How could we forget these stars were on "The X-Files." Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re ooking at notable names in Hollywood you may not have realized had a cameo or full role in this cult sci-fi show.
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00:00 "You look like you saw a ghost. There are ghosts in this house, you know."
00:09 Welcome to Ms Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the Top 10 Stars You Forgot
00:16 Were On The X-Files.
00:18 "So we gotta kick some butt. We gotta kick some butt."
00:26 Before this list, we'll be looking at notable names in Hollywood you may not have realised
00:31 had a cameo or full role in this cult sci-fi show.
00:36 Do you have a favourite episode of this paranormal program? Let us know in the comments.
00:42 Number 10, Seth Green - Deep Throat.
00:46 "Okay, don't shoot. Stay right there."
00:50 "We didn't do anything."
00:54 It was 1993, and people hadn't yet learned that the truth is out there.
01:01 Mulder and Scully hadn't been partners very long when they took on a mysterious case about
01:06 a test pilot.
01:08 "What reason would the military have to kidnap one of their own pilots?"
01:12 "That's the $64,000 question, Scully."
01:15 While investigating nearby UFO sightings, they meet Emil, played by a very young Seth
01:21 Green. Seth's character plays a big part in this episode, as he fills our dynamic duo
01:28 in about the aircraft in the area, and even helps get them onto the base where the planes
01:34 launch from.
01:36 It's a long way from the likes of Family Guy and Austin Powers, but a pleasant surprise,
01:42 especially from such an early season.
01:45 "Oh man. Did we tell them about the landmines and junk?"
01:51 "Hey!"
01:54 Number 9 - David Alan Grier - Hollywood AD
01:57 "What's Taya Leone's shoulder made of?"
02:00 "Uh, craft service, what is Taya Leone's shoulder made of?"
02:03 "Turkey, just like you asked for."
02:06 When David Duchovny directed this episode, it felt like he picked up the phone and called
02:11 a whole bunch of people he had worked with, just to have some extra names in the cast
02:16 that week.
02:18 Tony Driver, Taya Leone, and Gary Shandling all appeared along with David Alan Grier in
02:24 the same episode.
02:25 "I want you to meet the people who are going to play you. Gary Shandling, Taya Leone, this
02:30 is Agents Mulder and Scully."
02:32 "Nice to meet you."
02:33 "It's a pleasure."
02:34 "Big fan."
02:35 Driver and Grier both serve as members of the audience at the premiere of the movie
02:40 based on Mulder and Scully.
02:42 Both had recently co-starred with Duchovny in the movie Return to Me. Leone, Duchovny's
02:48 wife at the time, and Shandling played the fictional versions of Scully and Mulder, respectively.
02:54 "I love you, Scully. No ifs, ands, or…"
03:01 "Beef. Wait. Wait, Mulder. I can't."
03:06 Number 8, Lucy Liu - Hell Money
03:09 "What's wrong with your face?"
03:12 "Nothing. Just a little bit."
03:15 "Don't hurt yourself."
03:16 From Charlie's Angels to Kill Bill, Lucy Liu has made quite a name for herself when
03:22 it comes to action and adventure films. However, when you dig into her filmography, we find
03:29 her name splashed across many notable television programs. Home Improvement, ER, LA Law, and
03:37 even Beverly Hills 90210 were some of her early credits. In 1996, she appeared in a
03:44 season 3 episode of The X-Files called Hell Money.
03:57 She played a sick daughter of a man trying to gamble his way into paying for her treatments.
04:03 A relative unknown at the time, it wouldn't be long before this Asian-American actress
04:08 would become a Hollywood heavyweight.
04:11 "And now I'm afraid that my father has done something illegal. That he made a mistake
04:18 and something bad is coming."
04:21 Number 7, Jack Black - DPO
04:23 "Zero, do you mind if we talk for a minute?"
04:28 "What for?"
04:29 "I'm with the FBI."
04:30 "Alright."
