Stars who should have been famous much sooner in their careers
Sometimes it takes a while to become an A-lister or mainstream. There's a few that come to mind but this is the number 1 for me.
Russell Crowe. He was acting since he was a young man with incredible charisma at age 27 in 'Romper Stomper'. He could easily have carried a movie in his 20s based upon that performance. But sadly he didn't really get noticed until LA Confidential (1997) and then became a star in his own right with Gladiator in 2000. He was 36 in 2000. He only got a few good years until he hit middle age, closing the door to a lot of movies that he would have been good in.