From left: Jacob Elordi, Mark Hamill, Dwayne Johnson, Adam Sandler, Michael B. Jordan, Jeremy Allen White and Wagner Moura were photographed Nov. 16 at The Sun Rose West Hollywood. Photographed by Beau Grealy The seven men who gathered for THR's Oscar season Actors Roundtable - Frankenstein's Jacob Elordi, The Life of Chuck's Mark Hamill, The Smashing Machine's Dwayne Johnson, Sinners' Michael B. Jordan, The Secret Agent's Wagner Moura, Jay Kelly's Adam Sandler and Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere's Jeremy Allen White - don't share very much in common. Photographed by Beau Grealy Five are American (Hamill, Johnson, Jordan, Sandler and White), one is Australian (Elordi) and one is Brazilian (Moura). Their ages span from 20s (Elordi, 28) to 70s (Hamill, 74). Some shot to fame on TV (Elordi on Euphoria, Jordan on The Wire, Moura on Narcos, Sandler on Saturday Night Live and White on Shameless), another in movies (Hamill via a little film called Star Wars) and still another in, of all things, wrestling (Johnson). Related Stories TV Down to Puck: Why Women Are Going Wild for 'Heated Rivalry' Movies The Actress Roundtable: Jennifer Lawrence, Cynthia Erivo and Jessie Buckley Want "All the Shadowy Bits to Show" But as they sat down together at The Sun Rose West Hollywood in mid-November amid a wave of mutual admiration - "I've always wanted to meet you," gushed Johnson, one of Hollywood's biggest stars, to Hamill, whom he first "encountered" decades ago as Luke Skywalker - they all shared two things: (1) Each gave a career-best performance in a 2025 film, and (2) None has ever received so much as an Oscar nomination. For at least some of them, the latter will soon change. Dwayne, nobody before you had made the jump from pro wrestling to A-list movie stardom. Was a pivot to acting always planned? DWAYNE JOHNSON I think it was planned by something more powerful than me, but also, I wanted to grow and to challenge myself, and transitioning into Hollywood was something that I definitely wanted. With my first movie, The Mummy Returns, we were shooting in the Sahara Desert, and I was so sick - I went over there and probably ate something that I shouldn't have - and it was 110 degrees, but I was freezing and wearing a blanket. Stephen Sommers, the director, comes over, "You okay?" I'm like, "Yeah!" I'd never acted before. He calls "Action!" We have our scene. And when he said, "Cut!" I went, "This is what I want to do for the rest of my life." Dwayne Johnson styled by Ilaria Urbinati; Dolce & Gabbana suit; Falconeri sweater; Maor necklace; David Yurman ring; IWC watch; Tod's loafers. Photographed by Beau Grealy Michael, when you were 19 years old, you came out to L.A. to try to break into movies, but there wasn't any interest from the agencies. How did you get past that? MICHAEL B. JORDAN At that age, you take rejection personally - I did, anyway, and used it as a healthy chip on my shoulder to motivate myself to continue to work hard and stay locked in. But also, it fortified this belief that, "What's for me is for me," you know? I didn't know exactly where I was going to end up, but I was on the right path. Mark, how did you wind up in L.A. at 17? MARK HAMILL My dad was in the Navy, so we were constantly moving - I went to nine schools in 12 years - and the last place we got transferred to was Yokohama, Japan. I graduated from Yo High and then came to Hollywood. I'd known for as long as I can remember, "That's the business I want to be in." I'd seen the black-and-white King Kong, and I didn't know how they made dinosaurs come to life, but I wanted to be in the business where you make dinosaurs come to life. I figured early on, "If it turns out that I'm not a good actor, I can cater. I don't have to be in the show. I want to be near the show." But I was very lucky. By the end of the year I got here, I had an agent. Adam, you started doing stand-up while you were a student at NYU. ADAM SANDLER I did stand-up and then got on SNL, and I wanted to do what Eddie Murphy did, and started doing movies too. In the back of my head, I was like, "It'd be fun to do a serious movie someday" - my grandma used to say, "You're the next James Caan!" And then Paul [Thomas Anderson] wrote Punch-Drunk Love for me and kind of invited me into this world. Adam Sandler styled by Jeanne Yang; Brioni suit, polo, belt. Photographed by Beau Grealy Wagner, you were very successful in Brazil before becoming internationally known via Narcos. WAGNER MOURA Narcos was a big thing - everywhere I'd go in the world, people would go, "Pablo Escobar!" But I never wanted to come here and "try Hollywood." What makes me different and maybe special for films is the fact that I'm not from here. I never understood actors who would try to lose their accents. I'll never be like, say, Jeremy - I'm a Brazilian actor and I represent a bunch of people who live here in this country and speak with accents. But when I started coming here, people would ask, "Would you be