20 A-list actors who played themselves on-screen

It’s not every actor from classic Hollywood who would consent to a cameo in a low-brow comedy like Wayne’s World, but Charlton Heston wasn’t just any actor. In this film, he has a brief moment in which he essentially plays a version of himself as what a good actor would look like. It’s a very meta moment, one which relies on the audience’s awareness not just of who Heston is but also the kinds of roles in which he’d appeared throughout his career. 

Tom Cruise might have been one of the biggest stars of the 1990s and early 2000s, but he also demonstrated a very funny side. One of his most notable and hilarious cameos is as Austin Powers in Goldmember, in which he plays himself playing Austin Powers himself. In addition to being a very funny gag, it’s also a nice little bit of meta humor, especially given the extent to which Cruise built his stardom in part on a number of spy thrillers, including the various films in the Mission: Impossible franchise.

For kids who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s, Bob Barker was a beloved part of the TV landscape, having hosted The Price Is Right for many years. However, he wasn’t above a funny cameo or two, as he demonstrated quite well in Happy Gilmore. No one who has seen the movie could ever forget the moment in which Barker gets into a fist fight with Happy Gilmore, which is arguably one of the funniest moments in the entire film (and arguably in Barker’s entire career).

Skillfully blending comedy and the gangster film, Get Shorty  managed to spawn both a sequel and a TV series, and it was quite stacked in terms of its main cast, which included John Travolta, Gene Hackman, and Danny DeVito. Furthermore, it features a number of quite humorous cameos from actors playing themselves. Two of the most notable of these are Penny Marshall — famous for her role on the hit series Laverne & Shirley and for directing numerous films — and Harvey Keitel. 

Jim Carrey is obviously the main draw of Man on the Moon, both because he does such a good job of portraying the late Andy Kaufman and because it shows his range as an actor. One of the other notable aspects of the film was the numerous cast members from Taxi, on which Kaufman himself starred, who appeared as versions of themselves. These included Carol Kane, Judd Hirsch, and Christopher Lloyd. Danny DeVito, who also appeared in Taxi, is also in the film, though he plays Kaufman’s agent, George Shapiro. 

Space Jam could only have been made in the 1990s, and it still maintains some of its charms, thanks to both Michael Jordan and its unique inclusion of the Looney Tunes gang. It also features a number of cameos, and while most of these are from various NBA stars, Bill Murray also plays a version of himself in the movie. One can always count on Murray to be a welcome addition to any comedy film, and that is certainly the case here.

By the 1990s, Arnold Schwarzenegger had shown that he was one of his generation’s most notable and successful action stars. Thus, it’s not particularly surprising to find him spoofing himself in  Last Action Hero. Not only does he portray Detective Jack Slater, but there’s even a moment in the film in which he plays a version of himself. It’s a surprisingly clever movie and, while critics have often derided it, it has still managed to accrue its cult following, thanks in large part to its main star’s enduring appeal.

Directed by Billy Wilder, Sunset Boulevard is arguably one of the most scathing indictments of the vicissitudes of Hollywood stardom ever put to film. Though William Holden and Gloria Swanson are its heart and soul, it’s notable for featuring a number of cameos from real-life Hollywood figures. Arguably, the most notable of these is Cecil B. DeMille, who was not only a director but also an early-career actor. To add to the meta of it, he was also one of those who had been instrumental in Swanson’s rise to fame during Hollywood’s silent era.

Joaquin Phoenix has long been noted for his very committed approach to the craft of acting, and few films demonstrate this more intensely than I’m Still Here, in which he plays himself for the entire duration of the movie. It’s one of those movies that is definitely an acquired taste, particularly since it is never entirely clear whether it’s a documentary or a mockumentary. There’s no denying, though, that Phoenix is a powerful screen presence, which helps give the film an extra layer of unsettling power.

Keanu Reeves has been having a moment for roughly the last decade, thanks in large part to his starring role in the film John Wick, in which he plays the title character. He has a very memorable extended cameo in the movie Always Be My Maybe, in which he plays a version of himself that gets into a fight with the main character, Marcus. It’s always fun when an actor plays themselves with a light and tongue-in-cheek touch, and in this respect, Reeves more than delivers.

