These Huge Hollywood Stars Were Hiding in Music Videos This Whole Time and Nobody Noticed

Before streaming platforms and social media made every performer easier to find, music videos were one of the fastest ways for a new face to get noticed.

A three- or four-minute video could introduce a future actor to millions of viewers. Sometimes the role was tiny. Sometimes it was the whole story. Sometimes the actor was already working, but not yet famous. And sometimes the music video became the thing casting directors, fans, or filmmakers remembered.

This article focuses on actors who appeared in music videos before or around their breakout moment. In some cases, the video directly helped their career. In others, it became a fun early-credit fans only noticed later.

Here are actors who first appeared in music videos before becoming major stars.

Courteney Cox

Courteney Cox’s music-video moment became one of the most famous pre-Friends clips in pop culture.

In Bruce Springsteen’s 1984 video for “Dancing in the Dark,” Cox played the young woman pulled from the crowd to dance on stage with Springsteen. The video was directed by Brian De Palma and filmed during Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A. era, giving the scene major visibility.

Alicia Silverstone

Alicia Silverstone became so closely associated with Aerosmith videos that many fans still think of her as the ultimate 1990s music-video star.

Her most famous appearance came in “Cryin’,” where she played a rebellious teen navigating betrayal, freedom, and self-expression. Rolling Stone later described her as the future Clueless star who played the teen heroine across Aerosmith’s video trilogy: “Cryin’,” “Amazing,” and “Crazy.”

Liv Tyler

Liv Tyler’s appearance in Aerosmith’s “Crazy” became one of her earliest major pop-culture moments.

The video paired Tyler with Alicia Silverstone as two restless teens who hit the road, flirt with danger, and create the kind of glossy rebellion MTV loved in the 1990s. The video also had personal significance because Tyler is the daughter of Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler.

Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie appeared in Meat Loaf’s video for “Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through” before becoming one of Hollywood’s most famous actresses.

Jolie is the runaway teenager comforted by Meat Loaf’s fortune-teller figure. The video gave her a dramatic, emotionally charged early screen appearance before films like Hackers, Gia, Girl, Interrupted, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith made her a global name.

Matthew McConaughey

Before Dazed and Confused, Matthew McConaughey appeared in Trisha Yearwood’s “Walkaway Joe” music video.

The 1992 country video featured McConaughey as the young male lead in the story. IMDb lists him in the music video, and the original “Walkaway Joe” video featured a young McConaughey.

Jennifer Lopez

Jennifer Lopez’s early entertainment career included dance work before acting and music fame.

Before becoming a movie star and pop icon, Lopez worked as a dancer and appeared in music-video and performance spaces connected to major artists. GQ’s roundup of actors and models in music videos includes Lopez in Janet Jackson’s “That’s the Way Love Goes” from 1993.

Matt LeBlanc

Before Friends, Matt LeBlanc appeared in multiple music videos.

GQ’s pre-fame music-video roundup lists LeBlanc in Jon Bon Jovi’s “Miracle” from 1990. The video came years before he became Joey Tribbiani, one of the most recognizable sitcom characters of the 1990s and 2000s.

Nicole Kidman

Nicole Kidman appeared in a music video early in her career, long before she became an international Oscar-winning actor.

GQ’s roundup lists Kidman in Pat Wilson’s 1983 video “Bop Girl.” At the time, Kidman was still an emerging Australian performer, years before Dead Calm, Days of Thunder, Moulin Rouge!, The Hours, and Big Little Lies shaped her global career.

Winona Ryder

Winona Ryder appeared in Roy Orbison’s “A Love So Beautiful” music video before becoming one of the defining actresses of her generation.

GQ includes Ryder in the 1989 video, placing it among early music-video appearances by future stars. Around that period, Ryder was moving quickly through Beetlejuice, Heathers, and other roles that made her a cult and mainstream favorite.

Jennifer Connelly

Jennifer Connelly appeared in Joe Satriani’s “Always With Me, Always With You” video before becoming an Oscar-winning actress.

GQ lists Connelly in the 1987 video, which came during the early part of her screen career. She had already appeared in films as a young performer, but this music-video role remains one of the interesting visual credits fans revisit.

Salma Hayek

Salma Hayek appeared in Better Than Ezra’s “Rosealia” video before becoming one of Hollywood’s most prominent Latina stars.

GQ includes Hayek in the 1995 video. That same decade, she broke through in American film with Desperado, then continued with From Dusk till Dawn, Dogma, Frida, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and many other projects.

Eva Mendes

Eva Mendes appeared in Pet Shop Boys’ “Se a Vida É” before her film career took off.

GQ’s list includes Mendes in the 1996 video, placing it among the early credits of future actors who later became much more famous. Mendes later appeared in music videos, commercials, and film roles before breaking through more widely with Training Day.

Zooey Deschanel

Zooey Deschanel appeared in The Offspring’s “She’s Got Issues” music video before becoming a major film and TV personality.

GQ lists Deschanel in the 1998 video. Around that time, she was still early in her acting career, years before Almost Famous, Elf, (500) Days of Summer, and New Girl made her a familiar face.

Katie Holmes

Katie Holmes appeared in The Flys’ “Got You (Where I Want You)” video around the same era that made her a teen-TV name.

GQ includes Holmes in the 1998 video. That was the same period when Dawson’s Creek introduced her as Joey Potter, one of the most recognizable teen-drama characters of the late 1990s.

Christina Hendricks

Before Mad Men, Christina Hendricks appeared in Everclear’s “One Hit Wonder.”

GQ lists Hendricks in the 1999 video, long before she became known as Joan Holloway on Mad Men. Her later breakthrough on the AMC drama made her one of television’s most admired performers, especially for the way she brought intelligence, control, humor, and pain to a role that could have been much flatter.

Evan Rachel Wood

Evan Rachel Wood appeared in Green Day’s “Wake Me Up When September Ends” video.

GQ includes Wood in the 2005 video. By then, she had already earned attention for acting, especially in Thirteen, but the Green Day video gave her a highly visible music-video role during the band’s American Idiot era.

Meagan Good

Meagan Good appeared in Imajin’s “No Doubt” video before becoming a familiar film and TV actress.

GQ lists Good in the 1998 video. Good had already started acting young, but music videos were part of the broader entertainment ecosystem that gave young performers visibility in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Channing Tatum

Before he became a movie star, Channing Tatum appeared as a dancer in Ricky Martin’s “She Bangs” video.

The role made sense because Tatum’s early career was tied to dance, modeling, and physical performance. Years later, that background fed directly into Step Up and Magic Mike, two projects that used his real movement skills as part of the story.

Jeremy Renner

Jeremy Renner appeared in Pink’s “Trouble” music video before he became a major film star.

The video came years before Renner’s bigger breakthrough with The Hurt Locker, which earned him an Academy Award nomination and changed his career. He later became known globally as Hawkeye in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Djimon Hounsou

Djimon Hounsou appeared in Janet Jackson’s “Love Will Never Do Without You” video before becoming an acclaimed actor.

The black-and-white beach video, directed by Herb Ritts, also featured a strong fashion and modeling aesthetic. Hounsou’s striking screen presence helped make him memorable in the clip.