Sitcom Stars Who Made It To Hollywood's Elite A-List

There are a million ways actors land their first showbiz break. Natalie Portman was spotted by a modeling agent while she was having pizza with her mom. Rosario Dawson was chilling on her New York City stoop when she caught a film director's attention. Charlie Hunnam was Christmas shopping when a TV production manager noticed him.

Along with chance discoveries, many actors share similar career beginnings. We've rounded up a famous group in which all the performers starred on TV sitcoms before making it big in Hollywood. In some cases, a TV series was a blip on their radar. Other times, a show may still be one of their career-defining moments. In any event, each of these A-listers charted their own unique path to Hollywood stardom. If you're a fan of "Friends," "The Office," "The Big Bang Theory," "That '70s Show," or "Parks and Recreation," we have the scoop on some of Tinseltown's greatest triumphs from those shows.

A few of these celebs never imagined they would be at the top of the heap. "Not in my wildest dreams," Steve Carell told Variety. "... I just wanted to be an actor, to be employed and make enough to support my family." Here is an inside look at some of your favorite sitcom actors and how they made it to Hollywood's elite A-list.

Steve Carell rose to fame as Michael Scott, the politically incorrect manager of Dunder Mifflin in beloved workplace comedy "The Office," which ran for nine seasons on NBC beginning in 2005. That same year, the former correspondent on "The Daily Show" starred in a box office smash, "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," which he also co-wrote. Of his famously painful (and real) chest-waxing scene with Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen, Carell told Radio Free, "I thought to see them laughing at me in pain would be probably the funniest part of the scene."

Carell received an Oscar nomination for his performance in 2014's "Foxcatcher," portraying convicted killer John du Pont. "I never saw him as a villain, and I didn't want to depict him in that way," the actor told The Guardian. "... He was someone who didn't possess the tools to achieve what he wanted out of life." The "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues" alum starred alongside Christian Bale, Brad Pitt, and Ryan Gosling in 2015's "The Good Short," playing hedge fund manager Mark Baum. Fans of all ages know and love Carell as the voice of Gru in the "Despicable Me" franchise.

Carell, who played accused sexual predator Mitch Kessler on "The Morning Show," earned praise for his work in Hulu's 2022 psychological thriller "The Patient." Newsday called it Carell's "best performance yet." He's set to star alongside Ryan Reynolds and John Krasinski in "Imaginary Friends," which Krasinski has written and directs. "This is the 'Office' reunion movie," Krasinski told Jimmy Fallon. In turn, Carell told Stephen Colbert, "He's such a great director." 

When Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis were asked to appear on "That '90s Show," they felt like they couldn't not do it. "We thought, 'Listen, we're only in the position that we're in because of that show, so let's just go back and do this,'" he told Variety. "We just went back and had fun for a week." Following Kutcher's stint as Michael Kelso on "That '70s Show," the host of MTV's "Punk'd" joined the cast of "Two and a Half Men" after Charlie Sheen was sacked.

Series producer Chuck Lorre told TV Guide about Kutcher, "Here was a guy with great comedy instincts, tons of experience, and who is totally fearless — taking the job proves that." Kutcher starred in the 2011 rom-com "No Strings Attached," a film he noted to E! News was "basically the same movie" as Kunis' flick "Friends With Benefits," starring Justin Timberlake. 

In 2013, Kutcher took on the role of Apple founder Steve Jobs in the biopic, "Jobs." The actor, who knew many of Jobs' colleagues, felt protective of the former CEO's big-screen legacy. "Even if I screw it up and totally bomb it, I love that guy. I'd rather have someone that cared about him screw it up than someone who didn't," Kutcher told The Verge. In February 2023, "The Ranch" alum returned to the romantic comedy genre, starring alongside "Sweet Home Alabama" star Reese Witherspoon in Netflix's "Your Place or Mine."

Keri Russell made her small-screen debut in "The All New Mickey Mouse Club." Her claim to fame may always be the titular role in The WB's "Felicity," which was created by "Lost" executive producer J.J. Abrams. Russell took a self-imposed break from acting in the early 2000s, post-"Felicity." 

In 2006, the actor joined Tom Cruise in Abrams' action spy flick, "Mission Impossible III." In an interview with The Tufts Daily, Russell revealed that she loved doing stunts with the action star, as daunting as some of the scenarios may be. In one scene, stunt coordinators prepped her with caution. "Okay, we're gonna harness you into Tom, and you're gonna jump out of the window, land on a van, and as soon as the van gets six inches away from this building, it's going to explode. Listen, if your hair catches on fire, don't let go of the van, because you will fall off," Russell recalled.

She later starred alongside her boyfriend Matthew Rhys as KGB operatives in the FX Cold War-era espionage thriller, "The Americans." "Even though it is this spy show, and even though there are these action sequences and car chases, it always goes back to this somehow relatable marriage story," Russell told The New York Times. "Those are the stories that always rise to the top." Russell is in the 2023 thriller movie "Cocaine Bear," and she was spotted filming Netflix's political series "The Diplomat" with co-star Ato Essandoh in fall 2022. 

