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12 Now-Famous People You Didn't Know Were in Movies You've Seen

By Dustin Rowles | Posted Under Seriously Random Lists | Comments (147)



Zooey Deschanel Wallpaper sexy.jpg

There are a lot of current stars who did embarrassing things early in their careers, so it’s neat to see the early work of current stars in good films that you don’t remember them in because you had no idea who they were the first time you saw the movie. Every once in a while, I’ll flip through the channels, stumble across a movie I haven’t seen for a few years, and I’ll notice some huge fucking star in a bit part in a 1998 movie that I loved and I’ll be like, “What the …?” I had no idea he was in this movie.

Here are 12 instances of just that.


Ryan Gosling — Remember the Titans

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Michelle Williams — Species

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Jake Gyllenhaal — City Slickers

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Jonah Hill — I Heart Huckabees

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Bradley Cooper — Wet Hot American Summer

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Seth Rogan — Donnie Darko

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Chris Pine — Smokin’ Aces

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Tom Hardy — Black Hawk Down

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Taylor Kitsch — Snakes on a Plane

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Jon Stewart — Mixed Nuts

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Vince Vaughn — Rudy

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Zooey Deschanel — Mumford

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Here’s two from the TV files:

Jessica Chastain — “Veronica Mars” (Hat Tip: JoRo)

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Max Greenfield (Schmidt in “The New Girl”) as Young Sandy Cohen in “The O.C.”










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Comments

I remember the Goose in that movie. He wasn't good enough at his position, so they had to replace him with Donald Faison.

Posted by: Socrates_Johnson at February 7, 2012 4:05 PM

How about Denise Richards in "Saved by the Bell" Malibu episodes (she was also in an episode of Seinfeld, the one where she is the NBC exec's daughter and George gets caught staring at her cleavage.

Posted by: Jason Farrell at February 7, 2012 4:15 PM

or Eva Mendes in "Children of the Corn V" (God help me, I've watched that enough times to notice). Courtney Cox was in "Masters of the Universe" and the obvious, but always awesome Christine Taylor was in "Hey, Dude" on Nickelodeon

Posted by: Jason Farrell at February 7, 2012 4:16 PM

Mmm, I dunno, I'm pretty sure Taylor Kitsch is still at about Snakes on a Plane level. Yes, there is his work on FNL, but his involvemnt in the Disneyfied John Carter abomination cancels that out, I think.

Posted by: noodlestein at February 7, 2012 4:18 PM

Michael Shannon in Groundhog Day. Watched it for the 768,234th time the other day and only now did he jump out at me...

Posted by: klingonfree at February 7, 2012 4:24 PM

Every male actor on the planet was in "Black Hawk Down". Or at least it seems like it.

Posted by: Pants at February 7, 2012 4:25 PM

Michael Shannon was in Groundhog Day? No way!

Posted by: Dustin Rowles at February 7, 2012 4:26 PM

I was JUST saying to my sister how Bradley Cooper was in a whole lotta stuff back when he was just getting his footholds or whatever you want to call it.

But my God, Allison Janney is one of these people for me (don't be mad, it took me a while).
Now that I know who she is and she actually registers in my mind, she is everywhere. Everywhere Allison Janney. In an office, as a principal, in a trailer-park: everywhere.
And I'm not even bovvered one bit.

Posted by: Lisa Bee at February 7, 2012 4:26 PM

Peggy Sue Got Married is one of my wife's favorite movies.

Every time she puts it on, I'm still shocked that Jim Carrey was in it.

Posted by: Tom Brazelton at February 7, 2012 4:33 PM

kevin spacey at the end of the ray liotta movie "no escape"...when the warden checks on the prison island at the end, spacey is the tech who gives him the report

Posted by: marcus at February 7, 2012 4:41 PM

Vince Vaughn — Rudy

Uh, he's credited as Vincent Vaughn, thank you very much.

Michael Shannon was in Groundhog Day? No way!

OK...all is forgiven. Check out his eyes in that role. You can clearly see the dude from Take Shelter somewhere deep down...

Side-note: Isn't Phillip Seymour Hoffman credited as Phillip S. Hoffman in Scent Of A Women>

Posted by: pissant at February 7, 2012 4:46 PM

I happened to watch the bootleg cut of Almost Famous over the weekend and who should appear on the screen but Eric Stonestreet, Cam from Modern Family. He played a front desk guy at a hotel who gave William a message from his mother.

Posted by: Lucas at February 7, 2012 4:46 PM

Band of Brothers - it has Magneto AND Dr X (Fassbender and MacAvoy)!!! Mindblown when I realised this on a rewatch the other day.

