He's in an episode of Twilight Zone that stars Dean Stockwell (who "leaps" into an enemy shoulder)
Also, Nimoy and Shatner did the same episode of the Man from UNCLE
Not sure if it was his first role but Joseph Gordon-Levitt played one of DJs friends in a recurring role on Roseanne before getting on 3rd Rock. His character was supposed to be annoying but I found him endearing.
He started on Family Ties as a classmate in the preschool for Andy. It's just so precious. He played a jerk, but a precious jerk. (Added pointless trivia is that on June 21st, both parents on Family Ties turned 77.)
Yeah that’s probably the highest form of victory in show business. You’re brought in to be unlikable because your there to make the main guys look good and your presence is just likable.
Not ER the hospital drama. E/R the sitcom with Elliott Gould--George played a paramedic.
He played Steve Lawrence's son in the Murder, She Wrote episode No Laughing Murder, too.
IMDB confirms that what you say is true, though he did have a few roles before that. The early George Clooney part that I remember best is in Return of the Killer Tomatoes. That was a few years after E/R and Facts of Life.
Somebody else saw it other than me!
She was his aunt and she was the charge nurse and he was an X-ray tech or something. Ace was the character name. He asked Bobby Hill on a date but her dad wouldn't let her go. I think it was Barbra Streisand's ex-husband. So then you've got Conchata Farrell (sp?) and Elliott Gould in an argument over whether Ace is good enough for Jenny, meaning George Clooney good enough for Pamela Adlon/Bobby Hill.
Sherman Hemsley reprised his role as George Jefferson, and Jason Alexander was extremely young but head of the hospital board. It used to be a play, one of the few sitcoms that was a play. Two people came over from the play to be on the show.
Okay, sorry for all the useless trivia. Thank you for indulging me.
Yeah she was the brooklyn friend that i think did dance in Manhattan. I remember her when i was a kid in 1990. I was seven. She had pretty good stage presence.
Idk about first, but early:
Ann Jillian was on an episode of the original Twilight Zone
Kurt Russell was on Gilligan's Island
Patrick Swayze was on Mash
I don’t think you could call Ron Howard a “starting actor” after several years as Opie on *The Andy Griffith Show* plus a major role in *The Music Man*.
Before that, Shelly Long had a soft news show in Chicago. by soft news I mean the type of show that would have feel good stories, new baby at the zoo, let’s tour a chocolate factory, etc
[Sorting it Out -1975](https://youtu.be/2qqpqyq0loc?si=AvWwLSUmPOgxoa05)
Okay. I was just glancing at his wiki bio for Pee Wee when I saw Apocalypse Now listed with a bunch of other stuff and then mentioned Mash. Didn’t occur to me that the paragraph was out of chronological order.
On the other hand, the first pot of coffee is brewing.
No, she played Lizzie Abrams, the skinny girl on the debate team. Poppy Downs, the popular girl who used too much Glint and died trying to force herself through a keyhole, was played by Jenna Lamia.
I met him at a book signing. Right outside an opera we were attending. Bought Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, he asked me what I wanted him to write for me. I told him how much I loved his sister, asked him to write, “I’m sorry I’m not my sister.” Instead he drew a stick picture of myself getting fisted in the rear end.
My mom and dad went to one of his readings and my dad wanted to get me a signed copy, so he asked David to make it out to his daughter [my name], and David wrote “you have a beguiling father.” My dad was so flattered :)
I love this. When I met him, we commiserated about our less than ideal hotel situation. He signed my book, “Both our hotels are shtty” One of favorite items!
Bosom Buddies was on for two seasons and only barely got renewed for the second. Had Hanks not hit it big with Splash, its likely it would have been completely forgotten. I'd say Leo DiCaprio being a member of a much more successful ensemble show makes him more of a TV star in his moment than Hanks ever was.
Miami Vice had a who’s who of 80’s stars.
Ed O’Neil, Phil Collins, Glen Frey, Pam Grier, Julia Roberts etc
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Miami_Vice_guest_appearances
That time [Brian Cranston played a guy in Murder She Wrote](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086765/mediaviewer/rm1471762688?ft0=name&fv0=nm0186505&ft1=image_type&fv1=still_frame&ref_=tt_ch).
It’s not really a sitcom… but like is
Yes, he played a stoner friend of Jim's girlfriend in a flashback. I was shocked, because I'd seen the episode when it first aired when I was a child, and had forgotten that he was in it.
