They say TV is an erratic business where if you find yourself without a show come pilot season, you're screwed. This list I compiled is of all actors who have returned to TV after previous success in the industry. It illustrates that there usually is a lot of opportunity in TV every year.
Over the last two years, these are actors managed to find their way onto a TV show after enjoying previous success. The show in parenthesis is their previous success:
2010:
Alan Cumming, Good Wife (The L Word)
Amy Ryan, In Treatment (The Office)
Andre Braughter, Men of a Certain Age (Gideon’s Crossing)
Andy Richter, Conan (Andy Barker PI)
Autumn Reeser, No Ordinary Family (Entourage/Valentine)
Betty White, Hot in Cleveland (Golden Girls)
Blair Underwood, The Event (LAX)
Bob Oderink, Breaking Bad (Mr. Show)
Bobby Canavale, Blue Bloods (Third Watch)
Bradley Whitford, The Good Guys (Studio 60)
Bridget Moynihan, Blue Bloods
Carly Pope, Outlaw (Popular)
Chloris Leachman, Raising Hope (Mary Tyler Moore Show)
Chris Parnell, Archer (Miss/Guided)
Colin Hanks, The Defenders (Mad Men)
Craig T Nelson, Parenthood (The District)
Dana Delaney, Body of Proof (Desperate Housewives)
David Cross, Running Wilde (Arrested Development)
Debra Winger, In Treatment (New Adventures of Wonder Woman)
Elizabeth Banks, 30 Rock (Scrubs)
Henry Winkler, Royal Pains (Sit Down Shut Up)
Howie Mandel, America’s Got Talent (Deal or No Deal)
Jane Leeves, Hot in Cleveland (Frasier)
Jason Lee, Memphis Beat (My Name is Earl)
Jason Ritter, The Event (The Class)
Jeri Ryan, Body of Proof (Shark)
Jerry O’Connell, The Defenders (Do Not Disturb)
Jerry Seinfeld, The Marraige Ref (Seinfeld)
Jessica Walters, Archer (Arrested Development)
Jim Belushi, The Defenders (According to Jim)
Jimmy Smits, Outlaw (Cane)
John Stamos, Glee (ER)
Jon Voight, Lone Star (24)
Judy Greer, Archer (Miss/Guided)
Julianne Moore, 30 Rock
Julie Benz, No Ordinary Family (Dexter)
Katy Segal, Futurama (Sons of Anarchy)
Keri Russell, Running Wilde (Felicity)
Khandi Alexander, Treme (CSI: Miami)
Laura Linney, The Big C (John Adams)
Lauren Graham, The Parenthood (Gilmore Girls)
Louie CK, Louie (Parks and Recreation)
Martha Plimpton, Raising Hope
Matt Walsh, Outsourced (Dog Bites Man)
Maura Tierny, The Whole Truth (ER)
Meghan Mullally, Children’s Hospital (Will and Grace)
Michael Chiklis, No Ordinary Family (The Shield)
Melissa Leo, Treme (The L Word)
Mike O’Malley, Glee (Yes Dear)
Nicole Sullivan, #@*% My Dad Says (King of Queens)
Olivia Munn, The Daily Show (Attack of the Show)
Peter Krause, Parenthood (Six Feet Under)
Peter Serafinowicz, Running Wilde (Saturday Night Live)
Phil LaMarr, Futurama (Futurama)
Ray Romano, Men of a Certain Age (Everybody Loves Raymond)
Rob Corddry, Children’s Hospital (The Winner)
Rob Huebel, Children’s Hospital (Best Week Ever)
Romany Malco, No Ordinary Family (Weeds)
Scott Bakula, Men of a Certain Age (Enterprise)
Scott Caan, Hawaii Five-0
Steve Zahn, Treme
Taran Killam, Saturday Night Live (Scrubs)
Timothy Olyphant, Justified/The Office (Deadwood)
Wanda Sykes, The Wanda Sykes Show (New Adventures of Old Christine)
Wendy Malick, Hot in Cleveland (Jake in Progress
Will Arnett, Running Wilde (Arrested Development)
Will Forte, 30 Rock (Saturday Night Live)
Will Sasso, #&@& My Dad Says (Less than Perfect)
Will Shatner, #%@& My Dad Says (Boston Legal)
Zach Woods, The Office (Internet shorts)
2009:
Alison Pill, In Treatment (Book of Daniel)
Allison Brie, Community (Mad Men)
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation (SNL)
Andy Richter, Tonight Show (Andy Barker: PI)
Andreas Anders, Better off Ted (The Class)
Azziz Azziznari, Parks and Recreation (Human Giant)
Benjamin McKenzie, Southland (The OC)
Cheri Oteri, Sit Down Shut Up (SNL/Just Shoot Me)
Chevy Chase, Community (The Chevy Chase Show)
Chris Noth, The Good Wife
Chris O’Donnell, NCIS: Los Angeles (Head Cases)
Christa Miller, Cougar Town (Scrubs)