Plus many others... Simon Pegg has a cameo as David Schwimmers assistant, Eoin Bailey (the mystery man on Once Upon a Time), Matthew Settle (Rufus on gossip Girl)

plus points for Damian Lewis (Homeland - though already famous thanks to BoB) and Ron Livingston (Office Space!)

Posted by: lease at February 7, 2012 4:47 PM

Wow, I knew so many of these. I need to go read a book.

Posted by: Dorothy Snarker at February 7, 2012 4:53 PM

This is likely a more well-known You Didn't Know, but Nathan Fillion was the "wrong" Private Ryan in Saving Private Ryan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA1Qz8kHops

Posted by: branded at February 7, 2012 4:57 PM

Holy crap look at Chris Pine. Who knew that was even possible?

Posted by: daria at February 7, 2012 4:58 PM

I have bad neural flashes every time I see Zooey Deschanel these days. Mia Kirshner flashbacks. I may need anti-seizure drugs now.

Posted by: Jerry at February 7, 2012 5:02 PM

Amy Adams in an episode of Buffy, season 5. She plays Tara's cousin.

Posted by: Jen K at February 7, 2012 5:03 PM

how about jesse pinkman basically playing jesse pinkman (the fuck-up brother-in-law) in mission impossible 3?

Posted by: Skwerl at February 7, 2012 5:07 PM

What blew my mind about Blackhawk Down was the fact that almost none of the American soldiers are actually American: Ewan McGregor (Scottish), Eric Bana (Australian), Kim Coates (Canadian), Ioan Gruffudd (Welsh), Ewen Bremner (Scottish), Jason Isaacs (English), Zeljko Ivanek (Slovenian), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Danish), Tom Hardy (English), Matthew Marsden (English) and Orlando Bloom (English), among others...

Posted by: EJ at February 7, 2012 5:08 PM

Amy Adams was in an early episode of Smallville where she eats boys to stay skinny or something. I had only ever seen that episode of the show, so when she blew up all big I was like, "her?"

Posted by: Grover at February 7, 2012 5:08 PM

wet hot american summer has a smorgasbord of actors you never knew were in it. my favorite is christopher meloni (law & order:svu)

Posted by: myrmidon16 at February 7, 2012 5:11 PM

I always think about Naomi Watts being in the Aussie movie "Flirting", which was a big role for her friend, Nicole Kidman. Took Naomi a long time to catch up.

Posted by: R Hookup at February 7, 2012 5:12 PM

Ron Swanson is in Se7en

Posted by: Kyle Janet at February 7, 2012 5:20 PM

Zooey Deschanel was in Big Trouble
Naomi Watts was in Tank Girl

Two of the worst movies ever made...

Posted by: Tranjo at February 7, 2012 5:24 PM

Awww schmidty being all genuine! precious.

Posted by: e-money at February 7, 2012 5:32 PM

Ron Swanson is also in the West Wing, trying to convince Alison Janney to build a wolf highway. Priceless.

Posted by: Brenton at February 7, 2012 5:37 PM

Max Greenfield is also in Veronica Mars, but I guess everyone knows that so it doesn't make the list. Just thought it was funny that there was a VM video posted right above it.

Posted by: Mike D at February 7, 2012 6:05 PM

I knew I had seen Jessica Chastain somewhere!!! Man, thank you for this. That had been bugging me to no end.

Posted by: ang at February 7, 2012 6:20 PM

Joe Hamm in We Were Soldiers and I think I saw Simon Pegg in Band of Brothers too, I guess I watch to many war movies.

Posted by: Doreen at February 7, 2012 6:21 PM

Max Greenfield was also on Veronica Mars... and an episode of Life (I still hate NBC for canceling that. Started my love of Damian Lewis.)

Posted by: Adrienne at February 7, 2012 6:35 PM

Vin Diesel in Saving Private Ryan, blows my mind every time.

Posted by: FyreHaar at February 7, 2012 6:38 PM

Schmidt and Abed (Danny Pudi) were in Greek for a few episodes.

Posted by: MissRos at February 7, 2012 6:47 PM

My favorite will always be Liam Neeson in Krull.

Oh my beloved Krull, I hope you never get remade. You are perfect just the way you are.

Posted by: Skyler Durden at February 7, 2012 6:49 PM

Oh and Olivia Munn was also in that.

Posted by: MissRos at February 7, 2012 6:49 PM

Nathan Fillion appears briefly in 'Blast from the Past' as Alicia Silverstone's ex. That was a mind hole blower for me when I saw it

Posted by: RedFeather at February 7, 2012 7:00 PM

jason segal in cant hardley wait

Posted by: britt at February 7, 2012 7:02 PM

Jon Hamm in Kissing Jessica Stein.... Too obvious?

