Ever wondered what will define you as a person? Well, for an actor the thought is a little more complicated...

Actors and actresses have had a long history of their breakthrough roles becoming their legacy. Whether some go on to complete many phenomenal movies and others remain only as one-hit wonders, many actors’ first booming role defines their image. He or she lives on in infamy – maybe as a fantasized heartthrob, as a horrifying mass-murderer, or as a heroic man!

This stands true for Mark Hamill. His reigning glory was during the time of the original three "Star Wars" when he was the valiant Luke Skywalker. Hamill debuted on "The Bill Crosby Show" (1969) and was a regular on the TV series "General Hospital". However, his true brilliance came out with his heroic Skywalker character. Even though he suffered a disfiguring car accident throughout the making of "Star Wars", he still completed and awed the audience with his courageous performance, leaving the image of himself as the destroyer of the "Death Star".

Jennifer Grey fits this as well. Johnny confidently declares, “Nobody puts Baby in a corner!” – these are probably the only words remembered about her. Grey plays the naïve character of Baby in "Dirty Dancing". Just a few years later, Grey underwent a rhinoplasty procedure that was completely botched leaving her with a completely anonymous face. "Dirty Dancing" was her first and only Oscar nomination in 1987, and her career never came to a higher peak. Those seven words are her legacy. She is the Baby that falls in love with Patrick Swayze’s sexy and talented character, Johnny Castle.

Heath Leger is another matter. He completed many successful and diverse movies in his lifetime, such as "10 Things I Hate About You" and "Brokeback Mountain". However, because of his premature death and his profound last role as an actor, he will always remain in peoples’ minds as – the gruesome, terrifying, and just creepy character of the Joker in "The Dark Knight". While filming and playing this character, Leger completely transformed into this twisted fictional person giving the entire audience the shivers throughout the whole movie. He will be etched into society as the man who, with an evil grin, always says, “Why so serious?”

In a more contemporary direction, Daniel Radcliff will always be remembered as “the boy who lived.” Radcliffe has been living and breathing this role since the age of ten. And still at 20 his work as a renown wizard is not done. Over half of his life has been devoted to "Harry Potter". Radcliffe did skillfully act in the Broadway play "Equus" (2007) and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award. But despite his efforts, Radcliffe will never be able to escape his adolescent character. He has grown with this character leaving the audience remembering him only as "Harry Potter".

A single role can define an actor for longer than a lifetime! Depending on the actor, he or she could go down in history as that one fictional character.