Christine Barinski, Good Wife (Happy Family)
Courtney Cox, Cougar Town (Dirt)
Dan Byrd, Cougar Town (Aliens in America)
David Koechner, Hank (Saturday Night Live)
Dimitri Martin, Important things with Dimitri Martin (Stand-Up with Dimitri Martin/Daily Show)
Ed O’Neill, Modern Family (Married with Children)
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie (Sopranos)
Eliza Dushku, Dollhouse (Tru Calling)
George Lopez, Lopez Tonight (George Lopez Show)
Heather Locklear, Melrose Place (LAX)
Henry Winkler, Sit Down Shut Up (Arrested Development)
Hope Davis, In Treatment
Ian Gomez, Cougar Town (Norm)
Idis Ebra, The Office (The Wire)
Jane Lynch, Glee (Arrested Development)
Jason Bateman, Sit Down Shut Up (Arrested Development)
Jason Schwartzman, Bored to Death
Jenna Elfman, Accidentally on Purpose (Dharma and Greg)
Jay Harrington, Better off Ted (Coupling)
Jessalyn Gilsig, Glee (Heroes)
Jesse Tyler Furgeson, Modern Family (Do Not Disturb)
Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (Saturday Night Live)
Joel McHale, Community (The Soup)
Jon Mahoney, In Treatment (Frasier)
Julianne Margolis, Good Wife (ER)
Katie Segal, Sons of Anarchy (8 Simple Rules)
Kelsey Grammar, Hank (Back to You)
Kevin Alejandro, Southland (Drive)
Kristin Chenowith, Sit Down Shut Up (Pushing Daisies)
Kenan Thompson, Sit Down Shut Up (Saturday Night Live)
LL Cool J, NCIS: Los Angeles (Friday Night Lights)
Leonard Nimoy, Fringe (Star Trek)
Mark Fuehrstein, Royal Pains (Good Morning Miami)
Michaela Watkins, Saturday Night Live (New Adventures of Old Christine)
Mike O'Malley, Glee (Good Wife)
Nathan Fillion, Castle (Firefly)
Neil Flynn, The Middle (Scrubs)
Nick Kroll, The League/Sit Down Shut Up (Cavemen)
Olivia Williams, Dollhouse
Paulo Costanzo, Royal Pains (Joey)
Patricia Heaton, The Middle (Back to You)
Paul Sheer, The League (Best Week Ever)
Portsia de Rossi, Better off Ted (Arrested Development)
Rashida Jones, Parks and Recreation (The Office)
Selma Hayek, 30 Rock (Ugly Betty producer, Mexican soap operas)
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family (Knights of Prosperity)
Susan Sullivan, Castle (Dharma and Greg)
Ted Danson, Bored to Death (Damages)
Will Arnett, Sit Down Shut Up (Arrested Development)
Will Forte, Sit Down Shut Up (Saturday Night Live)
Zak Galifanakas, Bored to Death (Dog Bites Man)
Miscellaneous Notes:
-What's in parenthesis isn't the actor's most well-known gig, but often, it's their last gig. That is likely not 100% accurate
-If anyone cares to update the list and make it more accurate, much appreciated.
-Mike O'Malley is listed in both 2009 and 2010 because he was given a recurring guest role in 2009 and given a permanent role in 2010. The query is about how many opportunities there were for actors and he was given an opportunity in each year.
-Recurring guest roles are added here such as John Stamos for Glee or Will Forte, Selma Hayek, Elizabeth Banks and Julianne Moore. I made a judgement call as to whether the character was important to the story and could be reliably counted upon to appear again.
-Famous enough movie stars who haven't dabbled much in TV get a place on the list too, but I generally leaned towards people who haven't been on TV before
-Some people here such as Olivia Munn, Wanda Sykes, Jerry Seinfled and Andy Richter were added to the list even though they are filling in hosting roles. The reason is because they have a history of acting as well. Conan O'Brien and Jay Leno got new gigs but neither of them has any history of acting so they weren't on the list.
-In the case of Phil LaMarr, his last role on TV was Futurama. It was cancelled and then revived.
-Voice actors are included such as Will Arnett, Will Forte or Henry Winkler who have acted outside of voice acting. Voice actors such as H. Jon Benjamin (Archer), Bily West (Futurama), and Tom Kenny (Sit Down Shut Up) are just voice actors.
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