10 Actors You Never Knew Starred in Star Wars

With nine Star Wars films released and two more due this year and next, the franchise has made many of the actors and actresses who starred in it household names.

Yet, alongside the main characters, there have also been many stars who appeared in the films before they were famous, or appeared in hidden cameos. Below are 10 actors you never knew starred in the Star Wars saga.

1 – Joel Edgerton

It’s easy to miss Joel Edgerton in his important role in Attack of the Clones. The Aussie actor who played the badass teacher-turned-pro-MMA fighter in the 2011 movie Warrior is virtually unrecognizable as Uncle Owen, Darth Vader’s stepbrother.

2 – Andy Serkis

Known mostly for his work as Gollum from the Lord of the Rings movies, Andy Serkis is easily one of the most versatile live and voice actors in this era of film. Serkis applied his knowledge of motion capture to the character Supreme Leader Snoke.

3 – John Ratzenberger

You know him best as know-it-all Cheers regular Cliff Claven. Business Insider revealed that before his stint in one of the most successful sitcoms of all time, he was Major Derlin of the Rebel Forces in The Empire Strikes Back. He was seen at the Echo Base on Hoth.

4 – Julian Glover

The actor who played the deceptively bumbling Grand Maester Pycelle in Game of Thrones was also General Veers, one of more competent Imperial officers who had successfully avoided being force choked by Darth Vader. The Wrap reminds us he was also the Nazi collaborator Walter Donovan from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, aka the guy who dies via CGI aging after drinking from the wrong cup.

5 – Kevin Smith

The cult director of Clerks and Dogma has long been a fan of the first Star Wars films. In 2015, Kevin Smith finally had the chance to say some lines in The Force Awakens, but unless you’re extremely familiar with his voice, you wouldn’t recognize him.

6 – Keira Knightley

In The Phantom Menace, Natalie Portman’s character revealed her true identity as Queen Padmé Amidala halfway through the movie. Before that, it was Keira Knightley’s Sabé who took on the role of queen, serving as a decoy to the real queen as part of her handmaiden duties.

7 – Sofia Coppola

Looking back, Padmé Amidala’s tightly knit group of handmaidens were played by now A-list celebrities who were then just up-and-coming actors in the game. One of them was Sofia Coppola, who played Saché in The Phantom Menace. Just four years after this role Coppola won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for her movie, Lost in Translation, which starred the iconic Bill Murray.

8 – Rose Byrne

Here’s another currently big name that was hidden in the role of Amidala’s handmaiden. Rose Byrne was Dormé, the handmaiden who escorted the queen to Coruscant in order to vote for the controversial Military Creation Act.

9 – Daniel Craig

That’s right – even James Bond himself was in Star Wars. In The Force Awakens, Rey uses the force to get a stormtrooper to set her free and drop his gun. That stormtrooper was Daniel Craig.

10 – Peter Serafinowicz

This Shaun of the Dead and Guardians of the Galaxy actor was the frightening voice of Darth Maul, everyone’s favorite double lightsaber-wielding sith. Ray Park provided Maul’s looks and moves. Although it took two actors to play the iconic villain, we would like to remind everyone that Darth Maul still doesn’t hold a candle to cinema’s most iconic villain Darth Vader.

If you didn’t catch any of these hidden performances the first time you saw the movies, don’t worry, it’s not you. Entertainment Daily reports certain actors from the Star Wars franchise are really good at being inconspicuous.

Whether it’s hiding from Stormtroopers or from the paparazzi at airports, some jedis can do it all. Now that you know about these hidden cameos, it’ll be all the more fun to re-watch the entire Star Wars series right before Episode IX comes out next year and look out for these actors.