Where You've Seen The Cast Of The Handmaid's Tale Before

As June Osborne, Elisabeth Moss owns every scene she's in whether she's brewing a revolution among Gilead's enslaved population or finding ways to dismantle the theocracy from north of its borders. In 2017, her work on the series earned her an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. With Moss as one of the show's producers, "The Handmaid's Tale" also won an Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series that same year.

Moss has been acting onscreen since she was a kid. In 1990, she appeared as a very young Sandra Bullock's daughter in Jackie Collins' NBC miniseries "Lucky Chances." As a child actor, she also had a recurring role on "Picket Fences" and worked on a handful of films including the 1995 Disney remake "Escape to Witch Mountain." Starting in 1999, Moss played the president's youngest child Zoey Bartlet on "The West Wing"; around the same time, she appeared in quite a few films and primetime TV dramas including "Girl, Interrupted," "Grey's Anatomy," "Medium," and "The Ghost Whisperer."

Moss' career-changing role came in 2006 when she was cast as secretary (and later copywriter) Peggy Olson on "Mad Men," a performance that would earn her a handful of Emmy nominations. She went on to play Sydney sex crimes detective Robin Griffin in the Sundance miniseries "Top of the Lake." Since beginning her work on "The Handmaid's Tale," Moss has also appeared in several films, including Jordan Peele's "Us," "The Invisible Man," and the Shirley Jackson biopic "Shirley," which she also produced.

The brother of actor Ralph Fiennes and uncle of Lord Voldemort Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, English actor Joseph Fiennes plays the creepy Commander Fred Waterford on "The Handmaid's Tale." Fiennes has appeared in quite a few historical films, worked in the theater, and appeared in several television series over the course of his career. One of Fiennes' more recognizable early roles was as Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, who won (and broke) the heart of Queen Elizabeth I (played by Cate Blanchett) in the 1998 historical drama "Elizabeth." He would also don a doublet as the eponymous playwright in "Shakespeare in Love," which came out the same year.

In 2001, Fiennes played Commisar Danilov in the Battle of Stalingrad film "Enemy at the Gates." He went on to nail his 95 theses to the church in the lead role of Martin Luther in the 2003 film "Luther" before slipping back into his Elizabethan look in a film adaptation of Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice." Taking a break from the manly hosiery, Fiennes played Neil Bookman in Ryan Murphy's "Running with Scissors" in 2006. He was later cast in the lead role as a trans woman in Murphy's series "Pretty/Handsome," which was never picked up, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter in 2008. Fiennes spent a couple of years working with John Cho on the short-lived ABC sci-fi series "FlashForward," which focused on a paranormal global event that gave people around the world visions of the future during a blackout. He played Merlin on the Starz drama "Camelot" for a season before going on to work with Murphy again on "American Horror Story: Asylum," where he played the tortured priest Monsignor Timothy Howard. In addition to his work in film and television, Fiennes has continued to act onstage throughout his career, appearing with the Royal Shakespeare Company and at the Chichester Festival Theatre.

Despite the sadistic personality of handmaid tormentor and disciplinarian Aunt Lydia, the actor who plays her has a reputation as one of the nicest folks in show business. According to GQ, Ann Dowd is a polite mother of three who spends time working in her community garden, sobbed when her character from "The Leftovers" died, and is "fully and desperately in love" with her kids, one of whom is autistic.

Dowd began her career performing onstage in Chicago. She began working in movies and on TV in 1990, appearing in the films "Green Card," "Apt Pupil," "The Notorious Bettie Page," and "Garden State," among others. In 1997, the actor worked as a main cast member playing Sister Mo on the critically praised ABC series "Nothing Sacred." She also appeared in shows such as "Touched By An Angel," "The X-Files," "Law & Order," "True Detective," and "House." In 2013, she played the recurring role of Estabrook Masters on the first two seasons of the Showtime series "Masters of Sex." She went on to play the haunting, nearly speechless role of Patti Levin on the eerie supernatural drama "The Leftovers" before briefly playing an FBI agent on the short-lived TNT series "Good Behavior." In 2018, Dowd played grief support group member Joan in the critically acclaimed A24 psychological horror film "Hereditary." She also starred in the 2021 ensemble drama "Mass" along with Jason Isaacs and Martha Plimpton.

