20 Greatest Movie Cameos and Small Roles

Movie CameoLists by Joey Paur

I love it when I'm watching a movie and all of a sudden, out of nowhere there's a surprise appearance by a big, well-known actor. Sometimes the roles are funny, sometimes actors parody themselves, and then there are times when we get an incredible dramatic performance. There are a ton of great movie cameos out there, but I thought I'd put together a list of 20 cameos and small movie roles that I have enjoyed over the years.

There are some famous cameos such as Stan Lee's Marvel movie cameos and the Anchorman cameos that I purposely left off the list because they seem to be obvious choices.

Look over my list and let me know what your favorite movie cameos are in the comment section! 

Bill Murray - Little Shop of Horrors

This is by far my favorite movie cameo of all time. Murray is absolutely hilarious in every way. He plays a guy that basically gets off on pain, and it's pure comedy genius.

My favorite scene. I love you, Bill Murray.

Christopher Walken - Pulp Fiction

This is one of the most weirdly intense scenes ever put on film. Walken is one of the greatest character actors of all time, and this is one of the best roles he has ever had. I've never forgotten this little story he told. It has been embedded in my mind since I first saw it.

Television time for young Butch (Chandler Lindauer) is interrupted by the arrival of Vietnam veteran Captain Koons (Christopher Walken). Koons explains that he has brought a gold watch, passed down through generations of Coolidge men since World War I.

Tom Cruise - Tropic Thunder

The cameo role of Len Wiseman reinvigorated Cruise's career after it was tarnished by his jumping around on Oprah's couch. I believe they tried to keep his involvement with the film a secret. He was so funny in this movie.

Uploaded by tinyraptor on 2012-06-24.

Tom Cruise, Gweneth Paltrow, Kevin Spacey, Danny Devito, and Steven Spielberg - Austin Powers in Goldmember

The opening scene of this movie was absolutely amazing! I remember watching this and being floored by all the A-list actors they got. It was a fun surprise watching them make a big-budget movie within a movie.

Tom Cruise is Austin Powers

The Three Stooges - It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

Yeah! The Three Stooges actually had a little cameo in this movie. I don't know why, because they didn't even do anything. 

Three Stooges brief cameo appearance in the movie "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World".

Bruce Willis and Julia Roberts - The Player

This is one of my favorite films about the entertainment industry, and when you're making a big-budget movie within a movie, you've got to have A-list stars. 

THE PLAYER (1992) http://www.youtube.com/group/1001moviesgroup DIRECTED BY ROBERT ALTMAN, STARRING TIM ROBBINS, GRETA SACCHI, WHOOPI GOLDBERG, CYNTHIA STEVENSON, LYLE LOVETT, FRED WARD, PETER GALLAHGER, VINCENT D'ONOFRIO, WITH CAMEOS BY JULIA ROBERTS, BRUCE WILLIS, CHER, JACK LEMMON, BURT REYNOLDS, HARRY BELEFONTE, CHER, LILY TOMLIN, AND TERI GARR.

Gene Hackman - Young Frankenstein 

For years I didn't even know this was Hackman until a friend pointed it out to me in high school. The scene he's in is absolutely hilarious. Young Frankenstein is one of my favorite comedies of all time.

The monster (Peter Boyle) gets burned several times by the blind priest (Gene Hackman). Ripped to a .vob using mplayer. (mplayer dvd://1 -dumpstream -dumpfile yfrank.vob) Encoded into a .webm using ffmpeg two-pass method.

Charlton Heston - Wayne's World 2

The part where they bring in Heston to replace another actor in the middle of shooting a scene was freakin' brilliant! This was one of my favorite scenes from the movie.

Wayne's World 2 Movie Clip - watch all clips http://j.mp/z5aBiP click to subscribe http://j.mp/sNDUs5 Wayne (Mike Myers) asks for a better actor to play the gas station attendant andCharlton Heston is brought in.

Hulk Hogan - Gremlins 2: The New Batch

This was such a ridiculously random scene. I was a huge fan of Hulk Hogan back in the day, so I thought it was the best thing ever when he showed up in the film.

ok you guys listen up. people pay good money to see this movie. when they go out to a theatre they want ; cold soda's , hot popcorn and no monsters in the projection booth. do i have to come up there myself? do you think the gremsters can stand up to the hulkster?

Sean Connery - Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

Connery is such a badass. Of course he would show up as the king in this. It's not only a nod to his 1976 film Robin and Marian, but it's also a reunion with his Untouchables co-star Kevin Costner.

One of the greatest cameos in cinema history. Sean Connery in the last scene of Robin Hood Prince of Thieves as King Richard III the Lion Heart. This movie is owned and licensed by Morgan Creek and Warner Brothers Studio.

Michael Cera - This Is the End

Even though this was just a cameo and he was killed off very early on in the film, playing a parody of himself is the funniest damn thing he's ever done.

Uploaded by GamingPicturesKristy on 2013-07-06.

Johnny Depp - 21 Jump Street 

A lot of us knew that Depp would make an appearance in the film, but we didn't when, where, or how he would show up. When the reveal finally came it was a fantastic payoff. 

Uploaded by DayTripper415xx on 2012-07-01.

Patrick Stewart - Robin Hood: Men in Tights

Stewart's parody of Connery's King Richard was fantastic. I'm so happy he found the humor in doing something like this because he seemed like such a serious actor at the time. I just never saw him doing anything like this. 

Brother, you have surrounded your given name with a foul stench! From this day forth, all the toilets in this kingdom shall be known as "johns." Robin Hood - Men in Tights.

Orson Welles - Transformers: The Movie

This was the last movie that Welles was part of before he passed away. He provided the voice of the giant devouring transforming planet Unicron. A voice can be a cameo too! 

This is a video that I make of what Orson Welles "PROBABLY" sounded like before they changed the pitch.

Bill Murray - Zombieland

His cameo was a complete surprise in this movie, and I absolutely loved it. As much as I loved the movie, his cameo was the best part. I never thought I would laugh so hard during a death scene.

Bill F*ckn Murry

Alec Baldwin - Glengary Glen Ross

He only had one scene in this movie, and he owned it. Baldwin stole the whole movie with his incredible performance. Damn, he was good. 

Uploaded by Andy chau on 2010-03-02.

Bob Barker - Happy Gilmore

It was such a perfect moment when Adam Sandler got his ass kicked by Bob freakin' Barker. This is definitely one of the most entertaining cameos ever.

Happy Gilmore Movie Clip - watch all clips http://j.mp/zP21mn click to subscribe http://j.mp/sNDUs5 Happy (Adam Sandler) makes the mistake of tangling with Bob Barker, a surprisingly bad dude.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon - Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back

I was amused by the fact that they were able to make fun of themselves here shooting Good Will Hunting 2: Hunting Season. 

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back Movie Clip - watch all clips http://j.mp/y608Rr click to subscribe http://j.mp/sNDUs5 Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) try to sabotage Matt Damon and Ben Affleck on the set of Good Will Hunting 2: Hunting Season.

Cate Blanchett - Hott Fuzz

How awesome is it that she didn't even have to show her face!?

"Does Bob look like someone I'd go out with? It's Dave." CptMacAwesome Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/CptMacAwesome Thanks for watching and have a nice day! -CMA

Martin Sheen - Hot Shots! Part Deux

This was a great little nod to the Vietnam War film Apocalypse Now. They then took it to a whole other level of funny when Charlie and Martin looked at each other as they passed by and said, "I loved you in Wall Street!"  

Topper Harley rides past a rather, familiar person in another boat...

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