Look: I know I’m not breaking any new ground with this post. It’s not SHOCKING or MINDHOLE BLOWING to find out that someone was on Law & Order before they were famous. EVERYONE has been on Law & Order; a list of actors who haven’t appeared on Law & Order might be more instructive. If you live in New York City and work in theater, and you haven’t appeared in Law & Order, you’re kind of a failure at your profession. In fact, there are two kinds of people on Law & Order: Those on their way up, and those on their way back down.

That said, it is fun to what those actors and actresses looked like on Law & Order before they were famous. Because the television franchise has been around for over two decades, for some of the actors in question, there’s been a LOT of aging. Some have hit puberty since their appearance on Law & Order and some other have gotten famous and hit menopause in the time between their Law & Order appearance and now. Others have gotten nose jobs, hair-color changes, and drastically changed their diets.





William H. Macy — In 1990 (and again in 1992), six years before his breakout role in Fargo. In fact, he played an assistant U.S. Attorney in the pilot episode.

Claire Danes — In 1992, two years before My So Called Life, in a season three episode.

Julianna Marguiles — In 1993, a year before E.R. Her character suffered a drug overdose.

Clark Gregg — In 1991, it was only his fourth screen credit, years before he would become a recognizable character actor.

Maura Tierney — In 1991, appeared in an episode four years before she became famous in Newsradio.

Jim Gaffigan — He’s appeared four times as four different characters in the Law & Order universe, including twice on Criminal Intent. His first appearance was in a 1998 episode of Law & Order, one of his first onscreen credits.

Elizabeth Banks — In a 2001 episode of SVU, Banks played a stripper, years before she was a recognizable star.

Peter Facinelli — Appeared in a 1995 episode, three years before Can’t Hardly Wait and over a decade before the Twilight films.