TV actors that successfully transitioned to movies?

[Valentis]

Daytime Soap Opera stars transitioning into primetime TV or Movie stars is almost impossible.

[DrNewGod]

Daytime Soap Opera stars transitioning into primetime TV or Movie stars is almost impossible.

MB Jordan would like a word

But yeah, it's rare.

[Jim Kelly]

Joni (Amanda Seyfried) had a burgeoning romance with Reggie (Michael B. Jordan) on ALL MY CHILDREN--but they never really paid that off. It seemed to me those two actors were wasted on that soap. Especially Seyfried who had so much talent. I see that she was on AS THE WORLD TURNS before that--but I rarely ever watched that show--too bad I missed it.

There have been a huge number of actors from soaps that have jumped to prime time and movies. It's sad that the soaps have almost all died out now, as that was a great training ground for young actors--and a place for other actors to go when they couldn't get work anywhere else. I also feel that when the soaps were made in New York, we got to see a lot of great stage actors that we would never have seen on the screen otherwise--and not living in New York, we could never have seen them on stage.

[AnakinFlair]

I just found out that Sebastian Stan was in Gossip Girl before he became Bucky in Captain America: The First Avenger. And he was on Once Upon a Time before Winter Soldier.

Lawrence Fishburne was on the Pee Wee Herman show as Cowboy Curtis.

Fishburn was already in movies, if not a massive star. He had been in Apocalypse Now, and was also in Nightmare on Elm Street 3, I think.

Daytime Soap Opera stars transitioning into primetime TV or Movie stars is almost impossible.

Rare, but not impossible. Sarah Michelle Gellar went from Soaps, to Buffy, to movies... but eventually her career petered out and now she runs her own business.

I'm not sure if anyone mentioned her yet, but Sally Fields got her start on TV with 'Gidget' and 'The Flying Nun'.

[Mace Dolex]

Definitely for me, in the 1960s, if I saw a Hollywood movie star was now doing a T.V. show, I assumed that something had gone very wrong in his life. Whereas, if the star of a T.V. show left to do movies, that meant he or she was in the big time now. It was like weekly T.V. shows were proper jobs--regular work you had to do every week to pay the bills. But making movies wasn't a job--it was like being on vacation for the rest of your life (or however long you could sustain it).

Also, if a big name actor did a walk on for a sitcom, the audience would erupt in amazement--such a miracle they had never seen, a god has come down from the heavens to walk among us. Which let you know this was no ordinary actor on a T.V. show--this was a movie star!

I'm reminded of back when Tim Burton's Batman movie was being talked about in 1989 Bob Kane the creator of Batman was brought as consultant (just as he was for the 1966 TV show) and Kane offered a suggestion of Robert Wagner who at the time was 59 years of age and was known for the TV show Hart To Hart but Bob Kane remembered Wagner as a matiness idol back in the sixties.

Of course the producers shot down the idea saying of course due to Wagner's age and that he was considered a TV actor to Kane's puzzlement.

[j9ac9k]

I just found out that Sebastian Stan was in Gossip Girl before he became Bucky in Captain America: The First Avenger. And he was on Once Upon a Time before Winter Soldier.

I thought he was great as the Mad Hatter. It's a shame they decided to retire the character after he moved on to playing Bucky.

Speaking of the MCU, Colbie Smulders was from "How I Met Your Mother" before playing Maria Hill. She was also in the Jack Reacher sequel and a few indies. She then bounced back to tv with "Stumptown" but with its recent cancellation, who knows where she'll pop up next?

Speaking of "HIMYM" Jason Segal was in some Apatow films, including starring roles in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and "The Muppets" movie. He's also since bounced back to tv.

Speaking of Apatow, of course Seth Rogan and James Franco were on there becoming big movie stars.

Speaking of James Franco, his bro Dave Franco starred in that last season of "Scrubs" before becoming a movie star... okay, I'll stop.