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Steve Buscemi

The A-List has, in recent memory, taken a deeper look at the highs of Steve Buscemi's career, and it's hard to ignore the effect Quentin Tarantino had on it. Before 1992's Reservoir Dogs, Buscemi had starred in only a few films, most notably as Chet in Barton Fink. However, it was his fast-talking, frustrated Mr. Pink that got a lot of attention from audience members. As the only character in the film (spoiler alert!) to not get killed onscreen — though you don't have to have perfect hearing to know that his fate is as bloody as everyone else's — Mr. Pink tries and tries to have a clear head and calm demeanor, but there's too much craziness going on for him to stay relaxed. Buscemi's career as actor and director has boomed since then; though he appeared in more films by the Coen Brothers, it's clear that he owes a debt to Tarantino for a standout role amongst a large and talented ensemble. Mr. Pink isn't very likable (just tip the waitress, man!), but he is fascinating to watch, as are the rest of the Reservoir Dogs.

Samuel L. Jackson

Jackson, like Travolta, was a working actor by the time he played the iconic role of Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction. Unlike Travolta, he had never been a star; until this sprawling crime drama, Jackson had appeared in some Spike Lee movies and, most well-known, in Jurassic Park, as a smart techie who ends up on the wrong end of a dinosaur. It was, however, Jules Winnfield that made Jackson's career. In the following years, Jackson starred in the third Die Hard film with his Pulp Fiction co-star Bruce Willis, Shaft, Unbreakable, and even appeared in the newer Star Wars trilogy as Jedi master Mace Windu.

Though the majority of his career since Pulp Fiction has been strong, it's also easy to tell that some of his roles require him (or he assumes they require him) to act...well, kind of like Jules Winnfield. Or, at the very least, he acts like the badass Jules, the character before his epiphany at the end of the film. If it hadn't been for Tarantino, Jackson would have continued working steadily, but there's no telling if his star power would have risen at all; the role in Pulp Fiction garnered him an Academy Award nomination, one he shamefully lost out on. Nowadays, Jackson can be seen as Nick Fury in any slew of Marvel superhero movies, but he'll always be Jules Winnfield for many, thanks to Tarantino.

Robert Forster

An actor who had forever toiled in B-movies, Robert Forster was pegged to star alongside blaxploitation actress Pam Grier, Robert De Niro, and Samuel L. Jackson in 1997's Jackie Brown, Tarantino's sole film that isn't based on an original work. Jackie Brown is based on the novel Rum Punch, by famed novelist Elmore Leonard. Forster plays Max Cherry, a bail bondsman attracted to Grier's title character. Forster, partly due to the great comeback story, wound up with an Academy Award nomination as Cherry, and found himself working in movies such as Psycho, Like Mike, and Me, Myself, & Irene. No, Forster's career isn't the biggest nor the best, but the amount of work he got for his humanistic portrayal is impressive, and all thanks to Tarantino.

David Carradine

This late actor had been, for the longest time, known only for his role on Kung Fu, a cheesy TV show that Tarantino had previously shown affinity for in his other work (in Pulp Fiction, for example, Jules says he plans to "walk the earth" just like Caine from the TV series). With the Kill Bill films, though, Tarantino decided he was just right as the malevolent, psychopathic murderer who sets off the wrong woman, his ex-bride, on a path to revenge. Though Carradine's career didn't soar as much as some of the others, he worked on projects as diverse as TV's Charmed, Crank 2, and even a Jonas Brothers music video. His final days may color the man's career a bit differently, but Quentin Tarantino (and Warren Beatty, the actor originally slated to play Bill) helped Carradine's career out with a life raft for the popular, if overrated, Kill Bill movies.

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