When you think of successful actors such as Emma Stone or Jacob Elordi, it can be difficult to imagine them as anything less than A-listers. But that wasn’t always the case.
Most actors had to take small role after small role in order to get to where they are now. And many of these small roles are interesting, to say the least. Here are 18 of the weirdest early roles your favorite movie and TV stars have acted in:
1.
Glen Powell, the hilarious yet hunky action star, once played “Long-Fingered Boy” in the children’s sci-fi film, Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over in 2003.
In a 2024 interview with People Magazine, Powell recalled his day on the set of Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over as unforgettable. He says, “I was 13. I shot my part, and then I hung out behind the camera. The entire crew had the most interesting jobs on the planet. You had endless friends on set. And Spy Kids 3-D was arguably our Dune.”
2.
His roles in Euphoria and Frankenstein may have briefly wiped it from your memory, but we can never totally forget that Jacob Elordi’s breakout role was in 2018’s The Kissing Booth.
The Netflix rom-com, which also stars Joey King and Molly Ringwald, portrays Elordi as a broody high schooler who falls for his brother’s best friend. This goes on for three whole movies and is painfully cringey, but worth watching.
3.
Staying down under, Nicole Kidman starred in the comedy-crime BMX Bandits at just 16 years old, before going on to star in critically acclaimed works such as the AMC Theatres commercial.
In a 1983 interview, Kidman described the movie, saying, “It’s about three teenage BMXers…we stumble upon a hidden case of walkie-talkies, which leads into involvement with the police and criminals and things…it’s all fun, and it’s comedy and great stunts.”
4.
Before she had featured roles in popular works like Sex Education, Bridgerton, and, most recently, The Devil Wears Prada 2, Simone Ashley had a two-episode arc on CBBC’s fourth season of Wolfblood.
She played a journalist investigating whether a viral video was real, which would prove the events in the Bloodwolf book were true. The television show ran successfully for five seasons, garnering several awards and two spinoffs.
5.
Another Bridgerton star, Jonathan Bailey, guest-starred in the 2017 British TV show, Chewing Gum, where he played a love interest with a racial fetish.
One particular clip from this episode has been making the rounds on social media for years, and is where many of us first saw the swoon-worthy Sexiest Man Alive (despite him being decidedly un-swoon-worthy by the end of the episode).
6.
Several decades before playing villains in Inglourious Basterds and the James Bond films, Christoph Waltz appeared on the Austrian children’s show, Am Das Des, in 1977.
This was Waltz’s first-ever role and a very silly contrast to the roles he would become known for. The title of the show has a silliness of its own: it doesn’t have an actual translation; it’s simply a nonsensical children’s rhyme like “eeny meeny miney moe.”
7.
Best known for portraying our favorite Targaryen, Emilia Clarke’s first feature role was in a 2010 dinosaur film called Triassic Attack. She played the daughter of a museum owner who must stop a dinosaur attack after a local shop owner puts a curse on the town.
Widely considered a knockoff of Jurassic Park, the television movie received an 8% on Rotten Tomatoes. Luckily (for us), Game of Thrones began airing the next year, and Clarke became known for that fantastical role instead.
8.
During the golden age of 1980s horror, Sam Rockwell played one of three brothers stalked by escaped mental hospital patients dressed up as killer clowns in the ’89 flick Clownhouse.
Rockwell has largely avoided discussing this role, which is unsurprising, given the traumatic events that unfolded behind the scenes: the director, Victor Salva, was convicted of sexually abusing Nathan Forrest Winters, one of the other young actors on set, before the film had even finished production.
9.
Today, she’s known as a two-time Oscar winner, but Emma Stone was once the voice of Ivana Tipton, London Tipton’s Pomeranian, in The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, where she was credited by her real name, Emily.
Stone donned a posh Russian-English accent to voice the most spoiled furry inhabitant of the Tipton Hotel as she fell in love with a poor dog who was just visiting the hotel. It’s like a four-legged, rags-to-riches, Romeo and Juliet.
10.
Stand-up comedian Jim Gaffigan briefly played one of Miranda’s boyfriends in Season 4 of Sex and the City, who had a habit of using the bathroom without closing the door.
Gaffigan spoke of this role in a 2019 interview with Entertainment Weekly. He recalled, “At this point, Sex and the City was the biggest show and, as a New York actor, you wanted to be one of the boyfriends. But it was weird. We were shooting it, and there was a bucket of water they would [use to] make noises. Sometimes as an actor you’re like, ‘I can’t believe I’m doing this as a living.’”
11.
Don Cheadle once played a gang leader named Goldilocks in the 1993 superhero film, The Meteor Man, opposite Robert Townsend, James Earl Jones, and Marla Gibbs.
The film is recognized as one of the first Black superhero movies. Despite flopping at the box office, it’s since become a cult classic. An Entertainment Weekly review described it as “kind of confused, but really, really nice.”
12.
Award-winning actor Benicio Del Toro got his big break as “Duke the Dog-Faced Boy” in 1988’s Big Top Pee-wee.
In a 2015 Conan interview, Del Toro said he went method in order to land this role. He recalled, “I was imitating the dog I grew up with. She got old and had a very peculiar way of barking. She would go ‘ooh ooh ooh.'”
13.
Early in her career, Zoë Kravitz had a supporting role in the 2007 rom-com No Reservations as a goth babysitter.
At just 17, this was Kravitz’s first role, but she definitely held her own in a scene opposite powerhouse Catherine Zeta-Jones and child star Abigail Breslin.
14.
Before his roles in Harold & Kumar and House, Kal Penn had a guest role on Season 4 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He played one of four frat bros who unknowingly drink a magically tainted beer that turns them into cavemen.
Penn appeared on a podcast in 2025 where he reflected warmly on the filming experience, describing it as “kitschy and…really fun.” He also acknowledged that the episode, titled “Beer Bad,” has consistently been rated as one of the worst episodes of the WB show.
15.
American actor and director Sofia Coppola probably has the youngest role out of anyone on this list, as the baby being baptized in The Godfather. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, given that her father, Francis Ford Coppola, directed the film.
Coppola continued to have supporting and starring roles in all three Godfather films, which stirred up controversy among fans and critics. Winona Ryder was originally cast as Michael Corleone’s daughter in the third installment, but Coppola took over her role after Ryder had a nervous collapse before shooting even began.
16.
In 2009, Lin-Manuel Miranda, lyrical legend, once played a bipolar patient in Season 6 of House M.D, who – surprise, surprise – loved to rap.
Miranda actually took this role while his first Broadway show, In The Heights, was in the middle of its three-year run (2008-2011) at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York City. He would return to the same theatre in 2015 for the premiere of Hamilton.
17.
Before School of Rock and Jumanji, Jack Black had an uncredited role in I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, playing a dreadlocked stoner who worked at the resort and — spoiler alert — was killed by the Fisherman.
Since the slasher film’s release in 1998, Jack Black has seemingly been spared harsh criticism for this arguably offensive role.
18.
And finally, Eva Mendes and Scarlett Johansson starred in the 1999 children’s movie, My Brother the Pig. Mendes and Johansson play best friends who must figure out what to do when Johansson’s annoying brother gets turned into a pig.
The movie was released in theatres but had a short run and was quickly forgotten. This isn’t surprising, as it followed several years of children’s films featuring some form of human transformation and likely didn’t stand out.
Have you seen notable actors in wacky early roles? Drop your faves in the comments!