11 Actors We Remember From One Movie or Show That Have Played Other Great Roles as Well

Sometimes, it just so happens that an actor plays a role in a famous movie, and after that, they can’t get out from under its shadow. The interesting thing is that these actors may appear in other good movies and TV series, but viewers will only remember them in that single renowned role.

At Bright Side, we decided to recall the different actors we know from one famous role that actually have other great parts under their belts as well.

Kevin McNally

Kevin McNally is the king of supporting roles. And he has many of them listed on his résumé. For example, the actor took part in Downton Abbey, The Crown, Doctor Who, Johnny English, and many other projects. In the series, Wuthering Heights, starring Tom Hardy, he played Mr. Earnshaw, a rich man of high principles.

McNally’s most famous role was a reckless pirate in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. He’s 1 out of 3 actors who appeared in all 5 movies. Despite his long filmography, which includes different kinds of roles, the actor hasn’t won any awards yet.

Fiona Shaw

In an interview, the actress revealed that her father once heard that the children in the car driving by said, “Harry Potter’s grandfather lives in there.” In other words, the Harry Potter universe has become a part of her reality.

Fiona is known to many people as Harry Potter’s mean Aunt Petunia Dursley. But the actress says that she has made a name for herself on the theater scene. The filmography of the actress is also quite long and includes the roles of the perceptive Dr. Eileen Cole in My Left Foot and Carolyn Martens in the series, Killing Eve, for which she was nominated for an Emmy.

Ian McDiarmid

Ian McDiarmid portrayed Emperor Palpatine in the Star Wars film series. But he’s also a popular theatre actor. Ian took part in the TV adaptation of Crime and Punishment and in the horror movie, Sleepy Hollow, where he played Dr. Thomas Lancaster.

Kristanna Loken

In 2003, Kristanna Loken played the most famous role in her career, the terminator T-X in Jonathan Mostow’s Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. 2 years later, she played the starring role in the movie, BloodRayne, which was based on the video game of the same name.

The movie was a box office bomb, but some critics mentioned that Loken’s acting in the movie was quite decent. Loken also won the Feature Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for the movie, Lime Salted Love.

Arnold Vosloo

Arnold Vosloo played the cunning and intimidating Imhotep in the movies The Mummy and The Mummy Returns. And this role made him famous. He continues to act in movies to this day, but his roles are mostly supporting. You can also see him in the role of Zartan in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and in various series, like Criminal Minds and The Blacklist.

John Rhys-Davies

Dwarf Gimli is so charming, mostly thanks to the acting talent of John Rhys-Davies. The actor is also known for his role as Sallah in the Indiana Jones movies. But this is not all. He also appeared in famous TV shows, such as The Shannara Chronicles and Star Trek: Voyager. And for his role in the miniseries, Shōgun, the actor was nominated for an Emmy.

Robert Sean Leonard

In the 2000s, the series about the charismatic Dr. House was extremely popular, it had incredibly high ratings and even managed to secure 3 Guinness World Records. As a result, the actors starring in the series became incredibly famous. It’s likely that audiences remember Robert Sean Leonard as Dr. James Wilson exclusively. But it’s worth mentioning that the actor almost rejected this role because, at the time, he had a choice between 2 series, but he eventually opted for House.

Before this starring role, Leonard brilliantly acted in movies like Much Ado About Nothing and Dead Poets Society. For his role as Neil Perry in the latter, he was nominated by the Chicago Film Critics Association for Most Promising Actor.

Rachel Brosnahan

Rachel Brosnahan is primarily a TV actress, having appeared in series like The Good Wife, CSI: Miami, and Grey’s Anatomy. She got her breakthrough role in the series, House of Cards, starring as Rachel Posner for which she was nominated for an Emmy. But in 2018, she won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for the role of Midge Maisel in the series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and this work immediately overshadowed all her other projects, including the movie, The Courier, where she acted alongside Benedict Cumberbatch.

Paul Goddard

In the iconic movie, The Matrix, there were 3 agents, one of which was Agent Brown played by Australian actor Paul Goddard. He participated in epic chases and the famous Trinity and Morpheus interrogation scenes. But very few people know that the actor also played a bit part as the main character’s son-in-law in the movie about a charming piglet, Babe.

Julian McMahon

We remember Julian McMahon as the charismatic, cunning, and charming Cole from the hit TV series, Charmed. His character appeared in the third season as an assistant district attorney, and later revealed himself to the sister witches as the demon, Belthazor.

Thanks to Charmed, McMahon became a very popular and sought-after actor. He acted in the series Nip/Tuck, along with 2 Fantastic Four movies. However, it’s hard to recognize McMahon in these superhero movies because he plays Dr. Doom and wears a mask almost the entire time.

Rose Leslie

Rose Leslie played the brave and courageous Wildling, Ygritte. The actress was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for this role, but didn’t win. At the same time, very few people remember her in other roles, like as a housemaid in the series, Downton Abbey.

She also played an important role of Maid Louise in the recent screen adaptation of Agatha Christie’s novel, Death on the Nile.

Tell us about your favorite actor or actress and their most memorable role.