{"id":822553,"date":"2026-03-13T07:49:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T07:49:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/822553\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T07:49:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T07:49:21","slug":"7-a-list-actors-who-hid-in-star-wars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/822553\/","title":{"rendered":"7 A-List Actors Who Hid in Star Wars"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Plenty of big names in Hollywood became big names thanks in no small part to the <a href=\"https:\/\/comicbook.com\/category\/starwars\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Star Wars<\/a> saga. The original trilogy elevated the profiles of Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford. The prequel trilogy did wonders for Ewan McGregor\u2019s career. And, more recently, the sequel trilogy endeared Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver to theatergoers the world over. But then there are the big name, A-list (well, future A-list, in most cases) actors who have far smaller roles in the galaxy far, far away. Those are the types of A-listers that follow, those whose roles could more or less be described as blink and you\u2019ll miss it. Or, in some situations, put your fingers in your ears and you\u2019ll miss it.<\/p>\n<p>But we\u2019re only looking at actors, so no Princes Harry and William, who filmed a scene as Stormtroopers for Star Wars: The Last Jedi that ultimately ended up on the cutting room floor. Speaking of deleted scenes, they didn\u2019t count. It had to be a cameo or bit role that actually ended up in the film. To that point, Tom Hardy, who was right there alongside Harry and William, also did not count.<\/p>\n<p>7) Keira Knightley in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"576\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/star-wars-the-phantom-menace.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1618495\"  \/>image courtesy of walt disney studios motion pictures<\/p>\n<p>Natalie Portman and Keira Knightley definitely do look a good bit alike, and while they\u2019re different talents, it\u2019s not impossible for the cinema layman to get them confused when they\u2019re sharing the screen. In other words, she was the perfect choice for Prince Amidala\u2019s decoy in <a href=\"https:\/\/comicbook.com\/tag\/star-wars-the-phantom-menace\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Star Wars: The Phantom Menace<\/a>. And, while plenty of people can probably tell it\u2019s Knightley she is wearing makeup whenever we see her, so technically she\u2019s a performer hiding in Star Wars.<\/p>\n<p>But, if you want a choice <a href=\"https:\/\/comicbook.com\/movies\/feature\/14-years-ago-star-wars-fans-got-tricked-and-theyre-still-waiting-on-a-promise-that-was-made\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">from The Phantom Menace<\/a> that is even more blink and you\u2019ll miss it, the movie has some other big names for you. For instance, there\u2019s Dominic West as a Naboo palace guard and Sally Hawkins as a spectator of the parade that closes out the film. And, while not an actor, per se, you can also spot Sofia Coppola as Sach\u00e9, another one of Amidala\u2019s handmaidens. Lastly, if you look just to the left of Ralph Brown\u2019s Ric Oli\u00e9 on the far right of that above picture, you\u2019ll see Richard Armitage, who later played Thorin Oakenshield in Peter Jackson\u2019s The Hobbit trilogy.<\/p>\n<p>6) Simon Pegg in Star Wars: The Force Awakens<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"576\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/simon-pegg-star-wars.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1618510\"  \/>image courtesy of walt disney studios motion pictures<\/p>\n<p>Considering he\u2019s wearing a massive, very hot-looking costume and disguising his voice, you\u2019d be fully forgiven for not knowing Unkar Plutt is, in fact, <a href=\"https:\/\/comicbook.com\/tv-shows\/list\/all-5-actors-who-played-scotty-in-star-trek\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">played by Star Trek<\/a> and Shaun of the Dead\u2018s Simon Pegg. It makes sense, considering he\u2019s a professed fan of the IP and had a working relationship with direct J.J. Abrams.<\/p>\n<p>Also providing their voices to <a href=\"https:\/\/comicbook.com\/tag\/star-wars-episode-vii-the-force-awakens\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Star Wars: The Force Awakens<\/a> were Bill Hader and Sonic the Hedgehog\u2018s Ben Schwartz, who made BB-8\u2019s sounds. Then there\u2019s James Bond himself, Daniel Craig, who voiced a Stormtrooper tasked with guarding Rey (fortunately, he\u2019s a very easily manipulated Stormtrooper).<\/p>\n<p>5) Treat Williams in The Empire Strikes Back<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"576\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Hoth.