25 ensembles that were perfectly cast in TV and film

Whether FX’s The Bear is a comedy or a drama is debatable, but what isn’t is the fact that the ensemble that makes up this restaurant-based, award-winning series deserves three Michelin stars. Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and the rest of the cast feel like they are truly running a spot in Chicago due to their believable family dynamic and dramatics.

The Addams Family  TV series was cool, but when the movie dropped in 1991, that cast would become the first people associated with the spooky, ooky family, which isn’t easy to do. However, the sexual chemistry and allure between Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston as Gomez and Morticia was mesmerizing, and Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams was iconic. Not to mention the Christopher Lloyd as Uncle Fester — genius casting choice.

Modern Family presented viewers with three family dynamics within one larger family and somehow balanced an original cast of almost a dozen characters masterfully across 11 seasons.

At this point, it’s hard to imagine anyone else in the roles of the core Avengers. They are ingrained in pop culture much like Christopher Reeve’s Superman or Danny DeVito’s Penguin.

In the world of streaming, This Is Us managed to capture the hearts of weekly viewers, and while the interesting way of presenting multiple timelines at once was a big draw, what made the NBC series work most was the Pearson family. They burrowed their way into fans’ homes immediately with the pilot. This is us? No, this is family.

Did Ice Cube having a son who looks very much like him help Straight Outta Compton? Yes, but O'Shea Jackson Jr. was not in it alone. Jason Mitchell as Eazy-E was superb, Corey Hawkins slayed as Dr. Dre, as did the rest of the cast who made up and told the story of N.W.A.

What Cheers did best is present characters that felt like people one would really encounter at their local pub, people they could actually sit and have a drink with on a nightly basis. It also doesn’t hurt that they were all comedic gems.

Perfect casting in movies feels a little harder than in TV because a series has the grace of time, which allows for the cast to grow together. Movies though, the cast has to come together within the first act of the film or else it’s a chop. Thankfully, Little Miss Sunshine was able to form a family that made sense, with each member bringing their own level of charm and heart to the table.

Cop shows are notoriously great at casting choices from NYPD Blue to the extensive CSI universe, but those are dramas. Cop comedy though? Brooklyn Nine-Nine managed to make it work by giving their squad layers upon layers with the likes of Andy Samberg, Joe Lo Truglio, and Chelsea Peretti giving the silly comedy, and the late Andre Braugher and Stephanie Beatriz giving that beautiful deadpan style.

The adventure of The Goonies hit theaters in June 1985, and since then has been a staple in the homes of many. Of course, people love pirates but they also love a ragtag group of kids that come together magically to save the day.

Yes, three of the It’s Always Sunny cast were a package deal, but Kaitlin Olson and Danny DeVito weren’t always in the picture. Had they never rounded out the core cast, perhaps the show would’ve never gone on to become the longest-running live-action comedy series of all time.

Ann M. Martin crafted such wonderful, relatable characters in The Baby-Sitters Club book series that it was a gamble to translate it into a movie as the HBO series just did okay in 1990. However, it was the big screen adaptation that assembled a cast of young actors who perfectly embodied each member of the club. That magic wouldn’t appear again until Netflix brought the series back again in 2020.

Orange is the New Black presented one of the most varied casts in modern television with women of all shapes, sizes, and backgrounds coming to bat - and it was a clear home run from the jump.

The first cast to come together for The Diary of the Wimpy Kid should be the standard for how to cast a children’s movie.

Those who brought the Bluths to life were immaculate, especially the late Jessica Walter as the matriarch who delivered one of the best mothers in TV history.

The ‘80s was not short on young actors, but John Hughes and Co. chose carefully and that’s why The Breakfast Club remains the example of excellence when it comes to teen movie ensembles.

One of the things that made and continues to make The Office so beloved is that the cast isn’t unbelievable. They look like everyday people that would actually work in a mundane office job. Fans appreciate the realness of it all, well the casting. It’s a little out there to believe a boss like Michael Scott would last that long without being fired.

People think James Gunn ate with Guardians of the Galaxy. Sure, but he planted, picked, cooked, and then ate with Scooby Doo years prior. Those four characters are so ingrained into pop culture that it was a risk to go live-action, but Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Matthew Lillard, and Linda Cardellini left no crumbs.

ABC’s Friday night block known as TGIF was a permanent fixture in many American homes throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, with sitcoms that wove themselves into the fabric of fans’ lives forever, and while most of them could be on this list…none of them had what Full House did. The three adult males all gave something vastly different. The kids were not only perfect in that they looked alike, but they all came together as relatable siblings, with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen dominating cuteness as the youngest Tanner. The cast, sadly sans the Olsens, were so great together that when Netflix rebooted the series as Fuller House, it still worked.

The Social Network, coming out not too far ahead of the actual drama it showcased onscreen, was a risk.  It could’ve leaned cheesy like a Lifetime Original Movie, but with the likes of David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin behind it, as well as the flawless cast made it an instant classic.

Taking a note from The Golden Girls, the tropes were set in place. However, finding the right women to play the sort of leader/anchor, the sassy one, the one with childlike wonder, and the bougie one who slays was another story. Living Single did just that, though, and even rounded out the series with two men who only enhanced the overall tone of the show.

If The Sandlot were made today, it would feature a cascade of TikTokers, YouTubers, and other sectors of influencers who consistently perform (and often overperform) for the camera. The Sandlot and many ‘90s kids movies are iconic because the kids are naturally just kids who happen to act, and that comes across so well with the cast of this baseball flick. Watching it's like watching one's own set of friends, and that’s why it’s one of the most beloved movies and remains a favorite among kids all these years later.

Shows about 20-somethings aren’t rare. What is noteworthy, though, is that those shows were culturally defining, which, thanks to the cast of New Girl, allowed them to be the ones in the '00s.

Everything about Clueless works so incredibly well that every aspect of the movie is genius from the plot to the fashion to the writing, and of course, the cast of young actors who would go on to be the definition of cool in the ‘90s.

Not only are Danny McBride, Adam DeVine, and Edi Patterson great together as siblings in an evangelical church family that scams and schemes together, but they are also joined by the likes of John Goodman, Tony Cavalero, and Walton Goggins, who round out the very interesting cast.