Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Nicholas Sparks’ latest novel-to-film adaptation, Safe Haven, follows a woman (Julianne Hough) with a mysterious past who lands in North Carolina and falls in love with a handsome widower, played by Josh Duhamel.
Sound familiar? Aside from the fact that most Nicholas Sparks films follow a similar storyline of an “against the odds”; couple falling in love in a quaint rural town, often with a climatic rain soaked smooch fest, they also have something else in common. Landing the lead role in a Nicholas Sparks romance can jettison you to the top of Hollywood’s most wanted list. So Josh Duhamel better prepare himself, because the list of other actors who’ve landed career turning roles after starring in a Sparks adaptation is pretty impressive.
Before starring opposite Miley Cyrus in The Last Song, Liam Hemsworth’s claim to fame was being the “younger Hemsworth brother.”; Being a relative new kid on the block in Hollywood, Liam set to create a great career off the back of The Hunger Games trilogy, already sharing the stage with action greats like Sly Stallone, Jason Statham, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger in Expendables 2.
After the end of the High School Musical franchise, Zac Efron was descending into a less than promising comfort zone, singing and dancing his way through the Hairspray remake and fighting rumours he would take the lead in Footloose. Once a part of a young group of actors being dubbed “the next big thing,”; Zac’s post High School Musical resume became less appealing than jazz hands. After starring in The Lucky One, Zac moved on to share the screen with Nicole Kidman and Matthew McConaughey in The Paperboy.
Channing Tatum’s career has never looked more promising. After struggling for years, saying “yes’ to Dear John with Amanda Seyfried introduced Channing to a whole new audience and we’ve been eating it up since. Channing’s upped the ante playing parts in comedies like 21 Jump Street, action roles in Haywire & The Eagle, the thriller Side Effects and who could forget, documenting his own sexy past in Magic Mike?
Rachel McAdams & Ryan Gosling re-acting their “The Notebook”; kiss for fans at the 2005 MTV Awards
And last, but certainly not least, The Notebook“s Noah, Ryan Gosling, might be one of the most talked about actors of the moment. After starring in arguably Sparks’ most loved silver screen adaptation, Ryan has found himself in multiple award-nominated roles. All the while seeming to distance himself from the role that made him famous, the actor’s had a collection of terrific performances starring opposite George Clooney, Josh Brolin, Sean Penn, Steve Carell and Anthony Hopkins.
Catch your favorite leading men in action, in the video below!