The X-Files: See How Many Of Your Favorite Movie Stars Got Their Start On The Landmark Fox Show
The X-Files was a landmark is the history of television, though when the Fox Network science fiction drama debuted on September 10, 1993, very few fans or critics predicted that the show would go down as one of TV’s most original and innovative series.
Stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson — who was just 24 years old at the time (Duchovny was 33) — were unknowns, and the show dealt with subjects that were never big winners on TV, namely UFOs and alien abductions.
But The X-Files lasted not just one season but nine, with 202 episodes in the can before taking its final bow on May 19, 2002. Along the way, The X-Files, which was created by a former writer for Surfer Magazine, Chris Carter, not only pioneered a type of long-form storytelling that is now standard but then nearly unheard of outside of soap operas — it was also a career starter for numerous young actors who went on to become big movie stars, and still are big stars today.
In this painstakingly researched but fast-paced video from our fellow believers at BuzzFeed, you’ll see excerpts from the X-Files appearances of 10 stars who, back when they appeared on The X-Files, were obscure, hungry actors just happy to get a guest spot on a network show.
From a fresh-faced Ryan Reynolds to a pre-teen Shia LeBeouf, the truth is out there about this “before they were famous” cast of characters. Check out the BuzzFeed video and see how many of your favorite actors are in there.