Posted by: klingonfree at February 7, 2012 7:20 PM

Nathan Fillion in Saving Private Ryan. The First Private Ryan they meet.

Posted by: Nunzio910 at February 7, 2012 7:27 PM

Tom Hardy was also in Band of Brothers.

Posted by: AnnieS at February 7, 2012 7:59 PM

You posted the wrong Bradley Cooper screenshot from Wet Hot American Summer.

As far as I'm concerned, his love scene with Michael Ian Black is Cooper's one saving grace.

Posted by: pumpkin at February 7, 2012 8:23 PM

Bryan Cranston (and probably a lot of others) in Seinfeld (he was that dentist)

Posted by: Tim at February 7, 2012 8:28 PM

We have vhs tapes of Die Hard series and I've watched them several times as a child and I only found out just recently that Alan Rickman was the bad dude. Only knew him as Snape. Sorry.

Bradley Cooper is already a familiar face.


Posted by: Adrien at February 7, 2012 8:39 PM

Jason Segal in SLC Punk

Posted by: KiwiBrownn at February 7, 2012 9:06 PM

Oh, trust me, I knew Bradley Cooper was in Wet Hot American Summer. Yessssss I did.


I'll be in my bunk (SUMMER CAMP JOKE FTW).

Posted by: Bequafina at February 7, 2012 9:21 PM

Chris Pine was also in an episode of CSI:Miami as some skinny pervert/murderer with shaggy black hair and a lip ring, before all the muscles and veneers.

YOU GUYS NEVER READ MY BLOG!

Posted by: feramones at February 7, 2012 9:29 PM

Is Taylor Kitsch the guy or the girl?

Posted by: thundersactriumph at February 7, 2012 9:38 PM

If you need parenthesis to explain, they shouldn't be on the list.

Posted by: layla at February 7, 2012 10:08 PM

Personal favorite ... David Caruso, cop who was kicked in the chest during the jailbreak in Rambo First Blood

Posted by: Demp at February 7, 2012 10:13 PM

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in Black Hawk Down? Really? Okay, now it's official: EVERY non-American actor was in that movie. Must re-watch--have Jaime lust...and no, this is not Cersei.

Posted by: sherry at February 7, 2012 10:13 PM

We have vhs tapes of Die Hard series and I've watched them several times as a child and I only found out just recently that Alan Rickman was the bad dude. Only knew him as Snape. Sorry.

ADRIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN

Posted by: Joanna Robinson at February 7, 2012 10:26 PM

Amy Adams in an episode of Charmed

Posted by: scg at February 7, 2012 10:38 PM

ooo, i just learned that michael massee was the porn booth guy in se7en, but he also played funboy in the crow and was the one who shot brandon lee.

#spineholeblower

Posted by: gp at February 7, 2012 10:43 PM

Max Greenfield was a regular on Veronica Mars, too!

Posted by: Remy at February 7, 2012 10:57 PM

I had totally forgotten that Amy Adams was in Catch Me If You Can when I saw it again not too long ago.

Posted by: Sara H at February 7, 2012 11:01 PM

Nick Offerman as a plumber in an episode of Will and Grace.

Posted by: Mrs. Julien at February 7, 2012 11:20 PM

Viggo Mortensen has a very small role in Witness as Moses Hochleitner, the little brother of Daniel Hochleitner (Alexander Godunov). Mostly he stands behind or near Daniel and looks Amish.

Jimmy Fallon was in Band of Brothers as a lieutenant who brings extra ammo to Easy as they're about to march into Bastogne.

Posted by: PDamian at February 7, 2012 11:30 PM

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Posted by: lily at February 7, 2012 11:38 PM

good one, robot. but bisexuals don't really exist!

Posted by: gp at February 7, 2012 11:59 PM

Wow, I guess that shows how long it's been since I've seen Donnie Darko...

Chris Pine was the only one I knew about. I remember when he was announced as New Kirk I thought "Really? Darwin Tremor?" I suppose that no one should be judged purely on their performance in Smoking' Aces.

Posted by: TranscendMatter at February 8, 2012 12:18 AM

"Empire Records," which I had never seen, was on MoviePlex the other night and made me go, "Hey, isn't that Renee Zellweger?"

Posted by: , at February 8, 2012 12:42 AM

Josh Brolin in The Goonies??? That one always freaks me out.

Posted by: Littlejon2001 at February 8, 2012 2:00 AM

Amy Adams was also in The Office!!

And Jim Halbert, being the jackass that he is, broke up with her.

Posted by: @Chrispeare at February 8, 2012 2:12 AM

@thundersactriumph
Taylor Kitsch is Guy Buddy and
Acted in Snakes on a Plane.

