The surprising earliest TV gigs of 18 Oscar-worthy actors

But that hasn't always been the case.

For most of Hollywood's history, there has been a pretty deep divide between television actors and movie stars. There was no shame in getting one's start in TV. But once one made the leap to movies, most never looked back.

As Oscar-winner and star of FX's"The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story," Cuba Gooding, Jr. told Business Insider, "When I started in the business, you did television and then when you got lucky you got a prestige project of a film."

Many of today's biggest movie stars followed that same career path, so we decided to take a look at the early careers of several recent Oscar nominees - from Casey Affleck to Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Stone - for their earliest TV gigs.

Here's a look at the small screen roles that started their Hollywood journey: