Top 20 Times Actors Were PRANKED Live on Camera

Ellen DeGeneres’s guests always had a fairly good chance of being terrorized by the prank-happy host. Her favorite method seemed to be having performers hide in furniture on her set and burst out at an opportune moment. On this episode with guest Anne Hathaway, the two play a word game at an inconspicuous prop desk. Even when Hathaway noticed DeGeneres tapping the desk, which was a signal to the performer hiding inside, she still didn’t quite see it coming. It just goes to show that not even the biggest A-list stars were safe from the host’s antics.

Most TV sets are serious places where serious people do serious things. At least, that’s what we’d assume. Apparently, that can’t be said for the “Riverdale” set. In 2019, actor KJ Apa posted an Instagram story of him going around the production tents with a cup of hot coffee. The gag is that it’s actually empty. Of course, his co-stars and crew don’t know this until he motions as if he’s about to spill it on them. It just makes his casting as high schooler Archie Andrews make so much more sense, as it’s exactly the kind of thing a teenage boy would do. Some of the best pranks are also the simplest.

DeGeneres got another kick out of her favorite prank. This time, Melissa McCarthy was the target. While McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, and Elisabeth Moss were on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” promoting “The Kitchen,” McCarthy’s fandom of Billie Eilish came up. As she talked about her love for the pop superstar, she had no idea that Eilish herself was hiding in a small table mere inches from her. DeGeneres was mid-sentence when Eilish popped out and scared McCarthy half to death. Needless to say, the entire studio erupted into screams and cheers. Everyone is so delighted it’s impossible not to get a serotonin boost from the whole thing.

The “Wolf of Wall Street” co-stars seem to have a fun relationship if this prank is any indication. Pretending to be a crazed, phone-wielding superfan, Leonardo DiCaprio accosted Jonah Hill on the street. The look of absolute terror on Hill’s face is priceless. In the age of cellphones and social media, getting mobbed by fans in public just seems to be part of the experience of fame. Few people would know this more than DiCaprio and Hill. That’s why it’s so hilarious to see them reenacting this kind of freaky, invasive encounter with each other.

The panel of judges on “America’s Got Talent” see their fair share of comedy on the stage, but they’re equally likely to play jokes on each other. With the help of two notorious contestants from a previous season, reality TV icon Simon Cowell played a massive prank on fellow judge Sofia Vergara. Cowell fixed it so that the blindfolded Vergara would be set up to think she accidentally shot him in the chest with a crossbow. It was hard to tell when the “Modern Family” actor began to suspect it was a prank, but the audience’s gasps were pretty convincing. Host Terry Crews’s over-the-top reaction probably gave it away, but it’s all in good fun.

This one was way more shocking than it was funny. Angela Bassett went viral for her emotional reaction to a prank played by her son, Slater. The video shows Bassett and her husband, actor Courtney B. Vance, reacting with shocked disbelief at their son’s announcement that Bassett’s “Black Panther” co-star Michael B. Jordan had died. Except it was a lie. The teenager, who captured her live reaction on his phone, was just participating in a viral TikTok trend. This prank proved to be pretty controversial, but as Bassett herself said, it’s okay to make mistakes as long as we own up to them.

Eric Stonestreet holds a very special place in the history of live actor pranks. Ellen DeGeneres created the famous “scare table” because she had run out of ways to scare him when he appeared on the show. Fittingly, at the official dedication of the Eric Stonestreet Scare Table, she pulled off yet another cunning and traumatic prank. The amazing thing about this one is that the hollow table is shown to be empty at the start of the segment. Somehow, a performer has tunneled into the table from offstage to give Stonestreet yet another scare. After eighteen appearances on the show, he still can’t catch a break.

Celebrities probably get a lot of questionable gifts from fans. When Jahannah James interviewed “Eddie the Eagle” co-stars Hugh Jackman and Taron Egerton, she surprised Jackman with a questionable bottle of homemade gin. Jackman downed the entire bottle and almost immediately got sick. Egerton was so confused by it all he had no idea what to think. Of course, what Egerton didn’t know was that it was only water. If anything, the best thing about it is Jackman’s totally subtle, truly convincing performance. He really sells it without going over the top with it. It’s the most charming, polite, and low-key prank ever.

Who doesn’t love a good prank war? The ongoing, light-hearted feud between Nick Cannon and Kevin Hart has had its fair share of great moments, but this one takes the cake. When Hart rode up on the airplane hangar containing his waiting jet, he was shocked to see it was plastered with a big advertisement for Nick Cannon and his new talk show. The kicker was the phrase “Kevin Rides the Cannon” stenciled on the plane’s side. Once Hart realized what was happening, the curse words really started flying. But it’s all just fun and games between friends, we assume.

“Punk’d” is probably the gold standard for live pranking celebrities. The first episode, guest starring musician and actor Justin Timberlake, is easily the most memorable of the show’s original run. When the former NSYNC frontman rode up on his house, he was informed that all his possessions were being repossessed for back taxes. Things really got real when the supposed government agents took his dogs out of the house. His tearful response to the prank went viral before going viral was even a thing. Though he can laugh about it now, Timberlake later said he was under the influence of cannabis during the prank, and the experience actually made him stop using the substance for a while.

