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I was watching Bonnie and Clyde last night (I’m going through this gangster phase right now) and noticed a strange thing – Willy Wonka, sitting there in the backseat as a hostage in the gangsters’ car. Turns out the 1967 movie was Gene Wilder’s feature film debut. Not bad for a first movie, huh? Every actor has to start somewhere, of course, and some start a little higher than others. We’ve done quizzes on the embarrassing beginnings of thespians before; it seems only fair to talk about the pretty good beginnings as well.
1. Richard Dreyfuss‘ first film role was as a stage manager in 1967’s Valley of the Dolls.
2. Tommy Lee Jones can first be seen on the silver screen as Hank Simpson in Love Story.
3. Benicio Del Toro’s big film break wasn’t in a classic movie in the usual sense of the word, but I think it’s a pretty great movie, myself: Big Top Pee-wee from 1988. He played Duke, the Dog-Faced Boy, pictured here to the left.
4. Cuba Gooding, Jr., can claim a small role as a barber shop customer in Coming to America as his movie debut.
5. Anjelica Huston has got to have one of the smallest film debuts ever – she provided Agent Mimi’s hands in the first Casino Royale.
6. Geena Davis played April Page in Tootsie in 1982, her first time on the big screen.
7. Anna Paquin, who is currently starring in one my favorite T.V. shows right now, won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at the ripe old age of 11 for her work in The Piano. It was her first movie.
8. Matt Damon had a single line in his first-ever movie: it was Mystic Pizza in 1988, and the line was, “Mom, do you want my green stuff?”
9. Laura Linney’s first role was as a teacher in the movie Lorenzo’s Oil with Susan Sarandon and Nick Nolte.
10. Kevin Bacon had a brief role in the classic frat movie Animal House as rival pledge Chip.
Share your favorites in the comments! We’ll even take the bad ones.
Comments (36)
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Kevin Costner as the dead guy in the opening credits of “The Big Chill” (only shows his shirt being buttoned)
posted by Jamie Smith on 7-30-2009 at 3:39 pm
Johnny Depp in Nightmare on Elm Street. But I just really wanted to mention Johnny Depp because I see he is going to star in the big screen version of Dark Shadows (my all time favorite show as a kid). So now two of my favorite things will come together!
posted by Hyacinth on 7-30-2009 at 3:47 pm
Amy Adams in Drop Dead Gorgeous. Great movie! If you haven’t seen it, rent it. I remember the next time I saw her was when she was nominated for an Oscar for Junebug.
posted by Patty on 7-30-2009 at 4:01 pm
James Earl Jones in Dr. Strangelove!
posted by Rebecca on 7-30-2009 at 4:10 pm
Ben Kingsley in “Gandhi”. He won the Best Actor Oscar for it.
posted by 8rustystaples on 7-30-2009 at 4:15 pm
What about Robin Williams? Who can forget Popeye?
posted by Steven on 7-30-2009 at 4:20 pm
I had thought Bonnie & Clyde was also Gene Hackman’s debut, but after a quick visit to imDb, I see he was in 19 other movies before then. None worth a damn, though.
posted by Johnny Cat on 7-30-2009 at 4:33 pm
Nicholas Cage started his career in Fast Times at Ridgement High (though his credit lists him as Nicholas Coppola)
posted by Jeff on 7-30-2009 at 4:36 pm
Elijah Wood’s first on screen appearance is in Back to the Future II as one of the kids looking at the video game in the retro-diner.
Matt Frewer debuted in the “Crimson Permanent Assurance” sketch that opened “Monty Python’s Meaning of Life.” Later in that same film, Jane Leeves made her feature film debut.
posted by Steven on 7-30-2009 at 4:43 pm
Elijah Wood in Back to the Future II (he was the little kid playing the quick draw game at the cafe 80s)
posted by John Paul on 7-30-2009 at 4:44 pm
Ben Affleck is briefly identifiable in the movie “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” during the basketball game.
posted by Miss Priss on 7-30-2009 at 4:49 pm
Arnold Schwarznegger had an uncredited first appearance in the 1970s version of The Long Goodbye.
posted by James Callaghan on 7-30-2009 at 4:56 pm
Not their first roles but close enough, Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau in Rudy.
