There are a few reasons why an actor might not get credited for a film role. Their blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo might not be substantial enough to deserve an official credit, or their agents might have attempted a negotiation tactic that backfired, or the filmmakers might want to preserve the surprise of an A-lister’s appearance.
Sometimes, an uncredited performance can rank among an actor’s best work. Will Ferrell’s unbilled appearance as Chazz Reinhold in Wedding Crashers only consists of a few minutes of screen time, but it’s one of his funniest performances.
10 Owen Wilson As Jedediah In Night At The Museum
Owen Wilson’s role as a miniature cowboy from the Old West exhibit in Night at the Museum was only supposed to be a cameo. It eventually got expanded into a supporting role alongside a credited Steve Coogan’s miniature Roman centurion, but Wilson remained uncredited.
He shared fantastic chemistry with both Coogan and his long-time collaborator Ben Stiller. Wilson played Jedediah with his usual easy charms, but also gave the character some endearing insecurity about his diminutive size.
9 David Bowie As Himself In Zoolander
Cameo appearances by celebrities usually aren’t credited because their roles are small (but, if done well, memorable), and also because a world-renowned A-lister like David Bowie doesn’t need to be credited for audiences to know who they are.
Bowie’s cameo in Zoolander is hilariously unexpected. When Derek and Hansel decide to have an impromptu walk-off, Bowie appears out of nowhere to the sounds of “Let’s Dance” and announces himself as the judge.
8 David Hyde Pierce As The Voice Of Abe Sapien In Hellboy
Doug Jones gets full credit for playing the titular demon’s amphibious sidekick Abe Sapien in the Hellboy movies, but he only wore the bodysuit and handled the character’s movements. Abe’s voice was provided by an uncredited David Hyde Pierce.
Pierce gave Abe Sapien the same sophisticated intellectualism that he brought to the role that made him famous, Frasier’s Niles Crane, and he managed to create a tangible on-screen friendship with Ron Perlman despite not joining him on the set.
7 Edward Norton As King Baldwin In Kingdom Of Heaven
Edward Norton went uncredited in Ridley Scott’s Crusades epic Kingdom of Heaven to build a mystique around his character King Baldwin. Orlando Bloom’s character Balian de Ibelin hears a lot of rumors about King Baldwin before finally meeting him. Norton was left out of the credits so the audience wouldn’t know what to expect.
When he finally does appear on-screen, he doesn’t disappoint. He has a bunch of bulky monologues about subjects like chess and God’s teachings, and Norton nails every single one.
6 Tom Cruise As Les Grossman In Tropic Thunder
Tom Cruise was left out of the credits and all the marketing for Tropic Thunder to preserve the surprise of his appearance. Under all the Les Grossman makeup and prosthetics, Cruise is practically unrecognizable. Leaving the A-lister uncredited allowed contemporary audiences to figure it out for themselves when he showed up on-screen.
There’s playing against type and then there’s Tom Cruise as Les Grossman. Cruise usually plays affable, heroic, handsome characters who use nice, clean language. In Tropic Thunder, he plays a balding studio executive with giant hands who screams curse words at everybody he encounters.
5 Robert De Niro As Victor Tellegio In American Hustle
The rapid pacing, dark humor, and needle-drop soundtrack of David O. Russell’s American Hustle are pretty overtly inspired by Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas. And, as if the Scorsese influences weren’t being laid on thick enough, Robert De Niro also makes an uncredited cameo appearance.
De Niro only plays Victor Tellegio in one scene, but it’s a pivotal scene, and his refreshingly understated performance, however brief, is one of the movie’s highlights.
4 Gene Hackman As The Blind Hermit In Young Frankenstein
In the same year that he gave one of the most nuanced dramatic performances of his career in Francis Ford Coppola’s paranoid thriller The Conversation, Gene Hackman made a hysterical uncredited cameo appearance in Mel Brooks’ horror spoof Young Frankenstein.
He plays a blind hermit who prays for the universe to send him a friend right before the monster arrives. He’s very hospitable, but accidentally drives the monster away with a series of unintentional disasters. The character’s hilarious final line – “I was gonna make espresso!” – was improvised by Hackman (according to CinemaBlend).
3 Kathleen Turner As Jessica Rabbit In Who Framed Roger Rabbit
On top of being a groundbreaking blend of live-action and animation, Robert Zemeckis’ Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a spot-on spoof of the film noir genre. The character of Jessica Rabbit is a quintessential parody of the age-old trope of the femme fatale, played brilliantly by Kathleen Turner.
Turner was a huge star at the time and had recently worked with Zemeckis on Romancing the Stone. Keeping Turner’s name off the credits helped to establish Jessica as an icon in her own right.
2 Will Ferrell As Chazz Reinhold In Wedding Crashers
Will Ferrell’s cameo appearance in Wedding Crashers is funnier than anything else in the movie. His character, Chazz Reinhold, is established early in the movie as the legendary wedding crasher that Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn aspire to be like. At the end of the second act, when he has nowhere else to turn, Wilson pays Chazz a visit at his mother’s house.
Playing such a small role allowed Ferrell to lean even more heavily into his unique style of overacting than usual. In this one scene alone, Ferrell delivers a handful of the movie’s most hilarious quotes, like claiming funerals are a good pickup scene and screaming at his mom: “MA! THE MEATLOAF! F*CK!”
1 James Earl Jones As The Voice Of Darth Vader In Star Wars
What made Darth Vader such an unforgettable villain was the combination of David Prowse’s intimidating physique and James Earl Jones’ unmistakable voice. But initially, only Prowse was credited for playing Vader in Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back.
Prowse’s physicality made Vader an intimidating on-screen presence, but Jones’ booming voice made him an icon. Thankfully, Jones’ name was added to the credits in the Special Editions.
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