Your favorite movie and TV star had to start somewhere and, sometimes, that somewhere is appearing in commercials. There have also been some cases in which an actor has already made it to the top but decided to lend their star power to a TV ad. You can find both kinds in the following collection of TV commercials featuring some huge celebrities.
Ben Affleck (Burger King)
An early blip in Ben Affleck's acting career was a commercial for the popular fast food chain, Burger King. The future live-action Batman actor and Academy Award-winning filmmaker plays a teen who accidentally invents Door Dash when his car phone intercepts a car from a girl who wants to order a whopper.
Cameron Diaz (Coca-Cola)
When Cameron Diaz was still a model primarily, one of her first experiences with acting – before making her feature debut in The Mask – was in a TV ad. The future Shrek movie star shines in an early '90s Coca-Cola commercial that feels a lot more like a perfume ad from the era in its alluring direction.
Paul Rudd (Super Nintendo)
All of Paul Rudd's versatile talents – from making us laugh in movies like The 40-Year-Old Virgin to thrilling us as Ant-Man in the Marvel movies – can be traced back to a Super Nintendo commercial he did in the early '90s. He plays a very enthusiastic video gamer who attracts a crowd when he, somehow, hooks up his console to a drive-in theater projector for the ultimate experience of playing The Legend of Zelda and other favorites.
Jennifer Lawrence (My Super Sweet 16)
Jennifer Lawrence got to be the original My Super Sweet 16 girl without appearing on the actual reality TV series that documented wealthy young women's extravagant birthday celebrations. MTV ran dramatized promos for the then-new show starring the future Academy Award winner and Hunger Games movie star as the birthday girl who encounters a few mishaps during her festivities.
Brad Pitt (Pringles)
Years before he starred in Super Bowl Heineken ad helmed by his Fight Club director, David Fincher, the then-up-and-coming Brad Pitt got a taste of commercial acting by starring in a 1988 Pringles spot. He plays one of three surfer dudes who become stranded on the side of a California road when a trio of lovely women approach them for an impromptu Pringles party.
Amy Adams (Commercial Federal Bank)
Mainstream audiences first became aware of Amy Adams' impeccable singing talent in 2007's Enchanted but customers at Commercial Federal Bank were really the first to discover her. In 1997, the multi-Oscar nominee starred as an Olvia Newton-John lookalike in a parody of 1978's Grease for the bank.
Steve Carell (Brown's Chicken)
Steve Carell's channeled his inner Michael Scott long before leading NBC's The Office cast when he was just starting out acting in commercials. In the early 1990s, he played a Brown's Chicken employee whose clumsy mistake while setting up a marquee advertising "cholesterol-free cooking" accidentally convinces customers the food will cost them nothing.
Drew Barrymore (Pillsbury)
It must have been clear to anyone who spotted Drew Barrymore in her early Pillsbury commercial that she was destined to capture our hearts in E.T. the Extra-terrestrial just a few years later. The 1979 ad stars the then-four-year-old as a little girl whose mother cheers her up on a rainy day by making chocolate chip cookies.
Leonardo DiCaprio (Bubble Yum)
Before breaking out with his supporting role in Growing Pains and really hitting big leading the Titanic cast, the up-and-coming Leonardo DiCaprio did a few commercials. One sees the future Oscar winner demonstrate his natural charisma while demonstrating the powerful flavor of Bubble Yum bubble gum.
Arnold Schwarzenegger (Alinamin V)
You may never be able to look at Arnold Schwarzenegger the same way again after witnessing the series of gobsmackingly bizarre ads the Terminator star filmed in Japan long after his big break. As the spokesperson for an energy drink called Alinamin V, the future California governor puts on a maniacally large smile and is sometimes seen riding the beverage's bottle into space or popping out of it like a genie.
Mila Kunis (Telephone Tammy)
Had Mila Kunis' Jackie Burkhart been a child of the '90s, Telephone Tammy – a doll who responds to your call with an included play phone – sounds like the kind of toy she would have grown up with. Not to mention the fact that the future That '70s Show cast member appeared in a commercial for Mattel when she was just starting out.
Morgan Freeman (Polaroid)
Future Academy Award winner and voice-over extraordinaire Morgan Freeman starred in a number of TV commercials early on in his career. One such ad was a 1970s spot for Polaroid, not as the man holding the camera that instantly prints out photos but the man telling the amateur photographer to cool it with the reshoots.
Britney Spears (Maull's)
Die-hard fans of pop superstar Britney Spears know that she started out as a child actor who worked with Ryan Gosling on The Mickey Mouse Club, among other rising stars. One of her earlier roles was a young girl who was apparently very excited to eat a home-cooked hamburger in a commercial for Maull's Barbecue Sauce, a local St. Louis brand.
Mark Hamill (Kodak)
Before playing Luke in the Star Wars movies made him familiar with technology from a galaxy far, far away, Mark Hamill represented what must have felt like a futuristic innovation at the time. He starred in a 1975 commercial for a Kodak camera that takes high-resolution photos from far away, allowing him to snap a shot of his girlfriend (and her mother) on a balcony while he stays on the ground.
Anne Hathaway (Better Homes And Gardens Real Estate)
Academy Award winner Anne Hathaway first showed her talent for performing in romantic dramas like One Day and The Idea of You in a 1996 commercial for Better Homes and Gardens. She plays a young woman who believes she and her boyfriend will still have time to spend before his family moves away until they learn the real estate agency has already sold the house.
