From Top Gun: Maverick to Hit Man and Twisters – we are in the middle of the Glenaissance.
Glen Powell is Hollywood’s ‘it star’ at present, dazzling audiences with his effortless charisma and acting chops – not to mention his adorable dog Brisket.
The 35-year-old Hidden Figures star is currently gracing cinema screens across the UK in Twisters, the eagerly-anticipated follow-up to Bill Paxton’s hit thriller Twister.
Powell stars in the new film as Tyler Owen, a storm-chaser famous on social media who crosses paths with Kate Cooper (Daisy Edgar-Jones), lured into the open plains by her friend Javi (Anthony Ramos) to test a groundbreaking tornado tracking system.
As storm season intensifies, their testing becomes life-threatening as multiple systems converge over central Oklahoma.
It comes off the back of his role in smash hit Netflix film Hit Man and modern rom-com Anyone But You and, before that, blockbuster action flick Top Gun: Maverick.
But he has a varied career outside of the action and romance genres – dazzling fans in everything from cult kids films to true crime series and a multi-award-winning flock.
Here are some of the actor’s hidden gem roles in his filmography to watch before Twisters.
Spy Kids 3: Game Over
Powell’s first big screen role came in Spy Kids 3: Game Over.
Starring alongside the likes of Elijah Wood, Sylvester Stallone, and Antonio Banderas, Powell appeared as Long-Fingered Boy when he was just 14 years old.
Directed by Robert Rodriguez, the film follows Juni Cortez (Daryl Sabara) on his biggest mission yet as he confronts the Toymaker (Stallone) who has captured Juni’s sister Carmen (Alexa PenaVega) and imprisoned her in virtual reality.
The From Dusk Til Dawn creator opened up on discovering Powell, saying he was ‘surprised’ by his audition for Spy Kids.
‘To fill out the other roles [on ‘Spy Kids 3-D’], we cast local actors who don’t get as much experience as the ones who are working in L.A. So you’re just trying to find someone locally that won’t get nervous, that’ll give a performance that kind of measures up to the other actors,’ he told Indie Wire.
‘He walks in with a stature and his confidence and just nails it. And I was just so surprised he was so good that I said aside to him and his mom afterwards, “What are you planning on doing?” He goes, “I’m going all the way. I want to be an actor,” which was cool to hear from someone from Austin.’
CSI: Miami
Several huge stars have appeared in CSI: Miami over the years, from Zac Efron to Channing Tatum.
And Powell is no different, starring in 2009 episode Head Case which followed an amnesiac who is found by the team covered in blood with no recollection of his movements.
Powell appeared as military man Logan Crawford, the only surviving family member of the massacre at the Ft Lauderdale Crawford home, who harbours sinister motives in the bloody crime.
In a recent interview, Powell recalled how a casting director once told him he would be ‘lucky’ to play ‘a dead body on CSI’ – but the star went one better.
Pig
No, not that film starring Longlegs and Renfield legend Nicolas Cage.
In 2011, Powell appeared in Pig alongside Rudolf Martin and Patrick Fabian telling the story of another amnesiac.
The film follows a man (Martin) who wakes up in the middle of a desert with a black sack over his head and no memories of what happened to him.
He is nursed back to health by a woman and begins his search for his past in Los Angeles after following his only clue – a name written on a piece of paper.
Powell stars as Johnny the Teacher, one of the many mysterious figures in the sci-fi thriller who help piece together the man’s story.
The Dark Knight Rises
The Dark Knight trilogy is one of the biggest film franchises to ever hit cinemas, and Powell played a very small part in their success.
Released in 2012, The Dark Knight Rises saw the titular antihero (Christian Bale) face off against Bane (Tom Hardy), an imposing terrorist threatening Gotham City.
Powell appeared very briefly in the award-winning Batman film as a stockbroker who ends up caught up in one of Bane’s heists.
‘If nothing ever happened in my career, at least I got my a** kicked by Bane!’ he told Discussing Film about the role, which saw him have his head smashed off a desk by the villain.
The Expendables 3
The Expandables franchise might not be going as well as it used to, with a fourth entry performing poorly in cinemas last year.
But for The Expendables 3 it was a different story, with the all-star cast – including Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Terry Crews – backing another successful entry to the franchise.
And Powell pops up among the list of star names to help them with their mission – he plays computer hacker Thorn.
Towards the end of the film, Thorn buys the heroes time in a bid to turn off a bomb that’s counting down to a massive detonation, but is unable to stop the explosion.
Powell admitted that, while on set with the superstars of Hollywood, he asked them for as much advice as possible: ‘The coolest thing about being on set in Bulgaria for three months was picking Sly’s (Stallone) brain about how to last in Hollywood as long as he has.’
He told the Austin-American Statesman: ‘I know the chances of getting to where I already am in my career are slim and to last longer than three years is smaller than that.
‘So to get time with the only guy to have had movies open at number one in the last five decades was special.’
Scream Queens
Scream Queens only lasted two seasons back in 2015 and 2016, but they still managed to get some huge cast members through the door before calling it a day.
Emma Roberts, Lea Michele, Keke Palmer, and Jamie Lee Curtis all featured in the satirical horror series, with Powell joining them as a key cast member in the first season.
On the show, he played Emma Roberts’ character’s boyfriend Chad Radwell, featuring in all 13 episodes of the first season. He then stepped back from the role, featuring in just three episodes of season two.
Despite stepping back from the role, he still had nothing but praise for the people behind the show, saying he was keen to keep working with its creators.
In December 2023, he told Vogue: ‘[Show creator] Ryan Murphy and I, we’re actually making a musical together.’
All Hail King Julien: Exiled
Before we get into Glen Powell’s role in All Hail King Julien: Exiled, did you even know there was a Madagascar spin-off TV series based on everyone’s favourite lemur? Because we didn’t.
In that series, Powell voiced Trent, who only appears in two episodes – Trent is a dolphin who seems to be followed by trouble and chaos wherever he goes.
Along with his friend Kipper (voiced by Max Greenfield), the pair captured Lord Shark in one episode, causing all sorts of problems for Julien and the gang.
A video shared by Entertainment Tonight showed him getting very much into character and frankly having the time of his life while rehearsing lines from the show.