The year 1977 in film involved some significant events.

The top ten 1977 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

• February 23 – During a press conference at Sardi's in Manhattan, it is officially announced that Christopher Reeve will be playing the role of Superman.
• March 28 – At the 49th Academy Awards, Rocky picks up the Academy Award for Best Picture. Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway, and Beatrice Straight all win Oscars for their performances in Network for Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress, while Jason Robards wins for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in All the President's Men. He will win again the following year, becoming the only person to win two consecutive Best Supporting Actor awards.
• May 25 – Star Wars opens in theatres and becomes the highest-grossing film of the year. The film revolutionises the use of special effects in film and television production. It also embraces the notion of omitting any sort of opening credits sequence. Lucas, told by the Directors Guild of America that he must have an opening credits sequence, instead distributes the film independently, sans the opening credits. The film's release is often considered one of the most important events in film history.
• June 22 – Walt Disney Productions releases The Rescuers, which brings back an interest in animation that had been lost to both filmgoers and critics throughout the beginning of the 1970s.^[12]
• November 16 – Close Encounters of the Third Kind opens to widespread critical acclaim and massive box office success, becoming one of the top-grossing films to date and cementing Steven Spielberg's status as one of the most talented and profitable film directors of all time.
• December 5 – The Solar System, produced and directed by Thomas G. Smith for Encyclopaedia Britannica Films, is released.^[13] It led to the producer hiring Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), a company producing visual effects for films such as the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films.

Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):

Father and Master (Padre padrone), directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, Italy

Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):