Zombieland manages to strike a fine balance between its comedic and horror elements, and a major part of the film’s draw has to be the casting of Bill Murray as none other than himself. Murray is the perfect actor to play a version of himself, particularly since, as the film makes clear, he’s been dressing up as a zombie to blend in with others. Though there are many other things to enjoy about the film, Murray’s presence is particularly welcome, and he meshes well with the other members of the cast.

Nicolas Cage deserves a lot of credit for being willing to take on challenging and sometimes offbeat roles. This is a man, after all, who stars in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,  in which Cage plays himself. It is, to be sure, the sort of strange performance for which Cage has become known over the last couple of decades, but that’s part of the pleasure the film affords. It certainly helps that he co-stars with Pedro Pascal, who never met a film he didn’t manage to make his own.

Few groups are as famous and successful as The Beatles, and their music continues to enjoy significant popularity. Given how much of a phenomenon they were in the 1960s, it’s not particularly surprising that they ended up starring in their own film, A Hard Day’s Night, where they played versions of themselves. The remarkable thing about the movie is the extent to which it was and is regarded as good in and of itself, rather than being dismissed as just a gimmick designed to exploit the group's success at the time.

It’s not every Hollywood star who would appear in a film that’s based on their own life, but Audie Murphy wasn’t just any star. After his service in World War II, he returned home and became a moderately successful film star. Murphy is quite believable in the role, and it’s a mark of his skill that the role wasn’t (and isn’t) seen as simply a novelty. Instead, the film, thanks to Murphy’s performance, allows the viewer to see just how terrifying the circumstances were for the men on the ground.

Peter Falk might be most famous for his title role in the series Columbo, but he also made a remarkable appearance in the film Wings of Desire. In the film, he plays a version of himself who also happens to have once been an angel. There’s something deeply human about Falk’s performance in this film, and yet one can also believe that they are watching someone who was once an immortal being. Though somewhat overshadowed by his performances as Columbo, it’s still a role worth revisiting. 

Ben Stiller excels as both the star and director of Zoolander,  which offers a zany skewering of the fashion industry and the models who comprise it. Aside from the many stars who appeared in the film, including Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, and Stiller’s father, Jerry, it also has not one but two cameos from actors playing themselves. Superstar David Bowie appears as a judge, while Billy Zane plays one of Derek Zoolander’s friends. Bowie, in particular, is a pleasure, as it shows that he was willing to poke a little fun at his star image at times.

Throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s, Kevin Smith was the man to beat when it came to the stoner comedy. He had a knack for crafting clever films that never took themselves too seriously, and in Jay and Silent Bob, he makes abundant use of his cast, including Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, who appear as versions of themselves. The two actors had earlier appeared in Smith’s gleefully iconoclastic film Dogma, so it was a pleasure to see them collaborate with him again.

Few films have been as unapologetically meta as This is the End.  The film is a bit of an embarrassment of riches when it comes to its cast, which includes such comedic heavy hitters as Seth Rogen, James Franco, and Danny McBride. This is arguably one of the most meta films of the 2010s, as its various actors portray versions of themselves trying to contend with the apocalypse. It certainly throws everything at the wall and, while not everything sticks as the film clearly intends, it’s still fun to watch these actors play outlandish versions of themselves.

Something is refreshing about a major actor who doesn’t take themselves too seriously. This is precisely what makes Neil Patrick Harris’s performance in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle such a pleasure to watch, as well as in its sequels. What makes his appearance so amusing is the extent to which it was so at odds with his earlier persona. His appearance in these films showed that he was far more than just a former child star, and in some ways, this version of himself presaged his role in How I Met Your Mother.

Throughout his career, John Malkovich has repeatedly shown that he is a remarkably versatile actor. He definitely proved that in Being John Malkovich, in which he plays a fictionalized version of himself. In this case, a puppeteer finds a portal into the actor’s mind, which leads to all sorts of chaos. The film as a whole manages to be both strange and yet also thought-provoking and compelling, and this is no small part due to Malkovich’s performance, one of the best of his career.