15+ Famous Actors Who Appeared On Law&Order Early In Their Careers Will Have You Appreciating The Drama Even More

Cynthia Nixon, Ellen Pompeo, Claire Danes... this long-time crime-drama TV series has helped some major celebrities along the way.

Damjan

• Published in Film & TV
• April 6, 2022

Law & Order is one of the longest-lasting and most successful franchises on television. It began in 1990 with Law & Order, an American police procedural and legal drama television series developed by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment.

It was so successful that it spawned numerous spinoffs, some of which are Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999– ), Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001–11), Law & Order: Trial by Jury (2005–06), Conviction (2006), and Law & Order: Los Angeles (2010–11).

The original series is set and filmed in New York City and follows a two-part format: the first half-hour follows detectives from the New York City Police Department investigating a crime (usually murder) and apprehending a suspect; the second half follows the Manhattan District Attorney's Office prosecuting the defendant.

The original show has 21 seasons, with many actors coming and going as victims, witnesses and perpetrators. So it's no wonder that many famous actors made their first (or one of their first) TV appearances.

Take a look at 16 famous actors who appeared on the show early in their careers. You will learn something new, and it is great trivia for your next party. So, let us begin:

1. Sam Rockwell

On seasons two and three, the Oscar winner has played two different characters, a police officer and a member of a family suspected of murdering a Chinese-American student, respectively.

2. Ellen Pompeo

The Grey's Anatomy star had two appearances on Law & Order - in 1996 and 2000, ( Grey's Anatomy actors Kate Walsh and Chandra Wilson were also cast in the show.)

3. Adam Driver

Driver debuted on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in the final season of 2010 and played a lab technician suspected of murdering an escort.

4. Julia Roberts

The actress made a rare TV appearance in 1999, while dating series actor Benjamin Bratt, playing a party planner implicated in the death of a powerful businessman.

5. Jennifer Garner

In a 1996 episode, she played a graduate student who had a love experience with Benjamin Bratt's character.

6. Sebastian Stan

In 2003, the Pam & Tommy actor played a youngster who was taken and raised by his abuser.

7. Allison Janney

The Oscar winner had two appearances on Law & Order during her early career, in 1992 and 1994. She played a character who was afraid to testify about a murder for the first time. She reappeared two years later to play a character who was questioned regarding the assassination of a soap opera actress.

8. Emmy Rossum

Rossum's first acting role was in a 1997 episode, in which he played a preteen who was the subject of female circumcision.

9. Samuel L. Jackson

In a 1991 episode, he played the lawyer for a drug dealer accused of rape. Who plays the drug dealer? Continue reading...

10. Philip Seymour Hoffman

The future Oscar winner played a drug dealer who was betrayed by another crook in his first television appearance. His counsel is Samuel L. Jackson.

11. Claire Danes

Even before her leading role on My So-Called Life, the actress appeared in a 1992 episode alongside future Six Feet Under star Lauren Ambrose as a troubled teen.

12. Leighton Meester

She plays the daughter of a mistreated woman who assists detectives Briscoe and Curtis with a case in a 1999 episode.

13. Vera Farmiga

In a 1998 episode, she played a character who was involved in a shooting.

14. Cynthia Nixon

The actress portrayed a lady who shoots two men in a subway during the first season of the show.

15. Amanda Peet

Peet starred as a woman in a mystery case in 1995.

16. Chandra Wilson

Wilson portrayed Serena Price in a 1992 episode of Law & Order, which aired decades before Grey's Anatomy.

So, this is quite a list of A-rated actors. Cynthia Nixon, Ellen Pompeo, Claire Danes, Samuel L. Jackson...Quite a few Oscar winners too.

We can’t say that their appearance in the show added much to their fame because those were primarily minor roles. Still, they’ve probably acquired a lot of experience that had helped them later on.

Damjan