Throughout his legendary career, Steven Spielberg has not only directed some of the best movies of all time, he’s also worked with just about every great star from multiple generations. Legends like Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, and Morgan Freeman have all worked with the Academy Award winner at least once, but there are some actors out there who have been in three or more of Spielberg's best movies.
If you’ve ever wanted to know the actors who have been in the most Steven Spielberg movies, look no further, as we're going to talk about some of the filmmaker’s most prolific collaborators. Please note, this only includes feature films and not any of his early short films or specials he’s shot over the years.
Tom Hanks - 5 Movies
Over the course of the past 25 years, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg have become one of the best actor-director duos in the industry, and that doesn’t even include all the shows, documentaries, and specials the pair have produced during that stretch. In 1998, as both were in high-demand, they worked together on Saving Private Ryan, a harrowing World War II drama that has gone down as one of the best military movies of all time.
Since then, the duo have teamed up four more times for movies like Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal, Bridge of Spies, and The Post. But the partnership goes beyond that, as the two co-produced the landmark HBO miniseries, Band of Brothers, more than 20 years ago. It should also be noted that Spielberg produced several of the two-time Best Actor winner’s earlier films, like The Money Pit and Joe vs. the Volcano.
Martin Dew - 5 Movies
Though he’s never had a leading role in one of Spielberg’s movies, Martin Dew is actually one of his most prolific collaborators, as far as actors are concerned. Like Hanks, Dew has appeared in a total of five of his movies (for now, anyway), all within the past 18 years.
After having a small part as a looter in the Tom Cruise-led War of the Worlds sci-fi thriller in 2005, Dew showed up as a scientist in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. He followed that up with a small part in 2011’s War Horse, a brief appearance in Lincoln the following year, and then, most recently, played a CIA agent in Bridge of Spies.
Harrison Ford - 4 Movies
The list of Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg collaborations could have been a lot longer if the iconic actor hadn’t turned down a role in Jurassic Park, per SlashFilm, but the duo’s list of credits is impressive nonetheless, with four movies together.
One year after he was turned into frozen carbonite in The Empire Strikes Back, Ford took on the role of archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones for the first time in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Spielberg and Ford would re-team three additional times, with all three subsequent collaborations also being in the Indiana Jones movies. Ford also filmed a small part in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial but the scene was left on the cutting room floor, according to EW.
Sasha Spielberg - 4 Movies
Spielberg’s history with his family doesn’t start or stop with his semi-autobiographical coming-of-age drama, The Fabelmans, as the director has worked with his daughter, Sasha, multiple times over the course of their respective careers.
The musician/actress first worked with her dad when she was cast in a small part in 2004's Tom Hanks-led dramedy, The Terminal, which she followed up with a brief appearance in Munich the following year. The father-daughter tandem would work together again for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Sasha would appear in The Post nearly a decade later.
Richard Dreyfuss - 3 Movies
Richard Dreyfuss is another actor on this list whose history with Spielberg goes back several decades, as the actor and the director have worked together three times since first collaborating for Jaws back in 1975. The duo would reunite two years later for Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which, like the iconic shark movie that came before it, is considered one of the best movies from the 1970s..
Dreyfuss and Spielberg would team up one more time for Always, the director’s 1989 remake of A Guy Named Joe, a movie that would be Audrey Hepburn’s final film appearance prior to her death nearly four years later.
Mark Rylance - 3 Movies
Though Mark Rylance had some memorable roles prior to working with Spielberg for the first time with Bridge of Spies, the actor’s career reached new heights after he won an Oscar for his portrayal of Rudolf Abel in the 2015 Cold War thriller. Since then, the actor and director have teamed up two more times.
In 2016, Rylance provided the voice and motion capture work for the titular giant in The BFG, an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic novel of the same name. After that (and after the actor had one of the lead roles in Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk), they worked together on Ready Player One, with the actor taking the roles of James Halliday and Anorak.
Mark Ivanir - 3 Movies
Mark Ivanir has also appeared in three of Spielberg’s movies throughout his career, a collaboration that goes back 30 years. It all started with the director’s riveting Holocaust drama, Schindler’s List, and would continue throughout the next two decades.
Ivanir had a small part in The Terminal, which he followed up with multiple voice roles in Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin, a movie that could really use a sequel.
Geno Silva - 3 Movies
And then there is Geno Silva, who also appeared in three Steven Spielberg movies throughout his career. It all started when Silva was cast in the WWII comedy, 1941, alongside the likes of Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, and John Candy.
After that, Silva would appear in Spielberg’s two 1997 movies – The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Amistad. Sadly, Silva passed away at the age of 72 in May 2020, per Deadline.
These are just the actors who have appeared in three or more of Spielberg’s movies over the years, as stars like Jeff Goldblum, Karen Allen, Tim Blake Nelson, and even Daniel Craig have all appeared in two of his films. We don’t yet know what the legendary filmmaker is working on next, but there are plenty of great titles on the 2023 movie schedule to hold us over in the meantime.
