"Dwight" on The Office Can Be Spotted In Dark Angel - The Complete 1st Season
I was recently posting that the '70s classic series Emergency! - Season 4 would come to DVD in January, and I had to chuckle after seeing that a pre-CHiPs Erik Estrada had a bit part in one of those episodes, as "Man with Eye Injury".
It reminded me of David Caruso's recurring role, looong before starring in NYPD Blue or C.S.I. Miami, as the leader of an Irish gang (complete with leprechaun-style hat!) in episodes of Hill Street Blues. I had seen him do that when the show first aired, but when my wife was seeing it for the first time on DVD, she blew a gasket at the sight!
Lots of hot "new" stars on current shows can be spotted on DVDs of slightly older programs, doing small roles back in leaner times. A few of the names you might recognize:
· Ellen Pompeo wasn't always the titular "Grey" on Grey's Anatomy; she can be spotted as "Missy" in a final-season episode of Friends. The episode was "The One Where the Stripper Cries" (the stripper, though, was Taxi's Danny DaVito...not Pompeo).
· Rainn Wilson, "Dwight" on The Office, played a quirky wanna-be superhero who helps Jessica Alba's Dark Angel in the first-season episode "I and I Am a Camera" (above).
· America Ferrera may be big these days as Ugly Betty, but can be seen on C.S.I. - The Complete 5th Season DVDs in the third episode of that season, "Harvest".
· Lately hunky Josh Holloway might be Lost as "Sawyer," but if you have the final season DVDs of Chuck Norris' Walker, Texas Ranger, then you can see Holloway in the episode "Medieval Crimes" as a character named...Ben. Fans of Lost know just how ironic that is!
· Smallville's "Lois Lane" may be in the process of becoming an ace reporter, but years before Erica Durance became a hot actress, she had guest spots in episodes of Tru Calling, Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda and Stargate SG-1. Who knew?
So, just who have YOU spotted? Of the rising TV stars that everybody is enjoying now, where have you seen them before they struck it big? Which TV-on-DVD sets should other fans be picking up to see these actors and actresses, long before they were ready for prime time? Share the most interesting ones you can think of, with all us!
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