Here's a Bunch of People You Totally Forgot Were on 'Gilmore Girls'

Published Nov 21, 2016

As the Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life Netflix release date draws nearer, fans are loading up on caffeine and junk food in preparation for their most anticipated binge-watching event of the year.If you've got real world responsibilities and haven't had the time to re-watch the original series in its entirety, don't worry — Exclaim! has got you covered. While reliving Lorelai and Rory's good old days in Stars Hollow, we couldn't help but notice a few performances from baby-faced actors who have gone on to become staples in the film and TV world, as well as some already very much established musicians looking to bank some screen time.That's not even counting the multiple appearances from famous folks portraying themselves, as seen with cameos from the Shins, Norman Mailer, Paul Anka and Christiane Amanpour.To be honest, we tried to compile a list of every job Kirk ever held, but this turned out to be way easier. So, here's our list of before-they-were-famous faces from Gilmore Girls.Before masterminding moronic animated sitcoms, Seth MacFarlane was a student in Lorelai's community college class. His brief moment in the spotlight arrived in Season 2 episode "Lorelai's Graduation Day," in which he fights with his girlfriend and bad mouths the elaborate set-up Emily's putting in place for the ceremony (before realizing she's Lorelai's mom). MacFarlane later spoofed the show in Family Guy Long before he was winning Emmys for his portrayal of Elliot Anderson in Mr. Robot, Rami Malek was merely a member of Lane's Jesus-loving college study group — and an overly enthusiastic supporter of assistant pastor Eric.Before he was Don Draper — the darkly intriguing, dapper, brooding main man on Mad Men — or even a beautiful dumb person on 30 Rock , Jon Hamm was a wine-sipping flirt at an auction attended by Lorelai. They met and hit it off much to Emily's delight, but their first date was so dreadfully boring that Lorelai couldn't bring herself to go on a second one — even though it meant giving up David Bowie concert tickets.Nick Offerman became the patron saint of moustachioed, bacon-loving men everywhere as the surly, sardonic Ron Swanson on Parks and Recreation, but before all that he was Beau Belleville — Jackson's older brother who seemed awfully dismayed by the late arrival of Jackson and Sookie's newborn, but rather fond of Lorelai (after he was mistakenly told by cousin Rune that she was "a nympho.")Prior to his starring role as Schmidt on The New Girl, Max Greenfield scored a barely noticeable role on Gilmore Girls. He was part of Dean's drunken bachelor party, stumbling into Luke's diner, sitting down at a table and pondering the cost of a stripper.She's currently kicking ass as the title character on Netflix's Jessica Jones, and has done stints on Veronica Mars and Breaking Bad, but Krysten Ritter was also a recurring character on the final season of Gilmore Girls. Rory befriended Ritter's Lucy at Yale, but things got super weird when her much talked about "Boyfriend" turned out to be Rory's formerly crushing-on-her friend Marty.No, it's not one of Community's alternate timelines. Before he was the endearingly dorky Abed on the cult hit, he was Raj — a staffer at the Yale Daily News.Now best known as the Garfunkel half of TV musical-comedy duo Garfunkel and Oates, Riki Lindhome first popped up on Gilmore Girls as a random student at Star's Hollow High (questioning Lorelai about her teen pregnancy instead of her inn during a presentation about local businesspeople). A few years later, the casting department threw her back in as Juliet, one of Logan's Yale-based Life and Death Brigade gang. Nothing gets past us, though.As hesitant as Lane, Zack and Brian were about hiring veteran rocker Gil to replace Dave Rygalski (played by a pre-The O.C. Adam Brody ) in the band, his shredding ability and luscious locks eventually proved indispensable to Hep Alien. So who better to play the role than established Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach?In addition to singing the unforgettable theme song, lauded singer-songwriter Carole King had a recurring role on Gilmore Girls as Sophie Bloom, the music shop owner who becomes a reluctant mentor to Lane.When the official town troubadour Grant (played by Grant-Lee Phillips) gets his big music industry break, Stars Hollow is overrun with wannabe musicians hoping for the same fate. Among the familiar faces vying for fame are Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth (performing with their daughter, Coco), Yo La Tengo, Sparks, Sam Phillips, Mary Lynn Rajskub (who also had the misfortune of playing Kirk's girlfriend in his art film ) and Joe Pernice — plus a return appearance from Dave Gruber Allen, who previously lost out on the title of Stars Hollow's Taylor-approved troubadour to Grant.