Posted by: Coupon Codes at February 8, 2012 4:14 AM

Man, tom Hardy looks goofy as fuck. If they ever cast a live-action Simpsons movie, the search for Cletus is over before it began.

Posted by: zeke the pig at February 8, 2012 5:00 AM

My mum watches these English murder mystery shows and all these English actors pop up now an then. She was watching Miss Marple, and I happened to be in the room...and Carey Mulligan was in the episode. I swear if you IMDb any English actor you'd find that a lot of them have been in either Miss Marple, Poirot, or A Touch of Frost.

Posted by: Lele at February 8, 2012 5:29 AM

Tom Hardy was also in Band Of Brothers. As was the Fassbender. As was James Mcavoy. As was Simon Pegg.

Posted by: Christopher at February 8, 2012 5:53 AM

Milla Jovovich in "Parker Lewis can't lose". Was I the only one that loved that show?

Posted by: Ari at February 8, 2012 6:21 AM

Black Hawk Down is full of these moments for me and rewatching it recently, I picked out maybe half a dozen bit characters who went on to do big things.

-Oh, it's Jaime Lannister!
-Oh, it's the dad from Modern Family!

etc

Posted by: Steve at February 8, 2012 6:56 AM

Too well-known, perhaps, but Hilary Swank was Steve's girlfriend in 90210 (the original series).

Posted by: honeychurch at February 8, 2012 7:59 AM

Someone already mentioned Nick Offerman in West Wing (first Big Block of Cheese episode). Jane Lynch also showed up as a random reporter in the first season.

Also Rashida Jones played the bully in the Kim Kelly Is My Friend episode of Freaks and Geeks.

Posted by: Lee at February 8, 2012 9:10 AM

OK, this may say a hell a of a lot about me, but every one on your list, AND every subsequent name given in the comments...my only reaction was "well, duh - how did you not know that?"

Posted by: Shane at February 8, 2012 9:44 AM

Christopher Meloni is by far my favorite WHAS character (excluding Paul Rudd, who is the best at everything ever). I saw him in that before SVU and was really confused as to why he wasn't fondling his sweaters or humping the fridge.

Posted by: PerpetualIntern at February 8, 2012 10:02 AM

Ron Swanson full frontal in Deadwood. He was one of Hearst's henchmen that killed Welsh miners and was paid in pussy.

Posted by: solamente at February 8, 2012 10:33 AM

How about Mischa Barton in Notting Hill?

Posted by: Eep at February 8, 2012 10:59 AM

Fassbender, Michael Shannon, Jeffrey Dean Morgan & Tom Wopat (among others) pop up in Jonah Hex. It's not that they all aren't famous already as much as it's shocking they agreed to be in a movie that terrible.

Posted by: Smello at February 8, 2012 11:00 AM

I have yet to see Taylor Kitsch in anything that would suggest I should be surprised he was a throwaway body count character in a crappy horror flick.

Posted by: Craig at February 8, 2012 11:12 AM

The female roller-blader helping Jon Stewart carry the Christmas tree in Mixed Nuts? Parker Posey.

Posted by: Adrienne at February 8, 2012 11:15 AM

Vincent D'Onofrio was Thor in Adventures in Babysitting.

Posted by: Gary at February 8, 2012 11:59 AM

Matt Damon was "Steamer," the rich kid's teenage brother, in "Mystic Pizza."

Posted by: Beeeej at February 8, 2012 12:11 PM

Just last week I saw Carla Gugino onstage, and I was trying to list movies my brother would know her from. None of them were ringing any bells, but when I spoke to him yesterday, he said he had just recognized her while flipping through channels...in Pauly Shore's Son in Law. (why wasn't that mentioned in her Playbill bio, I wonder?)

Posted by: Sara Tonin at February 8, 2012 12:15 PM

How about Rashida Jones on Chappelle Show? That was a weird one, until I found out that her sister used to date Tupac, with whom Rashida had a feud at one point. Some actors have interesting histories.

Posted by: jmag at February 8, 2012 12:25 PM

Dustin, when you're working for Upprox, you should sneak at Filmdrunk, Mancini dig the scene from Groundhog Day five days ago.

Also, not so long ago, after an impromptu airing of an episode of The Practice, the one that crossovered with Ally McBeal, I thought I needed to watch the other part. Afterwards, I suddenly felt the urge to re-discover the show (at the time it was airing in France, I only watched like ten episodes or so) and I had to stop after three episode cause it sucked so hard. Anyway, I needed to justify the inclusion of Jon Hamm, who appears for a second in the second episode, as some guy that Flockart has the hots for.

