Before they were famous. Trek guest spots by future celebs

[Admiral Bear]

You could say that Colm Meaney meets the criteria. He was a recurring, nameless character in TNG for some time, before becoming famous in movies like The Commitments or Far And Away, then his character became Chief O'Brien, obviously becoming one of modern Trek's best loved characters.

Don't forget the Nic Cage classic Con Air!

I always seem to remember Colm for being in The Last of the Mohicans with Daniel Day Lewis.

And there's nothing wrong with Con Air! Not a patch on The Rock, but that doesn't make it a bad film. Having said that, John Malkovich must've need to pay some bills when his agent got the script.

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ Con Air is a masterpiece compared to some of Malkovich's recent efforts, like the Mutant Chronicles or Eragon.

 

[jamestyler]

Right, cuz wrasslin' aka "sports entertainment" is real.

Don't get me started on that one Very few wrestlers make good actors, and when tried the other way around David Arquette became World Champion. Thats enough for me to happily split the two careers forever

As for Colm Meany... I only seem to remember him from The Van. And more recently his dreadful accent in the US Life on Mars pilot.