@Oh Pry,
Ever heard of Samuel L. Jackson? Didn't have his first big hit until he was 43.
Alan Rickman or Larry David? 42.
Burt Reynolds? 40.
Christoph Waltz? 53.
Steve Carrell? 43.
The
Breaking Bad guy, Bryan Cranston? Also 43.
Regis Philbin? 57.
Patrick Stewart? 47.
Same for Tommy Lee Jones -- 47.
Rodney Dangerfield? 46.
Billy Bob Thornton? That guy who was married to Angelina Jolie and they had vials of each other's blood or something? 41 when he got his first big part.
Morgan Freemen? Few people knew who he was until he hit 50.
I don't know if you'll recognize many of these guys. They're pretty minor figures. </sarc>
And this is Hollywood, where there's a major emphasis on youth. For men who get known in the business or political spheres, the average age (as well as
cut-off age) is higher.
Now, athletics, yes, much lower age cut-off.
Or if you want to do something like become a famous physicist, you probably won't be making breakthroughs past your 30s. But your star might not take off until later. Stephen Hawking, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Albert Einstein didn't become widely known until their mid-40s.
Many authors don't become famous until their 40s or 50s.
I know a lot of guys have this fixation on youth, and feel like their lives ended at high school or college or whatever it is.
There is this uncanny "my best years are behind me" fixation some people have.
I have never understood it, personally.
I presume it's some kind of past
time orientation.
But reality violates this opinion over and over, in some of the most brutal ways possible, ruthlessly, relentlessly, and unforgiveably.
I wonder if it's some sort of aspiration mixed with laziness, like "Well, I don't REALLY want to do the work of being famous, but if I DON'T become famous, I will feel so disappointed in myself. So I have to find some way to let myself off the hook. Ah, that's it! I'm too late! The chance has passed me by!"
I feel like a lot of people do this, about a whole lot of things.
Chase