12 Now-Famous People You Didn't Know Were in Movies You've Seen

By Dustin Rowles | Lists | February 7, 2012 |

There are a lot of current stars who did embarrassing things early in their careers, so it’s neat to see the early work of current stars in good films that you don’t remember them in because you had no idea who they were the first time you saw the movie. Every once in a while, I’ll flip through the channels, stumble across a movie I haven’t seen for a few years, and I’ll notice some huge fucking star in a bit part in a 1998 movie that I loved and I’ll be like, “What the …?” I had no idea he was in this movie.

Here are 12 instances of just that.



Ryan Gosling — Remember the Titans

Michelle Williams — Species

Jake Gyllenhaal — City Slickers

Jonah Hill — I Heart Huckabees

Bradley Cooper — Wet Hot American Summer

Seth Rogan — Donnie Darko

Chris Pine — Smokin’ Aces

Tom Hardy — Black Hawk Down

Taylor Kitsch — Snakes on a Plane

Jon Stewart — Mixed Nuts

Vince Vaughn — Rudy

Zooey Deschanel — Mumford

Here’s two from the TV files:

Jessica Chastain — “Veronica Mars” (Hat Tip: JoRo)

Max Greenfield (Schmidt in “The New Girl”) as Young Sandy Cohen in “The O.C.”





Dustin is the founder and co-owner of Pajiba. You may email him here, follow him on Twitter, or listen to his weekly TV podcast, Podjiba.