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Michael Shannon
NBC
Episode: Season 6, Episode 13
His first Oscar nomination was only four years away when Michael Shannon played a suspected child killer on death row in 2005. Shannon’s Avery Shaw taunted Benson and Stabler, using mind games to delay his execution.
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Adam Driver
NBC
Season 13, Episode 11
Character: Before he made his debut on “Girls”, future Oscar nominee Adam Driver played – you guessed it – a pervy guy caught installing webcams in an unsuspecting girl’s apartment.
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Viola Davis
NBC
Episode: Seasons 4, 6, 8-10, Various episodes
Character: Future Oscar winner Viola Davis had a whole run on “SVU” as tough-talking attorney Donna Emmett, appearing in several episodes between 2003 and 2008.
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Mahershala Ali
NBC
Episode: Season 11, Episode 1
Viola Davis isn’t the only Oscar winner to put in time on “SVU”. In 2009, Mahershala Ali played the prime suspect in a series of rapes -- only to take his punishment into his own hands by leaping out a window in the SVU precinct and falling to his death.
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Milo Ventimiglia
NBC
Episode: Season 5, Episode 11
Character: Before “Heroes” and “This Is Us”, Milo Ventimiglia played a young victim of abuse who became the target of his stepdad after testifying against him in court in a 2003 episode.
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Bradley Cooper
NBC
Episode: Season 6, Episode 20
Character: Cooper played a defence attorney who defended his client (played by Alfred Molina) in a rape trial, arguing that his client should be let off the hook because he suffers from Asperger's Syndrome.
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Zoe Saldana
NBC
Episode: Season 5, Episode 21
Character: Bradley Cooper's "Guardians Of The Galaxy" co-star starred as the daughter of a murder suspect in 2004, five years after she earned her very first on-screen credit on the original "Law & Order".
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Kate Mara
NBC
Episode: Season 2, Episode 9
Character: Mara earned her first-ever acting credit on "Law & Order" in 1997. In 2002 she returned to the franchise as a competitive gymnast questioned about her murdered roommate.
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Rooney Mara
NBC
Episode: Season 7, Episode 20
Character: Like her sister Kate, Rooney Mara made an appearance on "SVU". She played a formerly overweight teenager who bullies other overweight teens.
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Amanda Seyfried
NBC
Episode: Season 6, Episode 5
Character: Just after "Mean Girls" was released, Seyfried played a teen girl who couldn't keep her story straight after she was attacked by a group of frat boys. Turns out, she was hiding a bizarre relationship with her stepfather.
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Ty Burrell
NBC
Episode: Season 3, Episode 15
Character: Having already appeared on two episodes of the original "Law & Order", in 2003 Burrell played a death-row attorney whose client attacked Detective Stabler and Dr. Huang.
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Sarah Hyland
NBC
Episode: Season 3, Episode 1; Season 10, Episode 12
Character: Long before she was a "Modern Family" star, Hyland appeared on two episodes of "SVU," first as the daughter of an alleged rapist in 2001 and again in 2009 as a teen jealous of her dead roommate.
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Norman Reedus
NBC
Episode: Season 7, Episode 22
Character: In the 2006 season finale, Reedus played a rock star named Derek Lord who goes on a national talk show to lecture about the abuse of psychiatric drugs as a young woman off her meds mows down a group of 10 people in her car.
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Hayden Panettiere
NBC
Episode: Season 2, Episode 11; Season 6, Episode 15
Character: Way before landing her big break as the Cheerleader on "Heroes", Panettiere played a young girl who was beaten and neglected by her parents. Four years later she reprised the role in an episode involving a murder that resulted from teens hooking up online.
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Ian Somerhalder
NBC
Episode: Season 4, Episode 20
Character: "The Vampire Diaries" star appeared in a 2003 episode about a serial killer targeting couples. He played guest star John Ritter's son.
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Emily Deschanel
NBC
Episode: Season 3, Episode 17
Character: In one of her earliest acting roles, "Bones" star Emily Deschanel played a concert cellist who, after an attack, finds a secret stash of webcams in her apartment, streaming her every move in a 2002 episode.
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Elle Fanning
NBC
Episode: Season 8, Episode 8
Character: In 2006, 8-year-old Fanning starred as a girl who tries to murder Detective Dani Beck by burning down a house before attempting suicide.
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Elizabeth Banks
NBC
Episode: Season 3, Episode 7
Character: In 2001, the "Pitch Perfect" star appeared opposite "Pitch" star Mark-Paul Gosselaar as a couple who turn to the adult film world to help pay their daughter's medical bills.
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Abigail Breslin
NBC
Episode: Season 6, Episode 1
Character: Two year before her breakout in "Little Miss Sunshine", an 8-year-old Breslin played a kidnapped girl at the centre of a fertility clinic scandal that leads to a custody battle between her biological mother and birth mother.
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Rainn Wilson
NBC
Episode: Season 4, Episode 8
Character: Poor Rainn Wilson didn't even get a character name in his 2002 "SVU" debut. The future star of "The Office" played a janitor questioned by Detectives Benson and Stabler.
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