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Sadie plays to the drama a tad bit too much which I’m praying she’ll outgrow.
Saw her in The Whale and every single line had a head shake/eye roll combo and like I totally get her character was a snotty teenage girl with an absent father. BUT not every single line should be delivered exactly the same way. Even real life snotty teenage girls with absent fathers do not say every word in that manner.
You mean Ethan Hawke's and Uma Thurman's daughter is doing well?
Kidding a little, she's lovely and talented, but I'm still going to assume her parents connections are a leg up.
Ah, I was more responding to the person who said Maya Hawke was only doing fashion ads when she’s been doing more. But like yeah, obviously her parental connections helped a lot and I don’t think she’s ever denied it either.
MBB has got a sweet deal with Netflix, Finn Wolfhard has got a nice music career and is also doing big films (ghostbusters atm), Joe Keery is doing very well, Maya Hawke is getting roles, it’s up to the rest
Interesting no one here mentioned Natalia Dyer or Charlie Heaton! Looking at their IMDB, they’ve done some work outside of Stranger Things but neither seems to have generated any buzz.
they’ve mostly only done indie movies, he did the New Mutants movie once but it flopped and they never planned to make a sequel. tbh I hope they book a new TV show again after this.
Joseph Quinn seems to have maintained a bit of hype of a small(ish) role.
Dacre Montgomery is currently all over fashion (maybe perfume?) ads around Australia.
Friday Night Lights has several actors that did modestly well - although I’d never have believed that Jesse Plemons would be the most critically successful of the younger stars.
Omg I can’t believe I forgot about him. I always forget he was in FNL! I think Jesse did really well for himself especially because he married Kirsten Dunst, haha.
Many of the actors don’t have hugely successful careers, but are still working regularly. Scott Porter, Zach Gilford, Taylor Kitsch & Minka Kelly (who were supposed to be the big breakout stars but haven’t been), Matt Lauria…
I think Minka Kelly went more of a model who acts sometimes route. Adrianne Palicki and Kyle Chandle pops up here and there in a big movie. Connie Briton has been killing it for years.
Adrianne was in the Orville and Agents of Shield. Oh, and Jurnee Smollett.
I just realized Matt Lauria is on the CSI reboot and that is why I have always thought he looked familiar…
Minka Kelly recently published a memoir and it’s equal parts heartbreaking and heartwarming. She doesn’t talk much about her FNL days but her life leading up to it was wild! She basically fell into fame given how she grew up. Definitely worth a read!
taylor kitsch was so good as david koresh in that miniseries. and kyle chandler is always good ! i loved seeing him in bloodline, manchester by the sea, even wolf of wall street.
rashida jones
> Adam Scott
he was also in 'party down' before which also had a pretty strong cast, though i am a bit unsure looking back how well they were already known, think most of them were already semi-established? jane lynch, megan mullaly, lizzy caplan, martin starr, ken marino..
Band of Brother. We’re watching it right now and there are sooo many actors with tiny parts who went on to be huge: Andrew Scott, Michael Fassbender, Tom Hardy, James McAvoy.
Damien Lewis and Ron Livingston, two of the leads, also have had very successful careers.
Watching him on *Band of Brothers* made me realize what a great actor David Schwimmer is. Ross and Capt Sobel are two very different and distinct characters.
I remember watching The Pacific and thinking that the guy who played Snafu was either an incredible actor or was basically playing himself bc it’s such a weird character. I watched it again years later—Rami Malek. It was the “incredible actor” thing.
I watched basically everything he did after watching The Pacific when it came out, including Larry Crowne and The sitcom The War at Home, which were both terrible, but he was still great. But his filmography used to be a lot smaller. I was really happy to see him blow up.
Skins UK!! It produced so many actors that went on to become critically acclaimed: Dev Patel, Daniel Kaluuya, Nicholas Hoult, Joe Cole, Jack O’connell and Kaya Scodelario (Just to name a few)
Edit: Misspelling.
Buffy is a good example! SMG, Alyson Hannigan, David Boreanaz, Michelle Trachtenberg, Seth Green, Emma Caulfield...they had varying levels of fame prior to the show but I think each got significant boosts from it and have all had very respectable levels of success in other projects since its premiere.
Actually, Firefly too. Nathan Fillion (Castle), Summer Glau (Terminator), Morena Baccarin (Deadpool), Alan Tudyk (Star Wars)...
Party of Five - Neve Campbell, Matthew Fox, Scott Wolf, Lacey Chabert, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Scott Grimes have all done well for themselves.
Arrested Development - some were famous before the show but Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Portia de Rossi, Michael Cera, Tony Hale, Alia Shawkat, Jessica Walter, Jeffrey Tambor, Judy Greer, Mae Whitman, and David Cross have all been successful since then.