Kaley Cuoco first won fans in the early '00s family sitcom "8 Simple Rules," playing Bridget, the teenage daughter of Katey Sagal and the late John Ritter. "He treated me like his own daughter," Cuoco said of the actor, who died after collapsing on set in the show's second season. Speaking on ABC's "Superstar" docuseries (via USA Today), she continued, "He treated all of us kids like that. It was pretty incredible." Cuoco's signature role for 12 seasons was Penny the ditzy neighbor on the ratings juggernaut "The Big Bang Theory." 

"It was a feel-good silly show, and these guys really were the heart of it," Cuoco told Variety. "They made the nerd thing cool and popular and sexy and fun." She also recalled, "I thought, 'Maybe I'm, like, a sitcom girl forever.'" Clearly, the universe had more in store for the popular performer. Cuoco had appeared on the big screen in 1997's "Picture Perfect" and the 2005 rom-com "Lucky 13," but the actor struck gold after she optioned the book "The Flight Attendant."

Cuoco received two consecutive Emmy nominations for her performance as Cassie, the titular character caught up in a high-stakes web of international crime. In an interview with Collider, Cuoco was so happy that the HBO Max murder mystery resonated with fans, garnered positive reviews, and earned award nominations. "I would've bet millions that was not going to happen," she said.

Jason Bateman was 12 when he made his small-screen debut in "Little House on the Prairie." Continuing his TV career, Bateman starred in "The Hogan Family" and directed a few episodes. His breakout role as Michael Bluth in the dysfunctional family comedy "Arrested Development" jump-started his career, but his agents warned him to steer clear of the show. Speaking to Vanity Fair, Bateman explained, "They said, yeah, you're not gonna want to read for that. That show's never gonna get on the air." The Emmy-winning series ran for a total of five seasons, earning Bateman a Golden Globe in 2003.

Bateman plays Jennifer Garner's husband in the 2007 fan-favorite drama "Juno," which was a best picture contender. In 2011, he teamed up with Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis to play a would-be killer in the black comedy "Horrible Bosses" and its sequel. Speaking to The Guardian, Bateman said of his British mother, "She established my sense of humor for me — that very dry, sarcastic, non-winking kind of wit. It's kind of become my style and my preference."

The actor received multiple Emmy nominations for his role as money launderer Marty Byrde in Netflix's hit series "Ozark," and he won for his directing in 2019. Bateman has weighed in on Marty's similarity to Michael Bluth. "I think they have similar blind spots," he told The Guardian in 2022. "Their arrogance and hubris leads to early decisions." Bateman admitted that he enjoys inhabiting roles that are in the neighborhood of "average." 

It's been over four decades since Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari played two young professionals disguising themselves as women in ABC's "Bosom Buddies." Appearing on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," Hanks recalled of his late co-star, "He and I met, we picked up the scripts, and we started screwing around, and I actually thought, 'Oh, this is it. This is how this works. This is like a hand inside a glove.'" Since then, the actor has earned his place as one of Hollywood's most beloved stars.

He received his first Oscar nomination as Josh, a teenage boy who transforms into an adult in the 1988 hit fantasy comedy, "Big." Hanks' co-star Elizabeth Perkins told the New York Post, "[Josh] brings out this innocence in [my character] that's been shut down for a really long time. 'Big' was all about everybody regaining their innocence." In 1993, Hanks scored another hit, starring alongside Meg Ryan in the hugely successful rom-com "Sleepless in Seattle." They reteamed in 1998 for "You've Got Mail."

He won his first Academy award in '94 for "Philadelphia," playing a man living with HIV who was fired from his job. Hanks won a second Oscar for "Forrest Gump," a $678 million blockbuster film. Rolling Stone noted, "'Forrest Gump' is a movie heart-breaker of oddball wit and startling grace." Hanks' performances haven't always been lauded, as he's been the unfortunate nominee of a few Razzies and was met with unfavorable reviews for his portrayal of Colonel Tom Parker in "Elvis."

"The Office" star Steve Carell once told his co-star John Krasinski, "They're always going to know us from 'The Office,'" Krasinski, who plays Jim Halpert on the series, recalled to Deadline in 2018. "But isn't that an honor?" the Emmy nominee had argued. He explained, "I really do believe that there's something about 'The Office' that is on the mantle in its own little box. It can never be touched; it can never be replicated, and I know I'll never have as lucky an experience as that."

In 2016, Krasinski made his directorial debut in the family drama "The Hollars," starring alongside Charlie Day and Anna Kendrick. In 2018, Krasinski and his wife Emily Blunt teamed up for their runaway hit, "A Quiet Place," playing a couple trying to protect their family from blind monsters with a superhuman sense of hearing. Krasinski, who also directed the film, made sure his marriage didn't overshadow the film's storyline.

"What we discovered, as an added bonus, was that it was actually really beneficial that we were married. I think that the idea of spouses having a secret language, it's the only language we could use," Krasinski explained to Deadline. Following "A Quiet Place II," the actor was cast as the titular CIA analyst in Amazon's "Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan," a role previously played by Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford. "You know you hope that someone like Jack Ryan's out there," Krasinski told Parade. "That there's someone with a moral compass fighting to do what's right."