9 Roles You’d Probably Forgotten Glen Powell Played Before Hit Man

Glen Powell is the leading man dominating Hollywood right now.

After a string of high-profile performances in Top Gun: Maverick, Anyone But You and his latest film Hit Man, which is now streaming on Netflix, it seems we’re truly reaching peak Glen popularity.

But while the actor has only been able to show off his leading star charisma in the last few years, he’s actually been on the acting scene longer than you might realise.

Here are 11 roles you’d probably forgotten seeing him in…

Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003)

Watching the Spy Kids films is a core childhood memory for many of us, so it’s no surprise we all lost our minds after finding out that Meghan Trainor was married to an all grown up star Daryl Sabara. But did you remember that Glen Powell was also part of the franchise?  

That’s right, Glen actually landed his first film role at the age of 13 playing “Long-Fingered Boy” in the hit kids’ franchise. He once told The Hollywood Reporter that shooting for the film was “one of the best days of my whole life”.

Fast Food Nation (2006)

Glen was still a teenager when he appeared briefly in Richard Linklater’s satirical mockumentary about the fast food industry, which featured an impressive cast of Bruce Willis, Greg Kinnear and Paul Dano. 

While he only played a minor character, Glen clearly impressed the director as it marked the first in a series of collaborations together (more on those later!) including his new film Hit Man.

“He’s the guy in all his movies where you go, ‘Hey, who’s that guy?’” the director recently shared (as reported by the Austin Chronicle), as Glen was being inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame.

The Great Debaters (2007)

Directed by and starring Denzel Washington and produced by Oprah Winfrey, The Great Debaters told the story of the first African-American debate team to compete against a white college in the South, ultimately going on to face Harvard. Glen appeared briefly towards the end of the movie as one of the (immaculately groomed, it has to be said) Harvard Debaters.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Glen revealed that, just moments before the red carpet for the film (his first ever, at that) it was Denzel who helped convince him to move out to Los Angeles, and really give acting a shot.

CSI: Miami (2009)

A guest role in CSI is nothing to turn your nose up at as a rising actor in Hollywood. 

Glen appeared briefly on the 12th episode of season seven of CSI: Miami, titled Head Case. He played a military man called Logan Crawford, who was the only surviving member of a family tragedy.

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

What actor wouldn’t want the honour of being on the receiving end of a terrifying Tom Hardy tantrum? You might remember Glen played a stock trader in Christopher Nolan’s third Batman film, who takes a bit of a beating from Bane.

“As soon as Bane showed up on set, there was this electricity of being a part of something that you know everybody in the world wanted to be a part of,” Glen told IMDB.

The Expendables 3 (2014)

Given the roles we all know him for now, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that Glen Powell was cast in the most Hollywood action franchise there is.

Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Antonio Banderas, Harrison Ford and Arnold Schwarzenegger were just some of the A-listers who Glen shared the credits of the blockbuster with, in which he played combat veteran and hacker Thorn.

Everybody Wants Some!! (2016)

Now, if you’re a Richard Linklater fan, you’re probably already well aware that Glen played Finnegan in the director’s film about an off-campus college house of unruly baseball players, set in the 1980s.

Clearly, it was just another stepping stone before he finally took the lead in the director’s most recent film

Hidden Figures (2016)

Glen played real-life astronaut and former US senator John Glenn in the Oscar-nominated film starring Octavia Spencer, Taraji P Henson and Janelle Monáe.

The film followed the three African-American mathematicians who played pivotal roles in a historic space launch back in 1962.

But the film isn’t all happy memories for Glen, after he recently claimed that he “puked” in the bushes after his first rough cut viewing because he worried he’d ruined the movie.

The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society (2018)

Glen Powell and Guernsey aren’t two things our mind would immediately put together, but with Mike Newell (Four Weddings And A Funeral, Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire) directing this adaptation of the 2007 bestselling book, it was a big draw for the actor.

He played Mark Reynolds, an American who is engaged to Juliet Ashton (played by Lily James), before she gets drawn into the society and their relationship falls apart.