04:35 Long before instructing at the School of Rock or swinging through the jungle in Jumanji
04:40 Welcome to the Jungle, Jack Black was helping his friend harness his newfound superpowers.
04:48 In the season 3 episode, DPO, Black plays an arcade owner named Zero, who's best friends
04:54 with Giovanni Ribisi's character, Darren Oswald.
04:57 "I'm thinking we should go somewhere. Get out of this hole, maybe check out Las Vegas.
05:04 You could do some serious damage someplace like that."
05:07 Oswald gets struck by lightning and can now control electricity, to which Zero helps keep
05:14 under wraps.
05:15 Although the episode focuses more on Oswald's powers, Black's character gets plenty of
05:21 screen time, including a fantastic death scene in the latter half of the episode.
05:28 "Why are you doing this, man? We're buddies!"
05:37 Number 6, Luke Wilson - Bad Blood
05:41 His resume may list countless films, but Luke Wilson's first television role was in a vampire-themed
05:48 episode of The X-Files.
05:50 "Basically, I think that we're looking for someone who has seen one too many Bela Lugosi
05:55 movies. He believes he is a vampire, therefore he-"
05:58 "Act like one, yeah. Yeah."
06:01 This season 5 gem gave us two completely different versions of Wilson's Sheriff Hartwell.
06:08 Scully's account gives us a straight and level local sheriff, whereas Mulder's tale shows
06:13 him more as a backward hick to whom Scully has a crush on.
06:18 "Ooh boy."
06:20 "Y'all must be the government people. I'm Lucius Hartwell."
06:32 Wilson nails both portrayals, giving audiences the perfect amount of comedy an episode like
06:38 this deserves. We love how his character brings out the laughs from someone like Scully, who
06:44 typically is so straight and narrow.
06:47 "No exam has been done?"
06:49 "No sir, this is just like we found him in a motel room, as is."
06:53 "No exam has been done?"
06:56 "Uh..."
06:57 Number 5 - Lucy Lawless - Nothing Important Happened Today
07:02 "What you're saying is absurd."
07:05 "Is it?"
07:06 "You're more absurd than I am. I am a first generation prototype."
07:11 Shortly after Xena Warrior Princess had been cancelled, the production team from The X-Files
07:17 reached out to Lucy Lawless. She was cast as Shannon McMahon, one of several genetically
07:23 created super soldiers, which became a main theme of the initial final season.
07:29 "You know what I am. I'm the product of 50 years of military science."
07:37 An older marine friend of John Doggett, she plays a vital role in the exposition of the
07:43 entire super soldier program. Appearing in the two-part premiere episode, her character
07:49 was expected to be reoccurring throughout the final year of the show.
07:54 "You didn't trust me."
08:00 Those plans were cut short, however, when Lawless became pregnant later in the season.
08:06 Number 4 - Lily Tomlin - How the Ghosts Stole Christmas
08:11 Considered season 6's least expensive episode, it also featured two major names in Hollywood
08:19 - Lily Tomlin and Ed Asner.
08:21 "When's the last time we actually haunted anyone?"
08:24 "When was the last time we had a good double murder? Not since the house was condemned."
08:27 "This is embarrassing. Amateur kid stuff."
08:30 Tomlin had approached the show years prior about appearing in an episode. Creator Chris
08:36 Carter eventually wrote this story with her in mind to play the role of Lyda.
08:43 "Let's see, where is it? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no."
08:52 Asner was cast as her husband Maurice after Bob Newhart turned the role down. Together,
08:59 they appear as a couple of ghosts taunting Mulder and Scully, who have become trapped
09:05 inside a so-called haunted house.
09:08 "I'm home, Scully."
09:12 "That's us."
09:16 An incredible bottle episode, both Tomlin and Asner bring comedy and a touch of the
09:24 creeps to our favourite FBI agent's Christmas.
09:29 Number 3. Octavia Spencer - Millennium
09:38 She won a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and an Academy Award for her role in
09:45 2011's The Help.
