And Starring

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

When the Title Sequence includes credits, there is a whole mess of jockeying for position that goes on. The dominant position within the credits sequence is either at the very beginning of the list, or at the very end.

As a way to draw special attention to the last actor on the list, his name will often be bracketed with an additional annotation, such as "With", "And", or "And Starring". Sometimes, this would be elaborated even further, giving the name of the character portrayed by the actor (as in "And starring Generalissimo Francisco Franco, as himself").

In the past, this was reserved for either the star of the show, a cast member who is not part of the "primary" ensemble, or a big name doing a cameo. Over time, as stars and their agents learned about the power of marketing, it has become an increasingly important bargaining point.

Although not done as often these days, "And Introducing" was a common credit on movies, indicating where the company felt they had a potential star on their hands and wanted to ensure everyone remembered that "you saw them here first". Often, these people were never seen or heard from again, and the perception that an "and introducing" credit was a kind of "kiss of death" to a career may explain its disappearance.

The most extreme form of this is the Fake Guest Star. Compare Billed Above the Title, when special attention is drawn to the first actor in the cast list. Very common in All-Star Cast fare. Contrast with And Zoidberg

Examples of And Starring include:

Anime and Manga

Film

  • Well known and quirky British comedian Eddie Izzard pops up for an extremely extravagant and nearly disturbing musical performance in Across the Universe. And then he's never seen again for the rest of the film.
  • "And starring Steve Buscemi" seems to appear on the credits of most films in which he makes a (usually scene-stealing) appearance.
  • Jeffrey Combs always gets the last credit in the title sequence of the Re-Animator movies: "And Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West." Funny, since he's the protagonist of all the movies.
  • Parodied in Airplane!: "And introducing Otto [the autopilot] as himself."
  • Lea Thompson gets an "And" in Back to The Future Part III, her status as leading lady being overtaken by Mary Steenburgen.
    • Which makes sense since she's the Love Interest for Doc Brown, who is gets a little more focus in this movie than Marty.
  • The final image of the credits to Citizen Kane, after all the secondary characters have had clips shown of them with their actors' names, has, at the bottom, "Orson Welles as Kane". It's a perfect example of the trope, all the more so because it's one of the most famous roles in film.
    • This is actually a complete aversion of the trope. Rather than using "And" (or anything else) to draw attention to his credit, Welles deliberately hid it, throwing it in with a list of minor actors.
  • For The Fifth Element, the last opening "starring" credit is for Luke Perry, in an attempt to draw in a female audience. He's in the movie for fewer than ten minutes... in the prologue.
  • James Bond goes one better: For the films with Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig it was "Albert R. Broccoli's EON Productions present as Ian Fleming's James Bond 007 in [title]. And Judi Dench as M".
  • The film within a film Jack Slater IV (in Last Action Hero) has a intro sequence with an "And Introducing" part for one of the characters. Of course, when the protagonist of Last Action Hero enters the film, he gets to meet her. And keeps accidentally calling her by the name of her actress. Oops.