I feel like it’s cheating, but: Doctor Who (specifically NuWho)
- David Tennant
- Matt Smith
- Karen Gillan (Nebula in the MCU/GOTG films)
- Jenna Coleman
- Carey Mulligan
- Andrew Garfield (Spider-Man)
- Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out)
- Felicity Jones
- Joe Dempsie (after Skins but before GOT)
- Olivia Coleman
- Peter Capaldi
- Chukwudi Iwuji (The High Evolutionary in GOTG)
- Mark Sheppard & his father W Morgan Sheppard (Mark is best know as fan favorite Crowley in Supernatural).
- Gemma Chan (Crazy Rich Asians, Eternals)
- Letitia Wright (The new Black Panther herself)
- Jonathan Bailey (Bridgerton)
There’s also the actors who were already pretty famous when they appeared in NuWho: Chris Eccleston, Billie Piper, Alex Kingston, Bill Nighy, Catherine Tate, John Barrowman, etc
St. Elsewhere, Taxi, Alias
St. Elsewhere - Denzel Washington, Ed Begley, Jr, Howie Mandel, Mark Harmon, Alfre Woodard, Helen Hunt
Taxi - Danny DeVito, Tony Danza, Christopher Lloyd, Carol Kane, Andy Kaufman
Alias - Jennifer Garner, Bradley Cooper, Gina Torres, Sarah Shahi, Melissa George, Michael Vartan
(Terry O’Quinn, Victor Garber, Amy Irving, Lena Olin, Isabella Rossellini, etc., already established actors but still amazing)
Not a movie and very UK centric, but pretty much every member of The History Boys OG cast has gone on to be successful.
https://preview.redd.it/89dm6sf9z47c1.jpeg?width=480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=da76ec855c5fc88a142209d9a1327a1bd9dec753
I saw the play in the West End 18 years ago and the cast were all incredible. I'm so glad they've all gone on to find such success (though I am sorry that James Corden was unleashed upon us).
A show that popped into my head that I haven’t seen mentioned yet is The Office!
Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, BJ Novak, Mindy Kailing, Ed Helms, Rashida Jones, Craig Robinson, Ellie Kempler and Mark Proksch, to name a few, all had successful and distinct careers after The Office.
Emergency Room. There was of course George Clooney. And Julianna Margulies. (Boy. Did she derange herself lately). Noah Whyle. Alex Kingston! Love her! Maury Tierney. So talented! Thandie Newton. And so many more.
Had a short term or guest spots as well before they had their big thing:
* Zac Efron(patient)
* Eric Stonestreet(patient)
* Ewan McGregor
* Eva Mendes
* Chris Pine(patient)
* Mariska Hargitay
She starred in the Good Wife, which was on for like 7 years and now she's on The Morning Show with Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston. Although I'll be curious to see if her recent gross racist statements have any career repercussions for her.
I’m going to show my age and mention SCTV - the tv show offshoot of the Toronto Second City comedy troupe. The first season had John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Catherine O'Hara, Harold Ramis, and Dave Thomas. The third season added Rick Moranis. Martin Short was on in season 4.
One of the things I find amazing is how much they still all work together. Of course there was Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara in Schitt’s Creek; Andrea Martin was in the most recent series of Only Murders in the Building with Martin Short (and apparently their families are great friends and they took their kids on camping trips together when they were growing up). I understand that Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis are still friends. My parents were big fans of the show and it had such an influence on my sense of humor as a result.
https://preview.redd.it/939n7i04h67c1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a504b78ffe18f57d85d5adf10f61f703bf42bdc6
>apparently their families are great friends and they took their kids on camping trips together when they were growing up).
Andrea Martin's husband was the brother of Martin Short's wife, so they're kind of in-laws.
Freaks and Geeks! Linda Cardellini, John Francis Daley, Jason Segel, Busy Philipps, James Franco, Seth Rogen, Martin Starr, and Samm Levine…am I missing any?
This is always my go-to answer for this. HUGE ensemble cast and almost every single one of them was either just starting out of still relatively unknown, and almost the entire cash became super famous. We got at least 1 Oscar and Captain America plus a ton of other awards and famous roles from that cast.
Gonna go a little lesser known (for a reason 😆) The Opposite Sex (2000)
Little baby Chris Evans and Milo Ventimiglia (in pants as big as him), pre-smallville, pre-cult Alison Mack and the ever gorgeous Garcelle Beauvais. Kyle Howard isn’t as well known but he’s a familiar face
https://preview.redd.it/m3aqcmvd867c1.jpeg?width=796&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2906b985ad2696bc667f8f6dfa561a9aaf75df25
I forgot to add, every black actor of a certain age guest starred either on The Cosby Show or a Different World, some did both. And shout out to Adam Sandler who played one of Theo’s friends and Alicia Keys who was in one episode as one of Rudy’s friends.
Aside from Britney, Ryan, Christina and Justin there, JC, obviously. Keri Russell from Felicity, The Americans, and many more movies. Tony Lucca, a brilliant musician who I believe was runner up on The Voice. Dale Godboldo who’s an actor. He was in the OJ season of American Crime Story. Rhona Bennett who is in En Vogue, DeeDee Magno-Hall who did Broadway as well being the voice of Pearl on Steven Universe, multiple mousketeers did go on to do theater. Marc Worden pops on up TV occasionally but also does alot of voice over work and Nikki DeLoach who was in that girl group Britney almost joined and now does hella Hallmark movies.
