While you might recognize these movies from the 1990s, you may be surprised at how many future stars came out of the cast. There are plenty of 1990s movies with star-studded casts, like Heat and The Thin Red Line. There are also some movies from the decades that are well-known for featuring a number of future stars, including True Romance and Dazed and Confused. However, there are some movies from the 90s that, if you revisit, you’d be shocked at how many famous faces you recognize before they found fame.
Some of these movies were led by 90s A-listers, with the supporting cast getting overshadowed at the time. Others are somewhat underrated 90s movies that not many people have returned to over the years. Looking back at these movies now, it is a lot of fun to see just how star-studded they are, and knowing the big successes that await these burgeoning actors in the future.
10
Armageddon (1998)
Future Stars: Ben Affleck, Owen Wilson, Steve Buscemi, Jason Isaacs
Armageddon
- Release Date
-
July 1, 1998
- Runtime
-
151 minutes
Armageddon might seem like it was a star-studded blockbuster when it was released in 1998, but it is surprising just how unknown most of the cast was. The Michael Bay movie about a world-ending asteroid was led by Bruce Willis, who was already one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. However, Bay and the studio made an interesting decision to surround Willis with actors from the world of 90s independent movies to fill out this massive action movie.
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Ben Affleck’s star was certainly on the rise, but this was one of the first movies he made following the success of Good Will Hunting. Steve Buscemi and Billy Bob Thornton were just coming off the successes of their indie movies, Fargo and Sling Blade, respectively. Owen Wilson was a relatively unknown actor, having made the cult comedy Bottle Rocket. Then there were the likes of Michael Clarke Duncan and Jason Isaacs, whose small roles are forgotten among their larger filmography.
9
Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1992)
Future Stars: Hilary Swank, Ben Affleck, David Arquette, Thomas Jane
Before Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a ’90s TV hit, it began as a cult movie flop from earlier in the decade. Joss Whedon wrote this version of his story about a popular high school student (Kristy Swanson) who learns she is the next in a long line of vampire hunters. Along with Swanson in the lead role, the movie features some veteran actors, like Donald Sutherland and Rutger Hauer.
Thomas Jane, David Arquette, and Stephen Root all appear in the movie in smaller roles.
However, there are also some big names in the supporting cast of the movie that were largely overlooked at the time. Thomas Jane, David Arquette, and Stephen Root all appear in the movie in smaller roles, filling out the high school setting with Root playing the principal. There are also a couple of future Oscar winners, with Hilary Swank appearing as one of Buffy’s popular friends and a very brief appearance from Ben Affleck as a basketball player. As a testament to how early in his career this was, Affleck’s one line was dubbed by another actor.
8
Go (1999)
Future Stars: Sarah Polley, Katie Holmes, Timothy Olyphant
Go
- Release Date
-
April 9, 1999
- Runtime
-
98 minutes
- Director
-
Doug Liman
-
Sarah Polley
Ronna Martin
-
Timothy Olyphant
Todd Gaines
Go has become a cult favorite movie of the 90s, exemplifying the fast-paced and energetic style of the young filmmakers who were emerging at the time. In this case, it is director Doug Liman at the helm of a wild, chaotic, and funny adventure, following various overlapping stories taking place in Los Angeles with various perspectives on a drug deal gone wrong.
Before becoming an Oscar-winning filmmaker in her own right, Sarah Polley led the cast of Go as the rebellious and risk-taking Ronna. The movie also made for an early breakout movie for some 90s television stars, including Katie Holmes and Scott Wolf. Timothy Olyphant has become a modern Western icon, but he was excellent as the bad boy drug dealer here. Go even features a brief role from Melissa McCarthy long before her Oscar-nominated performance in Bridesmaids.
7
School Ties (1992)
Future Stars: Brendan Fraser, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Cole Hauser
School Ties
- Release Date
-
September 18, 1992
- Runtime
-
106 minutes
- Director
-
Robert Mandel
Though they had previously appeared as extras in Field of Dreams, School Ties holds the distinction of being the first movie that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck starred in together, along with several other future stars. Brendan Fraser took on one of his first leading roles as a Jewish student dealing with prejudice at a private school. He later went on to box-office success with The Mummy franchise and an Oscar win for The Whale.
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Damon and Affleck appear in the movie as Fraser’s classmates and anti-Semitic bullies. Just a year before Dazed and Confused was released, School Ties features several cast members from that movie, with Affleck reuniting with Anthony Rapp and future Yellowstone star Cole Hauser. Chris O’Donnell also appeared as one of the more sympathetic students in what was only his third movie role to that point.
6
Crimson Tide (1995)
Future Stars: Viggo Mortensen, James Gandolfini, Steve Zahn, Ryan Phillippe
Crimson Tide
- Release Date
-
May 12, 1995
- Runtime
-
116 Minutes
- Director
-
Tony Scott
Crimson Tide was another movie that began a long-running and successful creative partnership as the first movie Denzel Washington and Tony Scott worked on together. The submarine thriller was also presented as a showdown between Washington and Gene Hackman as two opposing officers on board a nuclear submarine as global tensions rise. The terrific performances of these two heavyweight actors might have distracted from some other notable cast members.
