Retroactive Recognition: Difference between revisions

This is what happens when a former [[Hey Its That Guy]] finally lands a breakout role. It may also include a few minor roles before their [[Star Making Role]]. When you just can't shake the image of the other roles, it's [[Role Association]]. If the older work is repackaged to accentuate the actor's later successes, it falls into [[Billing Displacement]].

* Nicole Anderson from ''[[Jonas (TV)|Jonas]]'', played Tasha in the "iNevel" episode of ''[[I Carly (TV)|I Carly]]''.

* Ashley Argota from ''[[True Jackson VP (TV)|True Jackson VP]]'', was a classmate of the [[Power Trio]] in the "iHave a Lovesick Teacher" episode of ''[[I Carly (TV)|I Carly]]''.

* Before her [[Star Making Role]] in ''[[Veronica Mars]]'', Kristen Bell had a guest spot in an episode of ''[[The Shield]]'' as a gang member's girlfriend who gets raped by that season's [[Big Bad]], along with another small role in ''[[Deadwood]]'' as a prostitute.

* [[Jack Black]] had a lot of surprising small roles before hitting it big: one of the Wasteland Scraps in ''[[Demolition Man (Film)|Demolition Man]]'', the pilot in ''[[Waterworld (Film)|Waterworld]]'', the bully in ''[[The Neverending Story (Film)|The Neverending Story]] 3'', the hero's redneck squaddie brother in ''[[Mars Attacks]]'', an arms dealer in ''[[The Jackal]]'' and minor roles in an episode of ''[[The X-Files (TV)|The X-Files]]'' and ''[[Enemy of the State]]''.

* Doug Brochu, prior to joining [[Dueling Shows|rival series]] ''[[Sonny With a Chance]]'', was Freddie's lab partner in one of the early episodes of ''[[I Carly (TV)|I Carly]]''.

** He also was in a scene of ''[[Girl Interrupted (Film)|Girl Interrupted]]''

* Ronny Cox has shown up as the villain in any number of movies, from ''[[Robocop (Film)|Robocop]]'' to ''[[Total Recall (Film)|Total Recall]]'', but this editor never really put it together until seeing him as recurring character Senator Kinsey in ''[[Stargate SG-1 (TV)|Stargate SG-1]]''. He was also profoundly surprised when, upon rewatching ''[[Beverly Hills Cop (Film)|Beverly Hills Cop]]'', he turned out to be a good guy.

* Voice actress Elizabeth Daily ([[The Powerpuff Girls (Animation)|Buttercup]] and [[Rugrats (Animation)|Tommy Pickles]]) was the love interest in ''[[Pee Wees Big Adventure (Film)|Pee Wees Big Adventure]]''.

* [[Felicia Day]] had [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)|potential]] before ''[[Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog (Web Video)|Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog]]'' and ''[[The Guild (Web Video)|The Guild]]''.

* [[Star Trek the Next Generation (TV)|John DeLancie]] is ''[[Hey Its That Guy|everywhere]]'', like playing a pollster who steals Joey Lucas from Josh on ''[[The West Wing (TV)|The West Wing]]''.

** Also part of the [[Five Man Band]] in ''[[The Faculty (Film)|The Faculty]]''.

* Paul Giamatti had a minor role in the FMV videogame ''[[Ripper]]'' back when he was still an unknown. Ironically, said game had an [[All Star Cast]] of people still fairly well known today meaning he ended up enhancing it over time.

** He also voiced a character in ''[[Batman the Animated Series (Animation)|Batman the Animated Series]]''.

* [[The Sarah Connor Chronicles|Lena Headey]] played a mousy new teacher in the 2007 film ''[[St Trinian's (Film)|St. Trinian's]]'', and Lizzie in ''[[The Remains of the Day]]''. She keeps her [[Fake American|actual accent]] in both, though. And you might also recognise her as Queen Gorgo in ''[[Three Hundred (Film)|Three Hundred]]''.

* In ''[[Friends (TV)|Friends]]'', [[Hugh Laurie]] was on the plane Rachel boarded to London. [[What the Hell Hero|And he called her out on her shit.]]