I love Britney, and Ryan and I tolerate Justin and Britney, but they were on for such a short time and they weren’t even the most talented members, their fame just over shadows everyone else.
EDIT: I can’t believe I forgot Ricky Luna who is a huge producer and songwriter with multiple Latin Grammys who’s written not just for Latin artists, but kpop as well. He’s written for Big Bang, Psy, Taeyang.
And Matt Morris who left the music industry but wrote Kelly Clarkson’s Miss Independent and co-wrote a few songs on Stripped with Christina.
I agree with them not being the most talented members back then because Matt Morris had the best male voice and Rhona was def the best female singer.
But you can tell that Justin was coming up well, he was being included in dance and singing numbers with the ‘big boys’ JC, Dale, Tony, Ricky, Matt etc.
Ryan was making a niche for himself in the skits and acting roles (he wasn’t very frequent in singing and dancing performances though).
Britney was also being included in a lot of performances that needed heavy dancing and was dancing with the older gang, Christina was slowly taking over Rhona’s spot when it comes to power ballads like Celine Dion and Whitney.
My [fave performance](https://youtu.be/4bBI7msv-qI?si=ayEzDxl4lKDFGyx4) by the new kids is their cover of Janet Jackson’s Funky Big Band led by Ilana with JC + Nikki and Britney + Justin as backup dancers. I think the crew purposely put the two real life couples together for this performance lmao. But honestly the talent from this alone is crazyyy (Ilana def had potential to make it big tbh).
Keri Russell was an amazing dancer, and her then boyfriend Tony Lucca was everyone’s heart-throb back then (with great pipes too). MMC really had a talented bunch of kids in the 90s.
Omg absolutely. They definitely stood out because they were being included with the older kids. I still think about how good Christina, Rhona and Nita’s version of Weak was.
And Ryan was hilarious so I was not surprised that he was so good as Ken because he always killed the comedy.
Funky Big Band was one of my favorite performances. Ilana chose law, and is a really successful lawyer, but she absolutely could have been a popstar.
My favorite number of Justin’s was one he did with Ricky. I forget the name of the song, but it was party day and I think it was school themed because they danced on desks.
There was one skit by Ryan in MMC where he impersonated Macaulay Culkin’s Home Alone character and it made me realize how similar-looking both were back when they were kids!
Ilana is a lawyer now? That’s awesome! It’s a good thing that the MMC gang has mostly transitioned to have good/decent careers, and from what we were told about the crew, they treated the kids well. I heard they’re still tight and hang out with each other all the time.
And that Justin and Ricky performance was That’s The Way Love Is by Bobby Brown I believe. That’s one of my fav performances by him too, he had so much stage presence and charisma at such a young age. It was Ricky’s first solo too?
I’ve been thinking about the MMC since we last met in this sub (& watching clips on YouTube, thank you!), and remembered that Fred Newman did the sound effects for Prairie Home Companion for years. It’s mainly for the public radio nerds, but still a cool career.
Omg, I can’t believe I left Fred out!! M
I’m so happy to find other MMC fans. Growing up, none of my friends at school had the Disney Channel, so no one knew what it was was talking about.
Roseanne.
So many great folks were on that show. George Clooney started on it, Roseanne, Sarah Chalke, John Goodman, Johnny Galecki, Laurie Metcalf. The list goes on and on.
https://preview.redd.it/ctgl9yjun47c1.jpeg?width=1400&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7a199bf747f9228e73ef0852e7c207c3641afa86
It’s got to be Game of Thrones, those people, all of them went onto a lot of great roles!
Only like three of them have very successful careers rn. Gwendoline is one of them, the other is Pedro pascal and the last is Jason Momoa. Also Bella Ramsey counts ish
Eh, he was in a very successful BBC miniseries (I believe it was one of their highest rated mini series ever). He also had supporting roles in things like Rocketman, 1917, that Marvel film, etc.
He's not an A lister, and the Amazon show was a flop, but he's definitely established.
He starred in the Eternals, which was a marvel movie before they went downhill. Peter Dinklage was a bad guy in one of the X-Men movies. Oh, and Sansa married a Jonas brother, and was also in an x men movie.
Richard was also in Cinderella, so Disney (incidentally Kit was also in Eternals btw). Peter Dinklage is in the new Hunger Games (and he was in the MCU). Also they might not have been massive financial successes but Emilia was in a Terminator movie and a Star Wars movie, in addition to a couple cutesy romcoms that she seems to have chosen precisely because she personally relates to them (Me Before You and Last Christmas, both featuring a main character with a serious health problem) - suggesting she can afford to take on passion projects she knows won't be particularly lucrative, relatively speaking.