J.K. Simmons (Farmers Insurance)
From his memorable roles in HBO's Oz and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man movies, J.K. Simmons was pretty well known by the time he was cast as Professor Nathaniel Burke of the University of Farmers for a long-running Farmers Insurance ad campaign. When he won his Oscar for Whiplash, host Neil Patrick Harris sang an impromptu parody of the company's commercial jingle.
Harrison Ford (Kirin)
Playing Han Solo in Star Wars and the title hero of the Indiana Jones movies made Harrison Ford an international star and one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. He would also increase his notoriety in Japan by starring in a series of commercials for a regional brand of lager called Kirin.
Keanu Reeves (Corn Flakes)
Before playing a master of kung fu in The Matrix, a master of gun-fu in the John Wick movies, and a master of excellency in the Bill & Ted movies, Keanu Reeves played a master of sneaking a bowl of cereal for himself. The role of a waiter who enjoys some of the breakfast food he has been hired to serve comes from an '80s-era ad for Kellogg's Corn Flakes.
Betty White (Snickers)
Snickers had a funny ad campaign starring well-known actors as metaphorical representations of the out-of-character behavior of hungry people. One of the earliest, and funniest, stars the legendary Betty White as a dude who needs a bite of the protein-loaded candy bar when his performance in a casual football game is off.
Bruce Willis (Seagram's Coolers)
When he was best known for Moonlighting and before starring in one of the all-time greatest action movies, Die Hard, Bruce Willis had another claim to fame: Seagram's Golden. He served as the adult beverage's spokesperson in a series of ads, some of which utilized his musical talents.
Jeff Goldblum (Apartments.com)
It's a little strange how a performer as widely recognized and beloved as Academy Award nominee Jeff Goldblum would be hired to star in an ongoing ad campaign as an original character and not just as himself. Nevertheless, the star of Jurassic Park and The Fly is dazzling and dazzling in the Apartments.com commercials as Brad Bellflower.
Sharon Stone (Finesse)
In the 1990s, films like Basic Instinct and her Academy Award-nominated role in director Martin Scorsese's Casino made Sharon Stone one of the most esteemed, and desirable, actors of her time. In the 1980s, her looks helped sell Finesse shampoo as one of the most desirable brands in the hair care market.
Jack Black (Pitfall)
It appears that Jack Black's charismatic, high-energy sense of humor was something he possessed from a young age. Exhibit A: his appearance in a 1982 commercial for Atari's Pitfall, as a wide-eyed child in a safari hat enthusiastically recalling his experience in the jungle-set video game, years before he played a jungle-set video game character in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.
Sarah Michelle Gellar (Burger King)
No one would have believed, in 1983, that an adorable six-year-old girl who became a recurring spokesperson for Burger King would grow up to become one of the fiercest horror Scream Queens in the genre's history. Yet, that would become Sarah Michelle Gellar's destiny after leading the Buffy the Vampire Slayer cast as the titular defender against evil.
Tobey Maguire (Tropicana Twister)
In 1991, when he was still a teen, Tobey Maguire did an ad for a blended juice drink from Tropicana called Tropicana Twister. The future Spider-Man actor only briefly appears as a kid who breaks the fourth wall, suggesting that broccoli be added to the next unique flavor combination.
Courteney Cox (Tampax)
Before starring in the Friends cast as Monica Gellar, Courteney Cox was best known in the 1980s for dancing with Bruce Springsteen in the "Dancing in the Dark" video. However, did you catch the future Scream movies star's appearance in a Tampax ad as a gym patron?
Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Pop-Tarts)
Joseph Gordon-Levitt is one of the most acclaimed former child stars who still act, with film and TV credits that back to the late '80s and early '90s like Angels in the Outfield and, of course, 3rd Rock from the Sun. If you go back even earlier than those classics, you can see the future Looper and Inception star in a 1991 ad for Kellogg's Pop-Tarts as a child who child urging his father to have breakfast before he leaves for work and offers him the toaster pastry.
Bryan Cranston (Preparation H)
Four-time Emmy winner and one-time Academy Award nominee Bryan Cranston has worn many faces throughout his career, from a hapless suburban dad in the Malcolm in the Middle cast to a ruthless drug lord as the lead of the Breaking Bad cast. Years before then, he wore the face of a spokesperson for Preparation H in a commercial from the early 1980s.
Willem Dafoe (Mercedes Benz)
With roles like one of the best Spider-Man movie villains, Green Goblin, and others, Willem Dafoe has proven time and time again that he plays an exceptional bad guy. Thus, he was the perfect choice to star in a Super Bowl ad for Mercedes Benz as the Devil, who almost convinces a young man to trade his soul for the car until he learns how affordable it is.
Geena Davis (WMET)
With an eclectic career that includes her Academy Award-winning role in The Accidental Tourist, the horror-comedy movie favorite Beetlejuice, and plenty more, it is clear Geena Davis can be anything. So, we imagine early '80s TV viewers who lived in the region where WMET broadcasted had no trouble accepting her as the voice of the local rock radio station when she starred in its enchanting commercial.
Jeremy Renner (Duracell)
Before he was defending the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the Avengers, Jeremy Renner made a living as a commercial actor. One of his greatest hits was a 90s-era Duracell ad in which he plays a tourist in Mexico whose stereo battery harnesses the power of a herd bulls.
John Travolta (U.S. Army)
Years before he played Santa in a Capital One ad and sent up his role in Grease for T-Mobile, John Travolta starred in an Army recruitment promo in 1973. Just four years later, his Academy Award-nominated lead role in Saturday Night Fever made him one of the biggest stars on the planet.
