From Muhammad Ali in Diff’rent Strokes to Sting in Only Murders in the Building, a perfectly placed cameo can be unforgettable, and even iconic. Cameos like these don’t just break the fourth wall, they leave a lasting impression and often become fan-favorite moments.
This new article from Deadline highlights ten of the most memorable TV cameos of all time, and it’s a fascinating reminder of how much impact one brief appearance can have on both a story and an audience:
https://deadline.com/2025/08/from-muhammad-ali-to-al-gore-ten-memorable-...
So let’s start a conversation:
What’s your favorite cameo performance in TV or film and why did it stick with you?
And for the actors here: Would you ever want to play a fictional version of yourself on screen?
Some of my personal favorites are Prince in New Girl, basically every Stan Lee appearance in the Marvel movies, Bill Murray in Zombieland, and Peter Jackson in Entourage. And more recently, Scorsese in The Studio!
2 people like this
My favorite cameo performance is Stan Lee in the Marvel movies, Ashley Renée Smith. I enjoyed his cameos, and it's great that the person who created and co-created the characters got to be in the movies!
3 people like this
HI Ashley Renée Smith my favourite cameo is Rikki Gervais in the US version of The Office. I absolutely loved the UK version and would literally be in stitches of laugher albeit the humour and style is very sarcastic and British. What's so great about the cameo scene is that it kind of symbolises the handover of the series to the US who adapted it for US audiences. I read that the first series did not to that well as it was too British but when the US writer Greg Daniels loosened it up and gave the characters more heart it really took off. That shows how something great can be created from difference. In the particular scene the two geeky bosses Steve Carrel and Rikki Gervais bump into each other in the lift and share some very non-politically correct humour. Here it is: https://youtu.be/JMNyDtib6Y4?si=YxemPS306X9xiN88
3 people like this
such a cool topic, and so many awesome ones listed here Ashley Renée Smith , but the ones that always stay with me are Alfred Hitchcock’s cameos. When I first saw him in then it just made it more intense and real, like the story was real, in that marvelous way only he could make it.
3 people like this
Katarina Witt in Jerry McGuire
3 people like this
As Maruice pointed out, Stan Lee took the cameo to a whole new level. Other notables are Alfred Hitchcock, who was in most of the stuff he shot. There's also Keith Richards in Pirates of the Caribbean, and of course, Stephen King in many of the things that he has written that make it to the screen.
2 people like this
Hahaha, I LOVE the Keith Richard’s scene, Brandon Keeton! That’s a great one!