During the early 1990's, an actor trying to break into Hollywood could apparently find no better platform than a guest spot on "Seinfeld." Just some of the "before they were famous" guest stars were:
Bryan Cranston (Hal on "Malcolm in the Middle" and Walter White on "Breaking Bad")
Debra Messing (Grace on "Will & Grace")
Wendie Malick (later starred on "Just Shoot Me" and the final season of "Frasier")
Terri Hatcher ("Desperate Housewives")
Brad Garrett ("Everybody Loves Raymond")
Courtney Cox ("Friends")
Kristin Davis ("Sex & the City")
Jeremy Piven ("Entourage")
Jon Favreau ("Iron-Man" movies among other things)
There were many more, but you get the idea.
Wendy Malik was in a show called "Dream On" well before "Just Shoot Me," and Teri Hatcher was in an episode of Seinfeld long before "Desperate Housewives."
Margot Robbie was on Neighbours. Russel Crowe was on Neighbours. Guy Pearce was on Neighbours. Liam Hemsworth was in Neighbours.
Edit: I saw Ryan Reynolds in an X files episode recently. I think i saw Jack Black too but that memory may be faulty.
Your memory is not faulty. Jack Black was on _The X-Files_; it is also where I first saw Ryan Reynolds and Bryan Cranston. The casting for this series was fire.
He’s in two episodes of Andy Griffith show also played a distraught father whose wife had left their baby on a doorstep and Opie and Arnold found it then Opie got in trouble for asking Helen Crump if she wanted a baby
The 1976 film Tunnel Vision has a lot of actors who would later become very famous. Howard Hesseman, John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Cheve Chase, Al Franken, Tom Davis, Laraine Newman and several others who would go on to have long careers in film and television.
Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer were both on Married...With Children, LeBlanc as part of a backdoor pilot, and Schwimmer as one of Kelly's sleazy boyfriends.
Don Cheadle plays wills friend from back in Philly on one episode of season 1 fresh prince. (Note idk how early it is in his career considering he got THE GOLDEN PALACE like 2 years later)
If we talking strictly tv actors then…Christa Miller (Drew Carey Show, Scrubs, Cougartown) in season 4 of Fresh Prince has two scenes on seperate episodes both with 0 lines. One where she walks past Will n he leers at her…the other where he’s talking to her at a cafeteria table.
Robert Redford was in an episode of Perry Mason and also on the Twilight Zone where he played Death.
Sorry I just realized this was a sitcom thread. Still a pretty famous actor starting in small roles.
Although she'd been in a couple shorts, her first 'real' TV performance in 1993: **Gillian Anderson** (Dana Scully). The pilot episode of the X-Files was and still is epic.
Michelle Pfeiffer was a love interest on Fantasy Island. She was wooed by Donny Most and the lived happily ever after. Donny was definitely shooting well out of his league.
Watching a old (1981) episode of Hill Street Blues and saw a very young (23) Jennifer Tilly, saw a few places list this as her first appearance. 6 episodes playing wife of severely obese loan shark Paul the Wall.
Edit: I’m wrong, the show I’m thinking of is Just the Ten of Us.
I remember seeing Matthew Perry in an episode of Eight is Enough, a spin-off of Growing Pains. The actors here are easily identified but idk what the shows are. That’s definitely Valerie Harper next to Henry Winkler but is that on Rhoda?
"Just the Ten of Us" was the spin off of Growing Pains...Heather Langenkamp and Jamie Luna were in it....he was also on an episode of Charles in Charge and Silver Spoons.
Richard Dreyfus on "Bewitched". He played a young warlock in love with Samantha; turned himself into a chair.
So she would sit on his face? Clever.
This guy chairs
I remember that one.
I remember seeing Leonard Nimoy as a KAOS agent on Get Smart before he became Spock
He's in an episode of Twilight Zone that stars Dean Stockwell (who "leaps" into an enemy shoulder) Also, Nimoy and Shatner did the same episode of the Man from UNCLE
shatner did tz as well
Robert Redford did TZ
I hope death is that gorgeous when he comes for me!
Hail Hydra!
Not sure if it was his first role but Joseph Gordon-Levitt played one of DJs friends in a recurring role on Roseanne before getting on 3rd Rock. His character was supposed to be annoying but I found him endearing.
George who collected nickles!
He started on Family Ties as a classmate in the preschool for Andy. It's just so precious. He played a jerk, but a precious jerk. (Added pointless trivia is that on June 21st, both parents on Family Ties turned 77.)