* Matt Le Blanc of ''Friends'' fame had his first big break on the short-lived Fox sitcom ''Top of the Heap'', a [[Spin Off]] of ''[[Married With Children (TV)|Married With Children]]'', along with Joey Lauren Adams.

** Though this was more of a [[Star Making Role]] - he parlayed this into more serious fare.

* Even Evangeline Lilly can invoke this, despite having next to no acting experience with dialogue prior to starring in ''[[Lost (TV)|Lost]]''. She worked in Vancouver for a while as a part-time model and would occasionally appear as a mute extra in tv series filmed there, notably in ''[[Smallville (TV)|Smallville]]'', where she managed to be in 5 episodes. So if you go on a ''[[Smallville (TV)|Smallville]]'' binge, expect several moments of, [[Hey Its That Guy|"Hey! Did]] ''[[Hey Its That Guy|Kate Austin]]'' [[Hey Its That Guy|just walk past the screen?!"]]

** He also turns up, equally unrecognizable, in several other [[Roger Corman]] movies before his breakthrough role in ''[[Easy Rider]]'', including ''The Raven'', where he typically does lose first billing to the [[All Star Cast|all "star" cast]] of [[Vincent Price]], [[Peter Lorre]], and [[Boris Karloff]].

* [[Hawaii Five 0 (TV)|Alex O'Loughlin]] had the memorable role of the obsessive-compulsive serial killer who tries to redeem himself by helping the blind son of one of his victims on an episode of ''[[Criminal Minds (TV)|Criminal Minds]]''.

* In 1962, Kerry Wendell Thornley wrote a [[Roman a Clef]] called ''The Idle Warriors'' about a strange young man he had known while in the United States Marine Corps. His name? ''[[Who Shot JFK|Lee Harvey Oswald]]''. For those who don't know, that's one year ''[[Harsher in Hindsight|before]]'' the Kennedy assassination.

* [[Jim Parsons]], now known as Sheldon Cooper on ''[[The Big Bang Theory (TV)|The Big Bang Theory]]'', played Tim, the [[Does This Remind You of Anything|Klingon-speaking]] "fast-food knight" in ''[[Garden State]]''.

* So you're watching ''[[Breakfast At Tiffanys]]'', and Audrey Hepburn's [[Love Interest]] seems bizarrely familiar, and you don't know why. Then you realize that if he was aged up about twenty years and given white hair...Dear God, it's a young [[The A-Team (TV)|Hannibal]]! (George Peppard)

* One of the ickier episodes of ''[[Law and Order (Franchise)|Law and Order]]'' revolves around two sisters, one killed by a serial rapist, the other narrowly surviving, turning out to be in league with the killer. Say hello to [[Ellen Pompeo]], best known as [[Greys Anatomy (TV)|Meredith Grey]].

* Markie Post was a behind-the-scenes lady on the 1970s game shows ''[[Split Second (TV)|Split Second]]'' and ''[[Double Dare 1976]]'' ([[Names the Same|a quizzer, not the kids' stunt show]]), and later a card dealer on ''[[Card Sharks]]'', before her breakthrough role on ''[[Night Court]]''.

* Kurtwood Smith ([[That 70s Show (TV)|Red]]) can have this too, in films such as ''[[Robocop (Film)|Robocop]]'' and ''[[Deep Impact]]''.

* Ian Somerhalder played a [[Recurring Character]] for half a season on ''[[Smallville (TV)|Smallville]]'', as [[The Mole]] whom [[Creators Pet|Lana]] [[Too Dumb to Live|Lang]] [[Horrible Judge of Character|dates]]. One of his episodes even features his [[Lost (TV)|future co-star]] Evangeline Lilly (see folder G-L above). They even appear together in the same shot.

* [[John Travolta]]'s first role was in the horror movie ''The Devil's Rain''. He yells "Blasphemer!" and falls down the stairs, and the protagonists see the flashback inside his eyes.

* Before his [[Star Making Role]] in ''[[Moonlighting]]'', [[Bruce Willis]] played a "heavy-of-the-week" in a first-season episode of ''[[Miami Vice]]'', and also guest-starred in an episode of ''[[The Twilight Zone (TV)|The Twilight Zone]]'''s 80's revival.