Have you ever found yourself watching a TV show or movie and saw a famous actor you recognized in a minor role? But it can't be... no, you checked IMDB and it's who you thought it is! This just goes to show that even great actors still play small roles. In some cases it's a small role that you missed because it was early in their career, and in other cases it's someone at the top of their game taking on a minor role for fun, or because they were asked to participate in one of the their favorite shows, and they couldn't turn down the part.
That's the purpose of this list; to show you some big names playing smaller roles. However, a big personality often steals the show, as you will surely see! That's what makes some actors so great; they don't always shoot for high billing. Sometimes they want to keep their chops sharp for the smaller rolls, and that's what we're here for! Without further ado, here are 11 of our most favorite times we've seen big names play smaller roles.
11 Bryan Cranston - Seinfeld
ForWalter White, heck, even before Hal Wilkerson, Brian Cranston was a regular supporting character on Seinfeld. That's right, Tim Whatley was Jerry and Kramer's dentist, who often acted in unorthodox ways, like hitting the nitrous oxide canister before doing any dental work on Jerry. He was also romantically interested in Elaine, though that relationship never really developed. In Bryan Cranston's case, he was on his way to bigger and better roles, but looking back at one of his earlier well-known smaller roles in retrospect, we see that Cranston was always committed to his character. However, it is safe to say that we would never have him perform a root canal on us!
10 Al Pacino-Gigli
Gigli is a little mafia, a lot of rom-com and see Al Pacino getting some screen time in this movie surprised us. He only has a few minutes of screen time, but he's the adversary we hear about throughout the movie. While the film was generally considered a huge flop at the box office, earning only $7.2 million against its $75.6 million budget, the film had a roster full of Oscar-winning actors, including Ben Affleck. , Christopher Walken and of course , Al Pacino.
9 Seth Macfarlane - Gilmore Girls
Although many of us know Seth Macfarlane by Family Guy, American Dad, The Cleveland Show and A Million Ways to Die in the West, he did take on small acting roles on shows like Zach in Gilmore Girls. When Lorelai graduated from community business college, Macfarlane portrayed her boisterous classmate, whose voice bore a striking resemblance to Brian Griffin's. He had a few choice words to say about the helicopter mom who hired a photographer for the occasion, saying he thought people born into privileged lives made him sick. He didn't know he was making fun of Lorelai's mom, though it doesn't seem like he was ashamed of throwing insults, which is normal if you're familiar with his sense of humor. This wasn't the only time he had a small role in Gilmore Girls. He even played Emily Gilmore's attorney, Bob, in a season three episode.
8 Tom Cruise - Tropic Thunder
tropical thunder was one of those rare once-in-a-lifetime action/comedy spoof movies, and Tom Cruise stole the show with his minor role as Les Grossman, a hot-headed, foul-mouthed producer. Although it's a minor role played by Cruise, he totally pulls it off and doesn't look half bad in a bald cap and glasses! It only makes sense that one of the top action stars of all time would want to take part in one of the greatest action parodies of all time, even though the only stunts Cruise did on his own was Diet Coke and yelling at Matthew McConaughey.
7 Seth Rogen - Donnie Darko
For Super bad, beaten, And The 40-year-old virgin, Set Rogen cut his teeth on shows like Freaks and Geeks, and took on small movie roles while establishing himself in Hollywood. If it's been a while since you've given Donnie Darko one look, you can see Rogan sitting in the back of the class, having dialogue in the form of joking about Gretchen Ross because her father was in jail for stabbing her mother. He was immediately sent to the principal's office after this exchange, which is pretty much all you see of Rogan in this movie.
6 Jared Leto - Fight Club
We know that by now Jared Leto is a talented method actor and often takes on iconic roles, such as The Joker in suicide squad, and Michael Morbius van morbius, but he also gets the life beaten out of him by Edward Norton's unnamed character Fight club. While Leto did not receive top billing for the film, he did play a major role in disbanding Project Mayhem. While he is more or less unrecognizable after being brutally beaten, Leto delivered a great performance in the David Fincher movie.
5 Dane Cook - Waiting...
Waiting...is really a Ryan Reynolds and Justin Long movie that lives in the day-to-day life of restaurant workers grinding dishes at Shenanigan's. although Dan Cook was in the midst of his meteoric rise in the world of stand-up comedy, he also took on major movie roles such as Employee of the month, And Good luck Chuck. It was during this time that Dane Cook played a minor role in Waiting... like the foul-mouthed line cook who violated unruly customers' plates when the wait staff said so. Sure, it wasn't a big part in the movie, but it delivered an important message: don't mess with the people who make your food!
4 Robin Williams - Law and Order: SVU
Leave it to the one and only Robin Williams to earn an Emmy nomination for his performance in Law & Order: SVU. It's funny to see Williams on network television, as he was more or less a household name for his work on the silver screen at this point in his career, but he delivered the goods with this television appearance. His portrayal of Merrit Rook reminds us of his performance in Insomnia with Al Pacino, playing a menacing villain who gets a kick out of teasing and manipulating law enforcement before finally getting caught.
3 Drew Barrymore - Scream
A little known fact about Drew Barrymore was that she was originally going to play Sidney Prescott scream. The unfortunate reality is that the scheduling didn't work out, but she still wanted to be a part of the movie. Casey Becker (Barrymore) is murdered in the first 12 minutes of the movie, and to this day it's one of the most iconic opening horror scenes we can think of. If only she was better at movie trivia, she might have lived another day.
2 Jack Black - The cable guy
jacket black plays an unusual role in this The cable man, in the sense that he is the voice of reason. It is Rick (Jack Black) who reveals to Steven that Chip Douglas has been fired from the cable company for stalking customers and committing criminal activities. While it's not a major role, it does unfold a major plot point to take the film into act three, and we salute him for that!
1 Bill Murray, Zombieland
The third act of Zombielandbrings us many surprises, but the biggest surprise of all is Bill Murray's cameo, in which he portrays himself. In a misguided attempt to fool Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), he dresses like a zombie, but he dresses a little too convincingly because it kills him. Remember, folks... if you're going to mess with people who are in a heightened state of fear during a zombie apocalypse, make sure they're not armed!
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