# Seeing famous actors before they were famous **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 13, 2011, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516 "2011-03-13T09:59:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![tmoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e5b9ba/32.png) [@tmoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tmoh)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/221 "2013-01-06T18:51:28Z")
Orlando Bloom was a victim on _Midsomer Murders_ before _LotR_ and _Pirates_, and Clare Holman had two different roles on the same show before she became Dr Hobson on _Lewis_ (though I don’t know how unknown she really was at the time). ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/222 "2013-01-06T19:51:25Z")
> [@Mattie\_Blue](#): > > I’m surprised no one has mentioned Richard Linklatter’s wonderful Dazed and Confused with a just starting out Matthew “all right, all right, all right” McConaghey and pre-Good Will Hunting Ben Affleck. Also, Milla Jovovich as one of the seniors who bully the freshman girls with ketchup and mustard in the beginning. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/223 "2013-01-07T01:18:00Z")
Pre-talk show, Conan O’Brien was an extra in several SNL skits: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/OYa0YBm79Vw/hqdefault.jpg "Conan O'brien runs by dead Tom Hanks (SNL 1990)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYa0YBm79Vw) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/224 "2013-01-07T06:59:21Z")
In _[Zoolander](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU0NLheu8mU)_, you have the then little known Vince Vaughn and Judah Friedlander playing Ben Stiller’s brothers. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/225 "2013-01-07T06:59:34Z")
Another famous movie chock full of future stars: [The Outsiders (1983)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086066/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1). Ralph Macchio (a year before the Karate Kid) Tom Cruise (Risky Business released later the same year) Patrick Swayze (a year before Red Dawn) Rob Lowe (two years before St. Elmo’s Fire) Emilio Estevez (a year before Repo Men) Dianne Lane (hmm, can’t really tell what her breakout role was) Sofia Coppola (credited as Sofie Coppola) Apparently, the “famous names” that the move was built around were C. Thomas Howell (who?) and Matt Dillion, who had achieved fame in E.T. and My Bodyguard, respectively. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/226 "2013-01-07T07:09:17Z")
Heh I think I’m getting good at this, just think of movies that have a large cast of kids or teens, there’s usually tons of future famous people in there. [Dead Poet’s Society](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097165/fullcredits#cast), 1989 Robert Sean Leonard Ethan Hawk Josh Charles ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/227 "2013-01-07T11:06:13Z")
The pilot for “Charlie’s Angels” had an interesting what if changes weren’t made. Charlie was supposed to have two male assistants: Bosley (David Doyle) and Scott Woodville played by David Ogden Stiers. But although the pilot was successful ratings-wise, it was felt Stiers’s character was too severe and they could have more fun with the jovial Bosley. They probably figured they could save on salary to spend it on more important things for the show’s success: tiny bikinis and hair swtylists. Stier’s got the better of the deal as a year later he was cast as Major Winchester on “M_A_S\*H”. Also appearing in the episode is Tommy Lee Jones, not his first role, but early in his career. Jaclyn Smith remembers taking Jones’s hand and it was shaking because of nervousness. ---
**Author:** ![toast\_pakora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@toast\_pakora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toast_pakora)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/228 "2013-01-07T15:41:03Z")
> [@](#): > > Dianne Lane (hmm, can’t really tell what her breakout role was) oh for heaven’s sake. It was A Little Romance (1979). Co-starring w/ Olivier. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2013, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/229 "2013-01-07T15:44:18Z")
> [@toast\_pakora](#): > > oh for heaven’s sake. It was A Little Romance (1979). Co-starring w/ Olivier. Heh I would have guessed “Must Love Dogs.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/230 "2013-01-10T02:18:59Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > While looking up something for another thread, does anybody remember Haley Joel Osmet playing Forrest Gump Jr.? As a younger kid he played a younger kid in _The Larry Sanders Show._ ---
**Author:** ![smokey78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@smokey78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smokey78)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/231 "2013-01-10T21:51:51Z")
I, Claudius —Captain Luc Picard as a disgusted general of Tiberius in the porno gift scene ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/232 "2013-01-10T21:55:01Z")
In the pilot for Eight is Enough, oldest son David Bradford was played by a pre-Star Wars Mark Hamill. I cannot see Ray Liotta in anything without thinking of the soap Another World’s Joey Perini. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/233 "2013-01-10T22:17:47Z")
I was rewatching \*Firefly \*on blu-ray the other day and in one of the episodes (Ariel?) it shows a flashback or memory of a much younger Simon and River Tam at home with their parents. I’ve watched the whole series multiple times, but this time that boy playing young Simon looked familiar. I looked up Zac Efron’s imdb page and, sure enough, that was him. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/234 "2013-01-14T14:11:44Z")
He’s not an actor, but this clip of[2 year old Tiger Woods](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKvbSTVSMmo) showing his golf swing on the Mike Douglas show is just so damn cute. I saw this clip when he won the Master’s, and remembered seeing it when it originally aired! ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/235 "2013-01-14T14:59:09Z")
I saw the 1979 “Dating Game” ep with PeeWee Herman as Bachelor #2. I had no idea who he was at the time, and it would be several years before I’d see him again, but he definitely left an impression. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/236 "2013-01-14T15:07:41Z")
> [@smokey78](#): > > And also, Brad Pitt on Head of the Class, a blond bimbo dating the brunette artist student (that actress went on to marry the drummer of INXS). Brad Pitt’s first professional gig was as a high school basketball player on the soap [Another World.](http://www.igs.net/~awhp/bradpitt.htm) The 1955 movie Blackboard Jungle featured Jamie Farr (credit as Jameel Farah}, Vic Morrow and Sidney Poiiter playing high school students. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/237 "2013-01-14T17:51:55Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > Jennifer Lopez as one of the Fly Girl dancers on In Living Color. One of her fellow Fly Girls is _Dancing with the Stars_ judge Carrie Ann Inaba. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/238 "2013-01-14T17:55:03Z")
> [@smokey78](#): > > I, Claudius —Captain Luc Picard as a disgusted general of Tiberius in the porno gift scene He played Sejanus. Stewart can also be spotted in _Excalibur_ and the 1984 version of _Dune_ in his pre-_Star Trek_ days. ---
**Author:** ![theR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@theR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theR)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/239 "2013-01-14T20:28:31Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > I think in Death Wish 2, there’s a young Lawrence Fishburne as one of the gang members too. > > Oh yeah, another one I saw recently: Cuddy and (with hair) Taub are the “damn jews” who take Jack Nicholson’s favorite table in As Good as It Gets. He was in Apocalypse Now several years before Deathwish 2. Note for the person who mentioned Pee-wee’s Playhouse that it was well after both the movies mentioned and amidst a host of other movies that arguably made him a celebrity. In other words, I think he qualifies as famous once he hits the Pee-wee’s Playhouse era. Edit: My bad, I thought I had read the whole thread and obviously not since Apocalypse Now was mentioned already. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/240 "2013-01-14T21:57:25Z")
George Clooney was in both “Facts of Life” and “Roseanne.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516.md?page=13)