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Every actor starts off with smaller roles or occasionally dabbles in an indie role that doesn't get much notice. What are some of your favorite big name actor in a role for a lesser known film? Has this role come to notice recently or is it a well-kept secret he was in this film?

Plenty of them in Band of Brothers.

Tom Hardy
Michael Fassbender
James Macavoy
Jimmy Fallon

Finding out years later that that was Tom Hardy playing a young Picard clone was pretty surprising to me.

Originally posted by jaden101
Plenty of them in Band of Brothers.

Tom Hardy
Michael Fassbender
James Macavoy
Jimmy Fallon Originally posted by Esau Cairn
Finding out years later that that was Tom Hardy playing a young Picard clone was pretty surprising to me.

Ditto to both, as well as Hardy having a small role in Black Hawk Down.

Had no clue that William Hurt and Raul Julia were in Kiss of the Spider Woman. Ya Hurt won Best Actor, and it's a very critically-acclaimed movie, but had no clue that it existed till I walked through the Fort Benning main post library looking for some DVDs for a weekend at the barracks.

I just saw Lawrence Fishburne on an ep of MASH earlier today.

It was cool when I originally saw The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part II and realized that Dennis Hopper was one of the main characters, haha.

Originally posted by riv6672
I just saw Lawrence Fishburne on an ep of MASH earlier today.

Blew my mind that "Larry Fishburne" (I believe that's how his name appears in the credits) was in Apocalypse Now as well. Didn't know about the MASH appearance though.

^^^yeah he was Larry Fishburne!
He also had a part in Arnold's RED HEAT. First time i saw hom as Larry.

As for big actors in lesser known but great films/roles

Kevin Spacey in The Life of David Gale

Kevin Bacon, Gary Oldman, Christian Slater in Murder in the First

Sleepers. Brad Pitt, Robert Deniro, Dustin Hoffman, Minnie Driver, Ron Eldard

Z for Zachariah with Chris Pine, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Margot Robbie

The cast of A Time to Kill. Matthew Mcconaughy, Sandra Bullock, Samuel L Jackson, Kieffer Sutherland, Ashley Judd, Donald Sutherland. Also had a ton of actors that are recognisable by face if not by name. Oliver Platt, Charles Dutton, Chris Cooper, Doug Hutchinson.

The Cider House Rules with Michael Caine, Tobey Mcguire, Charlize Theron, Paul Rudd, JK Simmons,

The weirdest though has to be Stephen King in Sons of Anarchy

I'm including both movie and tv roles

Scarlett Johansson in Home Alone 3
Tobey Maguire in The Wizard(as an extra)
Laurence Fishburne in Nightmare On Elm Street 3
George Clooney in The Facts Of Life and earlier seasons of Roseanne
Tom Hanks in Family Ties(two episodes)
Sam Rockwell in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Nicolas Cage in Fast Times At Ridgemont High
Mila Kunis in Honey We Shrunk Ourselves
Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Angels In The Outfield
Anthony Mackie in 8 Mile
Jeremy Renner in SWAT
Gwyneth Paltrow in Hook
Zoe Saldana in Drumline, Crossroads and the first Pirates Of The Caribbean
Adam Sandler in The Cosby Show
David Schwimmer in The Wonder Years
Tony Shalhoub in Men In Black

N

Saw him on The Golden Girls recently.

Originally posted by KCJ506
I'm including both movie and tv roles

Scarlett Johansson in Home Alone 3
Tobey Maguire in The Wizard(as an extra)
Laurence Fishburne in Nightmare On Elm Street 3
George Clooney in The Facts Of Life and earlier seasons of Roseanne
Tom Hanks in Family Ties(two episodes)
Sam Rockwell in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Nicolas Cage in Fast Times At Ridgemont High
Mila Kunis in Honey We Shrunk Ourselves
Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Angels In The Outfield
Anthony Mackie in 8 Mile
Jeremy Renner in SWAT
Gwyneth Paltrow in Hook
Zoe Saldana in Drumline, Crossroads and the first Pirates Of The Caribbean
Adam Sandler in The Cosby Show
David Schwimmer in The Wonder Years
Tony Shalhoub in Men In Black

N

Those are "great" lesser known roles to you?

^You got a problem with Angels in the Outfield, Surtur?

Jeremy Renner and Idris Elba in 28 weeks later. Forgot They were in it. Terrible movie though.

Ben Affleck and Liev Schreiber as well as Peter O'Toole in Phantoms
Great movie, terrible ending.

Originally posted by Surtur
Those are "great" lesser known roles to you?

Didn't say that they were great. Just simply listing down roles those actors had before they became more well known.

Originally posted by jaden101
Jeremy Renner and Idris Elba in 28 weeks later. Forgot They were in it. Terrible movie though.

Holy cow, COMPLETELY forgot they were in that.

Originally posted by John Murdoch
^You got a problem with Angels in the Outfield, Surtur?

I just wonder if it was only baseball they interfered with. Was there maybe a badminton player out there who suddenly just had a winning streak?

Originally posted by Surtur
I just wonder if it was only baseball they interfered with. Was there maybe a badminton player out there who suddenly just had a winning streak?

AitO Cinematic Universe

Would definitely have to put Patrick Stewart in Green Room on this list.

And while we're at it his best mate Ian McKellen in Apt Pupil

Samuel L Jackson in One Eight Seven

Originally posted by jaden101
Would definitely have to put Patrick Stewart in Green Room on this list.

And while we're at it his best mate Ian McKellen in Apt Pupil

Patrick Stewart in Dune as well.

Some more

Jake Gyllenhall in Bubble Boy and Prisoners but especially in Nightcrawler. Phenomenal film and performance.
Paul Bettany in Gangster No 1
Gary Oldman in The Firm
Dane DeHann in Chronicle

Billy Bob Thornton in Tombstone as Johnny Tyler ("Where you going with that shotgun?!"

Originally posted by John Murdoch
Billy Bob Thornton in Tombstone as Johnny Tyler ("Where you going with that shotgun?!"

Gene Hackman has always been good in westerns too. Unforgiven, The Quick and the Dead.

Originally posted by jaden101
Gene Hackman has always been good in westerns too. Unforgiven, The Quick and the Dead.

Most definitely.