17 Hollywood Actors Who Started Off Their Careers as Movie Extras

By Andrew Alpin, 8 December 2017

8James Dean was a copyboy

James Dean the fifties heartthrob will always be remembered for the movies “Rebel without a Cause” “Giant” and “East of Eden”. But these came later in Dean’s career where he struggled to make it taking on roles as an extra in movies. He was a Boxer trainer in “Sailor Beware” where he doesn’t even have a name and a Football spectator in the movie Trouble along the Way. He also appeared as an extra in the movies like “Deadline” as a copy boy and an uncredited boxing trainer in “Sailor Beware”. 

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9Charlize Theron was killed off in Children of the Corn

Charlize Theron today is an Oscar-winning actress taking away almost all the awards you can dish out for her performance in “Monster” but in her early days, Theron played an extra in Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest where she is ultimately killed by an evil tentacle. 

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10 Rene Zellwegger acted as a beer drinking extra

The famous actress of “Chicago” and “Jerry Maguire” played the role of an extra in “Dazed and Confused” 1993 where she is seen as the girl who keeps guzzling down beers. Her major break came in Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1994. 

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11William Dafoe got kicked out in his first role as an extra

William Dafoe is a veteran of films but his acting debut came in the 1980 movie “Heaven’s Gate “where he was just an extra without any activity but as part of the crowd. He was also kicked off the set by director Michael Cimino for laughing loudly at a joke told to him by another female extra. 

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12Jeff Goldblum was a party guest

He has had an incredible career with several great movies, the latest being the mad Grandmaster in Thor Ragnarok. However he has also acted as an extra in some pretty big Hollywood movies such as a freak in “Death Wish” and a party guest in Annie Hall. His first big break was after ten years when he was cast in “The Fly”.

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