Sitcom actors that became action stars

It infamously took them a while to land on a star for “Die Hard.” Eventually, they got to Willis, and people said, “The guy from that ‘Moonlighting’ show?” Willis was known primarily, maybe even entirely, for trading flirty quips with Cybill Shepherd on the ‘80s private eye dramedy. He got the role, and suddenly, Willis was starring in one of the defining action movies ever, which set the trajectory for the rest of his career.

Pratt wasn’t just on “Parks and Recreation,” he was the doofus character. Andy Dwyer was originally just there to be Ann’s bad boyfriend. Pratt was able to take some of that persona to the Marvel Cinematic Universe when he was cast as the lead in “Guardians of the Galaxy.” He has also added the “Jurassic World” trilogy to his filmography as well.

Krasinski was one half of the defining TV romance of the new millennium as Jim Halpert on “The Office.” His movie career never got fully in the groove, though he did get to direct and star in the hit horror movie “A Quiet Place.” However, he also has gotten to play an iconic action character, but on television. Following in the footsteps of Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford, Krasinski played Jack Ryan in Amazon Prime’s show starring the Tom Clancy character.

The workout regimen that drove the internet bananas. Nanjiani was a successful standup who then became part of the ensemble on “Silicon Valley.” He then got cast in “Eternals” as…Kingu? Look, we’ll be honest. “Eternals” has completely fallen out of our brain, a common occurrence for the popular choice for worst movie in the MCU. Kumail did get shredded like lettuce, though.

Owing to the traditions of action films, this is a male-heavy list. There are female action stars out there, though! Larson is, unsurprisingly, for modern times, in the MCU. She is Captain Marvel. Now “United States of Tara” is a dramedy, though Toni Collette won Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series, but it is kind of a grim show at times, making it harder to qualify as a sitcom. Fortunately, for the sake of this list, Larson was previously in the forgotten sitcom “Raising Dad.” It only lasted a season, but Larson and Kat Dennings played Bob Saget’s daughters. That’s some good casting!

Movie stardom came early to Lawrence. She was in the “X-Men” reboot starting in 2011 and then in 2012 debuted in the role of Katniss Everdeen in the “Hunger Games” series. There was not much TV to her career, but her one major role on television prior to her breakout in film was a sitcom. Lawrence was part of the cast of the family sitcom “The Bill Engvall Show,” the only reason anybody remembers that show.

It makes sense that Reynolds made the move to comedy films prior to getting into the action realm with Green Lantern and Deadpool, the latter more successful than the former. However, before the “Van Wilder” days, there was television. Reynolds was one of the stars on “Two Guys and a Girl,” previously known as “Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place.”

You know the story, we assume. He was a fun, accessible rapper. Then, he was the star of his own sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” This paved the way to being the biggest movie star in the world, thanks to films like “Independence Day” and “Men in Black.” Eventually, he fell from being at the pinnacle of culture, and the day he finally won his Oscar he became persona non grata for slapping Chris Rock. Yeah, Will Smith has had quite the career.

He didn’t do most of the action in “Inception” or “The Dark Knight Rises,” though there was some. Gordon-Levitt did star in “Premium Rush,” though, which is a good action movie if you haven’t seen it. JGL was a child actor, in films like “Angels in the Outfield,” but he was probably first established to many as one of the stars of “3rd Rock from the Sun.” The broad sitcom featured quite the cast, but instead of following in the footsteps of John Lithgow, Gordon-Levitt went his own way.

Fox has two (and only two, surprisingly) “Transformers” movies and two “Teenage Mutant Ninjas Turtles” movies to her name. She’s also in “Expend4bles,” the fourth “Expendables” movie. Before that, though, the Faith Ford and Kelly Ripa sitcom “Hope & Faith” needed to recast the oldest kid in the family, Sydney, after season one. They cast Fox, who was in the role for the last two seasons. By the way, do you know who played Sydney in the unaired pilot? Brie Larson!