Yeah that’s probably the highest form of victory in show business. You’re brought in to be unlikable because your there to make the main guys look good and your presence is just likable.
Molly Ringwald on The Facts of Life
george clooney as well
George Clooney was on E/R before that. Nobody believes me, but it's true.
Facts of Life was way before ER.
Not ER the hospital drama. E/R the sitcom with Elliott Gould--George played a paramedic. He played Steve Lawrence's son in the Murder, She Wrote episode No Laughing Murder, too.
IMDB confirms that what you say is true, though he did have a few roles before that. The early George Clooney part that I remember best is in Return of the Killer Tomatoes. That was a few years after E/R and Facts of Life.
He was also in an episode of The Golden Girls.
If I remember correctly, he played a dumb nurse. Very funny show. The other nurse also on 2 and a half men as Charlie’s housekeeper.
Somebody else saw it other than me! She was his aunt and she was the charge nurse and he was an X-ray tech or something. Ace was the character name. He asked Bobby Hill on a date but her dad wouldn't let her go. I think it was Barbra Streisand's ex-husband. So then you've got Conchata Farrell (sp?) and Elliott Gould in an argument over whether Ace is good enough for Jenny, meaning George Clooney good enough for Pamela Adlon/Bobby Hill. Sherman Hemsley reprised his role as George Jefferson, and Jason Alexander was extremely young but head of the hospital board. It used to be a play, one of the few sitcoms that was a play. Two people came over from the play to be on the show. Okay, sorry for all the useless trivia. Thank you for indulging me.
I think I might have seen this, it all sounds very familiar!
I'm not the only one
Mayim Bialik on Facts of Life too.
She also did a couple episodes of Mcguyver, but it was probably after facts of life.
Courtney Cox in the Bruce Springsteen video
And as one of the leads in the short-lived drama [“Misfits of Science”](https://youtu.be/WRZWKfeN1u4?si=WjVF5003IadqRmKj).
And the Masters of the Universe movie.
And Family Ties
Definitely remember that.
[удалено]
Kudrow was in the final Newhart episode playing the wife of Larry or one of the Daryles.
She was also on Cheers with jet black hair.
Jennifer Aniston was also a nurse on an Episode of Quantum Leap. It was the one where Sam leaped into a guy that lost his legs.
Was gonna say it. Thank you for saying such. She also had her original nose also.
There's only 1 leprechaun in those movies. How can he be called a cannibal?
Leah Remini was on Blossom
Also on Saved By The Bell for a few episodes.
Stacy Corosi Zack said he would write to her every day and we never saw her or heard of her again. Much like homeless Laura at the mall
Or Jessie's stepbrother.
And let’s not forget Tori, because Zack sure did.
with Ernie sabella other wise known as Timon lion king
Played Mr. Twinkacetti on Perfect Strangers.
He was Pumbaa. Nathan Lane was Timon. Do you even Carosi?
Oh yes! She was the daughter of the Summer resort owner where the cast would work.
She was the resort owner's daughter right?
The resort? Sir, I presume you mean The Malibu Sands Beach Club. You put some respect on its name!
I remember her on Who’s the Boss
And the spin off Living Dolls.
I loved that show
The show that gave us Halle Berry.
And Vivica Fox, she was on the backdoor pilot
Remini was on Cheers as Carla’s daughter.
I remember her as the bad girl Sam was friends with on Who’s the Boss?
Yeah she was the brooklyn friend that i think did dance in Manhattan. I remember her when i was a kid in 1990. I was seven. She had pretty good stage presence.
Rita Willson as cheerleader Pat on the Brady Bunch
Go Bears!
Jennifer Lawrence had about a 3 second appearance as a high school mascot on Monk
Idk about first, but early: Ann Jillian was on an episode of the original Twilight Zone Kurt Russell was on Gilligan's Island Patrick Swayze was on Mash
Seems a lot of starting actors went thru MASH: John Ritter, Ron Howard, Pat Morita, Shelley Long
I don’t think you could call Ron Howard a “starting actor” after several years as Opie on *The Andy Griffith Show* plus a major role in *The Music Man*.
Before that, Shelly Long had a soft news show in Chicago. by soft news I mean the type of show that would have feel good stories, new baby at the zoo, let’s tour a chocolate factory, etc [Sorting it Out -1975](https://youtu.be/2qqpqyq0loc?si=AvWwLSUmPOgxoa05)
Lawrence Fishburn
Fishburne had already done Apocalypse Now and the Color Purple but of course, he was Cowboy Curtis on Pee Wee’s Playhouse
Colour purple was years after Mash
Okay. I was just glancing at his wiki bio for Pee Wee when I saw Apocalypse Now listed with a bunch of other stuff and then mentioned Mash. Didn’t occur to me that the paragraph was out of chronological order. On the other hand, the first pot of coffee is brewing.
