The mention of Crispy Crunch (a candy bar) over in the Canadian Commercials thread reminded me -- wasn't Mariah Carey in an ad for that just around the time her first album debuted? It was clearly shot before she was famous, because it didn't feature her singing or even really focus on her that much; she was just half of a couple that liked to steal each others' candy bars. I think. It's been a long time since that ad aired.

Who else has made the leap from commercials to the slightly more respectable parts of showbiz?

This is a tricky one to keep separate from "now-famous people getting work as commercial spokespeople" (which pays incredibly well, by the way, so no need to feel bad for stars who choose to do that). But if we're talking about really before they became famous....

Diane Keaton was all over TV in 1970 as a young mother who wore a tracksuit (shorts, tank top) because she was kept running by family demands, but was helped out by... whatever she was selling, sorry, can't remember. The ads stayed on the air long enough that they overlapped with her movie debut in Lovers and Other Strangers and the news that she'd been cast in The Godfather.

Dustin Hoffman appeared as spokesman for a car shortly before he became a star in The Graduate (this is one that is often shown on the clipshows that feature this topic).

The best has got to be Evangaline Lily: from "Live Links" girl (the most convincing one ever, but still) to main character on an top-rated, critically acclaimed, Emmy-winning drama.

I'm pretty sure I saw Matt LeBlanc on a TV ad for Coke (could have been Pepsi). I know it was quite a while before he was on Friends.

Matt LeBlanc used to do ketchup commercials. I don't remember the brand, but its thing was how thick it was. The setup was always something like he'd up-end the bottle on a third-floor balcony then go down to street level with his hot dog or whatever, and be in position before the stuff got there. Always, of course, with a supercilious smirk on his face that I wanted to drown in ketchup.

This commercial always drove me nuts... how did the ketchup stop? why didn't the whole bottle spill out???

Yes, I need help.

Diane Keaton showing a little ankle or {gasp} knee? Wow, times really were different back then.

I vaguely remember the Dustin Hoffman thing, mostly because he's even been in a car commercial (or two?) in recent times that sort of winks and nods at his past, both in films and in car ads.

ETA: and by "vaguely remember", I mean "vaguely remember reading about", because the actual commercials, and The Graduate, predate me by a few years.

I actually fondly remember the Matt LeBlanc Heinz ketchup ad. I guess it's because I was so young when they aired and I thought that kind of stuff was way cool. I also fondly remember Jason Alexander's McDonald's ad, where he was promoting the McDLT (you know, the sandwich with the "hot side" and "cool side" compartments). I actually tried out the McDLT because of that ad (and ended up actually liking it).

There are dozens of ads with future stars that pop up on those "before they were stars" shows...One that doesn't was one Tim Allen did for Pella Windows that aired in the Midwest in the late 80s.

Robert DeNiro did a Rambler ad in the late 60s...Since it was over 20 years before "Goodfellas", they couldn't talk about how easy it was to fit a nearly dead gangster in the trunk. Oh well.

Deodorant! I remember these commercials. Maybe because she wasn't the stereotypical "mom", but was sort of gangly, funny and harassed, as she ran from place to place. She wasn't as funny as she later proved to be, but a glimmer of it was there.

How about Farrah Fawcett, in her very first appearance - I believe it was a shampoo commercial. She stood out simply by being so gorgeous with such amazing teeth!

I THINK the brand of deodorant Diane Keaton shilled for was "Hour After Hour".

Wasn't the Farrah Fawcett ad for Noxzema Shaving Cream?

And...I remember hearing somewhere that F. Murray Abraham was one of the original Fruit Of The Loom Guys...That's literally "starting at the bottom", innit?

I'm pretty sure George Eads was Peter in the old Folger's commercial where he comes home from college on Christmas day and brew the pot of coffee to wake up the house.

To me, Rebecca Gayheart will always be the Noxzema girl.

Five-year-old Sarah Michelle Gellar in a Burger King commercial. God, she was cute!

Double post, sorry.

Get out! I love that commercial. Who doesn't? I was thrilled when they brought it back a couple years ago.
On topic: John Travolta did a Band-aids commercial back in the early 70's. He was in the shower singing "I am stuck on Band-aids, cause Band-aids stuck on me."

John Amos, the dad on Good Times, was in a McDonald's ad many years ago.

Shelley Long used to do commercials for a Chicago furniture company.

Barry Manilow got his start writing commercial jingles including "I am stuck on bandaids cuz bandaids are stuck on me" and "like a good neighbor statefarms is there."

Kim Basinger was the Breck shampoo girl way back in the day.

Anthony Stewart Head was in those serialized coffee commercials. I think it was for Folgers.

Taster's Choice

That's right.

I saw a milk commercial with Heather Locklear on one of those "Before they were famous" types of shows.

Barry Manilow also wrote the "You Deserve a Break Today" Jingle for McDonalds. A jingle that can still set up residence in my head for days, even though it's long been out of use.

Dustin Hoffman was in a few ads for Volkswagen. I think the theme was that the car was kind of goofy looking and...well, so was Dustin Hoffman.

Ethan Suplee (now playing Randy on "My Name is Earl"), for Sega's Game Gear.

Does anyone remember the ad Keanu Reeves did for MTV before he got famous? (Or at least around the same time) He rambled about how they painted the stripes on the road in some weird way, and they moved the banks. I'm sure i'm forgetting most of it, but I recall it being very surreal.

