7 Actors That Starred in Friday the 13th Movies Before They Got Famous

Like with any other long-running major horror franchise, Friday the 13th has some installments that are better than others. Just the same, there are some installments that have a lot more familiar faces. When it comes to the big four horror franchises (Friday the 13th, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Halloween), each IP has served as a launching pad for careers that were just getting started. Halloween had the likes of Josh Hartnett, Paul Rudd, Katee Sackhoff, and, of course, Jamie Lee Curtis. A Nightmare on Elm Street had, among others, Johnny Depp and Patricia Arquette, while Texas Chainsaw was an early stop for both Renée Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey.

So what about Friday the 13th? As it turns out, over half of the franchise’s 12 total installments featured at least one actor who went onto bigger and, depending who you ask, better things.

1) Kevin Bacon in Friday the 13th (1980)

The biggest star to have been in a Friday the 13th movie just so happens to have been in the first Friday the 13th movie. Not to mention, he also happened to have the most iconic death of the franchise, no small feat considering it’s an IP based almost entirely on crafting inventive character send-offs.

Prior to Friday the 13th, Kevin Bacon’s biggest role was as jerky frat boy Chip Diller in Animal House. Two years after getting an arrow through the throat, he had a major role in the fantastic Diner, and after another two years he got his true star-making gig as the lead in Footloose. This was followed by lead roles in movies like She’s Having a Baby, Tremors, Balto, Stir of Echoes, Hollow Man, Death Sentence, and Cop Car as well as supporting roles in many major films, including Flatliners, JFK, A Few Good Men, The River Wild, Apollo 13, Sleepers, Wild Things, Mystic River, X-Men: First Class, R.I.P.D., Black Mass, MaXXXine, and Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F.

2) Crispin Glover in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter

On top of featuring one of Jason Voorhees’ most iconic physical appearances, Joseph Zito’s Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter is also the most star-studded installment of the eight-film Paramount years. It has not one, but two major stars just shy of their biggest roles, not to mention Judie Aronson (Weird Science, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), Bruce Mahler (Police Academy, Seinfeld), and Lawrence Monoson (The Last American Virgin).

The first of the two major stars in The Final Chapter is Crispin Glover, who spends most of his screentime bouncing off of Monoson’s Ted until he manages to hook up with one of the film’s two British twins. Unfortunately for him, his time on screen is short lived, as he gets a corkscrew to the hand and a cleaver to the face. The next year, Glover played his biggest role ever: George McFly in Robert Zemeckis’ Back to the Future. Since then, Glover has continued to excel in scene stealing supporting roles in movies like River’s Edge, At Close Range, Wild at Heart, The Doors, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Like Mike, Alice in Wonderland, and as Thin Man in the two Charlie’s Angels movies from the 2000s. He also played the lead role in 2003’s underrated Willard.

3) Corey Feldman in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter

Like another of 1984’s best horror movies, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter has a role for Corey Feldman. Though, while he was relegated to just a few scenes in Joe Dante’s Gremlins, he’s the real star of the show in Joe Zito’s slasher (well, beyond the hockey masked killer).

Prior to The Final Chapter, Feldman had worked in television, e.g. in the TV series adaptation of The Bad News Bears and had voiced the younger version of Kurt Russell’s character in The Fox and the Hound, but the part of Tommy Jarvis was really his breakthrough. Later that year he starred in the aforementioned Gremlins, and the next year he played the beloved part of Clark “Mouth” Devereaux in The Goonies. Because of that Richard Donner treasure hunting classic, he could only come back for a cameo in Friday the 13th: A New Beginning. Feldman remained a big screen presence throughout the ’80s, with roles in Stand by Me, The Lost Boys, The ‘Burbs, as well as License to Drive and Dream a Little Dream with his The Lost Boys co-star and friend, Corey Haim.

[RELATED: Why Has Another Friday the 13th Movie Been So Hard to Make?]

4) Tony Goldwyn in Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives

Scandal‘s Tony Goldwyn made his very first appearance, big screen or small, in Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives as the ill-fated Darren. After single-episode appearances in shows like St. Elsewhere, Matlock, Murphy Brown, and L.A. Law, he got his breakthrough role as the duplicitous Carl Bruner in Ghost.

Since then, his biggest movies have been The Pelican Brief, Nixon, Kiss the Girls, The 6th Day, The Last Samurai, The Last House on the Left (2009), the first two installments of the Divergent franchise, King Richard, and Oppenheimer. He also voiced the title role in Disney’s Tarzan. As for the small screen, the role of President Fitzgerald Grant III on the aforementioned hit show Scandal is undoubtedly his biggest.

5) Kelly Hu in Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan

After winning the title of Miss Hawaii Teen USA in 1985, Kelly Hu modeled in Japan and Italy and starred in a series of TV ads for Philadelphia brand cream cheese. She transitioned to acting in 1987, first with a recurring role on Growing Pains. Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, her very first movie, came shortly thereafter.

Following her appearance in the slasher sequel, her next movie was 1991’s The Doors, directed by Oliver Stone and starring the late Val Kilmer. She then had roles in the bizarre Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man, Surf Ninjas, and the Ralph Fiennes-led sci-fi cult classic Strange Days. Those were all fairly small roles, but in 2002 she starred alongside Dwayne Johnson in The Scorpion King, which she followed up with her most well-known role to date, as Lady Deathstrike in X2: X-Men United.

6) Jason Ritter in Freddy vs. Jason

It was only a matter of time before Jason Ritter followed in the steps of his equally likable father, the late John Ritter. But, instead of getting started on a series similar to Three’s Company, he starred in Freddy vs. Jason from director Ronny Yu (who had directed his father in Bride of Chucky just a few years before). Prior to Freddy vs. Jason, the younger Ritter’s biggest role in a movie had been a small part in Swimfan.

Since Freddy vs. Jason‘s release in 2003, Ritter has had roles in the movies W. (as Jeb Bush), indies like The Intervention (alongside his wife, Melanie Lynskey), and Frozen II. He’s found even greater success on the small screen, with main roles in Joan of Arcadia, The Event, Gravity Falls, Another Period, Kevin (Probably) Saves the World, Raising Dion, and Matlock as well as recurring roles in Parenthood and Girls. Ritter is currently filming Lanterns, a DCU TV series set to arrive on HBO.

7) Ben Feldman in Friday the 13th (2009)

In Marcus Nispel’s Friday the 13th, Ben Feldman plays Richie, one of the unlucky teens we follow throughout the film’s opening (the best part of the movie). And, outside his girlfriend, who gets roasted in a sleeping bag, Richie gets it the worst. Specifically, his ankle gets snagged in a bear trap, where he’s left as a screaming piece of bait until Jason runs up and plants a machete in his skull.

Prior to Friday the 13th, Feldman’s biggest role was as Travis Marello in the opening scene of 2008’s Cloverfield. Since then, he’s had roles in a few big screen projects, e.g. As Above, So Below, but most of his success has been found on the small screen, first on Drop Dead Diva, then on Mad Men (for which he received an Emmy nomination). His TV career would then carry on to HBO’s Silicon Valley and then NBC’s Superstore as one of the lead characters of the series.