Formerly Dramatic Actors Who Went On To Star In Sitcoms
Seeing actors star in many different roles can add to the joy of watching movies and television, especially when the actors make exciting and surprising shifts.
Actors are meant to be versatile, and many are. However, there's a stigma in Hollywood that dramatic actors can't be funny, and comedians can't be serious. There are a select few, however, that have proven everybody wrong. Here are ten dramatic actors who went on to star in sitcoms:
10 Rob Lowe
Rob Lowe has been acting since the '80s. A young heartthrob, Lowe had roles in iconic films, including St. Elmo's Fire. The actor later starred in NBC political drama The West Wing, but he switched gears from drama to comedy when he was cast as the perpetually positive fitness freak Chris Traeger in NBC's mockumentary Parks and Recreation. Lowe has had roles on a variety of television shows and movies since his time on Parks and Rec, and can currently be found on the series 9-1-1: Lone Star.
9 Andre Braugher
Actor Andre Braugher has also been acting for decades. Braugher starred as Frank Pembletom in Homicide: Life on the Street back in the 90s, and had roles in other television shows and movies before starring as Captain Raymond Holt in another cop show, sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine. The show started on Fox and was picked up by NBC after being cancelled by Fox. NBC has announced the show will end after its upcoming eighth season.
8 John Goodman
At the start of his career, John Goodman had roles in lots of movies, spanning many genres, including crime, mystery, drama, and romance. In the early '90s, he landed a starring role in hit sitcom Roseanne as the titular character's husband Dan Conner. Goodman has had lots of other roles since, including Sully in Pixar cartoons Monsters, Inc. and prequel Monsters University. Goodman later reprised his role of Dan Conner for the Roseanne reboot, and again for the spin-off The Conners.
7 Paul Sun-Hyung Lee
Korean Canadian actor and television host Paul Sun-Hyung Lee has been in the entertainment industry for decades now. Known for his role the soap opera Train 48, Lee was cast as Appa in the play Kim's Convenience, and reprised his role for the television adaptation of the same name. Lee has had roles in films, as well as other stage productions.
6 James Avery
James Avery had an illustrious decades-long acting career with roles in movies and television. Avery voiced Shredder in the animated series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and then started his sitcom career as Philip Banks, successful lawyer and no-nonsense uncle of Will in hit television series The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. He had roles in several movies and television shows after the sitcom ended until his untimely death in 2013.
5 Janet Hubert
Janet Hubert's career began like most actors' careers with small parts in movies and television shows. Hubert had a part in the movie 21 Jump Street before being cast as Vivian Banks, wife of Philip and aunt of Will alongside James Avery in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Her tenure on the show did not last the entire series, however, reportedly due to an ongoing feud with co-star Will Smith. Hubert went on to play roles in several other television shows after her time on the sitcom.
4 Anna Chlumsky
Anna Chlumsky has been on television for over a decade now, playing parts on shows like Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, White Collar, and Army Wives before starting her role as Amy Brookheimer alongside sitcom veterans Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tony Hale in Veep, the award-winning HBO sitcom about the first woman to be elected Vice President. She now can be found voicing Charlotte in a few episodes of the Rugrats reboot on streaming service Paramount+.
3 William Jackson Harper
Actor William Jackson Harper broke into the entertainment industry by landing small parts in several different shows including Law & Order and The Blacklist. He eventually was cast as Chidi Anagonye, the indecisive professor on NBC's fantasy comedy series The Good Place, created by Michael Schur, co-creator of The Office and Parks and Recreation. The Good Place ended after four seasons, and since then Anagonye has rhad roles in other television shows like Love Life and The Underground Railroad.
2 Leighton Meester
Best known for her role as Blair Waldorf in hit CW series Gossip Girl, Leighton Meester continued her career by transitioning into comedy where she was cast as Angie D'Amao in short-lived ABC sitcom Single Parents. She's had roles in movies like The Roommate and Country Strong, and was recently cast in The Weekend Away. Meester is married to fellow teen drama star Adam Brody, known for his role as Seth Cohen in The O.C.
1 David Hyde Pierce
Like Goodman, David Hyde Pierce had roles in lots of television shows and movies of all genres before landing a starring role on long-running sitcom Frasier, the spinoff of equally-iconic sitcom Cheers. Pierce played Frasier Crane's uptight brother, Dr. Niles Crane, and has since had roles in other television series, as well as movies including A Bug's Life and Wet Hot American Summer.
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