# Supporting actors/actresses in movies who hit big through TV? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 7, 2014, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supporting-actors-actresses-in-movies-who-hit-big-through-tv/678149 "2014-01-07T17:50:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supporting-actors-actresses-in-movies-who-hit-big-through-tv/678149/41 "2014-01-08T18:08:59Z")
I can give you a trio of opposite-direction folks (TV to movies): Meg Ryan, Julianne Moore and Marisa Tomei. All of them started out on the soap _As The World Turns_. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supporting-actors-actresses-in-movies-who-hit-big-through-tv/678149/42 "2014-01-08T20:22:52Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Tom Skerritt. He did lots of character work in movies and even had a lead in a major hit film\* – which did nothing for his career. But being cast as Jimmy Brock in **Picket Fences** won him an Emmy and got him noticed. > > \ ***MASH**. He played Duke Forrest. Who was Duke Forrest? The guy who was left out of the TV show, even though he was equal to Sutherland and Gould in the film. I’m not sure you can say Skerritt “got noticed” after Picket Fences. His current career doesn’t look much different than his pre-Picket Fences one, which was still pretty mainstream (prominent supporting roles in Top Gun, Cheers, Alien). After, he had a huge string of made-for-TV movie roles, bit parts, and guest appearances. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supporting-actors-actresses-in-movies-who-hit-big-through-tv/678149/43 "2014-01-08T22:02:57Z")
David Strathairn was a highly recognizable “That Guy” in film for many decades before becoming Dr. Lee Rosen in _Alphas._ ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supporting-actors-actresses-in-movies-who-hit-big-through-tv/678149/44 "2014-01-08T22:52:59Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > David Strathairn was a highly recognizable “That Guy” in film for many decades before becoming Dr. Lee Rosen in _Alphas._ You just broke my frakking brain. David Strathairn has been nominated for Oscars, Golden Globes, Emmys (won one), SAG Awards, and a BAFTA just to touch the highlights. He was slumming in _Alphas_: suggesting that that is when he “made it big” is just wrong. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supporting-actors-actresses-in-movies-who-hit-big-through-tv/678149/45 "2014-01-09T00:14:00Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > You just broke my frakking brain. > > David Strathairn has been nominated for Oscars, Golden Globes, Emmys (won one), SAG Awards, and a BAFTA just to touch the highlights. He was slumming in _Alphas_: suggesting that that is when he “made it big” is just wrong. Huh, wow. Admittedly I haven’t followed his career or even paid much attention to movies in general since 1994’s _The River Wild._ Good on him! ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supporting-actors-actresses-in-movies-who-hit-big-through-tv/678149/46 "2014-01-09T00:35:38Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Alan Alda was a bit player before M_A_S\*H He was well-known on the stage, having starred in the improv group **The Compass** (its Hyannisport franchise) and **The Apple Tree** on Broadway. While the general public was mostly unaware of him, actors and producers knew him pretty well in the early-mid 60s. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supporting-actors-actresses-in-movies-who-hit-big-through-tv/678149/47 "2014-01-09T18:26:18Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Tony Shalhoub had small roles in many movies (including \*\*\*The Siege \*\*\*and _ **Barton Fink** _) before starring in _ **Monk.** _ \*\*Shalhoub \*\*really got to prominence with his role on “Wings” though, not that he was the star but he was a popular character on a popular show. Before that he only had a few bit parts here and there, not much that you’d call even a supporting role. _Barton Fink_ maybe but even then, it came out in '91, the same year Wings premiered. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supporting-actors-actresses-in-movies-who-hit-big-through-tv/678149/48 "2014-01-09T18:34:05Z")
Megan Mullally really got to prominence on WILL & GRACE after a lot of small roles in movies – and after auditioning for the part of Elaine on SEINFELD. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supporting-actors-actresses-in-movies-who-hit-big-through-tv/678149/49 "2014-01-09T20:28:16Z")
> [@Telperion](#): > > Neil Flynn was in a few movies before becoming known through _Scrubs_ and _The Middle_. They even lampshaded that on _Scrubs_, with J.D. wondering if Janitor and the actor who plays a Chicago cop in _The Fugitive_ are one and the same person. > [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > …(And, come to think of it, Dann Florek was kind of all over the place in big-screen supporting roles before his _four-hundred-episodes-and-counting_ run on LAW & ORDER incarnations.)… He first came on my radar screen with his recurring role as a boring-as-hell businessman who dated (and later married?) Rox on _L.A. Law_. Which reminds me, Richard Dysart was in a gazillion movies before hitting it big as the patriarchal senior partner on _L.A. Law_. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supporting-actors-actresses-in-movies-who-hit-big-through-tv/678149/50 "2014-01-10T02:17:03Z")
