I know this happened with Will Smith. Before about 2010, it was very rare for a TV actor to successfully cross over into movies. Smith had just come off five years of doing The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and it was a real surprise when Michael Bay cast him in Bad Boys (1995), which was a big hit.

Roland Emmerich then took a gamble casting him in pivotal role in Independence Day (1996), where Smith pretty much stole the show. After it became the top grossing movie of that year, Hollywood finally recognized Smith as a leading man, and he got top billing for Men in Black (1997) where he was acting opposite industry legend Tommy Lee Jones.