Long before a big-name star steps onto a set for the first day of shooting a major Hollywood production, he or she must often submit to a screen test. Most such “tests” these days are informal and rarely involve costumes or sets: the actor simply performs a selected scene in front of a camera—sometimes with another star, sometimes with an assistant casting director (not known for their dramatic skills).
In the following gallery, we present screen tests for roles that have become familiar and much loved, from a young Audrey Hepburn reading for the part of Princess Ann in Roman Holiday to a supremely confident Robert Downey Jr. demonstrating how he was born to play supremely confident billionaire-industrialist Tony Stark in the Iron Man films.
We start with a lovely British actress who got a chance to prove she belonged to join an all-star cast of a movie destined to become a Hollywood classic.