Horror Before They Were Famous

Here's to the A-listers who started their acting careers in the world of horror!

Jamie-Lee Curtis - Halloween, Halloween 2, The Fog, Prom Night, Terror Train

Jamie was literally born to be a scream queen as the daughter of 'Psycho' star Janet Leigh. Her big break was as Laurie Strode in 'Halloween', where she fought to survive the unwanted attentions of her big brother Michael Myres who wasn't a big family man!

Johnny Depp - A Nightmare on Elm Street

Captain Jack Sparrow started his acting career as Glen Lantz, Nancy Thompson’s boyfriend in Wes Craven’s 1984 film ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’, where he was slaughtered in his bed by dream stalker Freddie Krueger.

Kevin Bacon - Friday 13th

Kevin Bacon’s second film after ‘National Lampoon’s Animal House’ was as Camp Counsellor Jack Burrell in Sean Cunningham’s ‘Friday 13th’, where he was killed by Jason Voorhees’s mother with an arrow through his neck as he was lying in bed (beds are starting to look pretty scary aren't they?)

Jennifer Aniston - The Leprechaun

Before becoming a household name as Rachel in 'Friends', Jennifer Aniston's first film was in the 1992 horror film ‘Leprechaun’ as teenager Tory Redding, who was terrorised by a demon Leprechaun intent on reclaiming his stolen gold coins. The film was also notable for involving a death by pogo stick!

Paul Rudd - Halloween 6 – The Curse of Michael Myers

Jennifer Aniston's 'Friends' cast mate Paul Rudd (Phoebe's boyfriend Mike Hannigan) also had his first film role in first film role was a horror. In 1995 he played a teenage Tommy Doyle (the little boy who survived the original ‘Halloween’ film) in ‘Halloween 6 – The Curse of Michael Myers’. Later in the same year he shot to fame in 'Clueless' and moved away from horror into the world of comedy.

Laurence Fishburne - A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 – Dream Warriors

Best known as Morpheus from ‘The Matrix’ films, Laurence Fishburne had his first big film role in Apocalypse Now in 1979. However, even he wasn’t immune to the lure of the horror film, appearing in 1987 as orderly Max Daniels in ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 – Dream Warriors’ (which also starred a young Patricia Arquette).

Seth Green - IT

Before he fought vampires with Buffy and tried to take over the world with Dr Evil, Seth Green played the younger version of Richie Tozier in Stephen King's 'IT', the cheeky impressionist who helped the 'Losers Gang' defeat the child-killing monster Pennywise the Clown.

Linda Hamilton - Children of the Corn

Despite a long and varied film career, Linda Hamilton is still best known as Sarah Connor from the ‘Terminator’ films. However, 1984, the same year as the original of the Schwazenegger series she also starred in the film adaption of Stephen King’s ‘Children of the Corn’. As Vicky Baxter, she and her boyfriend Burt had to battle against a remote town of murderous children who follow a preacher-boy and a demon that lives in the corn fields. The film went on to have six sequels, none of which involved Hamilton, who was content to battle robots from the future instead.

Breckin Meyer - A Nightmare on Elm Street 6 - Freddy's Dead

Breckin was introduced to his agent by is grade school class mate Drew Barrymore and along with Paul Rudd got his big break in 'Clueless'. However, four years earlier he met a grisly end in 'A Nightmare on Elm Street 6 - Freddy's Dead, The Final Nightmare' as Spencer, who was sucked into a video game and killed by Freddy Kreuger and his joystick, before proclaiming "What do you know? I beat my high score!"

George Clooney - Return to Horror High, Return of the Killer Tomatoes

Clooney’s first film role was as Oliver in the little known 1987 film ‘Return to Horror High’ where a film crew went to a high school to make a movie about murders that happened there several years earlier. In 1988 he also appeared in ‘Return of the Killer Tomatoes’, prior to his big break in 1999 in ‘ER’, where he won the heart of millions as Dr Doug Ross. With the exception of 1996’s vampire flick ‘From Dusk to Dawn’, George has largely stayed away from horror.