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A few months ago, Peter McEntegart of SportsIllustrated.com had a fantastic post about actors whose careers were more or less launched by Seinfeld. I’ve been using his observations during conversational lulls ever since. A few highlights:
Peter Krause (left, at left), later of Sports Night and Six Feet Under, played Tim the Neo-Nazi in “The Limo” – the episode where George and Jerry played Colin O’Brien and Dylan Murphy to avoid the cab line.
Jon Favreau dressed up to play Eric, the clown George pushed out of the way (along with the women and children) during “The Fire.”
Amanda Peet played Jerry’s girlfriend during “The Summer of George.”
Here’s one that’s not on the list – Jeremy Piven. Though his career was already picking up by the time he played Michael Barth, who played George Costanza on the Jerry pilot.
Plenty more to be found at McEntegart’s original article, including Megan Mullaley, Michael Chiklis and Denise Richards.
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Oh man, what a great topic! You see minor Seinfeld alums all over the place. One of the most prominent current ones is Rena Sofer, who sold George an apartment when he pretended to be a tourist from Arkansas. She’s now on “24″ as a former love interest/sister-in-law to Jack Bauer.
“Slippery Pete” (from “The Frogger” episode) is on “Prison Break” and was on Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s first post-Seinfeld sitcom, “22 Minutes With Eleanor Riggs” (an underrated show in its first, real-time incarnation). One of my favorite TV pastimes is spotting former Seinfeld bit players!
posted by DecaturHeel on 3-10-2007 at 12:42 pm
Here’s a fun new Seinfeld alum spotting! The guy who captured and tortured Sayid on “Lost” last week was Pinter on “The Betrayal,” the episode that ran backwards chronologically. Pretty neat, huh?
posted by DecaturHeel on 3-12-2007 at 10:41 am
What about Bryan Cranston who played Tim Whatley and went on to be Hal in Malcom in the Middle?
posted by Alan on 3-19-2007 at 5:41 pm
Debra Messing appeared as Beth, the physician married to a salesman and George broke up their marriage.
The unforgettable episode with Teri Hatcher – “They’re real, and they’re spectacular”
And Jeneane Garafola as the women Jenny Steinman that Jerry gets engaged to after she saves his life and they realize they are exactly alike.
I also think it’s interesting that the bit parts in Seinfeld went on to be very successful while most of the other recurring secondary characters [Susan, Newman] didn’t do as well.
posted by Xavier on 3-12-2009 at 8:39 pm