Ritter started her career jumping between comedies and dramas, though usually only in a recurring role. You know, eight “Gilmore Girls” episodes, eight “Veronica Mars” episodes, that sort of stuff. She then found some success as a lead character on a network sitcom, the goofily titled, “Don’t Trust the B---- in Apartment 23.” That show only lasted two seasons, though, and in her next leading role, she played the titular character in “Jessica Jones,” a show from the bygone era of Marvel shows on Netflix.

You likely remember some of Berry’s action films, be it her turn as Storm or, um, Catwoman. Hey, just because you remember something doesn’t mean it has to be good. If you are struggling to think of the sitcom Berry was on, we get it. In 1989, she starred in “Living Dolls,” which was launched by a backdoor pilot off of “Who’s the Boss?” “People” magazine gave the series an “F,” and it was canceled after 12 episodes.

Brosnan would begin playing James Bond in 1995’s “GoldenEye,” but it could have happened sooner. When Timothy Dalton was cast to replace Roger Moore, Brosnan was the first choice. The problem was that the Brosnan-as-Bond rumors led NBC to un-cancel Brosnan’s show, keeping him contractually obligated to appear on it. That show was “Remington Steele.” The breezy procedural that mixed romcom and detective stories with aplomb featured Brosnan as a con man who steps into the role of “Remington Steele,” the fictitious private eye created by Lauren Holt to help her get clients skeptical of a female detective.

After being a cast member on the seminal sketch comedy show “In Living Color,” Foxx got his own titular sitcom that lasted for 100 episodes. When he broke into film, there were some comedies in the mix, but also some action films. His action work includes “Stealth,” “Miami Vice,” and playing a Spider-Man baddie a couple of times. There is some good dramatic work in there, too, as he did win Best Actor for playing Ray Charles.

Liu went from the comedy-drama of the legal show “Ally McBeal” to the action-comedy of “Charlie’s Angels” and its sequels. Also, while “Kill Bill” isn’t an action movie per se, Liu does get to wield a samurai sword, which is definitely an action thing.

Clooney’s career is a testament to sticking it out. It has become part of the story that his early career saw him bouncing from show to show, not finding long-term success. That included the sitcoms “The Facts of Life” and “Roseanne.” Then, he got cast on “ER,” and Clooney rose to TV stardom. While action movies proved not to be his strong suit, Clooney’s movie career began in that realm, including the 1997 duo of “Batman & Robin” and “The Peacemaker.”

Travolta’s movie career is littered with forgettable action films, but he has starred in dozens of those ilk. Some of them, like “Face/Off,” did click. Of course, prior to that, he famously played Vinnie Barbarino in “Welcome Back, Kotter,” though he left the show early to start his movie career. Don’t like it? Well, up your nose with a rubber hose!

A Marine Corps vet, Driver is no action movie meathead. He has true acting chops, delivering a “Marriage Story” for every turn as Kylo Ren. Oddly, Driver’s road to movie stardom began with him being the one breakthrough cast member from the HBO show “Girls.”

Looking to goose ratings and to keep the show fresh, “Growing Pains” introduced a new kid into the main cast. Luke Brower was only on the show for the seventh season, which proved to be the last one. The next year, the kid who played Luke would turn heads in the movie “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.” We’re talking about DiCaprio, of course, who has been in action movies such as “The Quick and the Dead,” “Inception,” and, arguably, “The Revenant,” which finally won DiCaprio his Oscar.

Let’s end with one of the first examples of an actor going from sitcoms to movie stardom, including action films. Beatty isn’t an action guy first and foremost, but there is certainly an action element to “Bonnie and Clyde,” “The Parallax View,” and “Dıck Tracy.” His sitcom history, though, goes all the way back to the 1950s, when “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis” debuted. Beatty played Milton Armitage, the romantic rival of Dobie in the first season. However, Beatty actually quit the show during the first season, with visions of movie stardom in his mind—those paid off.