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Is your mind ever blown from realising who actors are in other things?

188 replies

Noodge · 04/06/2025 14:31

I am rewatching Orange is the New Black currently. Taslitz is one of my favourite characters and over a decade later I now learn that she's the lead role in Dead Silence (one of my favourite films).
I was the same when I realised Kirsten Dunst is the little girl vampire in 'Interview with the Vampire'.

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zaxxon · 09/06/2025 08:44

Elderflower14 · 08/06/2025 14:21

Mum and I have been rewatching The Bill from the beginning. We've seen Chesney Hawkes and the late great Pete Poselthwaite. We are currently on 1992 and have recently seen Martine McCutchoen, Sarah Alexander, Joe Absolom and Brendan Doyle pop up.
Its also weird seeing actors who pop up later as police officers appear as different characters earlier. The late Roberta Taylor who played Gina Gold has just been on a episode as a woman who beat her ex boyfriend up!
Throughly enjoying the reruns!!

The Bill must be one of the best ever shows for this. When you go to the theatre and get a programme, inevitably every actor has The Bill at the very end of their "television work" section. I've never watched it but I imagine it as a kind of roll call of UK acting talent

Tomatocutwithazigzagedge · 09/06/2025 09:08

Northernladdette · 05/06/2025 12:37

Jim was the neighbour played by Mark Heap, he’s still alive. It was the dad, Paul Ritter, who sadly died 😢

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Paul Ritter was also in the Sky short series Chernobyl, Quantum of Solace and Harry Potter and the Half blood Prince.

TheSkyRaisin · 09/06/2025 09:27

Here’s one that got me recently - Meemaw from Young Sheldon is Janine in Ghostbusters.

Is your mind ever blown from realising who actors are in other things?
Is your mind ever blown from realising who actors are in other things?
NameChangedOfc · 09/06/2025 09:41

ecuse · 04/06/2025 16:16

Realizing that the Russian singer in the Eurovision movie was him from Downton Abbey

Whaaat?!

XelaM · 09/06/2025 11:04

XelaM · 08/06/2025 00:22

One of my favourite dramas about the Kennedy's is "Women of the Camelot: Jackie, Ethel, Joan". In that film, Bobby Kennedy was played by the very dashing young Robert Knepper (always had a bit of a crush on both Bobby and the actor that portrayed him).

It took me absolutely AGES to realise that it's the same actor who played T-Bag in "Prison Break" many years later (for whom I also had a soft spot 😂).

Edited

Just to add the photos as this totally blew my mind because I never made the connection. The Women of the Camelot is such an obscure drama, which no one I know has ever watched but I've loved and been thinking about.

Is your mind ever blown from realising who actors are in other things?
Is your mind ever blown from realising who actors are in other things?
SwankyPants · 09/06/2025 11:16

BobhopeNohope · 04/06/2025 17:14

Jeanette Goldsyein played private Vasques in Aliens and Teminaator 2 she played Janelle.
No way would you think they were played by 5he same person.

And she's the Irish mother in Titanic

StoorieHoose · 09/06/2025 11:34

Ohwhatfuckeryitistoride · 04/06/2025 18:02

If you’re mind is blown by these examples, wait till you watch Department Q, it’s full of Scottish actors that have you going “‘ere, she was in ....”( which zooms over dhs head as he’s shite at recognising actors.)

YES! Every episode I had to visit IMDB cos I recognised some one

thomasinacat · 09/06/2025 12:16

Dontlletmedownbruce · 08/06/2025 13:07

@Namechange6578 don't know the robot one, I must look it up!!

I had a huge crush when he was Matthew in Downton, I loved the character too. In series 2 or 3 he is in the British WW1 uniform. So handsome!

I just watched that on BBC iplayer - 'I'm your man'. It's a German film and he speaks fluent German.

scalt · 09/06/2025 16:04

Soon after seeing Imelda Staunton as the sickly sweet Professor Umbridge, I saw her as the very different character of the cook in Nanny McPhee.

Cattenberg · 09/06/2025 16:16

Cattenberg · 08/06/2025 17:33

CBeebies presenter Pui Fan Lee played an imprisoned, drug-addicted Thai prostitute in the second Bridget Jones film.

Oops, I remembered it slightly wrong. Pui did not play a prostitute. But her character was a cellmate of Bridget's whose boyfriend made her take heroin.

Tomatocutwithazigzagedge · 09/06/2025 19:57

Cattenberg · 09/06/2025 16:16

Oops, I remembered it slightly wrong. Pui did not play a prostitute. But her character was a cellmate of Bridget's whose boyfriend made her take heroin.

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She was also one of the Teletubbies - Po. https://media.tenor.com/AQX741q_DKAAAAAM/redo.gif

LapisBlue · 09/06/2025 20:25

Here's a good one:

Remember the original Jurassic Park movie? The young lad who escaped a raptor in the kitchens?

As a grown up he played Queen band member John Deacon in Bohemian Rhapsody. Joseph Mazzello.

Mind blown

PickAChew · 09/06/2025 22:46

A niche one. We've just started watching the Finnish drama Bordertown on Walter presents and the killer in the first episode seemed rather familiar. I was right. It's the Finnish Taskmaster, Jaakko Saariluoma. The series is called Suurmestari over there https://m.imdb.com/name/nm0754357/?ref_=tt_cst_t_1

Jaakko Saariluoma | Actor, Director, Writer

Known for: Mitä tuli tehtyä, Saturday Night Live, Onnela

https://m.imdb.com/name/nm0754357?ref_=tt_cst_t_1

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