Review and news hub for movies, music and video games

Lots of actors make a movie or attempt to headline a television show, fail, and then vanish into obscurity. Maybe they resign themselves to character roles or bit parts, or they say "I'm going to concentrate on my family." It's noble, but time and time again we've seen these types burst back onto the public radar courtesy of a breakthrough role in a television series or film. Below is the first part of a list of the ones we think are the best and have since had the longest lasting impact. Feel free to suggest additions.

• • •

Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle - Neil Patrick Harris

Granted, that poster was actually for the second Harold & Kumar movie, but the fact remains: that brief cameo in the stoner flick Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle gave Neil Patrick Harris an unprecedented bounce-back. After his child-star role in Doogie Howser, M.D. there was a hiatus of eleven years until he'd land the role that would bring him back into the spotlight. Yeah, he had brief appearances in films like Starship Troopers, but there was never a "Oh my God, it's Neil Patrick Harris!" moment like in Harold & Kumar. When that moment came, everything changed. Within a year he was making random appearances in the series Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Numb3rs, and Jack & Bobby. But NPH's fortune really changed when he landed the role of Barney, the womanizing, suit-loving businessman of How I Met Your Mother (which is just awesome). He's still on HIMYM, but he's also hosting awards shows, playing the lead in Joss Whedon's hit web series Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (with Felicia Day and Nathan Fillion), and making great use of the newfound fame granted to him by one night's journey to get some sliders.

House M.D. - Hugh Laurie

Here's a personal favorite. By the time Hugh Laurie appeared in the Blackadder series (Blackadder II,Black Adder the Third, Black Adder Goes Forth, et al.) he'd already amassed a respectable number of credits in other programs. It wasn't until Jeeves and Wooster, however, that he got to headline a show with colleague Stephen Fry. A few years later the duo had another series under their belt: A Bit of Fry and Laurie. When that series ended, Laurie spent nine years playing bit parts here and there until he landed the role of Gregory House, the pill-popping, sarcastic doctor. The new headline role has just begun to land Laurie spots in blockbusters like Monsters vs. Aliens.

24 - Kiefer Sutherland

Ah, the twisting turning route of Kiefer Sutherland's career. Ups and downs, hits and failures, etc. Between 1994 and 2001 (when 24 began), Kiefer starred in a few things, but you'd be hard pressed to recognize any of the titles. Woman Wanted, After Alice, Break Up and Ground Control were just a few of the flops that helped bury Kiefer in temporary obscurity. Appearances in respected films like Dark City were rare compared to his younger days with films like A Few Good Men, The Vanishing, The Three Musketeers, Young Guns 1 & 2, (the much under-appreciated) Flatliners, The Lost Boys and Stand By Me. He blossomed early and seemed to fizzle out around 1994. When he burst back onto the scene as perhaps the most kickass character on television (the second season of 24 starts with him sawing a man's head off), his career got a brand new start.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - Danny DeVito

There's an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia titled "Frank Sets Sweet Dee on Fire" and it just might be the funniest thing Danny DeVito has done in the last decade. All but vanishing off the face of the earth before resurfacing in Philly, DeVito appeared randomly in negligible roles in films like Death to Smoochy, Big Fish and Be Cool. Those films were the only ones worth mentioning in a seven-year-long drought that started just after appearing in Man on the Moon. Up until that Andy Kaufman biopic, he had films like The Rainmaker, L.A. Confidential, Mars Attacks!, and Get Shorty in a long line of funny films. Then it all seemed to run dry. When DeVito finally made his big return as Frank in the second season of It's Always Sunny, he'd successfully begun a new era in his career. Don't ask me why, but DeVito is one of the few on this list who I can honestly say I'm overjoyed at seeing return to the land of the steadily employed in Hollywood.

Desperate Housewives - Teri Hatcher

Teri Hatcher seemed to hit her stride in the mid-90s with a four-season stretch on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, of course even that was seven years after two seasons on The Love Boat, where she got her start. After Lois & Clark got the axe, Teri bounced about from once minor role to another, occasionally landing a spot in a bigger franchise like James Bond's Tomorrow Never Dies or Spy Kids. Hatcher's second-wind came when she landed a spot as one of the five key matriarchs on Desperate Housewives. Now, six seasons in, her newfound fame paved the way for her to play the lead antagonist in the animated film Coraline. Even if Desperate Housewives were to be canceled tomorrow, Teri Hatcher has built up enough of a new following to garner her roles in films and television programs for a few years to come.