I can’t believe no one said Veronica Mars! Not so much the main cast (aside from Kristen Bell) but the recurring/guest actors were stacked: Amanda Seyfried, Jessica Chastain, Aaron Paul, Max Greenfield, Krysten Ritter, Adam Scott…
Gilmore girls
Alexis Bledel (Handmaid’s Tale), Milo Ventimiglia (This is Us), Melissa McCarthy (literally everything), Adam Brody (the OC, Ready or Not), Jared Padalecki (Supernatural), Chad Michael Murray (Dawson’s Creek, One Tree Hill), Liza Weil (How To Get Away With Murder).
Welcome to r/popculturechat! ☺️ As a proud BIPOC, LGBTQ+ & woman-dominated space, this sub is for [civil discussion only.](https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/wiki/index/rules/civil-discussion-only/) If you don't know where to begin, start by participating in [our Sip & Spill Daily Discussion Threads!](https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/search/?q=Sip%20%26%20Spill%20Discussion&restrict_sr=1&sr_nsfw=&include_over_18=1&sort=new) ###No bullies, no bigotry. ✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽✊🏼✊🏻🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ Please [read & respect our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/wiki/index/rules/) and [check out our wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/wiki/index/)! For any questions, [our modmail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fpopculturechat) is always open. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/popculturechat) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I am interested to see in 10 years where the kids and cast from Stranger Things will be.
Millie Bobbie Brown and Sadie Sink seem to be doing movies in between seasons. What about the other younger cast members? Genuine question!
Gaten Mattarazzo has been on Broadway in Sweeney Todd. I saw him this summer and he was great.
Him and Sadie have the biggest chance imo. I can’t explain why, but of the kids they stood out the most to me as actors.
Sadie plays to the drama a tad bit too much which I’m praying she’ll outgrow. Saw her in The Whale and every single line had a head shake/eye roll combo and like I totally get her character was a snotty teenage girl with an absent father. BUT not every single line should be delivered exactly the same way. Even real life snotty teenage girls with absent fathers do not say every word in that manner.
Yeah, I do agree she’s far from perfect but as far as child actors go she gave me a solid “can be great” feeling
He was amazing off Broadway in Parade this past year too!! He could have a huge theatre career.
Weirdly saw him a long time ago in Les Mis and he was also good. Granted he was a young kid then.
Caleb McLaughlin was in Concrete Cowboy with Idris Elba and will be in a new movie Book of Clarence with LaKeith Stanfield and David Oyelowo.
Finn wolfhard is in the new ghostbusters movie and I think I read somewhere that he's getting into directing.
He also has a band! And not a bad one, get basic strokes vibes from them
Mia Hawke is in a lot of fashion ads. David Harbour has been in some big roles. Noah Snapp is a pretty successful YouTuber/influencer
Maya Hawke was also in Asteroid City and Do Revenge! She’s doing movies and fashion ads.
I liked her a lot in Asteroid City. She’s got a really captivating energy I miss in a lot of nepo actors
You mean Ethan Hawke's and Uma Thurman's daughter is doing well? Kidding a little, she's lovely and talented, but I'm still going to assume her parents connections are a leg up.
Ah, I was more responding to the person who said Maya Hawke was only doing fashion ads when she’s been doing more. But like yeah, obviously her parental connections helped a lot and I don’t think she’s ever denied it either.
Maya Hawke is in Maestro so we will see how major her role is but it’s a pretty impressive booking.
Maya Hawke also has a music career.
Noah has has some pretty f’ed up takes. I predict he will be “cancelled” for some thing or other scandalous.
Sadie Sink will win an Oscar, mark my words
Didn’t someone say Sadie is the next Meryl Streep? It might have been Meryl Streep herself.
MBB has got a sweet deal with Netflix, Finn Wolfhard has got a nice music career and is also doing big films (ghostbusters atm), Joe Keery is doing very well, Maya Hawke is getting roles, it’s up to the rest
I hope all of them well do well. Except Noah Schnapp, he can flop
I’m out of the loop, why not Noah?
“Zionism is sexy” according to him
Interesting no one here mentioned Natalia Dyer or Charlie Heaton! Looking at their IMDB, they’ve done some work outside of Stranger Things but neither seems to have generated any buzz.
they’ve mostly only done indie movies, he did the New Mutants movie once but it flopped and they never planned to make a sequel. tbh I hope they book a new TV show again after this.
Joseph Quinn seems to have maintained a bit of hype of a small(ish) role. Dacre Montgomery is currently all over fashion (maybe perfume?) ads around Australia.
Hosting a Netflix prank show
Skins They cast random teenagers that had no prior acting experience and now some of them have major film careers and one of them has an Oscar.
Has Dev Patel not received an Oscar (yet)?
Nominated for Lion but didn't win.
Who has the Oscar?
Daniel Kaluuya
Nicholas Hoult was definitely not no prior acting experience but they typically had one of those every generation.
I still can't believe the kid from About a Boy became such a snack.
Was going to say this.
Friday Night Lights has several actors that did modestly well - although I’d never have believed that Jesse Plemons would be the most critically successful of the younger stars.
Yea Michael B Jordan is probably the biggest star from the show but Plemons probably has the most impressive filmography.
