But there are some credits I’m sure actors would just as soon leave off their resumes. While looking through IMDB here are a few I found:
Second Japanese Sentry
First Gossip
Reporter #8
Man Being Combed for Lice
Daughter of Elegant Bystander
Whip Scarred Brick Carrier
Wounded Poker Player
Gum Chewer
Your favorites? Bonus points if they later became a Big Star!
In the first episode of Angel, Josh Holloway (Sawyer on Lost) is a vampire at a bar, but is credited as “Good Looking Guy.”
Jeff Goldbloom’s first role was in Death Wish. He played the key role of:
My father was a “featured extra” in a film a few years back. In the script he was listed as “Angry white man.”
Talk about your type casting!
I loved how bit parts in The Naked Gun were credited by quotations. I’d love to be able to say that I played “Hey! It’s Enrico Palazzo!”
With some memorable quotes.
While it’s not a hard and fast rule, most professional and aspiring actors don’t list film and TV roles by name on their resumes. The usual three-column format is:
Name of Production-----Type of Role------Director and/or Production Company
Types of role for feature films and TV movies include:
Lead (not necessarily the star, but an important role)
Supporting (as little as one line; what most people think of as supporting roles are likely to be listed as leads)
Featured (this has been somewhat degraded over the years and is now usually interpreted as meaning a background or “extra” role)
Types of role for TV series include:
Series regular (appearing in all or at least most of the episodes of at least one season)
Recurring Guest Star (a guest star on two or more episodes)
Guest Star (the “guest starring” credit is supposed to denote a meatier role than “co-starring,” but sometimes the difference comes down to an actor’s previous credits or their agent’s negotiating skills)
Recurring (a co-star for two or more episodes)
Co-star (any speaking part that does not merit one of the previous descriptions on a show other than a soap)
Principal (any speaking part that does not merit one of the previous descriptions on a soap)
Under 5 (a speaking part with fewer than 5 lines on a soap)
Using this format makes sense when you consider that casting directors aren’t going to be able to tell what kind of experience you have if your credit says “Guy in Bar.” They’re much more interested in knowing how much dialog you had to manage.
For stage credits, it’s customary to list roles by character’s name, the presumption being that CD’s know a little more about Claudius, Horatio, and Osric than Freak #1.
I know. I’m taking this far too seriously.
SDMB…Serious Guy #8…Creative Loafing.
One of the writers of The Lost World cameoed in the film as the man who is eaten by a T-rex outside a video store. He’s credited as “Unlucky Bastard.”
A recent story out of Salt Lake comments on the arrest of one of the stars of Disney’s High School Musical after robbing a pizza store. He played the memorable (?) role of Skater #1.
And who could forget Krusty the Klown’s desperate plea after his show’s cancelation: “Can I be Hemorrhoid Sufferer #1?”
Orlando Bloom … Rent Boy.
Not quite his first role, but pretty darn close.
This guy has so far been credited as “boy” in his first role, a terrorist by name in his second, “gunman” in the third, and “satanic cashier” in the fourth. Typecasting, I suppose.
Nah 
While it is amusing to laugh at roles like these, most people don’t get that the actor had to win out over maybe dozens of other actors to get it. My daughter’s first role was “Photographer” in a commercial. The money was just as good.
I think Kermit said “all these people have families too” during the long credits at the end of The Muppet Movie.
Jean Claude Van Damme’s first movie credit, in 1984’s Monaco Forever, was “Gay Karate Man.”
Typecasting can be a bitch.
Actually, I think that’s in the opening credits of The Great Muppet Caper.
“Nobody reads those things anyway, do they?”
“Sure! They all have families.”
That role isn’t that small, and it’s important to the plot, but I am nit-picking on behalf on the prettiness that is Bloom. (Remember folks, I never said a word about his acting abilities- just his face.
)