The Hollywood Walk of Fame is one of Los Angeles’ most iconic landmarks, with more than 2,700 terrazzo stars bearing the names of some of the world’s biggest names.

The stars themselves are embedded in the sidewalk stretching along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street and pay tribute to the achievements of those in music, acting, directing, producing, and more.

But just how long does it take to earn your place on this famous monument? To find out, we’ve analyzed the careers of over 300 recipients of stars in the motion picture category, to see which earned their stars the quickest and which were made to wait.

The Quickest Actors to Earn a Star

Tom Cruise - 5 years

Year of earliest role: 1981

Ceremony year: 1986

While the majority of those stars who earned their stars the quickest are much older and benefitted from already being famous when the Walk was launched in 1960, the quickest star of the modern era is Tom Cruise.

Cruise was granted his place on the Walk in 1986, the same year that he starred in Top Gun and three years after his breakthrough in Risky Business.

Jayne Mansfield - 5 years

Year of earliest role: 1955

Ceremony year: 1960

One of three actresses to make their film debut in 1955 before being granted a star on the Walk of Fame when it opened in 1960 is Jayne Mansfield.

Known as much for her highly publicized personal life and publicity stunts for her film career, Mansfield only appeared in a handful of films before being given her star, including Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, The Girl Can't Help It, The Wayward Bus, and Too Hot to Handle.

Shirley MacLaine - 5 years

Year of earliest role: 1955

Ceremony year: 1960

Another actress who was amongst the first crop of people to be rewarded with their own star is Shirley MacLaine, who like Jayne Mansfield appeared in her first film in 1955 and was given her star in 1960.

She started out in acting as a teenager and by 1960 had clearly established herself as a star, appearing in films such as Hitchcock’s The Trouble with Harry, Around the World in 80 Days, Some Came Running, Ask Any Girl, and The Apartment.

Joanne Woodward - 5 years

Year of earliest role: 1955

Ceremony year: 1960

One of the last major stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age, Joanne Woodward is often mistakenly credited as being the very first person to receive a star on the Walk of Fame, although she was among a group of over 1,000 people given a star when it first opened in 1960.

Her career had only just started when she was amongst that prestigious group, just three years after her signature role in The Three Faces of Eve, for which she won an Oscar and a Golden Globe.

The Slowest Actors to Earn a Star

Gloria Stuart - 68 years

Year of earliest role: 1932

Ceremony year: 2000

Not all actors received this famous accolade quite so quickly, and some were made to wait decades.

The best example is Gloria Stuart, known best to modern audiences for playing the 100-year-old elder version of Rose in Titanic, who started her career way back in 1932 but was only rewarded with a star 68 years later, in 2000.

Richard Burton - 67 years

Year of earliest role: 1946

Ceremony year: 2013

Some stars had to wait so long for their stars that they were actually granted them after their deaths.

That was the case with Richard Burton, who was awarded with a place next to that of his ex-wife Elizabeth Taylor on St David’s Day 2013, 67 years after his debut in 1946.

Roger Moore - 62 years

Year of earliest role: 1945

Ceremony year: 2007

Given that he has played the iconic role of James Bond more than any other actor, you may be surprised to learn that it took Sir Roger Moore so long to take his place on the Hollywood Walk of Fame—it took him over 60 years.

He was granted his star just before his 80th birthday in 2007, with the star suitably being located at 7007 Hollywood Boulevard.

Alan Arkin - 62 years

Year of earliest role: 1957

Ceremony year: 2019

Another actor who waited 62 years before being honored with a star is Alan Arkin whose first film appearance came in 1957 but wasn’t awarded a star until recently, in 2019.

Across six decades, he has appeared in films such as The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, Wait Until Dark, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Catch-22, The In-Laws, Glengarry Glen Ross, Grosse Pointe Blank, Thirteen Conversations About One Thing, Little Miss Sunshine, and Argo.

Methodology

While over 800 actors have been given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the motion picture category, we whittled this list down to just the top 300 most well-known, according to Google search volume.

For each of these 300 remaining actors, we found the year of their first feature film role (including TV movies) using IMDb.

We then also found the year that they were given their star on the Walk of Fame using the official Hollywood Walk of Fame website and calculated the time difference between the two years.