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring pushed this about as far as it would go. "Featuring Sean Bean, With Ian Holm, And Andy Serkis as Gollum".
  • Much of the large ensemble cast of the movie MASH is credited as "Introducing".
  • Parodied in Ocean's Eleven, which "introduces" Julia Roberts . . . eleven years after her breakout role. Ocean's Twelve also switches the names of the character and actor (due to a scene where her character impersonates Julia Roberts): "Introducing Tess Ocean as Julia Roberts."
  • "Introducing Lindsay Lohan" in Disney's remake of The Parent Trap.
  • Minnie Driver got an 'And Starring' in the Phantom of the Opera movie. Somewhat understandable in that particular case, since most of the major parts were played by Hollywood unknowns.
  • The Princess Bride used the 'and introducing' variant: "and starring Robin Wright as The Princess Bride".
  • Rookie of the Year: "And introducing Thomas Ian Nicholas."
  • Tropic Thunder had as one of the last names of the end cast credits "introducing Brandon Soo Hoo" (as the leader of the Flaming Dragons), "with Matthew McConaughey and Tom Cruise as Les Grossman".
    • Like the Se7en example below, the latter credit was done because Grossman's identity was meant to be an audience surprise. They even tried to hide his involvement during filming, but some pictures of Cruise in a fatsuit were leaked and the press had a feeding frenzy.
  • Zulu‍'‍s opening credits memorably feature "...and introducing Michael Caine".
  • The 1965 version of The Flight of the Phoenix includes several levels of this. The opening credits begin as follows: "An Associates and Aldrich Company Production starring / James Stewart / Richard Attenborough / Peter Finch / Hardy Kruger / Ernest Borgnine as Trucker Cobb / in The Flight of the Phoenix". But Borgnine's credit is just the beginning - they continue with "Co-starring Ian Bannen / Ronald Fraser / Christian Marquand / Dan Duryea as Standish". And they're still not done, moving on to "Also starring George Kennedy / Gabriele Tinti / Alex Montoya". And that's still not the end, as they continue with "Featuring Peter Bravos / William Aldrich / and Barrie Chase as Farida". Worth noting, perhaps, that Bravos and Aldrich die in the crash immediately after the opening credits, and Chase only appears in a flashback/hallucination.
  • The Mask had "And Introducing Cameron Diaz", so that one went pretty well.
  • Starring Anthony Hopkins, Sir John Gielgud, Anne Bancroft, Wendy Hiller, and John Hurt as... The Elephant Man.
  • Grindhouse: And Nicolas Cage as... Fu Manchu!
  • Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan downs a double-shot of this: "Introducing KIRSTIE ALLEY As SAAVIK; And Starring RICARDO MONTALBAN As KHAN"
  • William Shatner gets it in Star Trek Generations, with a whopping "And starring William Shatner as Admiral James T. Kirk".
  • The Agony Booth had a field day with Curse of the Screaming Dead having "And Introducing Mimi Ishikawa (As Blind Kiyomi)".
  • Used in the movie Se7en, where Kevin Spacey's name is the first listed in the end credits, after having had it withheld from the opening credits and promotional materials to preserve the surprise of his performance as John Doe.
  • Jaye Davidson got this in both The Crying Game (film debut, Academy Award nomination) and Stargate (second and final film, huge payday).
  • And John Vernon (aka Dean Wermer) in Killer Klowns From Outer Space for his seven-minute One-Scene Wonder.
  • A fictional example from the movie Shakespeare in Love, in the following dialogue about the death of real-life dramatist Christopher Marlowe:

Ned Alleyn: A quarrel about the bill.
Philip Henslowe: The bill! Ah, vanity, vanity!
Ned Alleyn: Not the billing - the bill!

And introducing... *drumroll* Jennifer Hudson

  • The rather forgettabble My Stepmother Is an Alien had in the credits "And introducing Alyson Hannigan," a decade before she would get her first big role.

Live Action TV

  • The opening credits of The Adventures of Brisco County Jr end with the line "With Comet"—Brisco's horse.
  • In As the World Turns, and Eileen Fulton as Lisa
  • In Babylon 5 Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas as Londo and G'kar received a "with" and an "and" respectively.
    • Lampshaded by JMS in one of the commentary tracks. When G'Kar and Londo appear in the credits, he refers to them respectively as "God" and "Demigod".
    • The two rotated every season for the first four years, then switched every episode in season 5.
  • In Battlestar Galactica, Dean Stockwell is always the last credited guest star, carrying the credit "And Dean Stockwell".
    • There's also "Crossroads, Part II" in which, instead of being billed with the rest of the main cast, Katee Sackhoff appears in a special credit, "Katee Sackhoff as Starbuck", right before the episode's end credits. This is repeated in "Sometimes A Great Notion" with "Kate Vernon as Ellen Tigh". In both cases, it was done to preserve a surprise.
    • And now Caprica has "And Polly Walker" concluding its main cast list each episode.
    • The Plan gave us "And Tricia Helfer" as the final credit.
  • Bewitched: "...and Agnes Moorehead as Endora"
  • In The Big Valley "...and starring Miss Barbara Stanwyck as Victoria Barkley"
  • Boston Legal never had the same full cast for two consecutive seasons... sometimes even for a full season, but it had three permanent "big stars": James Spader (leads off), William Shatner (brings up the rear, with an "and"), and Candice Bergen (next-to-last, with a "with").
  • "And Ann B. Davis as Alice" ended the credits of The Brady Bunch.
  • For most of Buffy the Vampire Slayer's run, Anthony Stewart Head was last in the titles, with an "and...as Giles", because he was by far the most accomplished and famous actor in the series at that point. When he dropped from regular cast member to recurring guest star, the "and" went to Alyson Hannigan, whose career had recently taken off thanks to the American Pie movies.
    • In the same year when that switch happened, Angel moved (Alyson Hannigan's husband) Alexis Denisof's credit to the end of the opening titles and gave him an "and". Granted, this had, in part, to do with Denisof's character, who was at the time separated from the main group. There is no change, however, when he is back with the group and new stars are added to the credits.
  • Burn Notice: "with Bruce Campbell and Sharon Gless".
  • Cheers had George Wendt (Norm) as the "And" credit from Season 4 onwards. He had still been last in the credits prior to this though,
  • Greys Anatomy has done this through the entire run: Patrick Dempsey has always been the "and", while Isaiah Washington was the "with", until he got kicked off the show. Recently, it was rumored that Chandra Wilson would inherit the "with", as her character is arguably the best-loved on the show, but it seems that for now, things will stay the way they are.
  • Going with the previous entry, Private Practice's credits end with "with Taye Diggs, and Amy Brenneman"
  • Chuck has two: "with Sarah Lancaster and Adam Baldwin".
  • Community also has two: "with Ken Jeong and Chevy Chase".
  • CSI gives Paul Guilfoyle the "And".
  • Desperate Housewives has "Brenda Strong as Mary Alice Young". Weirdly, however, this is not the last credit of the opening titles—that honor belongs to "and James Denton", which appears after Strong's credit.
  • The Dick Van Dyke Show "Starring Dick Van Dyke, Rose Marie, Morey Amsterdam, Larry Mathews... and Mary Tyler Moore."
  • Doogie Howser, M.D. "and James B. Sikking as David Howser."
  • Dynasty did this from the second season onwards as "With Joan Collins as Alexis".
  • Everybody Loves Raymond had "with Doris Roberts as Marie and Peter Boyle as Frank".
  • "And Nancy McKeon as Jo" in The Facts of Life.
  • Ryan Stiles was the last to be credited on The Drew Carey Show, but he was also the only one who was listed along with the character he played.
  • Frasier had John Mahoney (Martin Crane) as the "And" credit.
