# L&O: From bit part to major role **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 30, 2012, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-o-from-bit-part-to-major-role/611226 "2012-01-30T21:18:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-o-from-bit-part-to-major-role/611226/1 "2012-01-30T21:18:24Z")
Has any actor appeared on any version of _Law & Order_ as a witness and then reappeared years later when they were more well known as a suspect, defense attorney, or judge? I know there are several actors who have appeared multiple times, but I wonder if for at least one of them their first time was as an unknown. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-o-from-bit-part-to-major-role/611226/2 "2012-01-30T21:56:40Z")
Well off the top of my head, I can think of two leads who started a completely different character. Jerry Orbach, the detective, first appeared on the show as a defense attorney. S. Epatha Merkerson, the lieutenant, first showed up as a cleaning woman whose son had been killed. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-o-from-bit-part-to-major-role/611226/3 "2012-01-30T22:02:16Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > Well off the top of my head, I can think of two leads who started a completely different character. > > Jerry Orbach, the detective, first appeared on the show as a defense attorney. > > S. Epatha Merkerson, the lieutenant, first showed up as a cleaning woman whose son had been killed. One of the ADAs in Law and Order SUV played a particularly creepy female rapist first. I believe it was Diane Neal. ---
**Author:** ![TheonX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed8c4c/32.png) [@TheonX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheonX)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-o-from-bit-part-to-major-role/611226/4 "2012-01-30T22:13:48Z")
Also, Annie Parisse played a stripper/witness in one episode before she became ADA Borgia. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-o-from-bit-part-to-major-role/611226/5 "2012-01-30T22:26:43Z")
> [@TheonX](#): > > Also, Annie Parisse played a stripper/witness in one episode before she became ADA Borgia. Gotta find that episode. ---
**Author:** ![Tess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@Tess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tess)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-o-from-bit-part-to-major-role/611226/6 "2012-01-30T23:57:00Z")
Anthony Anderson guest starred as a detective on SVU before coming onto L&O as a completely different detective. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-o-from-bit-part-to-major-role/611226/7 "2012-01-31T00:06:40Z")
Check [this list](http://www.podengo.com/apocrypha/repeatoffender.html) and search for “cast member”. A number of actors in addition the ones already mentioned have played bit characters and later returned for recurring or major roles somewhere in the L&O shows. J.K. Simmonds and Josh Pais, for example. ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-o-from-bit-part-to-major-role/611226/8 "2012-01-31T01:57:52Z")
In _Law & Order - Criminal Intent_ (2001 -2011), [Jay O. Sanders](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0761587/) played “Harry Rowan” in [_Dead_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0629524/) (Ep. 2.1, 2002), then came back in the last season to play “Captain Joseph Hannah”. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-o-from-bit-part-to-major-role/611226/9 "2012-01-31T15:49:36Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Check [this list](http://www.podengo.com/apocrypha/repeatoffender.html) and search for “cast member”. A number of actors in addition the ones already mentioned have played bit characters and later returned for recurring or major roles somewhere in the L&O shows. > > J.K. Simmonds and Josh Pais, for example. I see Felicity Huffman was in season 3 as “former patient of defendant recovering from suicide attempt” and then again in season 7 as the defendant. Assuming her first appearance was a minor one (one scene), this is exactly what I was looking for. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-o-from-bit-part-to-major-role/611226/10 "2012-01-31T17:01:19Z")
Oh, if you want _famous_ actors who early in their careers had minor parts on L&O, then came back later for meatier roles when they were better known… Cynthia Nixon played a subway shooter in the second episode, broadcast in 1990, then later returned (after achieving _Sex and the City_ fame) to appearances in at least two other L&O franchises. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/l-o-from-bit-part-to-major-role/611226/11 "2012-01-31T18:43:30Z")
Forgot Google is my friend. [20 Actors Who Appeared on “Law & Order” Before They Were Stars](http://www.tvtango.com/news/detail/id/100)