play Toby Wolff in This Boy's Life (1993).

Johnny Depp, teen idol as Officer Tom Hanson in TV's 21 Jump Street (1987), cut his new image with Edward Scissorhands (1990).

Kirsten Dunst, acting at age three, gained gravitas in Woody Allen's Oedipus Wrecks (1989) but the limelight as little-girl Claudia in Interview With the Vampire (1994), opposite Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, no less.

Clint Eastwood, connoisseur of Hollywood fare, moved to Italy to find fame in Sergio Leone's spaghetti western,A Fistful of Dollars (1964).

Jennifer Garner drew the crowd as Sydney Bristow on TV's Alias (2001) but connected (in more ways than one) on the big screen in Daredevil (2003; opposite now-husband Ben Affleck).

Jake Gyllenhaal got on the radar with Donnie Darko (2001) and caused blips with The Good Girl (opposite Jennifer Aniston) and Jarhead (2005), but didn't achieve the charmed circle until Brokeback Mountain (2005).

Jane Fonda definitely got attention in Barbarella (1968) but Klute (1971) injected star power.

Harrison Ford stepped on the road to rugged hero with American Graffiti (1973).

Tom Hanks began swimming with the tide in Splash (1984) but really hit in big with Big (1988) and Philadelphia (1993).

Dustin Hoffman spoke for a generation as Benjamin Braddock in Mike Nichols' The Graduate (1967).

Katie Holmes was the new kid in town in Disturbing Behavior (1998).

Terrence Howard was on the map after his gritty role as an aging pimp having a mid-life crisis in Hustle & Flow (2005).

Nicole Kidman won some fans as Tom's main squeeze on- and off-screen in Days of Thunder (1990) but the real breakout was that fame-starved weather girl in To Die For (1995).

Lindsay Lohan was cute enough for two in the Parent Trap (1998) but grew up in Freaky Friday (2003), with Jamie Lee Curtis as her mom.

Rachel McAdams shone as Regina in Mean Girls (2004).

Matthew McConaughey made good on a young lawyer's moral challenge in A Time to Kill (1996).

Steve McQueen first showed off his irresistible tough guy in The Magnificent Seven (1960).

Marilyn Monroe, 20th-century sex goddess, found her worshipers in Niagara (1953), as the wife Joseph Cotton wants to murder.

Al Pacino, previously an unknown, catapulted to deals no one wanted to refuse in The Godfather (1972).

Gregory Peck, whose Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) was a career highlight, had us all in Spellbound (1945).

Brad Pitt, reliably memorable, was never more so than as the hunky hitchhiker in Thelma & Louise (1991).

Julia Roberts, the pretty (and bankable!) woman, began climbing as the tempestuous Portuguese waitress in Mystic Pizza (1988).

Will Smith was appealing on TV's The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990), and discovered as a talent on Six Degrees of Separation (1993).

Meryl Streep, actor of a thousand accents and awards, began rising in Kramer Vs. Kramer (1979).

Elizabeth Taylor, Hollywood royalty, began earning her crown as the sensational teenager in National Velvet (1944).

Denzel Washington stood out as Dr. Philip Chandler on TV's St Elsewhere (1982), but it was playing Steve Biko in Cry Freedom (1987) that built his fame.

Naomi Watts was in a series of forgettable movies before taking off as a mysterious blonde in David Lynch's TV pilot and then feature film Mulholland Drive (2001).

Reese Witherspoon got Hollywood hot after a 10-state talent search led to her starry-eyed role in The Man in the Moon (1991).

Renee Zellweger, Oscar winner in Cold Mountain, became a headliner as the single mom who falls for boss Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire (1996).