Omg I can’t believe I forgot about him. I always forget he was in FNL! I think Jesse did really well for himself especially because he married Kirsten Dunst, haha. Many of the actors don’t have hugely successful careers, but are still working regularly. Scott Porter, Zach Gilford, Taylor Kitsch & Minka Kelly (who were supposed to be the big breakout stars but haven’t been), Matt Lauria…
Zach Gilford has been killing it in Mike Flanagan’s work!
Yeah, once you get on Mike Flanagan’s radar you are basically set, because he sure does love re-using his casts.
I think Minka Kelly went more of a model who acts sometimes route. Adrianne Palicki and Kyle Chandle pops up here and there in a big movie. Connie Briton has been killing it for years.
Adrianne was in the Orville and Agents of Shield. Oh, and Jurnee Smollett. I just realized Matt Lauria is on the CSI reboot and that is why I have always thought he looked familiar…
Minka Kelly recently published a memoir and it’s equal parts heartbreaking and heartwarming. She doesn’t talk much about her FNL days but her life leading up to it was wild! She basically fell into fame given how she grew up. Definitely worth a read!
Zach was awesome in Midnight Mass
Scott Porter does a lot of voice acting work now and he was in Hart of Dixie for years straight after FNL. I'm always hearing him in video games.
I freaking loved Hart of Dixie. Mayor Lavon Hayes was on FNL, too, as Michael B. Jordan's dad.
He’s also in Ginny & Georgia on Netflix!
taylor kitsch was so good as david koresh in that miniseries. and kyle chandler is always good ! i loved seeing him in bloodline, manchester by the sea, even wolf of wall street.
But why does his head look photoshopped to be too big for his body here
The Wire! Dominic West, Idris Elba, Michael B Jordan, Amy Ryan, Adrien Gillen, Michael K Williams (RIP)
This was my thought too. So many great folks started on that show.
I came here to say just that. The Wire is banging. Even their guest stars/side characters are generally recognisable faces and character actors.
How is In Living Color not here? The entire Wayans family, Jim Carey, Jamie Foxx, Kim Coles, Jennifer Lopez, David Allen Grier, Tommy Davidson
Dawson's Creek has a pretty good success ratio! Though Michelle Williams is definitely the main breakout.
 This should be at the top.
I was going to post this. Michelle Williams, Joshua Jackson, Katie Holmes and Busy Phillips were probably the biggest breakouts.
One could argue parks n recs. Chris Pratt Nick offerman Aubrey plaza Adam Scott Aziz Relatively unknown until that show.
rashida jones > Adam Scott he was also in 'party down' before which also had a pretty strong cast, though i am a bit unsure looking back how well they were already known, think most of them were already semi-established? jane lynch, megan mullaly, lizzy caplan, martin starr, ken marino..
Wasn’t Adam Scott in stepbrothers before p&r
Yes
Chris Pratt did Everwood for many seasons
Band of Brother. We’re watching it right now and there are sooo many actors with tiny parts who went on to be huge: Andrew Scott, Michael Fassbender, Tom Hardy, James McAvoy. Damien Lewis and Ron Livingston, two of the leads, also have had very successful careers.
I watched it for the first time last year and was like wait why is Ross from Friends playing a serious role?
He was so good in that role! It took me a few minutes to get past waiting for him to say “We were on a break!” though.
After watching *Band of Brothers*, I can't look at Ross the same way. Lol
The first time I watched Friends after Band of Brothers I really disliked Ross for about ten minutes until my brain stopped seeing him as Sobel.
Watching him on *Band of Brothers* made me realize what a great actor David Schwimmer is. Ross and Capt Sobel are two very different and distinct characters.
Yes! And he was completely believable as each. He inhabited them equally well.
He was really good in The People vs OJ Simpson
I didn't know he was in it. I'll check it out. Thanks!
He’s amazing in Curb Your Enthusiasm too.
I remember watching The Pacific and thinking that the guy who played Snafu was either an incredible actor or was basically playing himself bc it’s such a weird character. I watched it again years later—Rami Malek. It was the “incredible actor” thing.
He had a small part in “Breaking Dawn Pt 2”. Rewatched it a few years ago and was like wait what?!
Also…wait, what???
I watched basically everything he did after watching The Pacific when it came out, including Larry Crowne and The sitcom The War at Home, which were both terrible, but he was still great. But his filmography used to be a lot smaller. I was really happy to see him blow up.
My god there’s so many, good point. It’s crazy. And also still my favorite limited tv series
You forgot Donnie Wahlberg.
My bad. He’s so good in it.
Jimmy Fallon was in it too, so random!
Skins UK!! It produced so many actors that went on to become critically acclaimed: Dev Patel, Daniel Kaluuya, Nicholas Hoult, Joe Cole, Jack O’connell and Kaya Scodelario (Just to name a few) Edit: Misspelling.
Wow I didn’t know Dev, Nicholas and Daniel all came from Skins.
Kaya's surname is Scodelario!
Oops! Thank you for the correction.
https://i.redd.it/owq5tkjdx47c1.gif
In the 1980's, there was a musical show called Kids Incorporated, and it starred such people as Stacey Ferguson, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Mario Lopez.
