I actually had to look this up - I honestly only remember Traylor Howard from this.
I think Ragsdale played the last guy Ellen dated before they started the “coming out” arc that killed the series.
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.
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.
Two Guys And A Girl (And (for a while) A Pizza Place) is what I remember seeing Ryan Reynolds on for the first time.
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.
I always remember Philip Seymour Hoffman as the overly enthusiastic storm chaser in Twister.
Naturally.
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.
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!”)
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.
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.
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 $$$.
Nope. He’s Alex Trebek’s nemesis on Celebrity Jeopardy.
:::Watching House of Cards together:::
Me: … Have I pointed out before that she was Jenny in Forrest Gump?
Div: mind blown
Totally with ya! Loved him in that!
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.
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.
Of course not–he’ll always be Mr. Feeny! 