The X-Files attracted a veritable who’s-who of guest actors during its heyday, some of which were just on the cusp of joining Hollywood’s elite. While actors like Bryan Cranston famously used bit turns on the ’90s show as a vehicle to success, others, like Peter Boyle, solidified their stardom with award-winning appearances. Let’s look back at the most memorable guest stars from The X-Files‘ initial run.
Samaire Armstrong, Aaron Paul and Jane Lynch – “Lord of the Flies”: Season 9, Episode 5
Before she dated Seth Cohen and worked under Ari Gold, Armstrong portrayed Natalie Gordon, the girlfriend of a literal fly-boy.
“Lord of the Flies” featured several other even bigger stars, including our first Breaking Baddie on the list, Aaron Paul, and eventual Gleek Jane Lynch as Anne Lokensgard, the fly-boy’s mother.
Ed Asner and Lily Tomlin – “How the Ghosts Stole Christmas”: Season 6, Episode 6
This beloved holiday episode centered around a haunted house and the (bickering) ghostly couple that inhabited it.
Tomlin is still kicking at 76 and performs stand-up in between filming Netflix’s Grace and Frankie. Asner, at 86, hasn’t stopped since leaving Lou Grant behind – in fact, the actor’s IMDB page boasts an impressive 338 credits, some of which are debuting in 2016.
Richard Belzer – “Unusual Suspects”: Season 5, Episode 3
It should come as no surprise that Richard Belzer’s X-Files character is the same one he played throughout most of his career: Detective John Munch.
The flashback episode dedicated mainly to the Lone Gunmen was, interestingly, also a cross-over episode with series Homicide: Life on the Street, Munch’s first TV outing.
Jack Black and Giovanni Ribisi – “D.P.O”: Season 3, Episode 3
It’s electric! Black portrayed “Zero,” an arcade owner whose villainous friend (Giovanni Ribisi) has some dangerous lightning abilities, in one of his earliest roles.
The 1995 monster-of-the-week episode only led to bigger and better things for Black and Ribisi, whose latest feature film was Ted 2.
Peter Boyle – “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose”: Season 3, Episode 4
The late Peter Boyle won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for portraying Clyde Bruckman, a man who foresaw deaths – including his own.
Boyle, of course, went on to star as Frank Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond following an impressive and varied career on stage and screen.
Bruce Campbell – “Terms of Endearment”: Season 6, Episode 7
Bruce Campbell’s monster-of-the-week was an interesting one: the actor portrayed a child-abducting demon that wished to father a normal baby.
The frequent Sam Raimi-collaborator starred in USA’s Burn Notice for the better part of six years and just finished his first season reprising the role of Ash Williams in the Ash vs. Evil Dead series.
Bryan Cranston – “Drive”: Season 6, Episode 2
Cranston‘s performance as a man whose head will explode unless he continues to drive West in this 1998 episode, penned by Vince Gilligan, is what ultimately led to his casting in Breaking Bad.
Garret Dillahunt – “Travelers”: Season 5, Episode 15
Dillahunt is currently staring on Hulu’s revamped The Mindy Project, but back in the day he appeared on The X-Files as Edward Skur, a man experimented on by the state department.
The flashback episode shed light on Mulder’s father and his initial connection to the paranormal.
Ann Dowd – “Rush”: Season 7, Episode 5
Dowd’s role was small in “Rush” – she briefly appeared as the mother of the episode’s protagonist – but her career since has been anything but.
As Patti Levin, she’s menaced Justin Theroux on The Leftovers for two seasons, and she just appeared on the big screen with Sandra Bullock in Our Brand is Crisis.
Michael Emerson and David Faustino – “Sunshine Days”: Season 9, Episode 18
Emerson, most famously of Lost and Person of Interest, appeared with Bud Bundy in an episode about a telekinetic man absolutely fixated on The Brady Bunch. Namely, Cousin Oliver. Yes – the jinx!
Jodi Foster – “Never Again”: Season 4, Episode 13
Foster was already a two-time Academy Award-winning actress by the time she lent her voice to a naughty talking tattoo in “Never Again.”
Willie Garson – “The Walk”: Season 3, Episode 7, and “The Goldberg Variation”: Season 7, Episode 6
Garson, likely recognized best as Sex and the City‘s Stanford Blatch, appeared twice throughout the series’ run: first, as a hospital mailman named Roach, and later as Henry Weems, a man with rube goldberg-like luck.
The star’s second character won audience sympathy through his plight to raise money for a sick kid in his building, played by a young Shia LaBeouf. Shia has, of course, been up to a lot of interesting things these days.
Seth Green – “Deep Throat”: Season 1, Episode 2
In “Deep Throat,” a teenager (Seth Green) and his girlfriend believe they’ve spotted a UFO at an air force base.
