Elijah Wood in Back to the Future 2 as that little brat on the arcade cabinet.
this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2026
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You mean you have to use your hands‽
“We ain’t found shit!” Tim Russ as an unnamed Spaceball before becoming Lt. Commander Tuvok on Star Trek Voyager.
Holy shit that's the same guy????
Peter Capaldi as Caecilius in Doctor Who (The fires of Pompeii) before joining Doctor Who as The Doctor
Several Doctors have had that happen. Colin Baker played Cmdr Maxil on Arc of Infinity, IIRC.
Karen Gillen is also in that episode, before later going on to be the companion, and eventually going into the MCU.
Bill Paxton in Terminator.
game over man!
Samuel L. Jackson is the highest grossing actor of all time. His first non-independent film role was Gang Member No. 2 in the 1981 film, Ragtime.
I just re-watched Jurassic park, and realised he's in that too. A few years before Pulp Fiction
Ah, a classic. Amazing how practical effects from 1996 hold up so well today.
A slightly more well-known film with SLJ in a minor role is Coming to America, starring Eddie Murphy, where SLJ plays a holdup man at a restaurant (I think McDonald's).
"Look... me and the McDonald's people got this little misunderstanding. See, they're McDonald's... I'm McDowell's. They got the Golden Arches, mine is the Golden Arcs. They got the Big Mac, I got the Big Mick. We both got two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions, but their buns have sesame seeds. My buns have no seeds."
Hold on to your butts!
Also as the robber in coming to America
Sam Rockwell is a punk in the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Side note: Secret of the Ooze is a very fun movie, and I find it worthwhile to this day!
Marisa Tomei is in the background during a scene in The Toxic Avenger (1984). No lines, just screams and runs.
Would Jack Black in Waterworld count?
Jack Black was in so many smaller roles so different from his mainstream roles before making it big.
It's hilarious seeing him as a jock/bully/soldier in Mars Attacks.
Also as a rat burger aficionado in Demolition Man and the gunsmith in The Jackal.
He was also the tech guy in Enemy of The State.
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Jack Black's first acting role was in commercials for Pitfall on the Atari.
Robert Downey Jr in Weird Science.
How about Robert Downey Jr. in that one weird season of SNL lol
My boy Adam Scott (main guy in Severance) in Star Trek VIII: First Contact as Worf's helmsman.
Here's his scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-KoydNOWGc
Jennifer Lawrence had one line in an episode of Monk
Not exactly the same, but Harrison Ford ~~was working as a carpenter on Star Wars and~~ was asked to just read in some lines as Han Solo while they were casting the other roles. Apparently he did a good job.
He had already acted in American Graffiti so I guess that's why they asked him to read in.
I thought that story was about how he ended up in American Graffiti. I thought he was doing work at Lucas’s house. Maybe I’m misremembering.
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Here's Harrison Ford's first movie appearance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eAEF5G-YXg
According to Ford, the director told him he wouldn't make it in the movie business because when a great actor is on the screen, you know it's a great actor. Ford replied, "I think when I'm on the screen you're not supposed to see a great actor, you're supposed to just see a bellhop."
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Jackie Chan is an unnamed martial arts student in Fist of Fury and a random mook who gets killed by Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon. He mostly worked as a stunt double at the time, and was so good at stunt work he transitioned into credited performance.
"freak #1". That's some chaos theory right there.
Samuel L Jackson in Coming to America
Steve Buscemi.
I've only ever seen the dude playing the main character in ONE movie. GhostWorld.
Outside of that, he's always just a rando side character. Yet everyone still knows who he is.
I liked him in Boardwalk Empire.
He's the guy who doesn't tip.
not exactly this but I have been watching old sitcoms and finding it funny where I see people. jaws from james bond was on I dream of jeanie. alice from alice was on barney miller and maybe twice as both a cast member and a one episode character. they guy who owns the radioa station from news radio was on murphy brown. elaines boyfriend who also played the tick played a reoocurring role on news radio.
Jean Claude Van Damme dancing in a skin tight onesie in the background in Breakin’ (1984). A breakdance movie
This isn't exactly the same thing, but Matthew Fox played a paratrooper with no lines in World War Z. This was after Lost, so he wasn't an unknown by any stretch. He originally had a bigger part, but they changed the entire 3rd act in reshoots and his role was reduced to basically nothing.
Liam Neeson and Robbie Coltrane in Krull (1983)
Arnold Schwarzenegger in “The Streets of San Francisco”.
All the early Tarantino's. I think most of the actors became famous only later. Especially Pam Grier in Jackie Brown.
Quite, I think her long career in genre films was one of the reasons Tarantino was so keen to work with her.
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Starship Troopers. Casper Van Dien was an background extra in some of the episodes of Saved by the Bell.
chris pratt in the movie "wanted"
Before Chris Penn starred in Beethoven's 2nd (1993), he had a part in Reservoir Dogs (1992).
John Cusack in '16 candles': he was one of the nerd friends who takes pictures of the unconscious cheerleader. And Brad Pitt in 'True romance' he was the roommate who needed cleaning supplies.
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