The Ascent (Voskhozhdeniye), directed by Larisa Shepitko, USSR

• January 6 – Genevieve O'Reilly, Irish actress
• January 7 – Dustin Diamond, American actor (d. 2021)
• January 8 – Amber Benson, American actress
• January 11 – Devin Ratray, American actor, producer and writer
• January 12 – Piolo Pascual, Filipino actor^[14]
• January 13 – Orlando Bloom, English actor^[15]
• January 14 – Ruco Chan, Hong Kong actor
• January 15 – Ronald Zehrfeld, German actor
• January 17 – Leigh Whannell, Australian screenwriter, actor, producer and director
• January 19
  • Rob Delaney, American comedian, actor and writer
  • Taliesin Jaffe, American voice actor
• January 28
  • Zhao Tao, Chinese actress
  • Joey Fatone, American singer and actor
• January 29 – Justin Hartley, American actor
• January 31
  • Bobby Moynihan, American actor, comedian and writer
  • Kerry Washington, American actress
• February 6 - Josh Stewart, American actor
• February 9 – A. J. Buckley, Irish-Canadian actor
• February 16 – Paul Brittain, American actor and comedian
• February 17 – Isaac Kappy, American actor and musician (d. 2019)
• February 18
  • Ike Barinholtz, American actor, comedian, writer, director and producer
  • Kristoffer Polaha, American actor
• February 21 – Cyrine Abdelnour, Lebanese actress, and model
• February 24
  • Libero De Rienzo, Italian actor (d. 2021)
  • Kate Mulvany, Australian actress, playwright and screenwriter
• February 26 – James Wan, Australian director, producer and screenwriter
• February 27 – Ji Sung, South Korean actor
• March 2 – Heather McComb, American actress
• March 8 – James Van Der Beek, American actor
• March 9 – Lydia Mackay, American voice actress
• March 15 – Brian Tee, Japanese-born American actor
• March 19
  • Jorma Taccone, American comedian, director, actor and writer
  • Ebon Moss-Bachrach, American actor
• March 22 – Anabel Rodríguez Ríos, Venezuelan film director and screenwriter^[16]
• March 23
  • Joanna Page, Welsh actress and producer
  • Edwin Siu, Hong Kong actor and singer
  • Clayton Watson, Australian producer, actor, writer and director
• March 24
  • Olivia Burnette, American actress
  • Jessica Chastain, American actress
• March 25 – Édgar Ramírez, Venezuelan actor
• March 28 – Annie Wersching, American actress (d. 2023)
• April 2 – Michael Fassbender, Irish-German actor
• April 3 – Alice Lowe, English actress, writer and comedian
• April 8 – Ana de la Reguera, Mexican actress
• April 10 – Stephanie Sheh, American voice actress
• April 14
  • Sarah Michelle Gellar, American actress
  • Rob McElhenney, American actor, writer, and producer
• April 16 – Tameka Empson, English actress
• April 19 – Bryan Spears, American film and television producer^[17]
• April 20 – Robert Wilfort, English actor
• April 23
  • John Cena, American professional wrestler and actor
  • Eric Edelstein, American actor
  • John Oliver, British-American comedian, producer, actor and television host
  • Kal Penn, American actor
• April 24 – Eric Balfour, American actor and singer
• April 25 – Marguerite Moreau, American actress
• April 26
  • Tom Welling, American actor
  • McKenzie Westmore, American actress and singer
• May 2 – Jenna von Oÿ, American actress
• May 3 – Jeffrey Garcia, American actor and stand-up comedian
• May 10 – Todd Lowe, American actor
• May 12
  • Michael Jelenic, American animator, storyboard artist, screenwriter, producer and director
  • Rachel Wilson, Canadian actress
• May 13 – Samantha Morton, English actress
• May 14 – Jacky Ido, Burkinabé-born French actor
• May 15 – Ben Whitehead, English actor, voice artist and read-in artist
• May 16
  • Lynn Collins, American actress
  • Melanie Lynskey, New Zealand actress
  • Emilíana Torrini, Icelandic singer
• May 18 – Evan Helmuth, American actor (d. 2017)
• May 19 – Kelly Sheridan, Canadian voice actress
• May 20 – Matt Czuchry, American actor
• May 23
  • Richard Ayoade, British comedian, actor, filmmaker, writer, author and television presenter
  • Heather Wahlquist, American actress
• May 27 – Anna Maxwell Martin, British actress
• May 31 – Eric Christian Olsen, American actor
• June 1 – Danielle Harris, American actress
• June 2 – Zachary Quinto, American actor
• June 5 – Liza Weil, American actress
• June 14 – Sullivan Stapleton, Australian actor
• June 22
  • Bernadette Heerwagen, German actress
  • Denis Moschitto, German actor
• June 23 - Sian Heder, American filmmaker
• June 25 – Josh Braaten, American actor
• June 30 – Christopher Sommers, Irish actor
• July 1 – Liv Tyler, American actress
• July 4 – Vesela Kazakova, Bulgarian actress
• July 8 – Milo Ventimiglia, American actor
• July 10
  • Chiwetel Ejiofor, English actor
  • Cary Joji Fukunaga, American director, producer, screenwriter and cinematographer
• July 12 - Steve Howey, American actor
• July 13 – Kari Wahlgren, American voice actress
• July 14 - Tim Downie, English actor and writer
• July 15 - Lana Parrilla, American actress
• July 18 - Kelly Reilly, English actress
• July 22 - Joaquim Dos Santos, Portuguese-American animator, storyboard artist, director, producer and writer
• July 24
  • Danny Dyer, English actor and presenter
  • Michelle Buteau, American actress and comedian
• July 26 – Tony Sampson, Canadian oiler, former actor and voice artist
• July 27 – Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Irish actor
• July 30 – Jaime Pressly, American actress
• August 2
  • Edward Furlong, American actor
  • Artemis Pebdani, American actress
  • Krzysztof Soszynski, Polish-Canadian actor and retired mixed martial artist
• August 3 – Tómas Lemarquis, French-Icelandic actor
• August 8 – Lindsay Sloane, American actress
• August 10 – Yeşim Büber, Turkish actress
• August 13 - Damian O'Hare, Irish actor
• August 18 – Mizuo Peck, American actress
• August 23 – Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Ghanaian-British actor
• August 26 - Patrick Kennedy, English actor and director
• August 30
  • Michael Gladis, American actor
  • Elden Henson, American actor
• September 3 - Chen Shu, Chinese actress and singer
• September 8 – Nate Corddry, American actor and comedian
• September 11 – Ludacris, American actor and rapper
• September 15 – Tom Hardy, English actor
• September 19 – Kyle Cease, American actor and comedian
• September 25
  • Divya Dutta, Indian actress
  • Clea DuVall, American actress
  • Joel David Moore, American character actor and director
• September 27 – Michael C. Maronna, American actor
• September 29 - Sasha Rionda, Mexican actress
• October 3 – Hassan Johnson, American actor, model and producer
• October 5 – Luke Roberts, English actor
• October 7 – Brandon Quinn, American actor
• October 8 – Jamie Marchi, American voice actress
• October 11 – Matthew Bomer, American actor
• October 16 – Tamara Podemski, Canadian actress
• October 17 - Alimi Ballard, American actor
• October 18 – Peter Sohn, American animator, voice actor, storyboard artist and director
• October 19 – Jason Reitman, Canadian-American actor and filmmaker
• October 20 – Sam Witwer, American actor and musician
• October 26 – Jon Heder, American actor
• October 29
  • Jon Abrahams, American actor
  • Brendan Fehr, Canadian actor
• November 2 – Randy Harrison, American actor
• November 3 – Greg Plitt, American fitness model and actor (d. 2015)
• November 4 – Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Irish actor
• November 10 – Brittany Murphy, American actress (d. 2009)
• November 11 – Scoot McNairy, American actor
• November 14 – Brian Dietzen, American actor
• November 15 – Sean Murray, American actor
• November 16 – Maggie Gyllenhaal, American actress
• November 19 – Reid Scott, American actor
• November 21 – Michael Sorvino, American actor and producer
• November 23 – Lateef Crowder dos Santos, Brazilian-American actor and stuntman
• November 24 – Colin Hanks, American actor, director and producer
• December 1 – Nate Torrence, American comedic actor
• December 5 – Armando Riesco, Puerto Rican actor
• December 6 - Jefferson Hall, English actor
• December 8
  • Maarja Jakobson, Estonian actress
  • Matthias Schoenaerts, Belgian actor
• December 10 – Emmanuelle Chriqui, Canadian actress
• December 15 – Geoff Stults, American actor
• December 17 - Katheryn Winnick, Canadian actress
• December 21
  • Colombe Jacobsen-Derstine, American actress
  • Kevin Miller, American voice actor, comedian and podcast host
  • Gregory Siff, American writer and actor
• December 24 - Michael Raymond-James, American actor
• December 28 – Michael Spears, Indigenous American actor
• December 30 – Lucy Punch, English actress

