TV actors that successfully transitioned to movies?

[Hybrid]

For a long time, there has been a clear divide between movie actors and TV actors, with the latter getting mocked and made fun of for not being able to make it big in the real world. This has lessened greatly in recent years, with TV becoming a legitimate medium for storytelling and big budget high concepts in this decade, with even big name movie stars becoming actors in these shows. That said, what are the noteworthy cases of actors transitioning from small screen to big?

Some that come to mind:

Will Smith (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air)
Tim Allen (Home Improvement)
George Clooney (ER)
Denzel Washington (St. Elsewhere)
Jennifer Aniston (Friends)
Bruce Willis (Moonlighting)
Michael J. Fox (Family Ties)
Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation)
Steve Carrell (The Office)
John Krasinski (The Office)
Seth Rogen (Freaks and Geeks)

Who else is of note?

[j9ac9k]

Woody Harrelson (Cheers)
Jared Leto (My So-Called Life)

[AndrewCrossett]

Judi Dench
Art Carney
Jim Carrey
Will Ferrell
Simon Pegg
Danny DeVito

[Kirby101]

Steve McQueen
Clint Eastwood
Michael Douglas
James Garner

[Marvelgirl]

Jennifer Garner
(Alias)


Jim Carey
(Living Colour)

[marshal88]

besides seth rogan , plenty cast members from freaks and geeks made the transition to movies - Linda Cardellini,James Franco,Jason Segel etc , strangely enough, the series wasn't a successful hit on tv

[Hybrid]

Patrick Stewart (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

[ChrisIII]

besides seth rogan , plenty cast members from freaks and geeks made the transition to movies - Linda Cardellini,James Franco,Jason Segel etc , strangely enough, the series wasn't a successful hit on tv

John Francis Daley is mainly known for BONES as an actor I think but he's certainly done a great deal of writing and directing. He directed Vacation and Game Night, and wrote those movies as well; he also wrote the Horrible Bosses films and co-wrote Spider-Man homecoming.


Outside of Velma I think Cardellini, movie-wise, is kind of stuck in a lot of "housewife" style roles. Avengers of course but also many of her other film roles. TV wise she seems to get a lot more stuff to do.

Chris Hemsworth was a soap opera actor before Star Trek gave him his big break. Pierce Brosnan was also in the series Remington Steele, and would've been Bond sooner but there was some contract issue. Kind of allowed him to hone his movie career better though (Fourth Protocol, Mrs. Doubtfire etc) (I wouldn't count Moore, despite his tenure as the Saint he was doing a lot of films already at the same time).

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Bruce Willis (Moonlighting)

Great example! To bad Willis never returned to the small screen starring in another comedy-drama Loved David and Maddy's interactions on Moonlighting...

The story of Moonlighting(1)-not just a day job part 1