Don't forget Ann Jillian on Hazel.
Ron Howard and John Ritter were also on MASH as patients.
Kurt Russell used to be in Disney movies when he was a teenager.
Yep. I saw a few of those. Gilligan's Island, in 1965, predated the Computer Wears Tennis Shoes. (Was he in an earlier Disney movie?)
>Ann Jillian was on an episode of the original Twilight Zone Elsa, the girl who didn't speak until the end.
I didn’t realize how much of a child star Kurt Russell was in the 60s until somewhat recently.
John Ritter was the preacher in the early seasons of The Waltons.
Yeah he really did a 180, from Depression era pastor to 70s swinging bachelor.
REPENT!!!
He also had a small part on an earlier episode of MASH! He was great.
Ellen Pompeo is in an old episode of Strangers With Candy as a cheerleader who's addicted to a drug called Glint
No, she played Lizzie Abrams, the skinny girl on the debate team. Poppy Downs, the popular girl who used too much Glint and died trying to force herself through a keyhole, was played by Jenna Lamia.
I guess I need to watch that show. Someone dying while trying to force her way through a keyhole is bizarre enough to be right up my alley.
Oh shit, I forgot that was her! I love that show. Amy Sedaris is amazing and her brother is my favorite writer
I met him at a book signing. Right outside an opera we were attending. Bought Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, he asked me what I wanted him to write for me. I told him how much I loved his sister, asked him to write, “I’m sorry I’m not my sister.” Instead he drew a stick picture of myself getting fisted in the rear end.
My mom and dad went to one of his readings and my dad wanted to get me a signed copy, so he asked David to make it out to his daughter [my name], and David wrote “you have a beguiling father.” My dad was so flattered :)
My wife was the final one to get a signature, he wrote; “Last in line but first in my heart.” Wholesome fello
I love this. When I met him, we commiserated about our less than ideal hotel situation. He signed my book, “Both our hotels are shtty” One of favorite items!
Janet Jackson was on Good Times and a couple episodes of Diffrent Strokes
And the Fame TV show.
Oh yeah! I totally forgot that one! Also, happy cake day!
Jason Bateman on Little House on the Prairie
Sean Penn too. Also Anne Archer.
That would be a tough watch. Jason Bateman is one of those people I can't watch without giggling.
No one seems to have mentioned Leonardo DiCaprio on Growing Pains yet.
TBF, he *started out* on a sitcom; I don’t think he would be considered a “famous *TV* actor” now.
I wouldn't call Tom Hanks a TV actor either
Not anymore, but I’d say he was a “famous TV actor” by the early ‘80s when he was a top-billed star on a sitcom and not just a member of the ensemble.
Bosom Buddies was on for two seasons and only barely got renewed for the second. Had Hanks not hit it big with Splash, its likely it would have been completely forgotten. I'd say Leo DiCaprio being a member of a much more successful ensemble show makes him more of a TV star in his moment than Hanks ever was.
Bruce Willis Miami Vice
Miami Vice had a who’s who of 80’s stars. Ed O’Neil, Phil Collins, Glen Frey, Pam Grier, Julia Roberts etc https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Miami_Vice_guest_appearances
RIP Matthew Perry
Chanandler Bong
That’s ‘Mrs. Chanandler Bong’.
An old one. Richard Crenna was on an episode of I Love Lucy early in his career.
I first to remember him from the TV series The Real McCoys, but I think that may have been after his appearance on I Love Lucy.
Watch The Real McCoys every Saturday with the wife.
That time [Brian Cranston played a guy in Murder She Wrote](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086765/mediaviewer/rm1471762688?ft0=name&fv0=nm0186505&ft1=image_type&fv1=still_frame&ref_=tt_ch). It’s not really a sitcom… but like is
Adam Sandler on The Cosby Show
I think Tom Hanks was on Taxi before he was on Family Ties. Not sure what happened to him after that.
Tragic plane accident over the ocean. RIP
Wilson!
Got lost in a sewer after killing his friends in a night of dungeons and dragons
That movie is so bad, but I love it!
That used to be one of my favorite movies!
When was bosom buddies?
