Before They Got Big: 4 Stars You Didn’t Know Were In That Film.
2 April, 2014Phoenix Finke0 Comments1 category
We all have to start somewhere. The same goes for actors. Not all of them were just given superstar status. Almost all of them had to pay their dues. And paying your dues, in the film industry, meant cameos and background roles, with no speaking parts, while more successful actors took the screen time. You may have seen these movies and, as time passed, have forgotten that they had even inhabited a role in it.
So here are 4 actors, who you may have forgotten were in that movie.
1. John Cho — American Beauty.
Before John Cho became famous for getting high and chasing White Castle dreams with Kal Penn, he had a small non-speaking role, as 1/2 of a couple looking to purchase a house in the 1999 Academy Award winning, American Beauty.
The scene is basically, Annette Bening trying to sell a house, with Cho and his girlfriend looking rather uninterested.
Now, John Cho has released 3 films as “Harold”, sidekick to “Kumar” (played by Kal Penn) in the famous, “Harold & Kumar” series.
And has also taken the role of Hikaru Sulu, in the Star Trek remake.
2. Sylvester Stallone — Bananas.
Sylvester Stallone isn’t the type of guy you’d see in a Woody Allen film, right?
Well believe it or not, he actually was a part of one.
Stallone appears in the 1971 Woody Allen film, Bananas, as a bully on the subway.
Woody Allen’s character throws him off the train, after Stallone taunts subway passengers with his sidekick. The doors of the train re-open, however, in classic Woody form, leaving Allen no choice but to run for his life.
Stallone, is one of the biggest names in cinema, now. He’s done the classic Rocky and Rambo films, as well as the newer Expendables action movies.
3. Jason Segel — Can’t Hardly Wait.
Can’t Hardly Wait is one of the classic teen 90’s comedies, starring Jennifer Love-Hewitt and Ethan Embry. Newly single, JLH, is scouring this crazy house party for Embry’s character, who has had a crush on her since the day she started at the school. She stumbles upon a note he threw away for her and is blown away, not knowing who he is.
Enter, Jason Segel…or should we say, “Watermelon Guy”?
Hewitt, approaches the two men, Segel eating a watermelon, whilst trying to describe what Embry’s character looks like. “Tall, he has hair and wears clothes sometimes.”
Segel is one of the biggest comedy actors around now, frequenting Apatow productions. He’s starred in such films as: Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I Love You, Man, The Five Year Engagement and the incredible, Jeff Who Lives at Home.
4. Alexis Bledel — Rushmore.
This is one that you literally have to look for.
The 1998 Wes Anderson film, Rushmore, stars both Jason Schwartzmann and Bill Murray. And tells the story of a battle of student and teacher over another teacher.
And Gilmore Girls star, Alexis Bledel, had a very very small role in it.
She was a student.
You can see her to Schwartzmann’s left, sitting in the desk.
In the scene, he is introduced to the class as a new student. And has prepared a few words to introduce himself. Mentioning he was expelled from a private school and that he is going to try and get fencing into the public school’s extra-curricular agenda. Bledel, like the rest of the students, are unimpressed and get up and file out as the bell rings.
Bledel is now a bigger name, with not as much star power as the rest of this list. But definitely recognizable.