posted by Franko on 7-30-2009 at 5:01 pm
Matt Damon in Mystic Pizza
Jennifer Aniston in Leprechaun
Robert Duvall, uncredited, as Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird
posted by don on 7-30-2009 at 5:24 pm
oops…guess I should have read the original post more carefully
posted by don on 7-30-2009 at 5:26 pm
8rustystaples: sorry, but Ben Kingsley’s first film appearance was in “Fear is the Key” in 1972…
posted by Jim on 7-30-2009 at 6:29 pm
Sofia Coppola in The Godfather. She played the male baby being baptized in the famous montage scene. Okay, so she’s a director, not an actor. But still…
posted by pannonica on 7-30-2009 at 7:00 pm
Clint Eastwood’s film debut was in the sci-fi flick Revenge of the Creature. He was a pretty crappy lab tech.
posted by Jorge on 7-30-2009 at 7:30 pm
Angela Lansbury in Gaslight
Audrey Hepburn in The Lavender Hill Mob (although she was in several other lesser films in 1951, IMDb says this is her first, perhaps it was filmed first).
PBS will have a thing on Audrey Hepburn Sat. American Masters I think.
Lavender Hill Mob is also Robert Shaw’s first film.
posted by Jonny on 7-30-2009 at 7:34 pm
Rob Lowe in The Outsiders as Sodapop Curtis
reCaptcha spunkier 14
posted by Jonny on 7-30-2009 at 7:39 pm
Sex and the City star Cythia Nixon was in the very awesome 1980 movie, “Little Darlings” with Kristy Mcnichol and Tatum O’Neal.
She played a hippie type character named “Sunshine” that tried to get the other girls to try herbal remedies and get along.
posted by holly on 7-30-2009 at 7:47 pm
Orlando Bloom in Wilde..he plays the rentboy..
posted by Vault on 7-30-2009 at 10:14 pm
Meryl Streep in Julia, which was nominated for Oscar Best Picture.
It’s funny how her latest film is titled Julie & Julia.
posted by Ken on 7-30-2009 at 11:28 pm
Kevin Spacey as the theif in Heartburn.
posted by Fergs on 7-30-2009 at 11:44 pm
Jack Nicholson in the original Little Shop of Horrors. It’s a terrifically terrible B-movie that the musical is based on.
I’ll give you that it isn’t his first movie, but it’s like his second movie and sixth credit…or something like that.
posted by Colleen on 7-31-2009 at 12:12 am
Richard Dreyfus also had a bit part in “The Graduate,” which had its release a week after “Valley of the Dolls” in December 1967. It was in the boarding house (landlord: Norman Fell), and Dreyfus says “You want me to call the cops?” Two great movies to make your debut in, I’d say.
posted by Will on 7-31-2009 at 8:43 am
Per IMDB:
Sigourney Weaver was cast in the role Shelley Duvall finally played in Annie Hall. She had to reject the part due to prior stage commitments. In the end, however, Woody Allen offered her a part in the film that, while short (she was onscreen for six seconds), made many people sit up and take notice.
She played “Alvie’s Date Outside Theatre”
posted by Ian on 7-31-2009 at 8:52 am
george clooney in return of the killer tomatoes :D
posted by brittany on 7-31-2009 at 9:38 am
Haley Joel Osment as Forrest Gump Jr in Forrest Gump.
posted by Emily on 7-31-2009 at 9:56 am
I would have sworn that I had been hearing of Laura Linney a lot longer than I have. But I double-checked and you were right. (I love IMDB) How about Kirsten Dunst in “Interview with the Vampire” and Natalie Portman in “The Professional”. Both were very young and in very intense roles.
posted by harold on 7-31-2009 at 11:12 am
I can’t confirm this, but in the beginning of Animal House when Flounder and Pinto visit the Omega house, they keep getting steered to the “reject” section. One of the reject guys looks just like a young Samuel L. Jackson! I think his name is Muhammad in the movie.
posted by Mavis on 7-31-2009 at 1:39 pm
Tobey Macguire as one of part of the rival video gamer’s entourage. No lines, and he’s only onscreen for a few seconds.
Alfred Molina in Raiders of the Lost Ark. He’s Indy’s guide in the opening scene. It’s become something of a joke between my wife and I. Whenever we see him in a movie, I have to bring this fact up. I find it funny. She gets annoyed. OK, maybe it’s just a joke for me.
posted by erak on 7-31-2009 at 3:21 pm
Jean-Claude Van Damme as an extra in a dance scene in Breakin’.
posted by Curtis on 7-31-2009 at 10:04 pm
Justin Long – Galaxy Quest
Drew Barrymore – E.T.
posted by Meri on 8-1-2009 at 12:50 pm
Kevin Costner – Night Shift
Julia Roberts – Satisfaction
posted by Meri on 8-1-2009 at 1:11 pm
Tootsie – Geena Davis
Mermaids – Christina Ricci
I need to stop doing this!
posted by Meri on 8-1-2009 at 1:20 pm