Butterfly McQueen. The Best Supporting Actress from **Gone With the Wind** became the first Black person to carry a TV series, **Beulah**. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supporting-actors-actresses-in-movies-who-hit-big-through-tv/678149/51 "2014-01-10T02:20:38Z")
Nicholas Brendan was in a **Children of the Corn** sequel before becoming Xander on **BtVS**. ---
**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, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supporting-actors-actresses-in-movies-who-hit-big-through-tv/678149/52 "2014-01-10T20:35:16Z")
Fram Drescher was referred to as “the actress you can’t forget in the films you can’t remember” until she and then husband Peter Marc Jacobson created The Nanny. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supporting-actors-actresses-in-movies-who-hit-big-through-tv/678149/53 "2014-01-10T20:39:15Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > Butterfly McQueen. The Best Supporting Actress from **Gone With the Wind** became the first Black person to carry a TV series, **Beulah**. Wasn’t that Hattie “Mammy” McDaniel? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supporting-actors-actresses-in-movies-who-hit-big-through-tv/678149/54 "2014-01-10T20:59:19Z")
Jon Hamm got plenty of small movie parts before MAD MEN made him a household name: he’s the square-jawed young pilot who obviously can’t do what Clint Eastwood and Tommy Lee Jones can in SPACE COWBOYS, he’s the Army captain who doesn’t have what it takes compared to Mel Gibson in WE WERE SOLDIERS; he’s the cop in a film with Ray Walston, he’s the skydiving guide in a film with Paul Rudd – they just needed a broad-shouldered guy to deliver lines with smiling assurance, is all. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supporting-actors-actresses-in-movies-who-hit-big-through-tv/678149/55 "2014-01-11T12:43:04Z")
Jennifer Garner had supporting roles in over half-a-dozen movies – she’s the other nurse in PEARL HARBOR, the long-suffering girlfriend in DUDE WHERE’S MY CAR, and so on – but didn’t hit the big time until after the first episode of ALIAS. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supporting-actors-actresses-in-movies-who-hit-big-through-tv/678149/56 "2014-01-11T14:25:42Z")
Although his name was mentioned in the OP, the film(s) were not: [William Shatner in _ **The Brothers Karamazov** _ (1958)](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tQE8RelNiSg/TzlbFTLRUYI/AAAAAAAAAVA/KhdD3b6f6Mw/s1600/ShatnerWearly.jpg) starring Yul Bryner. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2014, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supporting-actors-actresses-in-movies-who-hit-big-through-tv/678149/57 "2014-01-12T00:36:16Z")
> [@echo7tango](#): > > Although his name was mentioned in the OP, the film(s) were not: [William Shatner in _ **The Brothers Karamazov** _ (1958)](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tQE8RelNiSg/TzlbFTLRUYI/AAAAAAAAAVA/KhdD3b6f6Mw/s1600/ShatnerWearly.jpg) starring Yul Bryner. There were lots of others, including my favorite Weird Cast movies, **The Outrage** , a remake of an Akira Kurasawa film as a Western (As they did with _Seven Samurai_ and [io]Yojimbo\*), mbut this time with **Rashomon** It has to be one of the most neglected films _ever_, which is weiord, all thinhgs considered. Shatner gets the role of the Priest, a Preacher in this version. He’s aided and abetted by Paul Newman as an unlikely Mexican ()the Toshiro Mifune role), Claire Bloom, Lawrence Harvey, Howard da Silva (Ben Franklin!), and Edward G. Robindon (!!) Shatner also starred in **Incubus** (Inkubo), the first film in Esperanto (!!!) Maybe his dramatic pauses sounded more natural in Esperanto. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2014, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supporting-actors-actresses-in-movies-who-hit-big-through-tv/678149/58 "2014-01-12T01:27:30Z")
Once there was a guy who got supporting roles on the big screen. A love triangle where the wife might leave her husband for a younger man? He’s not first-billed or second-billed, because – well, he’s the younger man. A comedy like RETURN OF THE KILLER TOMATOES, he’s the protagonist’s wisecracking buddy. You cast his _cousin_ as the leading man in a heist movie; you cast _him_ as the memorable cross-dresser. Anyhow, you know as well as I do when things turned around for George Clooney. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2014, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supporting-actors-actresses-in-movies-who-hit-big-through-tv/678149/59 "2014-01-12T01:52:07Z")
Does Mark Harmon count? He was top billed in a bunch of B movies before hitting it big with NCIS, but I don’t think any of them were terribly successful. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2014, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supporting-actors-actresses-in-movies-who-hit-big-through-tv/678149/60 "2014-01-12T01:55:47Z")
Oh, he just popped into my head. Gary Sinise was a great supporting actor in Forrest Gump, Ransom, and a few other movies and then took off with CSI:New York. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supporting-actors-actresses-in-movies-who-hit-big-through-tv/678149.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supporting-actors-actresses-in-movies-who-hit-big-through-tv/678149.md?page=4)