# 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:** 7\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/261 "2013-06-04T19:32:51Z")
Jack Black was seen in _Dead Man Walking_, playing Sean Penn’s brother. IIRC, he had no dialogue. He was also in _True Romance_, as a movie usher, but his scenes were cut. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/262 "2013-06-04T20:42:12Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > There was a show in the 50s called “Circus Boy” starring an 11 year old actor named Mickey Braddock. He became famous under his real name a decade later in a TV show about a struggling rock band called The Monkees. His real name? Micky Dolenz. He is still touring with his Monkees bandmates Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork, minus the late Davy Jones. if this was famous musicians who were famous before they were famous musicians that would be correct. kids back then likely considered him and Bimbo to be famous. ---
**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:** [June 4, 2013, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/263 "2013-06-04T20:45:14Z")
Speaking of Davy Jones, he appeared with the Broadway cast of Oliver! on the same Ed Sullivan show that introduced the Beatles to America. [Youtube clip](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OVGY7Rjbhc) ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2013, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/264 "2013-06-04T21:27:40Z")
Jack Black was also the main bully in Neverending Story 3 in 1994. ---
**Author:** ![Mixolydian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Mixolydian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mixolydian)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2014, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/265 "2014-02-04T14:30:20Z")
Jack Black played the uptight classmate/hockey player Augie in the California-surfer-dude-stuck-in the-midwest rollerblading “classic”, _Airborne_ (with Seth Green) [[clip]](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2Ew6dhSQlI). [Michael Shannon](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0788335/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t30), who played _Man Of Steel_’s General Zod and _Boardwalk Empire_’s Van Alden, was the young groom in \*Groundhog Day \*[[montage clip]](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvRBbKdTeyc). ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2014, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/266 "2014-02-04T20:19:10Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > There was a show in the 50s called “Circus Boy” starring an 11 year old actor named Mickey Braddock. He became famous under his real name a decade later in a TV show about a struggling rock band called The Monkees. His real name? Micky Dolenz. He is still touring with his Monkees bandmates Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork, minus the late Davy Jones. > [@johnpost](#): > > if this was > > famous musicians who were famous before they were famous musicians > > that would be correct. > > kids back then likely considered him and Bimbo to be famous. I know it’s an old post, but since the zombie is reanimated: Dolenz wasn’t a musician when he was in “Circus Boy.” And he wasn’t initially hired as a musician to be on “The Monkees,” he, along with the other three, were hired as comedic actors, with the music supplied by session musicians. Although he could play guitar, those skills were redundant alongside of Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork. It wasn’t until the Monkees insisted on playing their own music that Dolenz taught himself to play drums. Also, he was in “Circus Boy” under a stage name. “Mickey Braddock” may have become famous as Corky, but few people at the time would have been aware of his real name, much less predicted he would later become hugely famous. ---
**Author:** ![HyacinthBucket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hyacinthbucket/32/3063_2.png) [@HyacinthBucket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HyacinthBucket)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/267 "2014-02-05T03:13:40Z")
> [@tmoh](#): > > 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). Before that, he played a Rent Boy in “Wilde”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516.md?page=13)