The Top 10 Best Actor Cameos From Movies

Actor Cameos Are How You Know Someones Really Famous

You’ve got to admire someone who isn’t afraid to laugh at themselves. That’s why I’ve decided to pull together a list of the best actor cameos in movies of all time. Now, there have been hundreds of instances where celebrities have appeared in cameos to wink at the camera and get a little chuckle from the audience. In order to help narrow things down a bit, I put a few rules in place to help with this list: 1) This list is only going to include actors and actresses. So, don’t expect to see any singers or athletes on here. 2) Only actors who played versions of themselves (not a random character) are eligible for a spot on this list. 3) I’ll include multiple actors in a single slot, but only when it comes to films that feature multiple actor cameos (such as The Player or What Just Happened). Don’t be surprised if you find a lot of comedic performances on this list of actor cameos (I did say I like people who can laugh at themselves, after all), but I tossed in a few serious ones as well. The end result is a collection of the best times that an actor ever played themselves on the big screen. Get ready because this list is about to get real meta, real fast!

10. Robert Englund– Wes Craven’s New Nightmare

Most people know Robert Englund because of his big-screen alter-ego, Freddy Krueger. Having only really ever seen him as a sadistic slasher, it was kind of shocking seeing him as a kind and warm-hearted middle-aged man. Well, that isn’t exactly true, since we also get to see Englund’s Krueger in this meta installment of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. See, this version takes place in the real world where Freddy’s decided to go after the actors that have been telling his stories in the previous movies. Along with Englund, New Nightmare also features final girl Heather Langenkamp, iconic director Wes Craven, and the late, great John Saxon playing themselves as well. It’s Englund though that I always found the most interesting since he pulls double duty in two roles, and they couldn’t be more different from each other. 

9. Cher– Stuck on You

I did say that I wasn’t going to include any singers on this list, but by now Cher has proven herself enough of a triple threat to land firmly into the actor category as well. She’s also no stranger to playing herself in movies, after a brief cameo in The Player. In Stuck on You she has a much larger and somewhat villainous role to play. She finds herself at odds with brothers Bob and Walt Tenor, as the latter tries to make it in Hollywood as an actor. Because Bob and Walt are conjoined twins, filming seems nearly impossible. Cher decides to use that as a way to get out of the contract for her new show by demanding Walt as her new co-star. That blows up in her face as Bob and Walt prove to be exactly what the show needs. Cher pokes plenty of fun at herself, especially with the fictional relationship she has with Frankie Muniz in the film.  

8. Anna Faris– Keanu

Of all the actor cameos that could have popped up in Keanu, the last one I was expecting was Anna Faris. For me, she’ll always be Cindy from Scary Movie. So it was pretty shocking seeing her pop up as the buyer in a major drug deal. While trying to find his stolen kitten, Rel, and his buddy Clarence, get mixed up with a gang and have to prove themselves by escorting a dealer, Hi-C, to a client’s home in the Hollywood Hills. Rel is shocked to discover the home belongs to Anna Faris, and while he’s starstruck at first, he quietly discovers that she’s completely insane. Things start small with her inviting them to play a friendly game of truth or dare, where she dares HI-C to shoot Rel. They laugh it off at first, but then Ana puts $10K on the table. Things get out of hand as Anna quickly becomes aggressive in her drug-addled state and attacks them with a sword. How does it end? Well, let’s just say it explains why we haven’t seen her in movies lately. 

7. Keanu Reeves– Always Be My Maybe

It is my belief that Keanu Reeves is too pure a soul for this world, and we are fortunate that he continues to grace humanity with his divine presence. That said, in 2019 one of those actor cameos that the internet couldn’t stop talking about was Keanu Reeves in the rom-com, Always Be My Maybe. I didn’t hear anything else about the film after it came out except that Keanu was the best part of it. In the film, he plays an absurd version of himself who is dating one of the lead characters (Amy Wong). He spouts hilariously cheesy one-liners meant to poke fun at the public perception of Reeves as an enlightened human being. Even as he tries to humble himself, Reeves can’t help coming off like God’s gift to mankind, and the dinner gets weirder from there. He’s not in the movie for that long, but I agree with the internet, he was the best part.

6. Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon– Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story

Before their meta-friendship really took off with The Trip mini-series on BBC, each of which were subsequently edited down and released as films, Steeve Coogan and Rob Brydon first traded barbs as themselves in another movie, Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (Often simply referred to as A Cock and Bull Story). The film centers around the actual filming of a supposedly unfilmable novel (The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman) and in it, Coogan and Brydon play themselves as the actors in it. Throughout A Cock and Bull Story the narrative shuffles back and forth between the movie they are shooting and behind the scenes. Coogan and Brydon constantly bicker over who’s part is bigger (both in the film and… Otherwise), who’s name should be first, who’s a bigger star, and so on. The chemistry they shared was palpable which is probably why the two have managed to keep up the actor cameos since.