Also, I'm surprised you didn't included Ryan Reynolds from The X-Files. Michael EMerson, Bryan Cranston, John Hawkes, Giovanni Ribisi, Seth Green, Jack Black and his doppleganger - a personal favorite - Tyler Labine, guest starred, I guess most of the them didn't profit directly from an appearance (like Burt Reynolds or Danny Trejo) or fall in the Taylor Kitsch rule, like Lena Headey (and her real set of teeth) in Remains Of The Day, but still, it's always surprising.

And Baby Goose was already famous alongside Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears in the Disney channel, was he not?

Posted by: romain at February 8, 2012 12:37 PM

this is a stupid list of crap.

Posted by: ippolit at February 8, 2012 12:49 PM

Yeah... remember Jean Claude Van Damme?? Remember the movie "Breakin"????? He was in it.... dont believe me.. check the video... he's a background dancer. Now that was a mindhole blower.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKMDJqcnUJ8


Posted by: NGG at February 8, 2012 12:56 PM

did anyone mention carla gugino in troop beverly hills?

Posted by: gp at February 8, 2012 1:07 PM

or mischa barton in the sixth sense?

Posted by: gp at February 8, 2012 1:10 PM

Just read about this one in an article about Soderbergh movies...Rainbow Killer was in 'King of the Hill.'

Posted by: Christian at February 8, 2012 1:57 PM

Patton Oswalt was in Down Periscope.

Posted by: Harold at February 8, 2012 2:30 PM

Mixed Nuts has an insane number of famous peoples aside from Jon Stewart and Parker Posey- Steve Martin, Rita Wilson, Adam Sandler, Liev Schreiber, Madeline Kahn, Rob Reiner, Gary Shandling, Juliette Lewis, Anthony Lapaglia, and Haley Joel Osmont, and I *still* think I'm missing someone.

Posted by: Tennaners at February 8, 2012 5:04 PM

It's not a movie but Carla Gugino in Bon Jovi's Always video. Hot Hot! (Keri Russell's pretty hot in it also)

Posted by: Pep at February 8, 2012 9:06 PM

Irrelevant if you're not an Aussie or a Kiwi but Ada Nicodemou who plays Leah in Home and Away was the chick in the matrix who has the white rabbit tattoo...watched the movie 10 times before I clicked!

Sarah Jessica Parker was in footloose

Melissa Mccarthy was in The Life of david Gale and Charlie's Angels

Cameron Diaz was in fear and loathing

Penelope Cruz was in Gothika

He's not famous anymore, but Milo ventimiglia had a tiny role in She's All That

Posted by: Brooke at February 9, 2012 5:46 AM

Chris Pine's performance was probably the best part of Smokin' Aces. But your headline lies; most of these are not movies I've seen.

Posted by: Andrew at February 9, 2012 10:22 AM

I'm currently re-watching all five seasons of Quantum Leap. It's amazing how many now recognizable actors played bit parts on that show. I'm constantly looking episodes up on imdb to confirm that it really is who I think it is.

Posted by: Brooke at February 9, 2012 5:36 PM

amy sedaris was in "stay". she was at the beginning, shown briefly as a secretary on the phone with someone, giving them poor advice: "drinking kills feelings".

Posted by: gp at February 9, 2012 7:29 PM

Ellen Page in the TV show Trailer Park Boys. Being born in Nova Scotia + the only show set in Nova Scotia that was ever worth anything = pretty rare sighting.

Posted by: Boss at February 10, 2012 2:27 AM

Jane Lynch was a lab tech in The Fugitive. I just saw that movie again a couple weeks ago & was surprised. I think she definitely belongs on the list.

Posted by: Patti O at February 11, 2012 3:16 AM

Hugh Laurie in 101 Dalmations

Posted by: TJ at February 11, 2012 8:18 PM

Sam Rockwell was in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Elias Koteas was also.

Posted by: Purplejebus at February 12, 2012 6:12 PM

Hugh Laurie in Friends. When Rachel flies to England to stop Ross's wedding, he is the Brittish guy who tells her she is a horrible person.

Posted by: fisheatppl at February 14, 2012 1:36 PM

My Wife and I were surprised to spot Gerard Butler in James Bond 'Tomorrow Never Dies' when we watched it a few weeks ago. He played a very brief role as a lead seaman on the Devonshire.

Posted by: Tuscano77 at February 15, 2012 8:30 AM

Josh Holloway in CSI

and Jax from SOA in Children of Men (sporting dradlocks)

Posted by: romain at February 15, 2012 4:09 PM

Elijah Wood in Back to the Future II
Ben Affleck in Buffy the Movie.