  • On Gilligan's Island, there was "Also Starring Jim Backus as Thurston Howell III" and "And Also Starring Tina Louise as Ginger". Plus, the Professor and Mary Ann were at first credited simply as "And the Rest", with Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells being credited by name only in the closing credits. This was changed after the first season, with the two appearing together under "with" after Tina Louise's credit (but no "and" between them). When all is said and done, the credits, when looked at together, are very ungrammatical: "Gilligan's Island, starring Bob Denver, Alan Hale, also starring Jim Backus as Thurston Howell III, Natalie Schafer, and also starring Tina Louise as Ginger, with Russell Johnson, Dawn Wells". Geez...
    • Interestingly, the opening credits and theme song were changed only on the insistence of Bob Denver who wanted all the lead characters explicitly named. When the studio refused to make the requested changes saying that it would be too expensive, Denver, who's contract said that his name could appear wherever he wanted it, demanded that he be removed from the opening and only be given credit at the end. Knowing that they couldn't leave their star out of the title sequence, the studio agreed to a new theme song and opening credits.
  • "And Tom Bosley as Howard Cunningham" finished the intro to Happy Days, which is kind of odd because you'd think the producers would want to put the Fonz at the end.
    • They did. Henry Winkler refused, as he didn't want to upstage the original stars.
  • "And starring Jerry Mathers as the Beaver" was the last line of Leave It to Beaver's opening credits.
    • Parodied in the opening credits of SCTV with "and Dave Thomas as The Beaver", even though John Candy actually played The Beaver in their parody sketch of that show.
  • Hill Street Blues "and Veronica Hamel as Joyce Davenport."
  • How I Met Your Mother": "with Alyson Hannigan and Neil Patrick Harris".
  • "Starring Hugh Beaumont, June Lockhart, Jon Provost as Timmy, and of course Lassie."
  • Irwin Allen's Lost in Space opening titles featured 'Special Guest Star' Jonathan Harris as Dr. Smith - and in the same vein, Land of the Giants had Kurt Kaznar as Fitzhugh.
  • Frankie Muniz, despite playing the title character, was credited last on Malcolm in the Middle.
  • For the NBC seasons of Mama's Family, it was "And Rue McClanahan as Aunt Fran. Additionally, when Carol Burnett, Betty White, and/or Harvey Korman guest-starred, they were credited in the opening titles as well. Betty White made one final appearance in the syndicated seasons and was given opening sequence credit again, but Allan Kayser, the last star credited in the syndicated seasons, received no special credit treatment (other than being the only one to have his credit picture updated, which happened in the final season).
  • On Mash, Gary Burghoff received a unique special credit ("also starring Gary Burghoff as Radar") when he returned for the two-part Season Eight episode "Goodbye, Radar" after having decided to leave the series.
  • Monk has "and Ted Levine as Stottlemeyer".
  • Peter MacNicol on Numb3rs. In previous seasons, it was Diane Farr that was credited this way.
  • In Out of This World, Maureen Flannigan is listed as "and introducing Maureen Flannigan as Evie". Even more bizarrely, Troy, He Who Must Not Be Seen, voiced by Burt Reynolds, is credited as "Troy, as himself".
  • Party Down: "and Lizzy Caplan".
  • Parodied (of course) in the opening credits of Police Squad!:
    • "And Rex Hamilton as Abraham Lincoln," who is seen getting shot at—and firing back—in the theater and never appears again.
    • After the Abraham Lincoln credit, each episode credits that episode's 'Special Guest Star', who is promptly killed in their credit scene and not seen again.
  • As the credits evolve throughout the season, Power Rangers often end up with several actors listed this way; Power Rangers Dino Thunder used "And", "With" and "Also Starring" all at the same time.
  • Red Dwarf had some fun with this, in the third season second episode "Time Slides". Because they spliced in some old German World War II footage, they were able to put in "Adolf Hitler, as himself" into the opening.
    • Also in Red Dwarf, Chloe Annett's first appearance as Kochanski had her listed as "and introducing Chloe Annett as Kochanski"—in the end credits, oddly enough (as Red Dwarf has no cast credits in its opening titles). Given that this wasn't her first ever on-screen performance, it's likely that this was to acknowledge her being The Other Darrin.
  • Saturday Night Live frequently has "featured players," who are listed after the main cast; usually some work their way up to the main cast.
  • The credits of Seinfeld ended with "And Jason Alexander as George," as he had arguably the highest profile as an actor of the four principals.
  • Seven Days. And Alan Scarfe as Bradley Talmadge.
  • Sliders John Rhys-Davies was listed last with 'as Professor Arturo'.