Rescue Me - Denis Leary

Take a look at Denis Leary's filmography. Look way back and you'll see that he actually has lots of parts in plenty of recognizable films, they're just not very memorable. Do you remember which character he played in The Sandlot? How about Demolition Man? If you remember him in The Ref, chances are it's partly because he had the two other main co-stars tied to a chair (Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis) and controlled most of the dialogue at gunpoint. Suicide Kings, Wag the Dog, A Bug's Life, Small Soldiers, and The Thomas Crown Affair round out the list of memorable films he stars in - even if you don't remember him being in them. His start as the sarcastic sabretooth tiger Diego in Ice Age was a step up, but it was nothing compared to his role as firefighter Tommy Gavin, a hallucinating, drunk firefighter, in Rescue Me. It's another show about lives crumbling in a comical way, but Leary made it his own and has since used it as a springboard to restart his career.

Weeds - Kevin Nealon

Nevermind what Weeds has become in its 4th and 5th seasons, it started as a funny commentary on suburban life and drug use. The most impressive part of the show, however, was that it reintroduced Kevin Nealon as a comedic force. With countless flops like The Master of Disguise, Joe Dirt, Little Nicky, and others making up most of his career, Kevin Nealon never really had much of a meaningful role in any film he was in - even for a character actor that was pretty bad. When Weeds cast him as the stoner businessman Doug Wilson, who helped Mary-Louise Parker run her amateur pot dealing enterprises, it didn't seem like the best choice; Nealon's record for producing anything but the lowest element of comedy wasn't all that great. Nealon surpassed expectations however and made his character one of the funniest on the show. He's since gone on to star in a concurrent series Glenn Martin DDS, so it looks like Nealon may have finally found a style of comedy that both makes people laugh and gets him new roles.

Arrested Development - David Cross

The best part of David Cross's career revival as Tobias Funke, the sexually-ambiguous, doctor-turned-actor of Arrested Development was how completely opposite the role was to his past work. Before becoming one of the most quotable characters in Mitchell Hurwitz's creation, David Cross amassed a cult following as the co-host of Mr. Show with Bob Odenkirk. The things HBO allowed Cross and Odenkirk to do caused the walls of comedy to crumble around them. They created one of the most absurd and hilarious sketch shows of all-time - but it was short-lived. The greatest series usually are. Between Mr. Show and Arrested Development, Cross had minor parts in a slew of television programs and films like Scary Movie 2, Men in Black II, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. After his stint on AD, however, the doors opened up and he began appearing everywhere. Family Guy, Futurama, The Colbert Report, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Kung Fu Panda, and Year One were just some of the projects that he starred in after building momentum with AD.

Sex and the City - Sarah Jessica Parker

If you have any doubts about whether or not Sarah Jessica Parker's resurgence will last, consider that she may have usurped Mary Tyler Moore as the all-time beacon of women's fashion on television. With bit parts in various films here or there, Parker had some down time between major television series appearances until she snagged the role that would forever misinform adolescent girls about living and loving in New York City. Unlike a few others on this list whose rebirth has been limited to the project which has brought them back into the limelight, SJP has actually found her way into a number of decent films including The Family Stone, State and Main, Failure to Launch, and, of course, the Sex and the City movie. It's been about six years now since the series ended, but Parker is still riding high on the fame she established as New York's voice of feminine want.

Dead Like Me - Mandy Patinkin

His name was Inigo Montoya, the eleven-fingered man killed his father, and you've probably quoted him a dozen times since. The cult classic The Princess Bride bought mixed tidings for Mr. Patinkin. On one hand, everybody who'd seen the film had memorized that line (to be fair, they did repeat it an awful lot...) but few people thought to remember the name of the actor. For such an iconic role in such a beloved film, Mandy Patinkin kind of got screwed over in terms of name recognition. His first career revival came when he landed a major part in Chicago Hope, which carried him for six years into another stretch of obscurity. However, once he landed the paternal role of Rube in Bryan Fuller's Dead Like Me, his career would continue to climb. Patinkin almost literally walked directly off the set of Dead Like Me onto that of Criminal Minds where he headed up the cast as Jason Gideon, a top criminal profiler. Despite that second string of success, Patinkin has resigned himself from the spotlight for now, but don't be surprised if he reappears in a few years as the head of another show, he seems to do that a lot.