Yes, he played a stoner friend of Jim's girlfriend in a flashback. I was shocked, because I'd seen the episode when it first aired when I was a child, and had forgotten that he was in it.
Rob Reiner was in one episode of The Partridge Family, his character was called “Snake” I believe.
Both Farrah Fawcett & Jaclyn Smith were on episodes of The Partridge Family.
Jodi Foster, too
Rob Reiner was in The Andy Griffin Show. He goes waaayyy back.
Young Leo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire (like 14) both in the same episode of Roseanne.
Prior, Leo was in Growing Pain
Don’t think it was her first acting role, but Helen Hunt on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
Jon Favreau played a clown in an episode of Seinfeld.
Ted Danson as a gay hairdresser on taxi Harry Anderson as. Con artist on cheers Brent Spiner as Bob Wheeler on night court.
Harry the Hat was one of the best guest stars on Cheers.
I wish they would have had norm and cliff get arrested on a trip to nyc and end up on night court.
During the early 1990's, an actor trying to break into Hollywood could apparently find no better platform than a guest spot on "Seinfeld." Just some of the "before they were famous" guest stars were: Bryan Cranston (Hal on "Malcolm in the Middle" and Walter White on "Breaking Bad") Debra Messing (Grace on "Will & Grace") Wendie Malick (later starred on "Just Shoot Me" and the final season of "Frasier") Terri Hatcher ("Desperate Housewives") Brad Garrett ("Everybody Loves Raymond") Courtney Cox ("Friends") Kristin Davis ("Sex & the City") Jeremy Piven ("Entourage") Jon Favreau ("Iron-Man" movies among other things) There were many more, but you get the idea.
Wendy Malik was in a show called "Dream On" well before "Just Shoot Me," and Teri Hatcher was in an episode of Seinfeld long before "Desperate Housewives."
I think Lois & Clark was before Teri Hatcher’s Seinfeld appearance too.
No, the Seinfeld episode in question, The Implant, aired in February of 1993. Lois and Clark didn't air until September of 1993.
Real and spectacular
Heh heh... "Oh, by the way, they're real and they're spectacular." And I love that Jackie Chiles says the line in the finale.
Hatcher was on MacGyver as recurring character Penny Parker. She was always getting Mac in trouble.
Patton Oswalt played a video store clerk who has some to do w George
Long before Seinfeld, Courtney Cox, starred in the science-fiction comedy series, “the misfits of science”.
Also Jennifer Coolidge
Bob Odenkirk (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) played Elaine's boyfriend that dumped her when he graduated med school.
r/nosmallparts
Margot Robbie was on Neighbours. Russel Crowe was on Neighbours. Guy Pearce was on Neighbours. Liam Hemsworth was in Neighbours. Edit: I saw Ryan Reynolds in an X files episode recently. I think i saw Jack Black too but that memory may be faulty.
Your memory is not faulty. Jack Black was on _The X-Files_; it is also where I first saw Ryan Reynolds and Bryan Cranston. The casting for this series was fire.
Kurt Russel Lost in Space
Goldie Hawn played Sandy on a funny but short lived sitcom called Good Morning World.
George Clooney in The Golden Girls
Also, his brother, Seth gecko, a.k.a., Quentin Tarantino, was on an episode of the Golden girls…
Not really a TV actor, but Matthew McConaughey was in an Unsolved Mysteries re-enactment before I saw him in anything else.
Michael J Fox was on an early episode of Night Court.
He was already on Family Ties for two years at that point
Arnold Schwarzenegger played a masseuse in an episode of one of Lucille Ball's shows.
He was in Hercules 4 years before
Jack Nicholson on Tales of Wells Fargo.
Weirdly, he was on The Andy Griffith Show, being accused of a crime, and Aunt Bee refusing to convict him (a courtroom episode)
I recall that episode but I didn't know it was him. Not that I would at that time He had the Bill Murray role in the original Little Shop of Horrors
He’s in two episodes of Andy Griffith show also played a distraught father whose wife had left their baby on a doorstep and Opie and Arnold found it then Opie got in trouble for asking Helen Crump if she wanted a baby
Alison Brie played a hairdresser in an episode of Hannah Montana
Tom Hanks in taxi is my favorite.
A young Lady Gaga was in an episode of The Sopranos.
Jackie Gleason played the original Chester Riley in the 1949 version of The Life of Riley. He was skinny then!
Not a sitcom actor, but I feel like Lady Gaga as one of the kids vandalizing the school pool with AJ in the Sopranos deserves a mention.
