# You first knew actor/actress from a role different from one they're widely known in. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 16, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139 "2015-03-16T19:15:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/81 "2015-03-17T20:27:32Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > More seriously, am I the only person to whom Nathan Fillion is the third guy on _Two Guys and a Girl_? I actually had to look this up - I honestly only remember Traylor Howard from this. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/82 "2015-03-17T20:32:37Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > He quit while he was still ahead. I think Ragsdale played the last guy Ellen dated before they started the “coming out” arc that killed the series. ---
**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:** [March 17, 2015, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/83 "2015-03-17T20:35:42Z")
Even before Goldie Hawn was in _Laugh-In_, I remember her as Sandy Kramer, Ronnie Schell’s girlfriend on **Good Morning, World**. And before she was Gloria on _all in the Family_, I remember Sally Struthers as The Smothers Brothers Dancer (singular!) on **The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour**. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/84 "2015-03-17T20:47:14Z")
It may not count as “knowing” her, since I can’t even remember her character’s name. But I first noticed Megan Mullally when she played a one-shot love interest for Niles on an episode of _Frasier_. I can distinctly remember finding her very attractive and charming, and hoping that I would see more of this unknown actress in future projects. It was about a year later that _Will & Grace_ debuted, and the rest is history. ---
**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:** [March 17, 2015, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/85 "2015-03-17T20:56:49Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > I actually had to look this up - I honestly only remember Traylor Howard from this. Two Guys And A Girl (And (for a while) A Pizza Place) is what I remember seeing Ryan Reynolds on for the first time. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/86 "2015-03-17T22:16:19Z")
Lots of actors I will always remember from **RoboCop** , regardless of what they’ve been in before or since: Watching Deliverance / Total Recall / TNG: “it’s Dick Jones!” Watching That 70’s Show: “it’s Clarence Boddicker!” Watching ER: “it’s the guy that said to RoboCop ‘You’re dead! We killed you!’” Similarly everyone I’ve ever seen that was in **Oz** will always be their character from Oz: Schillinger, Beecher, Ryan O’Reilly, Said, Chris Keller, Adebisi, Alvarez, Augustus, The Governor, Shirley Bellinger, etc. ---
**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:** [March 17, 2015, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/87 "2015-03-17T22:50:26Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > And every role Philip Seymour Hoffman had was always Scotty from _Boogie Nights_ all grown up. I always remember Philip Seymour Hoffman as the overly enthusiastic storm chaser in _Twister_. ---
**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:** [March 17, 2015, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/88 "2015-03-17T23:04:57Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Ferris Bueller got its butt kicked by “ **Parker Lewis Can’t Lose** ” Naturally. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/89 "2015-03-17T23:19:21Z")
Sean Connery is, of course, the Egyptian guy from Highlander. Or possibly the Russian guy from The Hunt for Red October. And Simon Pegg will forever mean Spaced to me, but I imagine that’s not so much an uncommon one for Brits. Big Train, too. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/90 "2015-03-17T23:27:00Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Jennifer Aniston will always be the groupie who locked herself, with Julie Brown, in a trunk to go on tour with (I think) Aerosmith on “_ **The Edge** _” (Fox, 1992). Later in the episode they were talking skeletons. _The Edge_ was where I first saw Wayne Knight, in a sketch where he played a manic Stephen King, constantly inspired to write a new story every time he looked at another appliance in his kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/91 "2015-03-17T23:36:45Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > _The Edge_ was where I first saw Wayne Knight, in a sketch where he played a manic Stephen King, constantly inspired to write a new story every time he looked at another appliance in his kitchen. Crap, I missed that one; it sounds hysterical. Remember this?: What Alf is doing RIGHT. THIS. MINUTE.–(Alf doll in a garbage can) What Oscar the Grouch is doing RIGHT. THIS. MINUTE.–(Same shot; “Get off me, Alf!”) ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/92 "2015-03-17T23:44:52Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > You joke, but when I first saw _The Princess Bride_, I went “Hey, that’s [Kelly Capwell](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Barbara_%28TV_series%29)” … It was only this year when I read (not figured out on my own) that Princess Buttercup and Jenny from Forrest Gump are both the same actress. I have seen both movies countless times and had a crush on both characters at different times but I never made the connection. It apparently doesn’t take much to throw me off. Just a simple fake accent turns someone into a completely different person in my mind. It is a good thing I haven’t seen House of Cards yet. I probably would have three-peated on that and felt even dumber when I realized the truth. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/93 "2015-03-18T01:26:53Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > It was only this year when I read (not figured out on my own) that Princess Buttercup and Jenny from Forrest Gump are both the same actress. I have seen both movies countless times and had a crush on both characters at different times but I never made the connection. It apparently doesn’t take much to throw me off. Just a simple fake accent turns someone into a completely different person in my mind. I feel you. I’m a big _Firefly_ fan, but I didn’t think much of Morena Baccarin (the “companion”). On the other hand, I thought the actress who played the lead alien in\* V\*, and who guested in a couple episodes of _The Mentalist_, was super hot. I only found out last year that the latter was also Morena Baccarin, with a shorter haircut. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/94 "2015-03-18T02:11:47Z")
Whitney Houston was a singing phenom in 1985. I had already known her as one of _Seventeen_ magazine’s house models. She rocked a red one-piece swimsuit. I bet that issue is worth $$$. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/95 "2015-03-18T02:18:52Z")
> [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > Sean Connery is, of course, the Egyptian guy from Highlander. Or possibly the Russian guy from The Hunt for Red October. Nope. He’s Alex Trebek’s nemesis on _Celebrity Jeopardy_. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/96 "2015-03-18T02:39:50Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > It was only this year when I read (not figured out on my own) that Princess Buttercup and Jenny from Forrest Gump are both the same actress. I have seen both movies countless times and had a crush on both characters at different times but I never made the connection. It apparently doesn’t take much to throw me off. Just a simple fake accent turns someone into a completely different person in my mind. It is a good thing I haven’t seen House of Cards yet. I probably would have three-peated on that and felt even dumber when I realized the truth. :::Watching House of Cards together::: Me: … Have I pointed out before that she was Jenny in Forrest Gump? Div: _mind blown_ ---
**Author:** ![Daffyd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daffyd/32/8923_2.png) [@Daffyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daffyd)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/97 "2015-03-18T03:29:39Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > And I was one of the handful of people who enjoyed David Hyde Pierce in \*The Powers That Be," \*prior to _Frasier._ Totally with ya! Loved him in that! ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/98 "2015-03-18T10:16:45Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > To me, William Daniels isn’t Dr. Mark Craig from _St. Elsewhere_ or the Voice of K.I.T.T. from _Knight Rider_, or even John Adams from _1776_ (I saw him onstage in the original Broadway run) or Sam Adams or John Quincy Adams (he had the entire Adams family sewn up). Nor Dustin Hoffman’s father in _The Graduate_. Or Wynn Quantrill of Seaside Heights, New Jersey in _The President’s Analyst_ (where Seaside Heights didn’t look anything like the way it really does). > No, to me, he was always Carter Nash, alter ego to spoof superhero Captain Nice in the pretty much forgotten 1967 sitcom **Captain Nice** from the folks who gave us _Get Smart!_ To me, he’s always the annoying friend/dad – too rigid in vacation planning, too lax in child reading – in the Finney-Hepburn film _Two for the Road_. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/99 "2015-03-18T12:27:38Z")
My favorite character from the always unintentionally hilarious TV show Alias was Sydney Bristow’s nerdy best friend, Will Tippin. I understand actor Bradley Cooper has done some stuff of note since then. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/100 "2015-03-18T12:38:50Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > To me, William Daniels isn’t Dr. Mark Craig from _St. Elsewhere_ or the Voice of K.I.T.T. from _Knight Rider_, or even John Adams from _1776_ (I saw him onstage in the original Broadway run) or Sam Adams or John Quincy Adams (he had the entire Adams family sewn up). Nor Dustin Hoffman’s father in _The Graduate_. Or Wynn Quantrill of Seaside Heights, New Jersey in _The President’s Analyst_ (where Seaside Heights didn’t look anything like the way it really does). Of course not–he’ll always be Mr. Feeny! 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139.md?page=6)