09:47 And for someone whose first role in film came in 1996, her filmography in both television
09:55 and movies is quite extensive.
09:59 In 1999, she appeared on The X-Files as Nurse Octavia, who worked in a mental institution.
10:06 "Investigate them. Keep a low profile."
10:09 "I think I know where to start."
10:16 The facility was notable, as fans would meet famed profiler Frank Black, who would go on
10:22 to have his own spin-off series, Millennium.
10:26 Unlike others on this list, Spencer's role was limited to a single line of dialogue that
10:32 could easily be missed.
10:33 Be sure to look out for her when Frank decides to leave the hospital.
10:38 "Octavia, I'm gonna check myself out."
10:42 "You'd like a day pass?"
10:44 "I won't be coming back."
10:46 Number 2 - Bryan Cranston, Drive
10:58 What do the actors who played Walter White and Jesse Pinkman have in common, other than
11:04 Breaking Bad?
11:05 Well, they both appeared on The X-Files.
11:09 Die-hard fans probably know the story of how Vince Gilligan met Bryan Cranston on set during
11:15 Gilligan's days as a writer.
11:17 "He was fantastic. He had everything we needed. He was scary. He was a fantastic dramatic
11:22 actor and yet he had some... some humanity."
11:27 Cranston played Patrick Crump, a man who suffers from a condition which induces horrific pain
11:33 when he's not moving at a certain velocity.
11:37 This speed-inspired episode helped Cranston land the gig as Albuquerque's most notorious
11:44 meth dealer years later.
11:46 "Is this what happened to your wife? The same thing? You stop moving, you die? I think I
11:53 saw this movie."
11:55 Cranston's co-star Aaron Paul would also appear on the show later on in Season 9.
12:02 Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honourable mentions.
12:07 Tony Shalhoub - Softlight At least he didn't bump into any men in black.
12:13 "My shadow isn't mine. It's... it's like a black hole. It splits molecules into component
12:25 atoms."
12:26 Jane Lynch - Lord of the Flies She's the mother of a very special boy.
12:31 "Where are you going?"
12:33 "To school."
12:34 "I know where you're going."
12:36 "Well, what does daddy want?"
12:39 "You stay away from her, Dylan. She's no good for you. She's only going to get you into
12:43 trouble."
12:44 Peter Boyle - Clyde Brookman's Final Repose In an Emmy-winning role, he played the prognosticator
12:51 Clyde Brookman.
12:52 "The body was face down. If you didn't move it, how did you know the eyes had been removed?"
12:58 "Well, they had been, hadn't they? Then what are you complaining about?"
13:02 Chris Darby - Mulder and Scully Meet the Weremonster. He's a lizard who turned into a man.
13:09 "But the medicine he gave me didn't cure me. It just clouded my thoughts. And as a result,
13:16 I did something insane."
13:17 "You attacked and killed someone."
13:19 "No, I got a puppy. I named him Degu."
13:23 "Degu!"
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13:39 Number 1 - Ryan Reynolds - Syzygy Going all the way back to 1996, Ryan Reynolds
13:48 appeared in a season 3 episode of The X-Files called Syzygy.
13:52 "And we had some good times. Good times that I'll never forget."
13:59 He was on screen for less than three minutes before becoming Mulder and Scully's victim
14:05 of the week. At only 19 years old, Reynolds played a jock named J. Boom Da Boom, who gets
14:12 seduced and murdered by two young women.
14:15 "So did you hear who the cult is supposed to be coming after next?"
14:18 "A blonde virgin."
14:21 It's hard to imagine Reynolds ever being that young, but it's even more entertaining
14:30 to see how G-rated his dialogue is compared to what we've seen since. It's a role
14:36 that helped push his career forward and gave us the Reynolds we know and love today.
14:42 "Anyway, I got places to be, a face to fix, and oh, bad guys to kill."
14:49 Do you agree with our picks? Check out this other recent clip from Ms. Mojo. And be sure
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14:57 [music]
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