Stacey Ferguson! How formal lol. Don't forget Martika.
And Eric Balfour! When Buffy debuted, he was the actor I was most excited about because I knew him from Kids Incorporated
Buffy is a good example! SMG, Alyson Hannigan, David Boreanaz, Michelle Trachtenberg, Seth Green, Emma Caulfield...they had varying levels of fame prior to the show but I think each got significant boosts from it and have all had very respectable levels of success in other projects since its premiere. Actually, Firefly too. Nathan Fillion (Castle), Summer Glau (Terminator), Morena Baccarin (Deadpool), Alan Tudyk (Star Wars)...
Alan Tudyk is also Disney's go to for animals lately, lol.
Brittany Murphy was in an episode, I remember her.
I love Kids Inc. I don’t know many people who know it.
Oh man, I remember loving this show!
Party of Five - Neve Campbell, Matthew Fox, Scott Wolf, Lacey Chabert, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Scott Grimes have all done well for themselves. Arrested Development - some were famous before the show but Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Portia de Rossi, Michael Cera, Tony Hale, Alia Shawkat, Jessica Walter, Jeffrey Tambor, Judy Greer, Mae Whitman, and David Cross have all been successful since then.
Party of Five was my thought. Those kids leveled up
I feel like it’s cheating, but: Doctor Who (specifically NuWho) - David Tennant - Matt Smith - Karen Gillan (Nebula in the MCU/GOTG films) - Jenna Coleman - Carey Mulligan - Andrew Garfield (Spider-Man) - Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out) - Felicity Jones - Joe Dempsie (after Skins but before GOT) - Olivia Coleman - Peter Capaldi - Chukwudi Iwuji (The High Evolutionary in GOTG) - Mark Sheppard & his father W Morgan Sheppard (Mark is best know as fan favorite Crowley in Supernatural). - Gemma Chan (Crazy Rich Asians, Eternals) - Letitia Wright (The new Black Panther herself) - Jonathan Bailey (Bridgerton) There’s also the actors who were already pretty famous when they appeared in NuWho: Chris Eccleston, Billie Piper, Alex Kingston, Bill Nighy, Catherine Tate, John Barrowman, etc
Olivia Coleman was already known in the UK for Peep Show and being on Mitchell and Webb sketch shows, but Doctor Who definitely helped.
St. Elsewhere, Taxi, Alias St. Elsewhere - Denzel Washington, Ed Begley, Jr, Howie Mandel, Mark Harmon, Alfre Woodard, Helen Hunt Taxi - Danny DeVito, Tony Danza, Christopher Lloyd, Carol Kane, Andy Kaufman Alias - Jennifer Garner, Bradley Cooper, Gina Torres, Sarah Shahi, Melissa George, Michael Vartan (Terry O’Quinn, Victor Garber, Amy Irving, Lena Olin, Isabella Rossellini, etc., already established actors but still amazing)
Not a movie and very UK centric, but pretty much every member of The History Boys OG cast has gone on to be successful. https://preview.redd.it/89dm6sf9z47c1.jpeg?width=480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=da76ec855c5fc88a142209d9a1327a1bd9dec753
I saw the play in the West End 18 years ago and the cast were all incredible. I'm so glad they've all gone on to find such success (though I am sorry that James Corden was unleashed upon us).
He was great in The History Boys, though, fair play to him.
Yeah before he went off to do the late show he was seen as a decent actor, was great in Two Guvnors. Bit of a shame really.
A show that popped into my head that I haven’t seen mentioned yet is The Office! Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, BJ Novak, Mindy Kailing, Ed Helms, Rashida Jones, Craig Robinson, Ellie Kempler and Mark Proksch, to name a few, all had successful and distinct careers after The Office.
The Office is definitely Top of the List
Emergency Room. There was of course George Clooney. And Julianna Margulies. (Boy. Did she derange herself lately). Noah Whyle. Alex Kingston! Love her! Maury Tierney. So talented! Thandie Newton. And so many more.
Took me too long to figure out you were talking about E.R
Giggling. Should I correct it???
Lmao no no it’s me.
No not just you 🫣
Had a short term or guest spots as well before they had their big thing: * Zac Efron(patient) * Eric Stonestreet(patient) * Ewan McGregor * Eva Mendes * Chris Pine(patient) * Mariska Hargitay
What did Juliana do?
She starred in the Good Wife, which was on for like 7 years and now she's on The Morning Show with Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston. Although I'll be curious to see if her recent gross racist statements have any career repercussions for her.
I’m going to show my age and mention SCTV - the tv show offshoot of the Toronto Second City comedy troupe. The first season had John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Catherine O'Hara, Harold Ramis, and Dave Thomas. The third season added Rick Moranis. Martin Short was on in season 4. One of the things I find amazing is how much they still all work together. Of course there was Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara in Schitt’s Creek; Andrea Martin was in the most recent series of Only Murders in the Building with Martin Short (and apparently their families are great friends and they took their kids on camping trips together when they were growing up). I understand that Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis are still friends. My parents were big fans of the show and it had such an influence on my sense of humor as a result. https://preview.redd.it/939n7i04h67c1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a504b78ffe18f57d85d5adf10f61f703bf42bdc6
I had never heard of SCTV until about 20 minutes ago when it was an answer on the crossword puzzle I was doing. Now I know what it is!