Apparently, actor Dominic Monaghan shares a thing or two in common with the rascally hobbit he plays. During the Berlin leg of the press tour for “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,” Monaghan conducted an interview with co-star Elijah Wood via satellite. Only Wood didn’t know it was his co-star. Monaghan put on a German accent to portray “Hans Jensen,” an interviewer who doesn’t seem to do much research and asks some fairly inappropriate questions. The interview, which was filmed as a DVD extra, is a hilarious look at the camaraderie the actors built on set.

Sometimes, it seemed like Ellen DeGeneres was more interested in scaring the hell out of her guests than talking with them. During Emily Blunt’s 2015 appearance, Ellen decided to celebrate the fact that the British actress had become an American citizen with some patriotic songs. Wow, Ellen, that’s so nice. Surely, there’s no ulterior motive here. After making Blunt dress up as the Statue of Liberty and sing “Yankee Doodle Dandy” for her studio audience, Ellen watches with wicked glee as a man in an Uncle Sam costume comes out and scares the actress. Even in a state of panic and terror though, Emily Blunt is eminently dignified.

It’s gotta be hard enough to be an extra on a show as elaborately-designed and dramatic as “Game of Thrones.” One wrong move or distracting facial expression and you’ve probably ruined the shot. While filming this very serious trial scene during the show’s fourth season, Peter Dinklage and Nicolaj Coster-Waldau surprised the extras and crew by doing a jaunty little dance. Their fellow actors loved it. We guess when they’re making a show this solemn, the actors have to let off some steam somehow. Actress Emilia Clarke also got in on the fun, pranking actor Joe Naufahu as he slept.

This one is yet another prank between “Game of Thrones” actors. This time, between Jon Snow actor Kit Harington and now-wife Rose Leslie, who played Ygritte on the show. On April Fools Day, Harington hid a cast of his own severed head in the fridge to scare his intended. Her priceless reaction is one of genuine terror. Apparently, it scared her so badly, she warned Harington that if he ever did something like that again, he could consider himself single. Frankly, that’d be the least of our worries. We’ve seen what she can do with a bow and arrow.

Even after a decade playing FBI agent Derek Morgan, Shemar Moore still couldn’t suss out that he was the victim of an on-set prank. When Moore mistakenly shaved his goatee before filming for the current episode was over, it created continuity problems between scenes. The crew decided to get him back by telling him he would have to wear green dots on his jaw and cheeks so they could digitally add the goatee back in. This was a lie. The crew upped the ante by adding big green lines on his face later in the day. It wasn't until his co-star broke down laughing that he realized he’d been had. His seriousness and professionalism is what makes it even funnier.

When “Schitt’s Creek” star Annie Murphy had her first talk show appearance, co-stars Dan and Eugene Levy pranked her backstage. A writer for “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” went into her dressing room and pretended to be her personal assistant for the day, while the Levys fed her awkward lines through an earpiece. The unsuspecting Murphy manages not to squirm too much while the writer repeats her co-stars’ increasingly unusual requests. But when the Levys reveal themselves, it’s basically a love fest. There’s something so satisfying in knowing that they’re as charismatic in real life as they are on-screen.

Benedict Cumberbatch and fellow co-stars of “Star Trek: Into Darkness” were the victims of a classic on-set prank by Simon Pegg and Chris Pine, with help from the crew. While shooting at a laboratory, the cast was told to apply something called “neutron cream” that was said to protect their neutrons from radiation damage. It went so far that Karl Urban and John Cho were tricked into filming a fake PSA. Still, it was Benedict Cumberbatch’s reaction that may have been the funniest. Cumberbatch signed a release form that gave away the joke, and didn’t realize it until he actually read the form on camera. Hey, they’re actors, not rocket scientists.

The ongoing holiday prank war between Jimmy Kimmel and John Krasinski, who used to be neighbors, left chaos and destruction in its wake. Kimmel found a reindeer in his office bathroom and had his car gift-wrapped, while Krasinski had his entire house gift-wrapped. But nothing quite as dastardly as Kimmel’s 2015 prank. The longtime late night host printed up handmade flyers for a yard sale at Krasinski’s actual home. Posting the fliers all over Los Angeles, Kimmel invited the entire city to show up. As a final flourish, he soaked his guest with eggnog. All is fair in love and prank wars!

No one told her this take was gonna be this way. Jennifer Aniston’s co-stars decided to have a little fun on the set of “We’re the Millers.” In this blooper, Aniston, Jason Sudeikis, Emma Roberts, and Will Poulter were supposed to listen to TLC’s “Waterfalls,” but the track was switched out for the theme from “Friends.” Aniston’s surprise when the song begins to play is priceless and touching. It must be nice knowing that after all these years, there’s still a loyal following for the show that made her a star… even if your co-stars use its theme song to prank you.

It must be hard growing up on the sets of a popular fantasy series. All those awkward moments of adolescence are happening in front of cameras. Daniel Radcliffe found that out during the filming of “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.” While shooting a scene on the Hogwarts set, Radcliffe had asked that director Alfonso Cuaron place his sleeping bag near a girl he liked. Well, Dumbledore actor Michael Gambon had a fart machine placed in Radcliffe’s sleeping bag and activated it during the scene. Gambon even started stumbling over his lines, as if he didn’t know it was coming. Now that’s acting.