Josh Holloway is another Lostie with a commercial past. He was in the Old Navy ads that ran around Christmas a few years ago, with Fran Drescher as a phone operator. Josh was dancing in his polar fleece, or something.

Just thought of a couple more...

Not long before "SNL" premiered, Jane Curtin was in a commercial for Whirlpool (I think) portable washing machines (they could be folded up and stashed somewhere, and were marketed to people in apartments or teeny tiny houses.) And I know John Travolta was either in one of those "Stay In School" PSA's or a commercial for the Army.

It was a commercial for the army. I saw it on the Rosie O'Donnel show.

I don't know who that was, but it definitely isn't George Eads.

This is sort of an "after they were famous" question, but who is the delivery guy in the Domino's commercial that features the brownie bites. He looks very familiar, but I can't place him.

ameliabedelia, (love that name, btw!), that's Benjamin Salisbury, formerly known as Brighton Sheffield on The Nanny.

On Michael J. Fox's True Hollywood Story, they showed a McDonald's commercial he did before he landed the role of Alex P. Keaton on Family Ties.

Elisabeth Shue, Lea Thompson and Sarah Michelle Gellar all did a Burger King commercial together back in the day. It was Christmas-themed, the BK crew wishing McDonald's a merry Christmas. SMG was utterly lacking in singing talent, but what a little cutie she was.

Hayden Panettiere (Heroes) did a handful of commercials when she was teeny-tiny. I don't remember what it was for, but I remember she was a Girl Scout selling power tools door to door. She also did a spot for NIX, if I recall.

That was her?

Haley Joel Osmet was on a Pizza Hut commercial. It was for the Bigfoot pizza and he says, "Big is an understatement." He was so tiny!

Didn't SMG get in some trouble with McDonalds as a child actress after some comments were made? It was years before Buffy, since they sponsored the show, which makes me think that whatever it was had been smoothed over and forgotten.

SMG's ad brought lawsuits because it stated that McDonald's burgers were 20% smaller than Burger King's. She said they sued four-year-old her along with Burger King and the ad agency. I don't know whatever came of it, though.

Google tells me this:

Thanks, [b]McKay[b].

Cross-examination. Of a four-year-old. Who was reading something that her parents (or ad director, or Santa Claus, or whoever, that part's not important) told her to.

And the lawsuit was settled! Good lord. That only paved the way for the Hot!Burning!Lawsuit!, now didn't it. A bit of karmic payback for the assholes who work in the corporate office of Mickey D's.

It's an interesting story for Sarah to tell her kids though, so there's that.

I'm reminded of that Brady Bunch where they waffled on making a commercial because they weren't sure they really liked the product. Why in the hell...is there a clause somewhere that states that commercial actors must only speak the truth? If that's the case, I know way too much about the redheaded woman in the KY Warming Liquid ads.

So ridiculous. Poor little SMG. That had to be some experience.

Well I believe that if you're a celebrity endorser you have to use the product. General actors? Not so much.

Did little SMG represent herself? That'd have to really sting for McD's hotshot team of power attorneys.

A very, very young Richard Dreyfuss for AMC (the company that built the Pacer, not the theater chain):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7BIR4IhNnY

Tori Amos appeared in this ad (which I remember) for Kellogg's Just Right cereal in 1985:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2gjXoHIUz4

I have something that is stretching the topic, but I'll throw it in. Way back in 2002, when Ed Helms was first on The Daily Show, I was reaidng his website (which has gone to Internet Heaven now) I read his resumé and it stated that he was in a Gateway Computer commercial. I was so head over heels over Ed that I searched all my vhs tapes seeing if I recorded that Gateway ad while timer recording something.

I didn't find it.

Danny Masterson is in this old (early 90's) commercial for clearasil that is suddenly on all the time now.

I know, what is up with that? It's so dated and on all the freaking time. If they wanted to capitalize on Danny's fame, why only start showing it now, rather than several years ago? Is it possible they weren't allowed to show it while That '70s Show was new?

Are you sure it's Danny? I thought it looked like him, but since it's playing now, I figured it must be someone who looks like him, or even another Masterson brother breaking into showbiz.

It's definately him. What's with companies bringing back commercial from 10-15 years ago lately? In Canada we have a Raisin Bran commercial that was obviously produced in the 80's and they just superimposed the the current logo wherever the old one was. How cheap is that? I'm sure Danny is not complaining, he probably thought the royalty checks from this commercial were long over.

I swear that John Krasinski is in the Kodak digital camera commerical from a few years ago where he played pranks on his roommate. Eyebrows were shaved and whatnot. Am I right?

Does anyone remember, about ten years ago or so (probably closer to fifteen), there was a commercial for AT&T worldnet. It was with Larisa Oleynek (I think I spelled her name wrong... the actress from Alex Mack, 3rd Rock and 10 Things I Hate About You). She comes home from a date, goes on her computer, and IMs her boyfriend "I miss you so much" and she scans pictures of herself -- he puts her head on an angel... Patsy Cline's "Walkin' After Midnight" is playing in the background...

It was really cute.

Also, I remember Debra Messing on the Nice & Easy commercials. She was singing "Natural Woman" and got caught by her boyfriend/husband. Also a cute one.

Oh God ... is that Debra Messing ad is the one in which the girl dresses up in her boyfriend's clothes? I haaaated that ad, but I'd successfully blocked it from my memory.