• Jeannetta Arnette – Teenage Graffiti
• Dan Aykroyd – Love at First Sight
• Raymond J. Barry – Between the Lines
• Tom Berenger – The Sentinel
• Demián Bichir – Fantoche
• Hart Bochner – Islands in the Stream
• Powers Boothe – The Goodbye Girl
• Carole Bouquet – That Obscure Object of Desire
• Guy Boyd – Between the Lines
• Beverly D'Angelo – The Sentinel
• Judy Davis – High Rolling
• Brian Dennehy – Looking for Mr. Goodbar
• Fran Drescher – Saturday Night Fever
• Danny Elfman (film composer) – I Never Promised You a Rose Garden
• Charles Fleischer – One on One
• Mel Gibson – Summer City
• Steve Guttenberg – Rollercoaster
• Luis Guzmán – Short Eyes
• Mark Hamill – Wizards
• John Heard – Between the Lines
• Helen Hunt – Rollercoaster
• Michael Ironside – Outrageous!
• Krystyna Janda – Pani Bovary to ja
• Bruce McGill – Handle with Care
• Michael McKean – Cracking Up
• Kevin McNally – The Spy Who Loved Me
• Richard Moll – Brigham
• Joe Morton – Between the Lines
• Pete Postlethwaite – The Duellists
• Bill Raymond – Sudden Death
• Sheryl Lee Ralph – A Piece of the Action
• Sy Richardson – Cinderella
• Richard Riehle – Joyride
• Chelcie Ross – Keep My Grave Open
• William Sanderson – Fight for Your Life
• Tony Sirico – Hughes and Harlow: Angels in Hell
• Meryl Streep – Julia
• Sven-Ole Thorsen – Mind Your Back, Professor
• Stephen Tobolowsky – Keep My Grave Open
• Craig Wasson – Rollercoaster
• Sigourney Weaver – Annie Hall
• Robin Williams – Can I Do It... 'Till I Need Glasses?
• Lambert Wilson – Julia
• Rita Wilson – The Day It Came to Earth
• Penelope Wilton – Joseph Andrews