Before you get off your chair to get a drink or run to the bathroom. In fact, you are already done that 10 minutes ago from the last TV commercial break, and now you sitting down again. And you are waiting for your show to come back, but this time you are watching TV commercials.
Suddenly, one commercial in particular streaks across your screen, you see the face of the actor you know from a previously show or movie. You cry to yourself “Oh look I know this person, this person was on a show” and you don’t remember. Most of the actors in TV commercial have become successfully actors and they started from doing TV commercials. Then your show comes back on and you forget about it.
Here are some today TV commercials you have seen.
If you’re having a hard time picturing John Lehr under the Geico Caveman makeup, you’re obviously forgiven – it’s a lot harder to do than you might think. When he’s not starring as the face of Geico insurance commercials, he’s also an actor who has been in many films, including “10 Items or Less.”
The Pine-Sol Lady’s real name is Diane Amos, and if she looks familiar to you it’s for a very good reason – she’s also been in a huge number of wildly popular movies like “Patch Adams,” “Sweet November” and one of the better movies that Woody Allen has made in the last 20 years, “Blue Jasmine.”
Verizon’s “Can You Hear Me Now” commercials are one of those advertising campaigns that transcended the product they were trying to sell – a lot of people use the phrase without realizing it’s from a commercial at all. The face of those commercials, Paul Marcarelli, is also an actor and movie producer, doing a lot of work in documentaries like “The Royal Road.”
Stephanie Courtney seems to be literally everywhere at all times right know as Progressive Insurance’s Flo. She’s also been in a number of different television shows like “Men of a Certain Age” and is a member of the improvisational sketch group “The Groundlings.”
Beck Bennett is someone who is widely known to anyone who considers themselves to be a true fan of comedy in its many forms. Not only did he appear on the cult sitcom “Arrested Development,” but he also happens to be a current cast member on a little show that you may have heard of called “Saturday Night Live.”
Dennis Haysbert may have a successful career as the Allstate pitchman these days, but he’s also got a pretty accomplished acting career under his belt. You may recognize him either as the lovable (and terrifying) Pedro Serrano in “Major League” and “Major League 2,” or as the President of the United States that Jack Bower was always trying to keep from getting killed (until that one time when he didn’t) on “24.”
Who knew that the face (or rather, the voices) of the successful M&M campaigns were such accomplished actors? The red and yellow M&Ms are voiced by Billy West and JK Simmons, respectively. Billy West is perhaps the most successful voice actor this side of Mel Blanc and JK Simmons recently won an Academy Award for his performance in “Whiplash.” Even their original voices were hugely famous – they were played by Jon Lovitz and John Goodman during the early days of the campaign in the 1990s.
In addition to being “Jan” in all those Toyota commercials that seem to play on TV every ten seconds or so, Laurel Coppock is also an accomplished actress who has been in movies like “Crazy, Stupid, Love.” She is also an accomplished comedianne and is yet another person on this list who was on “Arrested Development.”
Jake Wood is a British actor who may not be well known in the states, be he sure is in the United Kingdom – he’s one of the stars of the long-running soap opera “EastEnders.”
Jonathan Goldsmith has appeared in over 350 different episodes of television throughout his career – including on classic shows like “Perry Mason” and “Eight is Enough.”
Vanessa Branch has been in a huge number of popular roles over the years, including in an episode of “Lost” and as a background player in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” film series.
Who knew that the actor playing the character of “Jake from State Farm” is actually named Jake in real life – Jake Stone, to be exact. Who said there wasn’t creativity in advertising? Anyway, Jake Stone actually worked for State Farm in real life at one point, but he seems to be doing well on residual checks and personal appearances these days.
Hallie Eisenberg rose to fame as the adorable little Pepsi Girl with the booming voice during one of the most successful marketing campaigns of the 1990s. She’s been in a few movies since then, but you’re more than excused if you don’t recognize her based on what she looks like today. Someone you probably SHOULD know, however, is her famous older brother – Academy Award nominated actor Jessie Eisenberg.
When she’s not starring as the hugely popular T-Mobile Girl, Carly Foulkes also has a successful modeling career under her belt. If every time she pops up on TV you can’t help but think to yourself “I know I’ve seen her before but I can’t remember where,” it’s probably because she’s been in successful campaigns for “Macy’s,” “Abercrombie & Fitch,” “Ralph Lauren” and “Tommy Hilfiger.”
Geneva Carr is an accomplished actress who seems to be using the money she receives from playing the mom in all of those AT&T commercials to fund her real dream: working on Broadway. Not only could she be seen in the play “Hand to God” on Broadway, but she is also so good that she received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Play for this particular role. She’s also been in a large number of other plays, including the hugely popular “Rabbit Hole” from a few seasons ago. Not bad, AT&T Mom – not too bad at all!
