Kevin Bacon comes to our TV screens nest week in dark crime thriller The Following, and once again marks out that TV is fast becoming home to more movie stars than it ever has before.
So, to celebrate the Footloose and Apollo 13 star landing on our small screens (this time not selling you a mobile phone network), we’ve taken a look through the listings and picked out the biggest Hollywood names who’ve come to the world of TV.
Kevin Costner
Once one of the biggest actors in Hollywood, Costner made is TV comeback in period American drama The Hatfields and McCoys last year as the grizzled patriarch of the Hatfield family.
Not only was it a fantastic coup for the show, but the arrangement world out brilliantly for Costner as well, with the actor picking up a Golden Globe and an Emmy for his role in the rating grabbing show.
Even in an era when the finest TV dramas are just as highly regarded as the best of Hollywood, it’s still a pleasant shock to see a multiple Oscar winner on Channel 5.
Zooey Deschanel
One of the most successfully pulled of switches of recent memory, Zooey transformed from one of the most popular girls on the cinema screen to heading up the funniest new comedy on network American TV.
The magic is though that Zooey’s found a character right in her wheelhouse, as Jess fits in perfectly with the ‘adorkable’ set of characters that she’d become famous for portraying on the silver screen. While the part may not have been written directly for her, it’s hard to think of anyone else out there who embodies the spirit of Jess anywhere near as much.
Deschanel’s come out and said that Jess is a character that she’d be quite happy to play “forever and ever”. With her gathering award nominations left and right for her brilliantly kooky performance, it seems like New Girl might just be the perfect home for her to stay.
Don Cheadle
When your last film projects included Iron Man 2, you don’t think that a new and rather daring comedy of US network Showtime is going to bag you for its lead role. Thank goodness that Don Cheadle decided to take on House of Lies.
While Cheadle is more commonly seen in dramas, we’re now starting to see the comedic side in him flourish. Even his turn in The Guard couldn’t have let us know how brilliant he was going to be as the cold-blooded executive Marty Kaan.
Justly taking home a Golden Globe last weekend for his performance in the show, House Of Lies has become another fantastic feather in Showtime’s growingly impressive cap.
Kat Dennings
Another of the fleet of actors in the new wave of Marvel comic book films, Kat Dennings coming to network TV wasn’t something any of us suspected. Even more unexpectedly, we didn’t see her leading the line on a show like 2 Broke Girls.
While her movie career was gaining momentum, Kat pounced on the role of Max in the sitcom, realising that the world of TV is now as great a place as any to grab the eyes of the powerful in America.
The show may have taken a bit of a critical bruising since it first came on to the airwaves, but audiences have responded fantastically to the show, with it getting great ratings throughout its first two years.
Kerry Washington
An actress with a CV so impressive it has its own CV, her taking the lead in drama Scandal was a brilliant move for the show.
Washington has always been a brilliant screen presence and this is something that Scandal has made the most of, making her front and centre. While Scandal may have its problems, Kerry Washington’s brilliant performance as fixer Olivia has a rather fantastic habit of rescuing the show and making it massively entertaining.
Steve Carell
Over the last decade, Steve Carell has become one of the biggest names in the world of movie comedies, but that didn’t stop him simultaneously holding down the lead in one of the biggest comedies on American TV.
While he started his role in the American version of The Office in the same year he took on his first leading role in 40 Year Old Virgin, it would have been incredibly easy for him to forget about the TV show.
Carell didn’t though, staying a part of the show for an incredible 140 episodes and six years before leaving the show for good. It just makes us love him just that little bit more.
With premium cable programming in the US becoming bigger and bigger and even network television leaping forward, with more and more fantastic creative forces moving to TV, we’re sure to see many more famous faces moving to the movie screen to the small screen.
FemaleFirst Cameron Smith