Famous thesps in bit-parts before they were famous

[Mitch]

Famous thesps in bit-parts before they were famous

Was Johnny Depp famous by the time he was briefly in Platoon?

[Gangster Octopus]

Famous thesps in bit-parts before they were famous

Talking of Prunella Scales:

[San Bernardhinault]

Famous thesps in bit-parts before they were famous

Tom Selleck was a corpse in Michael Crichton's Coma

[Gyuri]

Famous thesps in bit-parts before they were famous

Was Johnny Depp famous by the time he was briefly in Platoon?

He had a fairly substantial part in the original "Nightmare on Elm Street" before Platoon, but he was far from famous. His leading role in the TV show "21 Jump Street" was the first thing to make him famous in the US, but that was after Platoon, I think.

[Ray de Galles]

Famous thesps in bit-parts before they were famous

Mitch wrote:

Was Johnny Depp famous by the time he was briefly in Platoon?

The role he was born to play.

Edit: this was mean to be a response to ;

Tom Selleck was a corpse in Michael Crichton's Coma

but I quite like the original post now.

[Bored Of Education]

Famous thesps in bit-parts before they were famous

George Cole looks remarkably like Rob Brydon in GO's pic.

Keira Knightley was, of course, Natalie Portman's double in The Phantom Menace, 3 years before "Bend It Like Beckham"

[Gerontophile]

Famous thesps in bit-parts before they were famous

Catherine Zeta-Jones-Douglas-Danielovitch was in The Darling Buds of May.

[Gangster Octopus]

Famous thesps in bit-parts before they were famous

I'm not sure that I've ever seen her in anything else.

[Gerontophile]

Famous thesps in bit-parts before they were famous

She probably doesnt fit here anyway, as she had quite a big part in that.

[treibeis]

Famous thesps in bit-parts before they were famous

Sergeant Bob Cryer as Tim Roth's social worker in Made In Britain.

[ian.64]

Famous thesps in bit-parts before they were famous

Tom Selleck was a corpse in Michael Crichton's Coma

If it is to be believed then Christopher Reeve was one of the suspended bodies in the Jefferson Institute sequence in that film (ghoulish to think of it now, in a way).

There's also Kevin Costner's hands in The Big Chill, due to his footage of being an entire corpse in a coffin being excised from the film. In fact, he's more famous for not being in the film, now.

[Tony C]

Famous thesps in bit-parts before they were famous

Similarly there is a British character actress called Ann Beach who filmed a fairly substantial role as Hugh Grant's mother in 'Notting Hill' only to have her performance completely wiped.

[Heliotrope]

Famous thesps in bit-parts before they were famous

Everyone probably knows about Hilary Swank's having been a regular on 90210 not long before her first Oscar, but another two-time nominee also had a bit part in a first-season episode--it was Djimon Hounsou.

[ian.64]

Famous thesps in bit-parts before they were famous

Tony C: I'll trump that with the minor role of a waiter in the Ben Affleck thriller, The Sum Of All Fears. Sadly, Matt Damon's walk-on part was excised.

[Guest]

Famous thesps in bit-parts before they were famous

ian.64 wrote:

There's also Kevin Costner's hands in The Big Chill, due to his footage of being an entire corpse in a coffin being excised from the film. In fact, he's more famous for not being in the film, now.

And it was a better film for that particular bit of editing. (love that film! Best line ever: "That's the problem with these modern appliances. You've got to watch them all the time."

[Anton Gramscescu]

Famous thesps in bit-parts before they were famous

Coffy, that is one brilliant piece of trivia. Your knowledge of late 80s - early 90s cheese is staggering. I salute you.

[Gerontophile]

Famous thesps in bit-parts before they were famous

Giovanni Ribisi played a mate of Kevin in The Wonder Years, before playing Phoebe's brother in Friends and then going on to many movies.

I suspect that he has been in other stuff before even The Wonder Years.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Famous thesps in bit-parts before they were famous

the doctor who tries to hospitalise Harry hill in the final couple of scenes in goodfellas is none other than senator clay davis.

[Mitch]

Famous thesps in bit-parts before they were famous

It also seems that practically every other actor from The Wire has been in either one of the Law & Order or CSI spin-offs at least once...

(And Omar's in that Trapped In The Closet madness isn't he?)

[Guest]

Famous thesps in bit-parts before they were famous

Ribisi was in Blossom (yeah, how embarrassing is it that I remember that..?)before the wonder years.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Famous thesps in bit-parts before they were famous

yeah, and omar is the guy that jackie jr goes to hide out with just before he gets shot in season 3 of the sopranos.

[Tony C]

Famous thesps in bit-parts before they were famous

I'm fairly sure that 'The Wonder Years' came before 'Blossom'.

[Gerontophile]

Famous thesps in bit-parts before they were famous

He was in Blossom 2 years before The Wonder Years according to imdb. (I really liked Blossom, which should probably go on the/a 'Guilty Pleasures' thread)

[Mumpo]

Famous thesps in bit-parts before they were famous

Harry Hill is in Goodfellas?!

[David Agnew]

Famous thesps in bit-parts before they were famous

Eggchaser wrote:

I was watching Dr Who (new incarnation series one) and it's notable that both Eve Myles (Gwen) and Naoko Mori (Tosh) as a chamber maid and coroner respectively. Although the latter was also seen as Saffie's friend in Absolutely Fabulous.

Eve Myles got the part of Gwen because of her performance in Doctor Who, whereas Naoko Mori actually plays the same character in Doctor Who.