The small screen is the new big screen.
With so many great TV shows out there, more and more movie stars are making the jump to what was previously considered a lesser medium.
But try telling that now to Viola Davis… or Matthew McConaghey… or Billy Bob Thornton… or any of the well-known names listed below.
Here’s a rundown of actors and actresses you may have first known for their film roles; but who you now welcome into your living room on a weekly basis:
Justin Theroux
Theroux is dominating The Leftovers now, but formerly he could be seen quite frequently on the big screen, including films such as Mulholland Dr., American Psycho, Megamind and Wanderlust.
Colin Farrell
Before signing on for True Detective, Farrell had a 20 year cinema career, starring in such favorites as In Bruges, Minority Report, Alexander, Saving Mr. Banks and Winter’s Tale.
Viola Davis
This isn’t Davis’ first television appearance at all, but she’s better known for her movie roles in The Help, Ender’s Game and Disturbia. It looks like she’ll be one of the many successful actors to field both movies and TV.
Vince Vaughn
Vaughn signed on to True Detective after years of successfully traversing comedy blockbusters like Wedding Crashers, The Break-Up, Dodgeball, Old School and the movie that put him on the map, Swingers. He’s so money.
Liev Schreiber
Schreiber was in the Scream series, A Walk on the Moon, The Sum of All Fears and Salt among many others, but he was nominated for a Golden Globe for his incredible performance as Ray Donovan for Showtime.
Rachel McAdams
McAdams has made a name for herself in high end romantic comedies, including Mean Girls, The Notebook and The Time Traveler’s Wife, and she also starred in Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris.
Kevin Spacey
Spacey is ruthless in House of Cards, but his film career won him two Oscars, one for American Beauty and another for The Usual Suspects. Other noteworthy roles are Glengarry Glen Ross, A Time to Kill, L.A. Confidential, Se7en and The Shipping News.
Terrence Howard
Howard is a smash now on Empire (as well as a short stay on Wayward Pines), but his movie roles include parts in Crash, The Brave One, Iron Man, Prisoners and Lee Daniels The Butler.
Kathy Bates
Bates is another American Horror Story actor and Oscar winner known for Misery, A Home of Our Own, Dolores Claiborne, Titanic, Fried Green Tomatoes and Revolutionary Road.
Angela Bassett
Oscar nominee Bassett has taken up residence on American Horror Story, but she’s known for films such as What’s Love Got to Do With It, Malcolm X, Strange Days and How Stella Got Her Groove Back.
Matthew Modine
Modine is currently starring in TNT’s Proof, but before that he was known for feature films Full Metal Jacket, Vision Quest, Memphis Belle, Pacific Heights, Fluke and The Dark Knight Rises.
Melissa McCarthy
Melissa McCarthy may have segued from TV star to movie star (she started in the movies, but we knew her here first!), but there is absolutely no doubt we have a mega movie star in our midst with hits such as Bridesmaids, Identity Thief, This is 40, St. Vincent, Spy and the upcoming Ghostbusters.
James Spader
James Spader may be in The Blacklist now, but his films include Endless Love, Pretty in Pink, Less Than Zero, Sex Lies and Videotape, Stargate and Secretary among others.
Jessica Lange
Two-time Oscar winner, Lange is on American Horror Story, but she is well-known for King Kong, Tootsie, Frances, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Blue Sky and Big Fish, just to name a handful.
Halle Berry
Extant star Berry won an Oscar for Monster’s Ball and appeared in other films such as the X-Men franchise, Catwoman and Cloud Atlas.
Vera Farmiga
Bates Motel’s Norma, Farmiga is a prolific movie actress. She’s appeared in Autumn in New York, The Departed, The Conjuring and Up in The Air, for which she was nominated for an Oscar.
Josh Hartnett
Penny Dreadful actor Hartnett is known for Black Hawk Down, Pearl Harbor, Lucky Number Slevin and 30 Days of Night.
Juliette Lewis
Lewis is the only star to remain on Secrets and Lies into Season 2 (and had a brief stay on Wayward Pines). Prior to that, she was known for her movie roles, including those in Natural Born Killers, Christmas Vacation, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Old School and Cold Creek Manor.
Jon Voight
Midnight Cowboy, Deliverance, The Champ — some of the biggest movies in the last century starred Jon Voight. He’s been nominated for four Oscars and won one for Coming Home. Now he’s Mickey Donovan, and he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for the role and won the Golden Globe. He’s not missing out by stepping back onto the small screen.
Patricia Arquette
Arquette won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Boyhood, so we’re pretty lucky to have her on CSI: Cyber! Other films include A Nightmare on Elm Street, True Romance, Ed Wood, Stigmata, Little Nicky and Holes.
Eva Greene
Green, starring in Penny Dreadful, made a spash in Casino Royale, and has appeared in White Bird in a Blizzard and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.
Jay Baruchel
Baruchel is a Man Seeking Woman on FX now, but previously he’s been starring in big screen features such as Almost Famous, Million Dollar Baby, Knocked Up, Tropic Thunder, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, This Is the End and How to Train Your Dragon.