  • Small Wonder had "and Tiffany Brissette as Vicki the Robot".
  • Smallville had "Starring," "With" and "And" credits for Tom Welling, Annette O'Toole and John Glover respectively, and then finished it off with "John Schneider as Jonathan Kent."
    • In Season 10 we have "and Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan" whenever she appears. This is because she had seniority by at least 3 seasons over every other cast member from the opening credits except Tom Welling who's listed first. Quite an interesting case as only she gets the "and" despite only appearing in less than half of all episodes. If she'S not there, neither is the "and".
  • In Stargate SG-1, Richard Dean Anderson got his name before the title, and Beau Bridges was credited as "with". Upon returning to the show after a season away, Michael Shanks was listed at the end as "And Michael Shanks as Daniel Jackson". The "and" even carried over to the posters for the DVD movies.
    • Though never credited in the title sequence, after two seasons Teryl Rothery graduated to "And TERYL ROTHERY as Dr. Fraiser" in the post-title credits.
    • The Stargate Atlantis opening titles have at the end "and David Hewlett as Dr. McKay". During his Promotion to Opening Titles, the credits also include "with Paul McGillion as Dr. Carson Beckett" in the second-last place.
    • After she was promoted to a regular in the middle of season 1, the credits for Stargate Universe now end with "and Ming-Na".
  • Star Trek: The Original Series showcased its Power Trio - the credits ended with "Starring William Shatner/Also Starring Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock / And DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy". Except for the first season, where Kelley was omitted; Nimoy was already listed with 'also' rather than 'and', in an odd violation of grammar.
    • This is the show with a split infinitive in its Opening Narration.
    • Leonard Nimoy's "Also Starring" was actually a promotion from "Co-Starring" in the two original pilots (though he was still listed "As Mr. Spock"). Also note that Shatner's name is larger than Nimoy's and Kelley's. Apparently this was contractually obligated.
    • The first few episodes didn't even "Co-Starring"....just 'Starring William Shatner/Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock'. (This may have been changed for the credits of the remastered versions of the episodes).
    • Voyager did something similar, with "Starring Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway/Also Starring Robert Beltran as Commander Chakotay [continue credits list here]. In fact, Deep Space Nine isolates Avery Brooks in the same way, while The Next Generation does the same with Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes. Only Enterprise doesn't follow this tradition, probably in another effort to distance itself from the franchise.
    • My guess is that it's because the other three listed their cast in alphabetical order, aside from the captain (and Riker in TNG's case). With Enterprise, Scott Bakula comes first anyway.
  • The late '90s-era NBC sitcom Suddenly Susan did this with all of its main cast members not named Brooke Shields in a Running Gag ("Also Starring", "Not to Mention", "And Let's Not Forget", etc.)
  • In seasons 1-3 of Three's Company, the words "And Starring as the Ropers" would appear before Audra Lindley's and Norman Fell's credit clips were shown.
  • Martin Sheen is listed as "And" in The West Wing. In the later seasons, Jimmy Smits is listed just before him under the modifier "With". Alan Alda, being the cast member who comes first in alphabetical order anyway, goes first and thus gets "Starring" before his name once he is added to the opening credits in the seventh season.
    • Mary McCormack guested for a few episode before graduating to the titles, and Janel Moloney was a guest for the entire first season. However a number of other characters never got past the end credits, including Martin Sheen's daughter (not his fake three on the show).
  • Howard Hesseman was always last to be credited among the main cast on WKRP in Cincinnati, both in the closing credits (seasons 1 and 2) and opening credits (seasons 3 and 4). Like Ryan Stiles above, he was also credited with "as Dr. Johnny Fever."
  • 3rd Rock from the Sun started with "And Jane Curtin", which later got a "With Wayne Knight" preceding it.
  • Mary McDonnell got a big fat "Special Guest Star Mary McDonnell as Captain Sharon Raydor" during the fifth season of The Closer. It didn't hurt that she'd just come off her stint as President Laura Roslin on BSG. When she got her Promotion to Opening Titles in season 7, she slotted in right before Jon Tenney, as "with Mary McDonnell and Jon Tenney".