Posted by: ShMike at February 16, 2012 12:07 AM

Shia LaBeouf in Constantine with Keenu

Posted by: Steve at February 20, 2012 11:40 AM

These are awesome!! Another actor to consider is Sean Murray, AKA McGee from NCIS. Do you know one of his starting roles as an actor? THACKERAY BINXS from Hocus Pocus!! That sexy blonde Puritan/talking cat? Is NCIS' "Probie!!"

Posted by: Hazel at February 20, 2012 11:45 AM

I never realised that Bradely Cooper was the pscho boyfriend in The Wedding Crashers.

Posted by: corby_dud at February 22, 2012 3:02 PM

I remember tom hardy in star trek nemisis, fuck sake his acting in that was so bad he was so fucking anoying he was ant sutible for playing the villian part, and yet he gets all these movie parts,some one in holywood has gone completly mentle.

Posted by: daniel8472 at February 25, 2012 11:02 AM

Oh bless you Americans and your only-knowing-Hugh-Laurie-from-House-ness. Before 101 Dalmatians or Friends he'd already done three Blackadders, all of A Bit of Fry & Laurie, all of Jeeves and Wooster, and been in the Ang Lee Sense & Sensibility.

But I suppose it's a bit like that person who only knew Alan Rickman as Snape -- there's no accounting for taste.

Posted by: badblokebob at February 26, 2012 1:59 AM

Hey Man...Black Hawk Down??? Its not that early and the movie's great really,,On top of that you got guys lyk Josh Hartnett and Orlando Bloom who by the way plyd a role of around 3 or 5 mins..and yea i agree wid a guy who wrote here "Every male actor on the planet was in "Black Hawk Down". Or at least it seems like it."

Posted by: SilvaGreatest555 at February 28, 2012 8:24 AM

I just saw a crazy one last night.. Remember "The Wizard" with Fred Savage and the almighty introduction of Super Mario Brothers 3???? There is a scene close to the end where the douchey "bad kid", Lucas (who Jimmy "The Wizard" plays in the final round) is standing on some steps with a group of about 4 friends. One of the kids on the steps with him....is fricken Tobey Maguire. It caught me off guard and had to rewind a couple times just to make sure..but totally him (turned out to be an uncredited role on IMDB). Also in that movie is a pretty early role for Christen Slater..but I'm not sure we consider him to be a "big star" these days!!

Posted by: TP at February 29, 2012 2:51 AM

What about Rowan Atkinson in Never Say Never Again?

Posted by: Philip Hanan at March 1, 2012 9:36 PM

I had a HUGE mind-blower a couple months ago. I was rewatching Season 2 of True Blood and was IMDBing different actors from it while doing so. Did anybody else know that Alcide (Joe Can't Spell His Last Name) was Flash Thompson in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man?! I went straight to Youtube and was like "Holy S&*t!"

Posted by: Samantha at March 5, 2012 8:26 AM

What gets me all the time are for example:

Jack Black in Waterworld and Neverending Story 3.

Samuel L. Jackson in Coming to America and even Jurassic Park.

Everything Scarlett Johansson was in as a kid. First noticed her really in Lost in Translation, to find out a few years after that, that she did act a lot before.

In kind of a reversed way I'm always surprised that the guy from Senior Trip Jeremy Renner is suddenly having a big career almost out of nowhere. :)

And what bugs me every time now is seeing Sidekicks and knowing that there was a time as a kid where I watched it for the first 1 or 2 times and knowing Jonathan Brandis from Stephen King's It, Neverending Story and the fresh series SeaQuest, but having no f-in idea who this Chuck Norris Guy was. :D

Posted by: Jo at March 5, 2012 4:08 PM

How about Hilary Swank in Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie as well as Ben Affleck.

Not to mention quite a few well known actors got their start on 21 Jump Street. (Jason Priestley, Brad Pitt, Josh Brolin, among many others and of course Johnny Depp but he is the known from that show)

Posted by: Thomas at March 5, 2012 11:26 PM

@badblokebob - No accounting for taste. Or, maybe, just age, ya bitter old bastard? There's a whole generation who grew up on POTTER long before any sane parent would have popped in DIE HARD for them.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a bitter old bastard, too. The one who was scratching my head going "Prince George as a doctor?" and "When did Hans Gruber learn magic?" (Also, "When did the nice alien Willie get all burn-scarred and knife-fingered?")

In addition, as a general by-the-way, don't forget Jane Krakowski as one of the country cousins in VACATION? :-)

Posted by: spazzy at March 7, 2012 11:48 PM

Not that anyone should have seen this piece of crap (I caught it on Chiller the other night), but Blake Lively appeared (for all of 17 seconds) in the craptacular horror movie Simon Says (2006). Oddly, she's given billing on the cover of the DVD.

