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)

[caj]

Tom Hanks
Ron Howard
Ted Danson
Tom Selleck
Jodie Foster
Sally Field

[DrNewGod]

Tom Hanks
Ron Howard
Ted Danson
Tom Selleck
Jodie Foster
Sally Field

Outside of American Grafitti and The Shootist, I don't know that Howard had much big screen success as an actor. Now behind the camera? That's a different story.

[Kirby101]

Outside of American Grafitti and The Shootist, I don't know that Howard had much big screen success as an actor. Now behind the camera? That's a different story.

The thread title is "successfully transitioned into movies" so...

[caj]

Outside of American Grafitti and The Shootist, I don't know that Howard had much big screen success as an actor. Now behind the camera? That's a different story.

He was a child actor on a very successful comedy and then co-starred in a very successful film. Most tv actors would kill to have that good fortune. The fact that he chose to be a director instead of an actor shouldn't exclude him. But whatever.

[AnakinFlair]

Outside of American Grafitti and The Shootist, I don't know that Howard had much big screen success as an actor. Now behind the camera? That's a different story.

How about CLINT Howard?

[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).

[kjn]

Patrick Stewart (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

Note that the British market for actors are very different from the one in the USA. There is nothing unusual in a Danish, Swedish, or British actor moving fluidly between theatre, tv, and movie roles, and I think that's true for a lot other European countries.

[ChrisIII]

Yeah, Stewart was doing films like Excalibur, Dune and Lifeforce before TNG.


Here's another: Karen Gillian. Went from Doctor Who to the MCU, Jumanji etc. and other films.