  • NCIS "With Rocky Carroll And David McCallum"
  • Freema Agyeman got credited with an "And" in her Torchwood appearances and in her appearances in the Doctor Who episodes "The Sontaran Stratagem", "The Poison Sky" and "The Doctor's Daughter". Probably because she was a returning star. Billie Piper also received the same treatment for the last three episodes of Series 4, preceded by a "With" for Elisabeth Sladen in "The Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End".
    • For "The End of Time", David Tennant and John Simm got the initial credits, followed by an "And" for Bernard Cribbins, making this the first time that an actor playing a story's villain is listed in the opening titles - and before the companion, at that.
    • David Tennant and Matt Smith are credited with "And Introducing as the Doctor" in the ending credits of "The Parting of the Ways" and The End of Time. respectively.
  • The League ends its main cast credits with "And introducing Jon La Joie."
  • Damages has this in every season. Glenn Close gets the top spot and season 1's credits end with "with Tate Donovan and Ted Danson". Season 2 takes this to an absurd level with its credits ending like so: "with Marcia Gay Harden and Timothy Olyphant and William Hurt AND (when he appears in an episode) Ted Danson". Ted Danson again gets an "and" in season 3 episodes he appears in.
  • Veronica Mars has "with Enrico Colantoni."
  • In Season 8 of Twenty Four, Cherry Jones, formerly second (or third) in the credits, moves to the very back of the list with "with Freddie Prinze Jr. and Cherry Jones." This is probably due to Cherry's Emmy win - the only one for the show that year.
    • Carlos Bernard is elevated to the same place in Season 7.
  • Thora Hird and Jean Alexander were billed as Special Guest Apperances during their times on Last of the Summer Wine.
  • With Psych, it's "And Corbin Bernsen," since he's probably the most generally known of the main cast (with Dule Hill a mildly distant second).
  • A certain 1980s Pilot Movie ended its opening credits with "and Alexa Hamilton as the Invisible Woman".
  • In order to maintain the "big up front, big out back" sandwich, the opening credits on Hustle have always opened with Adrian Lester and closed up with "and Robert Vaughn as Albert Stroller"
  • Alias was notorious for its revolving door-style notion of what makes a "main character", yet no matter how often the names changed in the opening sequence the first and last spots always remained the same starting with Jennifer Garner and ending with "and Victor Garber". When Lena Olin joined the cast it became "with Lena Olin ... and Victor Garber", then it went back to "and Victor Garber" after she left.
  • "And introducing FERBUS"
  • Dante's Cove, as of season three, gives us three: "with Jensen Atwood", "Gregory Michael as Kevin" and "Special Guest Star Thea Gill as Diana Childs". The other cast members simply get their names.
  • For most of the 1970s and 1980s, The Announcer on Wheel of Fortune would introduce only the host (Chuck Woolery until 1981, Pat Sajak from 1981 onward), who in turn would introduce the co-host (Susan Stafford until 1982, Vanna White from 1983 following a few substitutes). Starting in the 1990s, the opening spiel was changed to end in "...the stars of America's game, Pat Sajak and Vanna White!" and they walked out together.
  • The opening credits for The Osbournes go through the four family members, ending with "And Ozzy Osbourne as 'The Dad'"
  • The L Word put its actors' names in the credits in strict alphabetical order... with the exception of the final name: "and Pam Grier as Kit". It presumably helped that Jennifer Beals, its other big-name star, has a name early on in the alphabet.
  • In Law and Order Trial By Jury, Fred Dalton Thompson was always given a "with" in the second-last (and later final) position in the opening credits. For the only two episodes the late Jerry Orbach was able to film, he was credited in full as "and Jerry Orbach as Lennie Briscoe" at the end of the opening credits.
  • Cory in The House has "And Rondell Sheridan."
  • Wizards of Waverly Place: has "And David Deluse"
  • The Suite Life On Deck has "And Phill Lewis."
  • Good Luck Charlie has "And Jason Dolley",who plays the eldest son, rather than one of the two parents as is more typical for family sitcoms (though Eric Allan Kramer gets a "with" credit). This is probably because of his years of long and loyal service to the Mouse House.
  • Who's The Boss? had "And Katherine Helmond as Mona"
  • Batman: "And Yvonne Craig as Batgirl."