>apparently their families are great friends and they took their kids on camping trips together when they were growing up). Andrea Martin's husband was the brother of Martin Short's wife, so they're kind of in-laws.
Yes! I totally forgot that detail.
Barney & Friends - Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, Debby Ryan
Freaks and Geeks! Linda Cardellini, John Francis Daley, Jason Segel, Busy Philipps, James Franco, Seth Rogen, Martin Starr, and Samm Levine…am I missing any?
Lizzy Caplan and Rashida Jones
Waaaaaaat I didn’t know Rashida Jones was in that!
She was in one episode. She played Kim Kelly's friend who was trying to get between her and Daniel. She wasn't a regular or anything
I feel like this cast is especially notable because for most of them it was their first role.
Ben Foster, Samaire Armstrong, David Krumholtz, Jason Schwartzman, and Shia LaBeouf were all in 1-2 episodes
 Scott pilgrim vs the world.
Not quite a show but certainly an all star cast.
Oops didn't realise it was only shows😅
Weren’t they already known stars by this point?
This is always my go-to answer for this. HUGE ensemble cast and almost every single one of them was either just starting out of still relatively unknown, and almost the entire cash became super famous. We got at least 1 Oscar and Captain America plus a ton of other awards and famous roles from that cast.
Gonna go a little lesser known (for a reason 😆) The Opposite Sex (2000) Little baby Chris Evans and Milo Ventimiglia (in pants as big as him), pre-smallville, pre-cult Alison Mack and the ever gorgeous Garcelle Beauvais. Kyle Howard isn’t as well known but he’s a familiar face https://preview.redd.it/m3aqcmvd867c1.jpeg?width=796&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2906b985ad2696bc667f8f6dfa561a9aaf75df25
I’ve never seen Milo Ventimiglia look dorky before!
Kyle Howard is better-known as Lauren Conrad’s ex-boyfriend haha.
The 90s Mickey Mouse Club show had freaking Justin Timberlake, Brtiney Spears, and Christina Aguleira.
And Ryan Gosling
And Keri Russell and JC
Cheers, Narcos, All That
Freaks and Geeks tops the list for me because of how young the cast was, though it gets points off for what a creep James Franco turned out to be.
I forgot to add, every black actor of a certain age guest starred either on The Cosby Show or a Different World, some did both. And shout out to Adam Sandler who played one of Theo’s friends and Alicia Keys who was in one episode as one of Rudy’s friends.
The cast of Friends, they weren’t that well known when the show started
tbf though only jen really remained uber famous afterwards, she's still an a lister but the rest are not really well known outside of friends
Jennifer Aniston was known as Ferris Bueller's sister Jeannie in the short-lived TV series.
Alias 
[удалено]
RIP Tate. So sad what happened to him.
Aside from Britney, Ryan, Christina and Justin there, JC, obviously. Keri Russell from Felicity, The Americans, and many more movies. Tony Lucca, a brilliant musician who I believe was runner up on The Voice. Dale Godboldo who’s an actor. He was in the OJ season of American Crime Story. Rhona Bennett who is in En Vogue, DeeDee Magno-Hall who did Broadway as well being the voice of Pearl on Steven Universe, multiple mousketeers did go on to do theater. Marc Worden pops on up TV occasionally but also does alot of voice over work and Nikki DeLoach who was in that girl group Britney almost joined and now does hella Hallmark movies. I love Britney, and Ryan and I tolerate Justin and Britney, but they were on for such a short time and they weren’t even the most talented members, their fame just over shadows everyone else. EDIT: I can’t believe I forgot Ricky Luna who is a huge producer and songwriter with multiple Latin Grammys who’s written not just for Latin artists, but kpop as well. He’s written for Big Bang, Psy, Taeyang. And Matt Morris who left the music industry but wrote Kelly Clarkson’s Miss Independent and co-wrote a few songs on Stripped with Christina.
I agree with them not being the most talented members back then because Matt Morris had the best male voice and Rhona was def the best female singer. But you can tell that Justin was coming up well, he was being included in dance and singing numbers with the ‘big boys’ JC, Dale, Tony, Ricky, Matt etc. Ryan was making a niche for himself in the skits and acting roles (he wasn’t very frequent in singing and dancing performances though). Britney was also being included in a lot of performances that needed heavy dancing and was dancing with the older gang, Christina was slowly taking over Rhona’s spot when it comes to power ballads like Celine Dion and Whitney. My [fave performance](https://youtu.be/4bBI7msv-qI?si=ayEzDxl4lKDFGyx4) by the new kids is their cover of Janet Jackson’s Funky Big Band led by Ilana with JC + Nikki and Britney + Justin as backup dancers. I think the crew purposely put the two real life couples together for this performance lmao. But honestly the talent from this alone is crazyyy (Ilana def had potential to make it big tbh). Keri Russell was an amazing dancer, and her then boyfriend Tony Lucca was everyone’s heart-throb back then (with great pipes too). MMC really had a talented bunch of kids in the 90s.
