In 1947, Brando exploded into Broadway stardom with his forceful portrayal of the screaming, cursing, scratching brute Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire". His naturalistic style of acting and his casual, mumbling delivery, under the guidance of Elia Kazan, also heralded the arrival of "the Method" as a fashionable style of acting. In the late 40's, he became one of the early members of the Actors Studio, a workshop for professional actors.

In 1950, Brando brought his Actors Studio training and his magnetic, rebellious personality to the screen. In is film debut he played an embittered paraplegic in Stanley Kramer's The Men. (In preparation for his role, he spent a month in a hospital ward to gain firsthand experience in the rehabilitation of paraplegics.) He was nominated for a best actor Academy Award four successive years: for his performances in the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), for the title role of Viva Zapata! (1952), for his Marc Antony in Julius Caesar (1953), and for his portrayal of Terry Malloy in Kazan's On the Waterfront (1954). He won the Oscar for the 1954 effort and also received the New York Film Critics Award and the Cannes Film Festival prize.

Throughout the 50's, Brando's charisma, both on and off screen, made him an artistic and social force. Young audiences acclaimed him as the rebellious, nonconforming prototype of the beat generation; older audiences often saw him as an antisocial menace, unkempt and unrestrained—but audiences and critics agreed that he was one of the most original and compelling personalities to appear on the screen in a long time.

In 1959, Brando founded his own production company, Pennebaker Productions, and produced, directed, and starred in One Eyed Jacks (1961). In the 60's, unable to find proper roles and unwilling to cooperate with most directors, he played in a succession of unsuccessful movies that considerably weakened his professional and personal image. But he made a remarkable comeback in the early 70's with superb performances in two extremely diverse roles. His powerful portrayal in the title role of The Godfather brought him a second Oscar, which he refused to accept in protest against the plight of the American Indian. Yet he won another Oscar nomination as well as won unanimous acclaim for his study of middle-age sexuality in Bernardo Bertolucci's controversial Last Tango in Paris. Although he chose to limit his screen appearances in size and frequency, and allowed his body to bloat to mammoth dimensions, reaching 300 pounds, Brando remained a charismatic film personality, capable of commanding huge fees even for cameo roles. For a while he commuted to locations from his principal home in Tetiaroa, an atoll near Tahiti. After a long absence, he returned to the screen in 1989, promptly gaining yet another Oscar nomination, this time as Best Supporting Actor, for A Dry Season. Many consider him the greatest actor the American screen has ever known. Brando's first two of three broken marriages were to actress Anna Kashfi (1957-1959) and Movita (Castanada 1960-1968), Brando's son by Kashfi, Christian, was arrested and charged with killing the abusive boyfriend of his pregnant half-sister, Cheyenne. The latter twice attempted suicide when she was called to testify in the ensuing trial. His sister, Jocelyn Brando (born November 18, 1919), San Francisco) is a stage actress who makes occasional appearances in films.