Posted by: James at March 10, 2012 3:39 PM

Christian Bale in Empire of The Sun (directed by Steven Spielberg). He was just a boy, maybe 12 or 13 years old. He doesn't even look the same.

Posted by: Piko at March 11, 2012 1:52 AM

Marlo Thomas played a Chinese woman on an episode of "Bonanza".

Posted by: Patricia Cockrell at March 12, 2012 1:07 AM

In Charley's Angels: Full Throttle, you can see a very young Shia Labeouf playing a young motocross racer the Angels save. You gotta check out his crazy curly 'fro...

Posted by: Perry at March 12, 2012 6:08 PM

Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Bill Paxton's best buddy in Twister. He was the one always saying "sweet" or "woo-hoo!!". He drove the camper playing the awesome rock music.

Posted by: greengenius at March 14, 2012 10:44 PM

John Leguizamo is the thief who shoots Harrison Ford in "Regarding Henry".

Richard Dreyfuss offers to call the cops for landlord Norman Fell in "The Graduate".

Kevin Bacon heckles a superhero-costumed John Ritter at a movie theater appearance in "Hero at Large".

Naomi Watts is in the mock movie trailer of "My Uncle the Shopping Cart" in "Matinee".

Drew Barrymore makes a brief appearance as the daughter of the lead couple in "Altered States".

Posted by: MystMoonstruck at March 14, 2012 11:34 PM

Patrick Swayze was referred to as "Valentino on skates" in his debut film, "Skatetown, U.S.A." (1979) but would have to wait to really break out in "Dirty Dancing" (1987) though he caught a little interest as big brother Curtis in "The Outsiders" and the leader of the Wolverines in "Red Dawn".

Milla Jovovich played the slutty French exchange student who lives in the garage in "Married with Children". She also co-stars with Christian Slater in "Kuffs", in which Ashley Judd plsys "Wife of Paint Store Owner". AND, Milla did a "Blue Lagoon" sequel titled~yes~"Return to the Blue Lagoon", in which she is stranded with Brian Krause (known by most from "Charmed" TV series).

Posted by: MystMoonstruck at March 14, 2012 11:38 PM

Someone mentioned Liam Neeson in "Krull", in which he's in a gang of escaped criminals with Robbie Coltrane. Neeson also has a small role in "Excalibur", in which a co-star is Patrick Stewart. The amazing Helen Mirren plays the witchy Morgana. Also, check out Helen in a faceted role in "The Twilight Zone" episode "Dead Woman's Shoes". But, then, "Twilight Zone" always has been a place to checkout future stars.

There are so many *surprise!* appearances where they're least expected.

Posted by: MystMoonstruck at March 14, 2012 11:39 PM

How about the movie "The Quick and the Dead"? That movie starred Sharon Stone and Gene Hackman but had "barley knowns" Gary Sinese, Russell Crowe and Leo DiCaprio and several other character actors.

Posted by: Captain Sidney at March 15, 2012 9:11 PM

Jason Statham in Dark Knight as sniper.

Posted by: ReelWorld at March 16, 2012 1:16 PM

Here's one I just noticed the other day while watching "Not Another Teen Movie." Josh Radnor (Ted Mosby from How I Met Your mother) stars very shortly in it

Posted by: andy at March 17, 2012 3:16 PM

Sorry, but I don't know a single one of these people. Are they supposedly famous for things?

Posted by: Call Of Juarez at March 19, 2012 4:36 PM

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Posted by: shopping online at March 20, 2012 11:30 PM

Not that great of a list not any of the real eye popping moments. The best one I saw on here was Orlando Bloom from Black Hawk Down it's the perfect example of a forgettable character, being done by someone with some fame now. I can't remember which Bond Movie but it was in the early 80's it had future oscar winner Benicio Del Toro in it. How about John Cusack in sixteen candles. My personal favorite always gets overlooked but Jackie Chan in Cannonball run with Burt Reynolds.

Posted by: Goatt at March 22, 2012 10:22 AM

Jack Black and Alan Rickman in Bob Roberts...