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1618509\"  \/>image courtesy of walt disney studios motion pictures<\/p>\n<p>The late Treat Williams was a delight in movies and TV shows like Once Upon a Time in America, Deep Rising, and Chicago Fire. But, before all of those projects, he had a bit role in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, and it was all because he was visiting his pal Carrie Fisher on set.<\/p>\n<p>Granted, you can\u2019t really tell who he is. He doesn\u2019t have any lines after all. But there is a shot of a Rebel soldier looking through some goggles, and he is wearing the same uniform Williams is wearing in set photos with Fisher. Someone you can spot, however, is Pixar mainstay and Cliff Clavin himself, John Ratzenberger. He, too, plays a (mustachioed) Rebel soldier on Hoth.<\/p>\n<p>4) Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Star Wars: The Last Jedi<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"576\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/joseph-gordon-levitt-star-wars.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1618505\"  \/>image courtesy of walt disney studios motion pictures<\/p>\n<p>Joseph Gordon-Levitt worked with Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson on the Knives Out auteur\u2019s directorial debut, Brick. Then, they collaborated on Looper in 2012. <\/p>\n<p>Five years later the duo worked together once more in a Johnson\u2019s biggest project yet, but it was nonetheless a fairly small role for Gordon-Levitt. He plays Slowen Lo, an alien on Canto Bight who tells Finn and Rose they can\u2019t park their shuttle on the beach.<\/p>\n<p>3) Jason Sudeikis in Star Wars: The Mandalorian<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"576\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/jason-sudeikis-the-mandalorian.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1618504\"  \/>image courtesy of disney+<\/p>\n<p>Even if you don\u2019t recognize the voices of the two Stormtroopers who have captured Grogu on behalf of Moff Gideon, you get the sense their voiced by comedians. Not only is their mundane, \u201canother day at work\u201d dialogue pretty funny, but the way they spout it out really sells the humor.<\/p>\n<p>That assumption is correct, as JS-1975 is voiced by Jason Sudeikis, Saturday Night Live veteran and star of We\u2019re the Millers. By his side is AP-1982, who is voiced by The Mindy Project\u2018s Adam Pally.<\/p>\n<p>2) Karl Urban in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"576\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/karl-urban-star-wars.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1618501\"  \/>image courtesy of walt disney studios motion pictures<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re coming up on the end of The Boys, but there will still be plenty of demand for Karl Urban on the big and small screen. Even when he\u2019s playing a nefarious pirate in the underrated The Bluff he\u2019s charming as can be.<\/p>\n<p>And, thanks to his friendship with his Star Trek director J.J. Abrams, Urban got to check off a bucket list item by having a role in <a href=\"https:\/\/comicbook.com\/movies\/list\/every-star-wars-movie-ranked-from-best-to-worst-ahead-of-the-mandalorian-and-grogu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a Star Wars movie<\/a>. That would be Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, where Urban voiced a stormtrooper passed by the Knights of Ren as they walk in a hallway.<\/p>\n<p>1) Rose Byrne in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"576\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/rose-byrne-star-wars.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1619246\"  \/>image courtesy of walt disney studios motion pictures<\/p>\n<p>Before she was showing her brilliance in comedic roles and dramatic parts alike, Rose Byrne was a small part of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. Like with Keira Knightley, Byrne\u2019s character is connected to Padme. Specifically, she plays Dorm\u00e9, one of the Senator\u2019s handmaidens who is around mostly towards the beginning of the movie.<\/p>\n<p>This was very early in Byrne\u2019s career. She was about a decade shy of stealing scenes in Bridesmaids and about 25 years shy of delivering a stunning lead performance in If I Had Legs I\u2019d Kick You.<\/p>\n<p>Which actor should pop up in a future Star Wars project? Leave a comment below <strong>and join the conversation now in the <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/forum.comicbook.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>ComicBook Forum<\/strong><\/a><strong>!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Plenty of big names in Hollywood became big names thanks in no small part to the Star Wars&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":822554,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3935],"tags":[77,4167,3943,4242,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-822553","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-list-feature","10":"tag-movies","11":"tag-star-wars","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116220773895412784","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}