Author Archives: robin
Before They Were Stars (2-for-1 Special): Tom Cruise and Heather Locklear Audition for “The Powers of Matthew Star”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBRqvA1NG_c This fun piece of footage is from a 1999 FOX television special entitled Road to Fame and features the then-unknown duo of Tom Cruise and Heather Locklear auditioning for the lead roles on The Powers of Matthew Star, an … Continue reading
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Before They Were Stars: Jesse “The Body” Ventura in Pacific Northwest Wrestling in 1978
This is probably the earliest existing footage of everyone’s favourite wrestler-actor-governor-conspiracy theorist, Jesse “The Body” Ventura. He started out his wrestling career in the late 1970s as Jesse “The Great” Ventura, performed in Portland’s Pacific Northwest Wrestling promotion. Given that … Continue reading
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Before They Were Stars: Cuba Gooding, Jr. in a Burger King Commercial
Cuba Gooding, Jr. is always cited as the ultimate example of the post-Oscar curse, as his career didn’t exactly go on an upswing after he won an Academy Award. But, hey, even though Cuba’s filmography during the past 20 years … Continue reading
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Before They Were Stars: Ice Cube Sings “She’s a Skag”
With Straight Outta Compton making a killing at the box office this weekend, I started wondering if today’s younger generation only knows Ice Cube as the star of a bunch of lame family comedies and aren’t even aware of his … Continue reading
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Before They Were Stars: 7-Year Old Ariel Winter in “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang”
You might have noticed that teenage actress Ariel Winter has made a lot of headlines lately because of her decision to surgically reduce her rather ample… frame. Anyway, I’ve never watched Modern Family, so I only really know Winter from … Continue reading
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Before They Were Stars: Sam Rockwell in a Hardee’s Commercial
A lot of commercials from the 1990s seemed to go with an artsy black-and-white look in an attempt to give off a sense of importance, but that’s not something you’d expect from fast food restaurants. However, that’s exactly what this … Continue reading
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Before They Were Stars: Alec Baldwin on “Late Night with David Letterman” in 1982
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vPe4SV93f0 This is likely Alec Baldwin’s first appearance on a major TV talk show, but it’s under very unusual circumstances. Baldwin’s first major acting job was playing a regular character on the soap opera, The Doctors, until he was killed off … Continue reading
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Before They Were Stars: Colin Farrell as a Line Dancing Instructor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5LMc5bTq1M The Back Row has not been shy about expressing our disappointment with Season Two of True Detective, but we can’t deny that Colin Farrell did really solid work throughout. So of course, now we have to complete destroy the … Continue reading
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Before They Were Stars: John Oliver in “Bleak House”
I always find it fascinating when famous celebrities have this one lone credit on their filmography from when they were a child actor, followed by zero credits for the next several years until they became an adult. Believe it or … Continue reading
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Before They Were Stars: F. Murray Abraham in a Listerine Commercial
Here’s a random piece of trivia: during a one-year period during the early 1970s, Listerine just happened to produce two different commercials featuring two then-unknown actors who would go on to win Academy Awards: Morgan Freeman and F. Murray Abraham.
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