The rise of Glen Powell as a bonafide Hollywood star

Glen Powell is having a moment, the actor will soon be charming audiences with his performance as storm chaser and YouTuber Tyler Owns in Twisters but his journey into audiences hearts started long before then.

The actor has been in the industry for two decades already, making his feature film debut in Spy Kids 3: Game Over at the age of 13. His experience making the kids movie alongside Hollywood icons like Antonio Banderas and Sylvester Stallone was enough to give him the acting bug, clearly.

Read more: Early Twisters reactions are calling it the 'film of the summer' (Yahoo Entertainment)

Powell has worked steadily for decades, but it is only in recent years that he has become a household name, a bankable star who will persuade film fans to rush to cinemas for his latest project. But how did he get there and what was it that made him into a bonafide star?

Glen Powell's early start

After Spy Kids 3 Powell worked off and on, appearing in films like Richard Linklater's Fast Food Nation in 2006. He began working consistently as an actor since 2007, his first year in college, when he landed a role in Denzel Washington's The Great Debaters.

Washington starred and directed in the film, so to be recognised by him early was no mean feat. It was through the Academy Award winner that Powell landed his first agent, and shortly after making The Great Debaters he headed to Los Angeles to make his fortune.

It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows from the start though, Powell struggled to get his footing. He changed agents, made audition tape after audition tape, and even looked up casting directors’ contact information to try and make introductions.

In an interview with British GQ the actor said of the time: "I was like, this town’s gonna kick me out regardless. You might as well kick down every door you possibly can."

During this time, Powell struggled with failed auditions and feeling disappointed in himself, telling The Hollywood Reporter: “I had to really look at myself in the mirror and say, ‘I know you love movies, and I think you’ve got good instincts, but you may not be an actor.'"

Powell persevered, taking small roles in TV shows like CSI: Miami and Rizzoli & Isles, amongst many others. He even appears in The Dark Knight Rises, a role he proudly tells GQ saw him "get [his] head smashed in by Bane", played by Tom Hardy.

The actor also starred in Hidden Figures, Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!!, and Ryan Murphy's Scream Queens. It wouldn't be til later that audiences truly took notice though.

What put Glen Powell on the map

It is easy to pinpoint the film that truly brought Powell to public attention, and that's Top Gun: Maverick. The follow-up to Tom Cruise's '80s classic dominated the 2022 box office, it did so well it saved cinemas from collapsing entirely in the wake of the COVID pandemic.

Top Gun: Maverick sees Cruise's Pete "Maverick" Mitchell return to Top Gun to help ready young pilots for an important mission, one of those pilots? Powell's Hangman.

Read more: The tragic life of Top Gun star Kelly McGillis

Initially the role was envisioned as a unskilled pilot who landed a position in the group through nepotism, but this didn't sit right with Powell who felt his character would be cut out immediately if he was the one editing it. In the end, Powell went to Cruise to discuss his misgivings and suggest a change.

He told GQ: "What we were talking about is, how can Hangman service the story and give the flavour of the original Top Gun that you need? I said my piece to Tom about what I do and what I do well, and he listened. Tom’s a listener. He listens to the crew members, he listens to his collaborators, and he hears people."

Luckily the part was changed and Powell delivered a star-turning performance as the cocky antagonist to Teller's stoic Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw.

For audiences this role is what brought him into the spotlight, but for the studio executives it was something entirely different: Anyone But You. The rom-com, which also stars Sydney Sweeney, was a runaway hit and proved both his and Sweeney's ability to lead a film and be a box office success.

Read more: How did Anyone But You go from middling reviews to romcom sleeper hit? (Yahoo Entertainment)

Powell followed up the success of the rom-com with the critically acclaimed Netflix film Hit Man, which showed his knack for comedy, and will soon appear in the equally celebrated sequel Twisters. The world is now well and truly his oyster, and Powell is ready to do what he does best: work hard.

A bonafide Hollywood star

Powell has charm, and a lot of it. If the internet is to be believed, the actor has chemistry with everyone he shares a screen with — from Miles Teller to Sydney Sweeney, Daisy Edgar-Jones and beyond. He's the kind of person that exudes so much charisma it's hard not to be charmed by him, in other words.

Read more: Why has Sydney Sweeney become a culture war flashpoint? (Yahoo Entertainment)

Not only are his characters charming, Powell himself is too as can be seen in his interviews. He's grounded, earnest, funny, and endearing — all qualities that help make him shine in viewers minds. He's also got the look of an all American hero, and a love for puppies to boot.

He's the kind of actor who would have been an instant sensation in years gone by, his first agent Ed Limato —the one Washington introduced him to— even said he was a cross between William Hurt and a young Richard Gere.

Powell doesn't like to be compared to Cruise, telling The Hollywood Reporter that he feels "there will never be another Tom Cruise" because it is "a singular career in a singular moment" and that even "movie stars of the ’80s, ’90s, early 2000s, those will never be re-created."

That may be so but it feels like perhaps Powell is having a singular career in a singular moment right now. Even if it took a while, and a lot of hard work, it seems like now is Powell's time.

Twisters premieres in cinemas on Wednesday, 17 July.