Laurence Fishburne
The red pill or the blue pill? Yep, that was Fishburne in The Matrix. He’s also been in The Color Purple, Mystic River and was nominated for an Oscar for What’s Love Got to Do With It.
Tony Goldwyn
Scandal’s President has had a long movie career in films such as Ghost, The Pelican Brief, Nixon, Kiss the Girls, The Last Samuri and Divergent.
The Entire Cast of Wayward Pines
This upcoming Fox series brings Matt Dillon, Terrence Howard, Melissa Leo, Juliette Lewis and Toby Jones together under the watchful eye of M. Night Shaymalan. Only one of thost listed hasn’t been nominated for an Oscar. Star power? You bet.
Ryan Phillippe
ABC is bringing Secrets and Lies to the small screen in 2015 and with it comes Phillippe, who has starred in I Know What You Did Last Summer, Flags of Our Fathers, Crash and The Lincoln Lawyer. He’ll be joined by Oscar nominee Juliette Lewis.
Timothy Hutton
Hutton starred in Leverage for four years and will be back in American Crime. He won an Oscar for his role in Ordinary People and later starred in Taps, Beautiful Girls, The General’s Daughter and Kinsey, among other features.
Craig Robinson
One of Seth Rogan’s buddies, Robinson will star in Mr. Robinson. He’s been in This is The End, Pineapple Express, Zach and Miri Make a Porno and Hot Tub Time Machine.
Josh Duhamel
Breaking Bad’s Vince Gilligan is bringing Battle Creek to television, starring Duhamel who has starred in films such as Turistas, the Transformers franchise, When in Rome and Safe haven.
Téa Leoni
Before Madam Secretary, Leoni was a movie staple. Bad Boys, Deep Impact, Fun with Dick and Jane and Ghost Town were all favorites. She has a gift for humor, but can bring on the drama, too.
Daniel Stern
Stern can be found on Manhattan now, but his movies include Breaking Away, Diner, Home Alone, City Slickers, Very Bad Things and Whip It.
F. Murray Abraham
Before airing on both Homeland and The Good Wife, Abraham spent decades in the film business. He was in Scarface, won an Oscar for his role in Amadeus and was in Mimic and Th13teen Ghosts, among other features.
Scott Caan
Like his father before him, Caan had a prolific film career before TV and Hawaii Five-0. He starred in such movies as Enemy of the State, Varsity Blues, and Oceans Eleven (and Twelve and Thirteen).
Dominic West
West has starred in 28 Days, Rock Star, Chicago, Mona Lisa Smile, 300 and others. He’s been in The Wire and is one of the four leads in The Affair on Showtime.
Hope Davis
Davis will star in NBC’s spy thriller Allegiance, as well as Wayward Pines on Fox. She has previously starred in feature films Arlington Road, About Schmidt, The Weatherman and Real Steel.
Olivia Williams
Williams is calling Manhattan home, but her long movie career includes favorites such as Rushmore, The Sixth Sense, An Education, Hanna, Anna Karenina and The Last Days on Mars.
Matthew McConaughey
McConaughey has always been a bonafide movie star. His memorably performances include roles in Dazed and Confused, A Time to Kill, Contact, Frailty, The Lincoln Lawyer and an Oscar win for Dallas Buyers Club. It’s no surprise he was nominated for a Prime Time Emmy for True Detective as Rust Cohle.
Kevin Bacon
Bacon is an icon. There are six degrees of separation from this man for good reason. Footloose, Mystic River, Apollo 13, My Dog Skip and The River Wild are all just drops in the bucket of his movie career. He started on soaps and made his way back to television on The Following.
Woody Harrelson
True Detective called to Harrelson, but not before earning Oscar nominations for The People vs Larry Flynt and The Messenger, as well as starring in Zombieland, No Country for Old Men and more. He starred in White Men Can’t Jump and Indecent Proposal while concurrently making his mark as Woody Boyd on Cheers, so in effect he’s made a full circle.
Timothy Olyphant
Justified’s Olyphant has had some interesting film roles. He was in Scream 2, No Vacancy, Rock Star (my favorite), Dreamcatcher, Live Free or Die Hard, Hitman and A Perfect Getaway.
Octavia Spencer
The Red Band Society’s Spencer won an Oscar for The Help and appeared in Being John Malkovich, Bad Santa, Seven Pounds and Fruitvale Station.
Ashton Kutcher
Kutcher has had a successful career on TV and in films such as Just Married, The Butterfly Effect, What Happens In Vegas and Dude, Where’s my Car?!
Billy Bob Thornton
This Fargo actor has won an Oscar for Best Screenplay for Sling Blade and he was nominated for his acting role in the film as well. He’s also known for A Simple Plan, Armageddon, Monster’s Ball and Bad Santa.
Steve Buscemi
Buscemi has spent the last few years on Boardwalk Empire, but he’s known for Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Fargo, Con Air and The Big Lebowski.
Nick Nolte
Currently starring in Gracepoint, Nolte is a three time Oscar nominee. He’s known for North Dallas Forty, 48 Hours, Cape Fear, The Prince of Tides, The Thin Red Line and Warriors.