The part was small, but it seems the actor turned out all right with a diverse career that has included voice work on Family Guy, a long-lasting role on Buffy, co-creating Robot Chicken, and numerous TV and film roles.
Kathy Griffin – “Fight Club”: Season 7, Episode 20
Griffin appeared in a dual role as two doppelgängers who wreak havoc wherever they follow each other, A.K.A. across 17 states.
The comedian, now 55, regularly causes a raucous on television (much like her characters), most recently showing off her “nice rack” on N.Y.E.
Felicity Huffman – “Ice”: Season 1, Episode 8
Years before she was a desperate housewife, Huffman appeared on Fox as a member of a remote Alaskan research team that’s plagued by extraterrestrial parasitic organisms.
Victoria Jackson – “The Rain King”: Season 6, Episode 8
The SNL alum appeared in one of The X-Files rare (but appreciated) lighthearted outings back in 1999.
As Sheila, Jackson played a small town beauty who incited a man to control the weather based on his broken heart.
Jackson now shares her political and religious musings online through a personal blog.
Lucy Liu – “Hell Money”: Season 3, Episode 19
One of Charlie’s own, Liu had a small part in season 3 as a cancer-stricken Chinese immigrant whose father sells body parts to pay for her treatment.
Liu, a new mom, now plays the female version of the iconic Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes adaptation, Elementary.
Donal Logue – “Squeeze”: Season 1, Episode 3
This 1993 episode introduced the recurring character of Eugene Victor Tooms (played by tabloid regular Doug Hutchinson) and the FBI agent tasked with finding him – Donal Logue.
The Grounded for Life and Terriers star has since sported a badge several more times, most recently on Gotham.
Joe Morton, Bellamy Young and Danny Trejo – “Redrum”: Season 8, Episode 6
Two of Scandal‘s biggest stars and Machete, himself, appeared in “Redrum.”
Morton, who recently won a primetime Emmy for the Shonda Rhimes show, portrayed a man who accidentally travels back in time after his wife is found murdered. While Morton’s character is suspected as the murderer, the real culprit, is in fact Trejo.
Young, Scandal‘s FLOTUS, had a small appearance as Wells’ lawyer.
Dean Norris – “F. Emasculata”: Season 2, Episode 22
The Vince Gilligan connection continues: Dean Norris is another Breaking Bad star with a little history in the paranormal.
Norris played one of several U.S. Marshals hunting for prison fugitives infected with a deadly contagion in this season 2 episode.
John O’Hurley – “The Post-Modern Prometheus”: Season 5, Episode 5
O’Hurley is a modern-day Frankenstein in “The Post-Modern Prometheus.” J. Peterman‘s character in the season 5 episode emulates the actions of Mary Shelley’s iconic science student, and ultimately leads to an awesome Cher sing-a-long.
In addition to O’Hurley’s work on Seinfeld, the star hosted Family Feud from 2006 to 2010.
Terry O’Quinn – “Aubrey”: Season 2, Episode 12, and “Trust No 1”: Season 9, Episode 6
Another Lost alum, O’Quinn actually played two different roles throughout the series – and a third in the 1998 feature film.
In addition, O’Quinn played yet another character in The X-Files spin-off, Millennium.
Burt Reynolds – “Improbable”: Season 9, Episode 13
Yes, that Burt Reynolds was on The X-Files. The actor expressed his interest in joining the show to star Robert Patrick, and so it was.
In “Improbable,” Reynolds plays God – literally. Now 79, the one time Smokey and the Bandit and Longest Yard star has more than 80 films under his belt.
Ryan Reynolds – “Syzygy”: Season 3, Episode 13
Reynolds was short for the X-Files world: as jock “Boom,” he died early in the season 3 episode.
The 39-year-old megastar will hopefully make it a little longer in his next flick, Deadpool.
Tony Shalhoub – “Soft Light”: Season 2, Episode 23
Mr. Monk had already spent several years as Antonio on Wings when he popped up as a scientist afraid of his own shadow – a character that sounds laughably similar to his later, famous OCD detective.
Bradley Whitford – “Firewalker”: Season 2, Episode 9
Whitford, of The West Wing fame, appeared in this season two episode as the project leader of a volcanic research experiment gone terribly awry.
The Transparent and West Wing actor survives the episode, but others are not so lucky after run-ins with some seriously scary spores.
Luke Wilson and Patrick Renna – “Bad Blood”: Season 5, Episode 12
Before there was Taylor Swift and her copyright pursuits, The X-Files put out its own, hilarious “Bad Blood” – an episode Gillian Anderson dubbed her favorite of the series.
In the he-said-she-said installment, Mulder and Scully report a case with drastically different details. Wilson played a small town sheriff who caught the eye of our ginger skeptic, and Renna a pizza delivery boy/alleged vampire that’s causing a controversy in said small town.