Viggo Mortensen before the Lord of the Rings movies and James Gandolfini before he took on the defining role of Tony Soprano.
Crimson Tide was one of the first big movies for actors like Steve Zahn, Scott Grimes, and Ryan Phillippe, who play some of the lower-level sailors aboard the vessel. There are also some very impressive future stars who were successful character actors at the time, including Viggo Mortensen before the Lord of the Rings movies and James Gandolfini before he took on the defining role of Tony Soprano.
5
Hard Eight (1997)
Future Stars: John C. Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow, Samuel L. Jackson, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Hard Eight
- Release Date
-
February 28, 1997
- Runtime
-
102 minutes
Paul Thomas Anderson’s first movie did not get as much attention as Boogie Nights, which followed, but it similarly has a terrific cast of actors who were on the rise at the time. Hard Eight is a slick and entertaining crime movie that puts veteran character actor Philip Baker Hall in the lead role of Sydney, a career gambler who takes a young hustler under his wing in search of redemption.
Hard Eight helped establish a couple of important creative relationships for Anderson, with John C. Reilly playing the naive young hustler who Sydney mentors, and Philip Seymour Hoffman having a scene-stealing cameo as an obnoxious gambler. Both actors would go on to appear in several other Anderson movies. Hard Eight also features standout roles for Gwyneth Paltrow as Reilly’s love interest and Samuel L. Jackson as a rival to Sydney.
4
Never Been Kissed (1999)
Future Stars: Jessica Alba, James Franco, John C. Reilly, Octavia Spencer
Never Been Kissed
- Release Date
-
April 9, 1999
- Runtime
-
107 Minutes
- Director
-
Raja Gosnell
Drew Barrymore further cemented her comeback in the 1990s with her hilarious and charming performance in Never Been Kissed. The comedy stars Barrymore as a young woman who left behind her disastrous and humiliating time at high school to become an investigative journalist, only to be assigned a story that requires her to go undercover as a high school student. Barrymore’s performance is the reason the movie has stuck around, but it actually features an incredible cast.
As is typical in some of the high school movies, a number of the actors playing the younger students went on to big careers. This includes early roles for Jessica Alba and Mary Shelton, long before they both appeared in Sin City, as well as the movie debut of James Franco. However, Barrymore’s coworkers at the newspaper are also notable stars, including John C. Reilly as her boss, Molly Shannon as her best friend, and even future Oscar winner Octavia Spencer.
3
King Of New York (1990)
Future Stars: Laurence Fishburne, Wesley Snipes, Steve Buscemi, Giancarlo Esposito
King of New York
- Release Date
-
July 18, 1990
- Runtime
-
103 minutes
- Director
-
Abel Ferrara
King of New York is one of the great underrated crime movies of the 1990s, featuring a terrific lead performance from Christopher Walken. Walken plays Frank White, a gangster who returns after serving time in prison and attempts to regain control of his city once again, going to war with rival gangs and the police. It is really Walken’s show, giving him a great central character when he is so often a scene-stealing supporting actor.
Wesley Snipes also appears as one of the cops hunting Frank, years before becoming an action star in his own right.
Walken is backed by an incredible cast with Laurence Fishburne as Frank’s loyal right-hand man, providing a terrific turn that helped lead to his strong run in the 1990s. Wesley Snipes also appears as one of the cops hunting Frank, years before becoming an action star in his own right. Some other notable members of Frank’s crew include Steve Buscemi and Giancarlo Esposito.
2
Angels In The Outfield (1994)
Future Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Adrien Brody, Matthew McConaughey
Angels in the Outfield has never been considered one of the great baseball movies of all time, but there are many people who look back on it with nostalgic affection years later. A loose remake of the 1951 movie of the same name, Angels in the Outfield follows a young boy who prays that his favorite team will win the pennant, only to discover he can now see actual angels helping out the players on the field.
The movie featured several notable stars of the era, like Christopher Lloyd, Danny Glover, and Tony Danza. However, it was the actors whom fans didn’t know at the time that really added some star power. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was still a child actor when he took on the lead role in the movie, while future Oscar winners Adrien Brody and Matthew McConaughey appear as baseball players.
1
Airheads (1994)
Future Stars: Brendan Fraser, Steve Buscemi, Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, David Arquette
Airheads
- Release Date
-
August 5, 1994
- Runtime
-
92 minutes
- Director
-
Michael Lehmann
Airheads is a forgotten comedy of the 1990s that deserves another look, if only so people can see just how packed with stars this movie is. The movie follows the fun premise of a trio of wannabe rock stars who take a radio station hostage in order to force them to play their record on the air. The movie gets off to a great start with the three lead actors, Brendan Fraser, Steven Buscemi, and Adam Sandler, all on the verge of breaking out big.
Fraser was the biggest star at the time, but Buscemi was still making a name for himself in indie movies, while Sandler had not yet become the comedy superstar in movies like Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison. They are joined by other great additions to the ensemble, like Chris Farley as an excitable cop, David Arquette as an enthusiastic hostage, and Seinfeld‘s Michael Richards as a clumsy accountant.
