Summary
Quentin Tarantino’sPulp Fictioncame out 30 years ago, and its ensemble cast have gone on to have wildly different careers. After the modest success ofReservoir Dogs,Pulp Fictionheralded Tarantino’s arrival as an important voice in independent film. It remains one of his most popular movies three decades later, and a lot of the movie’s lasting appeal can be attributed to its superb cast.
Pulp Fictionhas a mix of established stars like Bruce Willis and lesser-known names like Ving Rhames. While the movie’s immense success gave each actor a big platform, they haven’t all been as successful as Samuel L. Jackson.Pulp Fiction’s non-linear storydips in and out of a few interconnected stories, which gives many actors at least some time to shine.
14Samuel L. Jackson
Jules Winnfield
Pulp Fictiongave Samuel L. Jackson’s career a massive boost.His starring role as the smart-mouthed assassin Jules Winnfield means that he hoovers up a large portion ofPulp Fiction’s best quotes. He has since appeared in four other Quentin Tarantino movies, including his outstanding role inDjango Unchained.His other most famous characters include the Jedi Mace Windu in theStar Warsprequels and Nick Fury in the MCU. He recently lent his voice toThe Garfield Movie,but his greatest animated character is still Frozone fromThe Incredibles.Jackson is set to star alongsideJames Bondactor Pierce Brosnan inUnholy Trinity,an upcoming Western.
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13John Travolta
Vincent Vega
Pulp Fictionoffered John Travolta a chance at a career revival. Before his performance as Vincent Vega, Travolta was most famous for his dancing feet inGreaseandSaturday Night Fever.Pulp Fictionshowed his comedic side, and he has since enjoyed a wide variety of acting roles. Travolta has appeared in musicals such asHairspray,animated movies likeBoltand action thrillers likeFace/Off.Still, it’s been a few years since Travolta’s last big hit, and he has starred in a few direct-to-video movies. He and Katherine Heigl are teaming up forThat’s Amore,an upcoming musical romcom.Away from acting, he is also a qualified pilot and a singer-songwriter with nine albums to his name.
12Uma Thurman
Mia Wallace
Pulp Fiction’sMia Wallace is one of Quentin Tarantino’s most enigmatic and alluring creations, and Uma Thurman was the perfect choice to play her. Thurman was so glamorous and popular that she has been credited with bringing Prada into the American mainstream after wearing one of their dresses to the Oscars when she was nominated forPulp Fiction.Her role inKill Billproduced one of thedefining performances of Quentin Tarantino’s career, and it arguably remains her most famous part.Her drama movie with Richard Gere,Oh, Canada,recently premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
11Bruce Willis
Butch Coolidge
The unsung hero ofPulp Fictionis Bruce Willis, whose quiet performance as a principled boxer on the run from some unsavory people often gets overshadowed by the much louder and splashier trio of Jackson, Travolta and Thurman. Unlike some of his co-stars, Willis was already a huge star beforePulp Fictionthanks to theDie Hardfranchise. His career went from strength to strength in the 1990s and 2000s with a string of well-received action and sci-fi movies, includingSin City, The Sixth Senseand12 Monkeys.Willis starred in a remarkable number of direct-to-video movies in the last few years of his career, but he has since retired, andhis family have announced that he has frontotemporal dementia.
10Ving Rhames
Marsellus Wallace
Marsellus Wallace remains one of Ving Rhames' most memorable roles 30 years later. He has been working steadily in Hollywood ever since, butfew of his movies have had the same impact asPulp Fiction.The notable exception to this rule is obviously theMission: Impossiblefranchise. His computer hacker Luther Stickell is the only character beside Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt who has appeared in every movie since Brian De Palma’s 1996 original. He is set to return one last time forMission: Impossible 8.He is also a part of the ensemble cast for DreamWorks' new animated sci-fi movieThe Wild Robot.
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9Tim Roth
Ringo/ “Pumpkin”
Quentin Tarantino and Tim Roth have worked together many times. Roth was the beating heart ofReservoir Dogs,Tarantino’s stylish debut, and the British actor returned forPulp Fiction.Over 20 years later, he teamed up with Tarantino once more forThe Hateful Eight,which provided him with one of his greatest roles.He is also a part of the MCU, playing Emil Blonsky/ Abomination in two movies and the TV seriesShe-Hulk: Attorney at Law.His most famous TV role is that of Dr. Cal Lightman, a body language expert who uses his knowledge to fight crime inLie to Me.
8Christopher Walken
Captain Koons
Christopher Walken appears for just one beautiful and bizarre scene inPulp Fiction,as a USAF general who gifts a young Butch his father’s watch. Walken has enjoyed a long and successful career in multiple genres. Following his breakthrough inThe Deer Hunter,Christopher Walken’s best movieshave ranged from comedies likeSeven Psychopathsto crime dramas likeTrue Romance.He recently stood out as the Emperor inDune: Part Two,and he was a key part of the first season of Apple’s sci-fi dramaSeverance.
7Harvey Keitel
Winston Wolfe
Like Tim Roth, Harvey Keitel starred inReservoir DogsbeforePulp Fiction.His association with Quentin Tarantino is strong, buthe has also been a frequent collaborator with both Martin Scorsese and Wes Anderson. He starred in many of Scorsese’s early movies, includingTaxi Driver,but his movies with Anderson show that he has a comedic side too. Scorsese and Anderson have given him two of his biggest movies of the past decade,The IrishmanandIsle of Dogsrespectively, although he has minor parts in both. He garnered praise for his performance in the 2024 TV dramaThe Tattooist of Auschwitz.
6Amanda Plummer
Yolanda/ “Honey Bunny”
Amanda Plummer, daughter ofThe Sound of Musicstar Christopher Plummer, plays Honey Bunny, Ringo’s partner in crime inPulp Fiction.She had had a few film roles beforePulp Fiction,but she was also a successful stage actor, having won a Tony Award in 1982 forAgnes of God.SincePulp Fiction,she has played supporting roles in movies as varied asHerculesandThe Hunger Games: Catching Fire, but she has had most of her success on TV. She won two Emmy Awards for guest roles onThe Outer LimitsandLaw and Order: Special Victims UnitafterPulp Fiction.She most recently played the villain Captain Vadic in the third and final season ofStar Trek: Picard.
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5Phil LaMarr
Marvin
Marvin only has a small role in the tangled web ofPulp Fiction,but his death in the back seat of Jules and Vincent’s car provides one of the movie’s funniest moments. A year after this role, Phil LaMarr joined the inaugural cast of the sketch comedy seriesMad TV,where he stayed for five seasons. He has had plenty of live-action guest roles on TV shows, buthe is most famous for his work as a voice actor. His biggest movies and TV shows includeSamurai Jack, Star Wars: The Clone WarsandJustice League.He will reprise his role as the Jamaican bureaucrat Hermes Conrad forFuturamaseason 12.