Posted by: Isaphoebe at March 22, 2012 11:29 AM

Elizabeth Smart - Spiderman
Vin Diesel - Saving Private Ryan
Eva Mendes - Night At The Roxbury
Danny Masterson - Face/Off (boyfriend Travolta beats)
Bryan Cranston - Saving Private Ryan
Jeff Goldblum - Death Wish
Fergie - Planet Terror
Tom Cruise - The Outsiders
Tom Morrello - Iron Man
Willow Smith - I Am Legend
The Gimp From Pulp Fiction - National Treasure 2 (in bathroom stall)
Steven Spielberg - Hook (real quick scene)
Gwenyth Paltrow - Hook
Kristen Stewart - Panic Room
Jared Leto - Fight Club
Paris Hilton - Cat In The Hat
Bill Paxton - Terminator
Arnold Schwarzenegger - The Rundown
Mel Gibson - Paparazzi
Christian Bale - Shaft
Daniel Craig - Tomb Raider
Henry Connick Jr. - Independence Day
Michael Bay - Armageddon
Glen Close - Hook (look real close)
George Lucas - Hook (real hard to find)
Stan Lee - Spiderman
Justin Long - Galaxy Quest
Janitor From Scrubs - The Fugitive
Edward Norton - Kingdom Of Heaven (tough one)
Paul Shaefer - Spinal Tap
Goldberg - Demolition Man
Stephen Sommers - The Mummy Returns
Jaoquin Phoenix - Parenthood

Posted by: BANE2012 at March 23, 2012 2:26 PM

Weird that Elizabeth Banks is standing right next to Bradley Cooper and they don't identify her! Also, Carla Gugino was actually Michael J Fox's girlfriend in the pilot of "Spin City".

Posted by: JP at March 26, 2012 3:24 PM

Bradley Cooper was also on Alias with Jennifer Garner.

Posted by: tim at March 26, 2012 9:48 PM

Everyone was in Seinfeld even if they weren't!
Also Kevin Spacey used to be on the 80's tv show "Wiseguy"

Posted by: rflemaxlady2 at March 27, 2012 2:43 PM

Eliza Dushku and Carla Gugino played Leonardo Dicaprio's step sisters in the movie "This Boys Life". Tobey Macguire and Mcgee from NCIS played two of his friends in that same movie

Posted by: rfelmaxlady2 at March 27, 2012 2:46 PM

How about Kaley Cuoco, cica 1997, in the Jennifer Aniston film "Picture Perfect"?

Posted by: bigdell at March 29, 2012 1:30 PM

Hugh Jakman is in the X-men reboot. He plays a guy in the bar and has just one line. Easy to miss. Weird because he actually played Wolverine in the original X-Men trilogy.

Posted by: Tod Plimpton at March 29, 2012 3:02 PM

Gina Gershon is in Pretty in Pink; she plays Trombley (What was with John Hughes and the character naming?) the best friend of the evil blonde girl (Benny, played by Kate Vernon.)

Posted by: kidlitfan at March 31, 2012 12:53 AM

How about a blink and miss Jim Carrey in Pink Cadillac, he's the stand-up comedian at a Reno casino doing an armless Elvis schtick.

Posted by: jimgooseridesagain at April 1, 2012 1:08 AM

oh, yeah and Peter Boyle as one of the irish railroad workers at the beginning of Blazing Saddles

Posted by: jimgooseridesagain at April 1, 2012 1:14 AM

"Hugh Jakman is in the X-men reboot."

Um. He was playing Wolverine.

"Weird because he actually played Wolverine in the original X-Men trilogy."

Um. Now I think you're being "funny". Or are there people who don't know that? Sorry, I'm used to jokes being funny.

Posted by: bbmcrae at April 1, 2012 9:03 PM

Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan, as well. Look really hard.

Posted by: bbmcrae at April 1, 2012 9:04 PM

Matthew McConaughey was on Angels in the outfields as was ADRIEN BRODY!

Posted by: Robert at April 2, 2012 1:28 AM

If you have to explain who they are (Max Greenfield) can they still be considered famous?

Posted by: The Truth Fairy at April 2, 2012 12:01 PM

James Gandolfini in Mr. Wonderful (1993) in a sweet romantic comedy role before he got typecast as a thug. he's a bit thinner(not a lot) and has more hair (real?). The character is late 20ish; Gando was about 31/32 when he made it.

Posted by: therealguyfaux at April 3, 2012 11:16 AM

Ryan Gosling: Before Remember the Titans, there was Breaker High circa 1997 - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0124934/

Posted by: Jenosaur at April 4, 2012 5:15 PM

@bbmcrae: I'm not so sure whether you're serious, trolling, or just straight up clueless.
Tom Hanks already a famous/household name actor prior Saving Private Ryan, as he won back to back Oscar with his performance in Philadelphia & Forrest Gump years before.
I also noticed Owen Wilson in "Anaconda (1997)" movie & Samuel L Jackson uncredited cameo in the epilogue scene of "Out of Sight (1998)" when George Clooney's about to be transported to a prison.
Angelina Jolie in straight to video B movie "Cyborg II (1993)" as the android, she also appeared in Meat Love & Rolling Stones music video long before she becomes a powerhouse actress like today.

Posted by: bernardg at April 5, 2012 10:42 AM