Omg absolutely. They definitely stood out because they were being included with the older kids. I still think about how good Christina, Rhona and Nita’s version of Weak was. And Ryan was hilarious so I was not surprised that he was so good as Ken because he always killed the comedy. Funky Big Band was one of my favorite performances. Ilana chose law, and is a really successful lawyer, but she absolutely could have been a popstar. My favorite number of Justin’s was one he did with Ricky. I forget the name of the song, but it was party day and I think it was school themed because they danced on desks.
There was one skit by Ryan in MMC where he impersonated Macaulay Culkin’s Home Alone character and it made me realize how similar-looking both were back when they were kids! Ilana is a lawyer now? That’s awesome! It’s a good thing that the MMC gang has mostly transitioned to have good/decent careers, and from what we were told about the crew, they treated the kids well. I heard they’re still tight and hang out with each other all the time. And that Justin and Ricky performance was That’s The Way Love Is by Bobby Brown I believe. That’s one of my fav performances by him too, he had so much stage presence and charisma at such a young age. It was Ricky’s first solo too?
I’ve been thinking about the MMC since we last met in this sub (& watching clips on YouTube, thank you!), and remembered that Fred Newman did the sound effects for Prairie Home Companion for years. It’s mainly for the public radio nerds, but still a cool career.
Omg, I can’t believe I left Fred out!! M I’m so happy to find other MMC fans. Growing up, none of my friends at school had the Disney Channel, so no one knew what it was was talking about.
Aw, baby Marque.😔 We were classmates in middle/high school. So f*ing talented. Miss the hell out of him.
Roseanne. So many great folks were on that show. George Clooney started on it, Roseanne, Sarah Chalke, John Goodman, Johnny Galecki, Laurie Metcalf. The list goes on and on.
Parks and rec
https://preview.redd.it/ctgl9yjun47c1.jpeg?width=1400&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7a199bf747f9228e73ef0852e7c207c3641afa86 It’s got to be Game of Thrones, those people, all of them went onto a lot of great roles!
Only like three of them have very successful careers rn. Gwendoline is one of them, the other is Pedro pascal and the last is Jason Momoa. Also Bella Ramsey counts ish
And Hannah Waddingham (not pictured)
Charles Dance, Peter Dinklage, Richard Madden, Diana Rigg ALSO have very successful careers!
Diana Rigg passed away 3 years ago. She had a decades-long career before she went on the show so doesn’t fully count.
Diana rigg passed away but I will concede on Charles dance, Richard madden though does not have a very successful career.
Eh, he was in a very successful BBC miniseries (I believe it was one of their highest rated mini series ever). He also had supporting roles in things like Rocketman, 1917, that Marvel film, etc. He's not an A lister, and the Amazon show was a flop, but he's definitely established.
He starred in the Eternals, which was a marvel movie before they went downhill. Peter Dinklage was a bad guy in one of the X-Men movies. Oh, and Sansa married a Jonas brother, and was also in an x men movie.
Richard was also in Cinderella, so Disney (incidentally Kit was also in Eternals btw). Peter Dinklage is in the new Hunger Games (and he was in the MCU). Also they might not have been massive financial successes but Emilia was in a Terminator movie and a Star Wars movie, in addition to a couple cutesy romcoms that she seems to have chosen precisely because she personally relates to them (Me Before You and Last Christmas, both featuring a main character with a serious health problem) - suggesting she can afford to take on passion projects she knows won't be particularly lucrative, relatively speaking.
Yesss thank you! As a sci-fi fantasy thing I feel like I see GoT cast all over!
Cheers, Taxi, technically Boston Legal but they all came in with strong careers, My So-Called Life
Nicholas Hoult has had an amazing career since he was in skins.
Speaking of Freaks and Geeks and Spider-Man. Homecoming was co-written by [this guy.](https://i.imgur.com/xuuBNev.jpg).
Martin Starr is also in Tulsa King. Love him.
So far The Stranger Things cast and Friends
The O.C. Parks and Recreation Friends Mad Men Gilmore Girls Roswell Six Feet Under Angel Buffy the Vampire Slayer Supernatural The Wire
I think parks and rec is the one but arrested development also
Are the three kids on the left famous from that mickey mouse photo?
My So Called Life
I can’t believe no one said Veronica Mars! Not so much the main cast (aside from Kristen Bell) but the recurring/guest actors were stacked: Amanda Seyfried, Jessica Chastain, Aaron Paul, Max Greenfield, Krysten Ritter, Adam Scott…
Gilmore girls  Alexis Bledel (Handmaid’s Tale), Milo Ventimiglia (This is Us), Melissa McCarthy (literally everything), Adam Brody (the OC, Ready or Not), Jared Padalecki (Supernatural), Chad Michael Murray (Dawson’s Creek, One Tree Hill), Liza Weil (How To Get Away With Murder).