The true exploits of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division were explored in the 2001 HBO miniseries “Band Of Brothers”. Spanning 10 episodes, the critically acclaimed epic drama still sits near the top of IMDb’s top 250 TV shows of all time in the number 3 spot (behind nature doc series “Planet Earth”). With a cast of nearly 200 actors, there’s plenty of soon-to-be-famous faces in the crowd. Here are the actors you probably forgot were in “Band Of Brothers”.
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Okay, you probably remember “Office Space” star Ron Livingston in one of the series’ main roles as Capt. Lewis Nixon, assigned to intelligence operations. Earning a Golden Globe nomination for his work, Livingston went on to famously break up with Carrie Bradshaw via Post-it in “Sex And The City”.
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Future “Homeland” and “Billions” star Damian Lewis was a relatively unknown young actor when he was cast in “Band Of Brothers” as Major Dick Winters. Following a successful meeting with series co-creator Tom Hanks, the then-28-year-old actor spent the night in L.A. partying, getting home at 3 a.m. only to be awakened for a 9 a.m. surprise meeting with the series’ other co-creator, Steven Spielberg. Needless to say, the hungover actor still nabbed the part as one of the series’ most beloved characters.
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In his second on-screen credit, a very young Michael Fassbender appears as Sgt. Burton “Pat” Christenson in seven episodes but is prominently featured in two of them. Mostly populating the background shots of the company, Fassbender has a memorable moment in “Why We Fight’ when his unit stumbles upon a concentration camp.
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If you have Magneto, you must have Professor X. Michael Fassbender’s future BFF James McAvoy is another baby-faced actor with a brief appearance in “Band Of Brothers”. The Scottish actor is Pvt. James W. Miller, one of the many replacements called to battle following D-Day. You may have guessed things don’t work out too well for the newbie.
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Mr. “Hot Priest” Andrew Scott was one of many future stars to venture into the “Band Of Brothers” battlefield. Appearing in a single episode, the future BAFTA winner played a radioman lost in the forest on D-Day.
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Jimmy Fallon was already part of the "SNL" cast when he appeared in a small but memorable role as a 2nd Lt. George C. Rice in a single episode of the series. As the woefully unprepared 101st gets ready to head into what would be the Battle of the Bulge, Fallon zips by in an army jeep loaded with pilfered supplies.
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Tom Hardy burst onto the scene with a bang. In his first acting credit, the actor is Pvt. John Janovec, a rebellious unit replacement who’d rather be getting busy with a local lady than prepping for battle. Hardy arrives late in the series, appearing in the show’s final two episodes.
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Long before directing “Rocketman” and filling in for Bryan Singer on “Bohemian Rhapsody”, Dexter Fletcher spent a lot of time in front of the camera. The British actor signed on to “Band Of Brothers” as Easy Company Staff Sergeant John W. Martin for nine episodes.
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The former New Kid was fresh off his surprise pivotal role in “The Sixth Sense” when he was cast as Sgt. C. Carwood Lipton in the HBO miniseries. Like Livingston and Lewis, Wahlberg also appeared in all 10 episodes of “Band Of Brothers”. Eventually returning to NKOTB for sell-out concert tours, Wahlberg continues to act, most notably in TV show “Blue Bloods”.
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“Band Of Brothers” likely isn’t the first thing you think of when you hear David Schwimmer’s name, especially when he’s playing a character so far removed from “Friends”’ Ross Geller. Nasty, unrelenting, and downright mean, it’s no wonder the men of Easy Company hate him long before he proves his uselessness on the battlefield.
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Before he became Abraham on “The Walking Dead”, Michael Cudlitz was part of Easy Company as Denver “Bull” Randleman, a man with a love of cigars who appeared in nine episodes of the series.
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British funnyman Simon Pegg appears in two episodes of “Band Of Brothers” as Captain Sobel’s trusty sidekick. There’s nothing funny about his role or his two lines of dialogue…except for his American accent.
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Blink and you’ll miss him but British "Preacher" star Dominic Cooper pops up in the show’s first episode featuring the 101st during their training in the U.S. Eagle-eyed viewers can catch his close-up as he holds a tray of food in the troops’ mess hall.
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With dad Tom Hanks directing and producing the series, Colin Hanks unsurprisingly turns up in a few episodes. But before there are any accusations of nepotism at play, Hanks handily brushes them off with his performance as 2nd Lt. Henry Jones, an eager young officer with zero experience and a lot to prove.