Entertainment

9 Movies Stars Who Starred on Sitcoms Before Hitting the Big Screen

There are some major Hollywood stars whom we will always remember as their beloved sitcom characters — after all, who can forget Jennifer Aniston's 10 fantastic years as Rachel Green on Friends? But for every Aniston out there, there is another celebrity whom you totally forgot starred on sitcom back in the day. Did you remember seeing a familiar celebrity face on these old sitcoms? Click through to find out what actors started their careers with a laugh track.

by Kaitlin Reilly

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

The HitRecord creator and Don Jon star wasn’t used to play an alien inhabiting a human body on this series.

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Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Gordon-Levitt played Tommy Soloman, an old alien forced to inhabit the body of a teenager, on the NBC series 3rd Rock from the Sun. It aired from 1996 to 2001.

Image: NBC

Jennifer Lawrence

She’s best known for her role as Mockingjay Katniss in the Hunger Games franchise, but her first sitcom role was far less successful than the blockbusters she’s currently making.

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Jennifer Lawrence

Lawrence portrayed a scheming teenager named Laura on the family sitcom The Bill Engvall Show, which aired from 2007 to 2009 on TBS.

Image: TBS

George Clooney

Before he was the major movie star he is today, he had a recurring role on this Diff’rent Strokes spinoff.

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George Clooney

Clooney played a handyman on the NBC sitcom The Facts of Life, pictured above. He also had a recurring role on the sitcom Roseanne as Roseanne’s supervisor.

Image: NBC

Jim Carrey

He’s set to star in the sequel to Dumb and Dumber, but before he was a funny man on the big screen he honed his craft on the small one.

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Jim Carrey

Carrey played a cartoonist on the 1984 sitcom The Duck Factory.

Image: NBC

Alyssa Milano

You may know her from Charmed or from ABC’s Mistresses — the show that she recently announced she would not be returning to — but as a child actress she starred on this hit sitcom.

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Alyssa Milano

Well before she was casting spells on Charmed, Milano portrayed Tony’s daughter Samantha on the series Who’s The Boss? which aired from 1984 to 1992.

Image: ABC

Megan Fox

Long before she was taking down Megatron in Transformers, she had a recurring role on this Kelly Ripa-starring sitcom.

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Megan Fox

Fox joined the ABC sitcom Hope & Faith in 2004. Fox took over the role of Sydney, Hope’s eldest daughter, after Nicole Paggi left the role.

Image: ABC

Leonardo DiCaprio

The Wolf of Wall Street actor starred in something much less controversial in the early 90s.

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Leonardo DiCaprio

DiCaprio joined the cast of family sitcom Growing Pains in 1991 as Luke, a foster kid taken in by the Seavers.

Image: ABC

Ryan Reynolds

Mr. Blake Lively once starred on an ABC sitcom.

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Ryan Reynolds

Reynolds starred on four seasons of the ABC sitcom Two Guys and a Girl, formerly titled Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place — the show abandoned the pizza place, hence the change in title after Season 2. Reading the Wikipedia page for this show is confusing as ever — it’s not just the title that changed over the course of the four season show, but also major plot points and characters — so I can only imagine what watching it was like.

Image: ABC

Jason Bateman

Everyone knows him as Michael from Arrested Development, but did you know that he also starred in this far more traditional sitcom?

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Jason Bateman

Then-child actor Bateman played “bad seed” Derek Taylor on Season 1 and 2 of NBC’s Silver Spoons.

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