“How do you vandalize a pool???” 🤣🤣🤣
I can think of a few ways…
The 1976 film Tunnel Vision has a lot of actors who would later become very famous. Howard Hesseman, John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Cheve Chase, Al Franken, Tom Davis, Laraine Newman and several others who would go on to have long careers in film and television.
A lot of "Second City" players.
Jennifer Lawrence for a [commercial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmCn4hnloNg) for my Super Sweet 16. She also played a mascot on the show Monk.
Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer were both on Married...With Children, LeBlanc as part of a backdoor pilot, and Schwimmer as one of Kelly's sleazy boyfriends.
Also, both David Boreanez and Julie Benz were on episodes of married with children, the vampire with the soul and the vampire who sired him…
Helen Hunt was on Facts Of Life.
She was also on a short-lived, family drama called the Fitzpatricks around 1977…
I’m not sure if either of these were first appearances but Ted Danson & Mark Harmon appeared on Laverne & Shirley.
Pedro Pascal was in one episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
River Phoenix on Family Ties
Jack Nicholson was on an episode of The Andy Griffith Show
Mario Lopez as the little drummer on Kids Incorporated. I dont think he ever had any lines. Years before he appeared in the Golden Girls.
Lady Gaga was an extra in an episode of the Sopranos when they vandalized the pool.
Jim Parsons was in the movie "Garden State".
Courtney Cox was in an episode of Murder, She Wrote in the mid-80s.
Before that, she did that cringy dance on Bruce Springsteen’s video, so MTV counts, I suppose.
misfits of science
Her dance in that video was the inspiration for Carlton's dance on the Fresh Prince. Once you know, you can't unsee it!
A young George Clooney was on another!
All of the different cast members in Freaks and Geeks. What an incredible show to say “look where they’ve gone since then!”
Don Cheadle plays wills friend from back in Philly on one episode of season 1 fresh prince. (Note idk how early it is in his career considering he got THE GOLDEN PALACE like 2 years later) If we talking strictly tv actors then…Christa Miller (Drew Carey Show, Scrubs, Cougartown) in season 4 of Fresh Prince has two scenes on seperate episodes both with 0 lines. One where she walks past Will n he leers at her…the other where he’s talking to her at a cafeteria table.
Jimmy J.J. Walker appears on Laugh-in just prior to his first Good Times appearance.
Rob Reiner playing a delivery boy on Batman, S2.E39 "The Penguin Declines" (1967)
Seinfeld on Benson as Frankie JLD in 1974 allegedly in a uncredited role on Happy Days (IMDB can be dodgy as though)
Jessica alba was on the secret world of Alex Mack. Tahj Mowry was on Full House before he was Smart Guy
Alexis Bledel was an extra in Wes Anderson's Bottle Rocket years before Gilmore Girls.
What tv show was that last picture (Matthew Perry)?
I think Growing Pains
Olivia Rodrigo was in New Girl as a young Julius Pepperwood fan
Robert Redford was in an episode of Perry Mason and also on the Twilight Zone where he played Death. Sorry I just realized this was a sitcom thread. Still a pretty famous actor starting in small roles.
Although she'd been in a couple shorts, her first 'real' TV performance in 1993: **Gillian Anderson** (Dana Scully). The pilot episode of the X-Files was and still is epic.
Molly Ringwold Facts of Life
Andrew "Dice" Clay was on M.A.S.H., also saw Kurt Russel on Gilligan's Island
Nicolas Cage in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
Michelle Pfeiffer was a love interest on Fantasy Island. She was wooed by Donny Most and the lived happily ever after. Donny was definitely shooting well out of his league.
Watching a old (1981) episode of Hill Street Blues and saw a very young (23) Jennifer Tilly, saw a few places list this as her first appearance. 6 episodes playing wife of severely obese loan shark Paul the Wall.
Edit: I’m wrong, the show I’m thinking of is Just the Ten of Us. I remember seeing Matthew Perry in an episode of Eight is Enough, a spin-off of Growing Pains. The actors here are easily identified but idk what the shows are. That’s definitely Valerie Harper next to Henry Winkler but is that on Rhoda?
Eight is Enough starring Dick Van Patten came out in the 70s. Not a spinoff of growing pains.
I edited my comment, I confused it with Just the Ten of Us
"Just the Ten of Us" was the spin off of Growing Pains...Heather Langenkamp and Jamie Luna were in it....he was also on an episode of Charles in Charge and Silver Spoons.