Mention must be made of The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, in which he played an unnamed character who turned out to be Jon Hamm, working as a valet in England between shooting episodes of Mad Men.
Natalie Dormer was in both Game of Thrones and Elementary at the same time.
I guess it does happen more often than I’d thought!
(Though I still don’t count the “1 episode” examples: I’m really talking about recurring/regular roles on more than one show at a time.)
During the same season = original episodes being broadcast during the same timeframe.
Woah.
And his glasses removal move (“dammit Steve, you can’t risk your life that way”) is much more fun to do that that CSI guys sunglasses move.
That was just a two episode guest star role not a series regular.
Goldie Hawn – Laugh-In and Good Morning World
Jim Backus – Gilligan’s Island and The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo (voice). For part of the season, the two shows were in the same time slot (on different networks).
Both were filmed in the NYC area. That allowed both shows to use the same pool of actors without having them relocate from California. Katheryn Erbe was also in Oz and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
Robert Reed had a recurring role as Lt. Adam Tobias on the TV series Mannix. During that same time he was starring as Mike Brady on the Brady Bunch.
Oh damn, someone beat me to this one.
If voice acting counts, then how about Mila Kunis on That 70’s Show and Family Guy
Three episodes, plus a voice over in a fourth. The OP says “recurring roles (not just cameos)” and does not specifically request series regular.
Dean Norris was on Breaking Bad and Under the Dome this summer.
Heather Locklear…Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Sorry, just remembering.
If voice roles count, H. Jon Benjamin is doing Bob’s Burgers and Archer
As far as I can tell, Mark Sheppard simultaneously pulled off a recurring role on Dollhouse and Battlestar Galactica along with his recurring role on **Leverage ** before simultaneously managing a recurring role on Supernatural and Warehouse 13 while continuing his recurring role on Leverage.
Fair enough.
I think its a law that he must appear in every science fiction show on TV.
Wayne Knight, simultaneously played two very different characters - Newman on Seinfeld and Don Orville on Third Rock from the Sun.
Lisa Kudrow kept playing her recurring role as Ursula on Mad About You long after she started playing Phoebe (and, for that matter, Ursula) on Friends.
That reminded me of Seth Green. In addition to his current on camera appearance on Dads, he’s voicing regular characters on Family Guy, Phineas and Ferb, Hulk and the Agents of SMASH, and Robot Chicken.
Martindale finished filming (and FX finished airing) The Americans long before she joined The Millers. She’s actually not going to be on The Americans anymore either as her character was written out in the finale of season one.
Breaking Bad and Under the Dome aired at the same time, but CBS filmed it well after Breaking Bad was done.