You first knew actor/actress from a role different from one they're widely known in.

[GuanoLad]

@PatrickLondon

Judi Dench when I first became aware of her:

I know her from this. It almost always comes to mind whenever I see her.

[Lumpy]

Tom Baker, famous as the fourth Doctor, had a role as the evil sorcerer in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. When I first started watching Doctor Who, I kept wondering why he looked so strangely familiar until I looked it up.

[Tibby]

At the risk of showing my age, to me Charlie Chaplin will always be pageboy Billy, long before he became The Tramp.

And Clare Bow will always be tomboy “Dot” Morgan before she turned into the It Girl.

[Cartoonacy]

@Superdude

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.

To me, she will always be Penny Parker from MacGyver.

[CalMeacham]

@Poysyn

I remembered him from both Next of Kin (where he played a hillbilly?) and High Spirits a not-very-good comedy.

I saw High Spirits when it came out. I didn’t even recall that Neeson had been in it. Darkman is still the film where he finally made a splash in my consciousness.

[Freudian_Slit]

Apparently Jewel Staite was on Firefly/Serenity (never seen it). I just always knew her as the rainbow headed kid on Space Cases.

[Annie-Xmas]

@Ms_Boods

I was a young teenager the first time I saw Malcolm McDowell in a film – Time After Time where he plays the shy, romantic lead.

Good call. I consider Time After Time to be one of the best films ever made. McDowell portray of H.G. Wells was fantastic.

[MrAtoz]

@Superdude

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.

Ironic, considering your user name, that you don’t remember her like I do: as Lois Lane.

[Annie-Xmas]

Kate Mulgrew will always be Mary Ryan of Ryan’s Hope.

[terentii]

@Annie-Xmas

Kate Mulgrew will always be Mary Ryan of Ryan’s Hope.

She was also one of Sam’s love interests on Cheers!, which is where I first saw her.

I can’t believe no one has mentioned Patrick Stewart as Sejanus on I, Claudius, or John Hurt as Caligula! :eek: For that matter, I first saw Derek Jacobi and Michael Lonsdale in Day of the Jackal and recognized them in I, Claudius and Moonraker, respectively.

And yes, I remember Goldie Hawn on Good Morning, World! too.

[Superdude]

@MrAtoz

Ironic, considering your user name, that you don’t remember her like I do: as Lois Lane.

I saw * Tango & Cash * first. And, tired of all the misrepresentations of me, didn’t watch her as Lois. They couldn’t even get my NAME right!

[eulalia]

When I first saw Thorin Oakenshield I thought that Robin Hood had seriously cut Sir Guy down to size.

[Jalola298]

Meg Ryan, Julianne Moore, and Marisa Tomei will always be, respectively, Betsy Stewart, Frannie Hughes and Marcy Thompson from As the World Turns.

Toronto people may remember Mike Myers as “Mike from Tonnage” on City TV’s overnight show in the early 80s. He was a precursor to Wayne Campbell.

I remember George Clooney as George on The Facts of Life. Not that I knew him from this, but he was on a show called E/R years before he was on ER.

[Jalola298]

Oh and who else remembers Brad Pitt playing Randy, the boyfriend of Priscilla Presley’s daughter, on Dallas?

I first saw Matthew Perry playing Carol Seaver’s ill-fated boyfriend, Sandy, on Growing Pains, IIRC.

[Abner_Ravenwood]

Leonardo DiCaprio. The first role I noticed him in was Arnie Grape from What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and I legitimately thought that he was mentally challenged.

[Jalola298]

@Honey

To me David Duchovny was Jake Winters on The Red Shoe Diaries until he was Fox Mulder on The X Files. Then he became Hank Moody. It says a lot about Duchovny as an actor that I never saw Mulder when I watched Californication.

I can’t forget about David as Agent Denise/Dennis Bryson in Twin Peaks.

[Cartooniverse]

I saw Frank Langella in " The Twelve Chairs " before I saw him in “Dracula”.

[Master_Wang-Ka]

The first time I saw Doctor Who, I was jolted. “Isn’t that the fine character actor Jon Pertwee, the reluctant vampire from The House That Dripped Blood, among other Hammer horror films?”

[The_Other_Waldo_Pepper]

@Jalola298

I first saw Matthew Perry playing Carol Seaver’s ill-fated boyfriend, Sandy, on Growing Pains, IIRC.

I first saw him before that, on JUST THE TEN OF US, as the nice young man one of the daughters brings home, and, dangit, his Matthew Perry schtick is so unthreateningly polite that Dad relents and lets her go out on dates with him. (And once they’re out the door, she invariably ditches him to meet up with her real boyfriend as planned.)

[jayjay]

@Jalola298

Meg Ryan, Julianne Moore, and Marisa Tomei will always be, respectively, Betsy Stewart, Frannie Hughes and Marcy Thompson from As the World Turns.

For me, too! That was one of my mom’s “stories”, which I inherited and watched for years before finally getting out of the habit.