# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![piepiepie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47774/32.png) [@piepiepie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/piepiepie)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/101 "2015-03-18T15:18:38Z")
I can only see Drake as sensitive, paralyzed, suburban Canadian rapper, Jimmy Brooks. Of course, Drake still retains most of those traits. ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/102 "2015-03-18T15:26:34Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > 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**. Wasn’t that _The Tim Conway Comedy Hour_? \ Huh! She must’ve done the same routine on both shows. To me, Michael Keaton is the obnoxious Presidential aide from _[All’s Fair](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073956/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_69)_, and David Letterman is the mailman from _[The Starland Vocal Band Show](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075586/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast)_. And, of course, Debra Winger will always be _[Wonder Girl](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RPe3UjK2rs)_. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/103 "2015-03-18T17:04:57Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > I always remember Philip Seymour Hoffman as the overly enthusiastic storm chaser in _Twister_. Oh, no way, Philip Seymour Hoffman will always be that worm of a kid in _Scent of a Woman_. And Leonardo DiCaprio somehow seems to always remind me of Arnie Grape. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/104 "2015-03-18T17:35:58Z")
Wait, you thought he was the fifth Doctor? Or the guy who made the hilarious video about trying to sneak into the _Doctor Who_ fiftieth anniversary episode? Or Henry Sharpe on _Law And Order UK_? I’m sorry, you’re wrong: Peter Davison is Tristan Farnon from _All Creatures Great And Small_. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/105 "2015-03-18T18:19:02Z")
I saw Tao of Steve well before Terriers or Gotham but I do believe that I know Donal Logue from Grounded For Life. But I really saw him first as Jimmy the Cab Driver on the MTV spots. That was a fun “Aha” moment when I put that together. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/106 "2015-03-18T18:34:39Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Peter Davison is Tristan Farnon from _All Creatures Great And Small_. Did that even need saying? ---
**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, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/107 "2015-03-18T19:34:25Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > 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**. She was smoking hot in _The Getaway_ (the Steve McQueen version). And then she discovered Twinkies. ---
**Author:** ![sco3tt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@sco3tt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sco3tt)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/108 "2015-03-18T22:26:18Z")
Bob Odenkirk will always be associated with _Mr. Show_ for me. Whenever I see him wearing a suit as Saul Goodman/Jimmy McGill on _Breaking Bad_ or _Better Call Saul_ (which is to say, in essentially every scene he appears in), I think he’s just one brow-mopping handkerchief away from lapsing into his [Senator Tankerbell](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8eLvKBWrI0) character. ---
**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:** [March 19, 2015, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/109 "2015-03-19T00:43:29Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > When I was a kid at our house Bob Denver was far more known as Maynard G. Krebs than he was as Gilligan. > > I’m aging myself.☹ > > If you only knew him from Airplane and Naked Gun, then it had to be difficult to watch his earlier dramatic work later. Even though I know it’s serious I keep waiting for the captain of the Poseidon to fart or wisecrack! And Warren Beatty is rich, arrogant, jock Milton Armitage. Tuesday Weld, of course, is money-obsessed Thalia Menninger. But that is only because her father is 60 years old and has a kidney condition, her mother is not getting any younger, her sister is married to a loafer and her brother is a public charge. ---
**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 19, 2015, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/110 "2015-03-19T01:05:18Z")
I know Anjelica Huston’s been in tons of important movies and that she and Jack were a big power couple in the day, but to me she’ll always be Morticia Addams and the Grand High Witch! ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/111 "2015-03-19T10:05:03Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#): > > Morgan Freeman will always be Easy Reader. And Lawrence Fishburne will always be Cowboy Curtis. (I know he was in _Apocalypse Now_ and _Cornbread, Earl and Me_ but “scrawny kid Larry Fishburne” just isn’t the same) BTW, while making sure I was remembering the title of _Cornbread, Earl and Me_ correctly I discovered Fishburne is married to Gina Torres. I did not know that. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/112 "2015-03-19T15:14:33Z")
I first saw Angelina Jolie in _Foxfire_ (1996). I was bowled over by her performance—which was a far cry from her eventual celebrity persona. She began to attract attention with _Gia_ (1998). She became a household word a few years later with _Lara Croft: Tomb Raider_ (2001). ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/113 "2015-03-19T16:06:51Z")
It wasn’t exactly “a” earlier role, but I saw Paul Hogan’s TV series (it was more of a sketch comedy) years before _Crocodile Dundee_ - or before his TV commercials for Australia, for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/114 "2015-03-19T21:32:01Z")
I became introduced to Liam Neeson through his role in the 1999 movie “The haunting”. Not sure what his signature film role is, but I also confident that it is not that movie. ---
**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 19, 2015, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/115 "2015-03-19T22:36:26Z")
I don’t think it’s DARKMAN, but it is for me. ---
**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 19, 2015, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/116 "2015-03-19T23:43:31Z")
> [@Nema98](#): > > I became introduced to Liam Neeson through his role in the 1999 movie “The haunting”. Not sure what his signature film role is, but I also confident that it is not that movie. He became a famous name after _Schindler’s List_ and then _Rob Roy_, I think. I saw him in a bunch of things before then, though, including _Krull_ and _Excalibur_. ---
**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:** [March 20, 2015, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/117 "2015-03-20T01:01:46Z")
Jim Carrey will always be Fire Marshall Bill to me. Brent Spiner (Data from _ST:TNG_) will always be [Bob](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrLvtoKZfxY) on Night Court. ---
**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 20, 2015, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/118 "2015-03-20T01:25:18Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I don’t think it’s DARKMAN, but it is for me. I know that I saw Neeson earlier in **The Mission** and **The Bounty** , but I don’t really recall him from those. **Darkman** was the first movie of his where I noticed him as an individual, rather than as one of a company. ---
**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 20, 2015, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/119 "2015-03-20T03:08:23Z")
Archie Panjabi, who plays Kalinda on The Good Wife also played Sam Taylor’s girlfriend, Maya, on Life on Mars in a couple of episodes… She’ll always be Maya to me - especially with her on again/off again American accent on TGW! ---
**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:** [March 20, 2015, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/120 "2015-03-20T05:58:41Z")
Teri Hatcher will always be Katherine “Kiki” Tango in _Tango & Cash_, rather than a desperate housewife, or the “They’re real…and they’re spectacular” woman. Of course, I remember her on an episode of _Night Court_ as well, as the one woman that Dan Fielding had to consider off-limits. [Rene Auberjonois](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0041281/?ref_=nv_sr_2) will always be Clayton Endicott III on _Benson_, and no one else. [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=5) [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=7)