Top 10 Stars You Forgot Appeared on 90s Sitcoms

Before he was Romeo, Gatsby, or the king of the world, Leonardo DiCaprio was Luke Brower on “Growing Pains.” The show aired from 1985 to 1992 and in ‘91 producers cast a young, relatively unknown DiCaprio to play Brower, a homeless kid whom the Seaver family take into their home. Leonardo appeared in over 20 episodes during the last two seasons of the show and received a Young Artist Award nomination. The following year he would star in the films “This Boy’s Life” and “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”, earning his first Oscar nomination for the latter.

These days, Keri Russell is a household name with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her performance as a KGB agent in the FX show “The Americans” was met with a shower of nominations and accolades. However, back in 1993 she was still one year away from appearing in a Bon Jovi video and five years away from breaking out in “Felicity” when she played Mr. Feeny’s niece in a 1993 episode of “Boy Meets World.” In the episode, she receives the attention of Eric next door, who does his best to impress her with his muscles and strong immune system. He obviously didn’t impress her enough for her to come back.

Everyone knows that before Michelle Williams was a movie star and multi-time Academy Award nominated actress, she was on television in the 90s. However, in this case we aren’t talking about her long-running role as Jen on “Dawson’s Creek.” We’re going back even earlier into the 90s vault to 1995 for Williams' one-episode stint as Brad’s girlfriend on the hit sitcom “Home Improvement.” It aired just six episodes after Dave Chappelle and Jim Breuer made their appearance on the show as guests on “Tool Time.” And for all you “Step By Step” fans out there, we know that you know that Michelle also had a one episode gig as Mark’s crush back in 1994.

He was going as Jimmy Marsden at the time, but his first gig ever was a guest starring role as Eddie, the waiter at a party in the pilot episode of “The Nanny.” In the episode he ends up kissing Maxwell Sheffield daughter Maggie and three episodes later he’s back to take her out on a date - which ends up being chaperoned by Fran. Marsden continued to use the name “Jimmy” for certain roles throughout the 90s, but in 2000 he was Cyclops in the first “X-Men” movie and he’s been “James” ever since.

She was just Jada Pinkett at the time, but it was partly because of her turn on “A Different World” that she would eventually add the “Smith” to her name. Jada played Hillman student Lena James during the show's final two seasons and Will Smith has said that when he saw her on the show, he “knew there was something in our energy that would be magic.” Jada hadn’t had many roles prior to “A Different World”, but the exposure it provided was a great boost to her career, taking her from “Menace II Society” to “Gotham” and beyond.

Before her breakthrough role in 2000’s “Bring It On”, Union was honing her comedy chops in a variety of sitcoms like “Moesha”. However, these were just one or two episode roles. In 1997 she appeared in five episodes of the show “Sister, Sister”, playing shoplifter Vanessa in one episode of season four and the twins’ friend Shawn in four episodes of the following season. She was certainly busy around this time, also playing Keesha Hamilton in five episodes of “7th Heaven”!

The 1988 film, “Working Girl” starring Harrison Ford, Sigourney Weaver and Melanie Griffith was a box office hit and a multi-Oscar nominee - including Best Picture. The 1990 TV show, “Working girl” loosely based on the successful film, was a big dud that was canceled after only eight episodes. However, it did serve as one of the first major roles for future Hollywood megastar Sandra Bullock. The show’s failure didn’t slow her down and within four years she was “Speed”ing her way to fame and fortune.

Many people are aware that Gosling was part of 1990s “The All New Mickey Mouse Club” crew that also featured Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera. But many of us had forgotten that between the time that show ended and he made a name for himself in movies, he starred in the teen-comedy television show “Breaker High.” The show focused on a group of kids going to high school on a cruise ship. With a premise like that it's hard to imagine it wasn’t a megahit, but alas it only lasted one season. On the up side, that one season consisted of a whopping 44 episodes.

What are the odds that a mediocre 1990s sitcom would feature two actors in their debut roles who would both go on to major film success and Academy Award nominations? The odds probably weren’t good but that is exactly what happened with the 1999 FOX sitcom, “Get Real.” The show, forgotten by most, aired for only one season but two of the stars of the show were Anne Hathaway and Jesse Eisenberg - both making their screen debuts. Fun Fact: the actor who played the third sibling on the show was Eric Christian Olsen, who you may recognize as Marty Deeks on “NCIS: Los Angeles.”

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Craig Robinson, “Friends” (1994-2004)
Before He Was on “The Office” He Was an Office Clerk on an Episode of “Friends”

Linda Cardellini, “3rd Rock From The Sun” (1996-2001)
Before “Freaks and Geeks” She Was Lorna on an Episode of “3rd Rock From the Sun”

Don Cheadle, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” (1990-96)
Who’s Cooler Than Ice-T & Ice Cube? Don Cheadle’s Character Ice Tray

Back in 1998 when the sitcom, “Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place” debuted on ABC, one of those eponymous “guys” was none other than Ryan Reynolds. While Reynolds had been working as an actor with roles in various TV shows since 1991, this show gave him his first chance to shine doing comedy, which he turned out to be very good at. The show ran for four seasons and definitely helped him launch his movie career, which has leaned heavily towards comedic roles, maybe most notably with the hit “Deadpool” films.