  • The King of Queens had "And Jerry Stiller as Arthur" as the final credit in the opening sequence. He was also the only cast member to have their character name included in the credit.
  • Beakman's World in its final season had "And Mark Ritts as Lester the Rat". Weirdly, in the middle two seasons, Mark Ritts was not last credited, that one went to the assistant, Eliza Schneider.
  • A non-acting version: The "created by" credits for The Cosby Show read: "Created By Ed Weinberger & Michael Leeson," then on its own screen, "and William H. Cosby Jr., Ed. D."
  • In Six Feet Under, the titles ended with "And Rachel Griffiths as Brenda" despite her not being an inordinately significant (a la Giles) or different (a la Mary Alice) character. On the other hand, in the episodes in which he did appear, "Richard Jenkins as Nathaniel Fisher" was a more typical example of this trope (the character is dead.)
  • In Earth 2, the credits end with 'And Antonio Sabato, Jr. as Alonzo Solace' It's not quite as complete a example as some listed here, because in these credits all the characters names are listed anyway.
  • Family Matters, initially gave this position to Telma Hopkins as Aunt Rachel; after her departure, the slot remained vacant for a few seasons, even though Jaleel White as Steve Urkel was so obviously the Breakout Character. He was credited last in any event, but it wasn't until well into the show's run that he finally got the full "Jaleel White as Steve Urkel" credit.
  • Melrose Place had Heather Locklear as "Special Guest Star" once she joined the show. The rest of the cast had to make do with alphabetical order credits.
  • Charmed upgraded Holly Marie Combs to "And" after Shannon Doherty was replaced by Rose McGowan.
  • Gunsmoke practically invented this trope in later seasons, when all of the main cast would have their credit's read before the actual star of the show's credit was read as: "And Starring James Arness as Marshall Matt Dillon."
  • James Remar, who plays Harry on Dexter, gets the "and", probably because the character only appears in flashbacks and imaginary conversations, and so isn't considered part of the main cast despite being a prominent character.
  • Blood Ties has "and Kyle Schmid as Henry Fitzroy."
  • Young Blades has "with Bruce Boxleitner and Michael Ironside." Sheena Easton also gets a "with" credit in later episodes, leading to the odd-sounding sequence "with Sheena Easton, with Bruce Boxleitner, and Michael Ironside."
  • The Shadow Line had "and Stephen Rea", because he was one of the biggest names in the cast and had his own separate plot for most of the series.
  • The Monty Python's Flying Circus episode "The Buzz Aldrin Show" has a fake credits sequence that includes "AND INTRODUCING F. B. GRIMSBY URQHART-WRIGHT AS THE VOICE OF GOD".
  • ER had "and Eriq LaSalle". After LaSalle left the "and" went to Paul McCrane and after his departure to Laura Innes.
  • Eastwick only billed the main cast members appearing in that week's episode, and in alphabetical order (hence some episodes had the credit "Starring Ashley Benson," while others might say "Starring Jon Bernthal")... with the exception of Paul Gross, who always came last and with the "and."
  • The second season of Raising Hope has "And introducing Chloris Leachman as Maw Maw", despite being decades after she became famous.

Video Games

  • In Wing Commander III and IV, rounding out the All-Star Cast was "And Malcolm McDowell as Tolwyn". Also in IV, "With Tom Wilson as Maniac" was the first credit after the title, a promotion from the last game. In Wing Commander Prophecy, it was "With Ginger Lynn Allen As Chief Technician Rachael Coriolis, And Mark Hamill As Commodore Christopher Blair". Hamill, the lead in the two earlier games, had been first-billed in III, and Billed Above the Title in IV. Tom Wilson, who also returned for Prophecy, remained second-billed, after the unknown who played the new lead, but lost his "with" designation.
  • The first credit after the main title of The Curse of Monkey Island says, "STARRING: Dominic Armato as Guybrush Threepwood".

Web Original


Western Animation

  • "And Weena Mercatur as The Hopping Woman"
  • The opening sequence for Transformers: The Movie finishes with, "Co-starring John Moschitta as Blurr."
  • The Simpsons: On the series, Harry Shearer gets the "And", while Marcia Wallace and Phil Hartman, despite being near-regulars (at least until Hartman's death), always get "Special Guest Star". In the movie, Shearer is credited last out of the regular show cast, Albert Brooks gets the "And", followed by assorted smaller roles, and Tom Hanks gets the final cast credit.
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