English actor Max Minghella plays the complicated Nick Blaine in "The Handmaid's Tale." The son of director Anthony Minghella, Max appeared uncredited as a soldier in his dad's film "Cold Mountain"; in 2005, he appeared in the film adaptation "Bee Season" with Richard Gere and Juliette Binoche and played George Clooney's son in "Syriana." After acting in a handful of smaller film productions, Minghella played Divya Narendra in "The Social Network." From 2013 through 2017, the actor appeared as a recurring character on "The Mindy Project," playing Richie Castellano, the brother of Mindy's love interest (and her child's father) Danny. In 2018, he wrote and directed the musical film "Teen Spirit," which starred Elle Fanning. He also appeared in the "Saw" film "Spiral" alongside Chris Rock in 2021. Minghella was also cast as film producer Irving Thalberg in the 2023 Jazz Age film "Babylon" along with an all-star cast that includes Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt, Olivia Wilde, Flea, and Li Jun Li, among others. 

As June's husband Luke, O-T Fagbenle gives a heartbreaking performance that truly sells the pain of a man watching his wife and child taken by the Gilead regime even if the actor doesn't get nearly enough screen time; fans took to Reddit to praise his powerful presence in Season 5.

The actor's earliest television role was in 2002 when he appeared in two episodes of the British soap "EastEnders." In 2006, Fagbenle appeared in Anthony Minghella's film "Breaking and Entering" with Robin Wright, Jude Law, and Juliette Binoche. Whovians may be surprised to realize that O-T played Other Dave on the two-part "Doctor Who" episode arc "Forest of the Dead" and "Silence in the Library," which saw the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) facing off with the Vashta Nerada while meeting his future/past wife River Song (Alex Kingston). He also appeared on an episode of "Dirt."

In 2020, Fagbenle executive produced, wrote, starred in, directed, and composed music for his Channel 4 and Hulu series "Maxxx," a scripted comedy in which he plays a pop star who has seen better days. He went on to play Barack Obama in the anthology series "The First Lady" and also played Cameron Lautner in the Apple TV+ series "WeCrashed." Fans of "Assassin's Creed" may also recognize O-T as the voice of the notorious Calico Jack Rackham on the Ubisoft game "Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag."

Canadian actor Amanda Brugel, who plays the good-natured Martha Rita Blue on "The Handmaid's Tale," first appeared onscreen in the HBO original "Vendetta," a historical film that explores the 1891 New Orleans mass lynching of 11 Italian Americans. In 2001, Brugel played future soldier Private Geko in the sci-fi slasher film "Jason X," which imagined Jason as a cyborg monster. She also acted in a handful of made-for-TV films including the 2004 CBS miniseries "Category 6: Day of Destruction," exploring the notion of a three-front hurricane forming a superstorm over Chicago amid a hacker attack. She also starred in the Syfy horror "Kaw," which is exactly what it sounds like it is: a mash-up of "The Birds" and Moira's "The Crows Have Eyes" from "Schitt's Creek." For her work in the film "Sex After Kids," Brugel won an ACTRA award. Before appearing on "The Handmaid's Tale," Brugel appeared on quite a few sci-fi series and dramas with small but loyal fan communities like the spy-fi "Nikita," "Warehouse 13," "Dark Matter," and "Orphan Black."

One of the younger members of the cast of "The Handmaid's Tale," McKenna Grace represents the dark Gilead practice of forcing children to marry. As the gutsy teen bride Esther Keyes, Grace gives a performance that is far beyond her young years — unsurprising for an actor with more screen credits than many adults twice her age. Grace started acting at a very young age on the Disney XD series "Crash & Bernstein," where she played Jasmine Bernstein from 2012 through 2014. From 2013 through 2015, she appeared in the regular role of Faith Newman on the daytime drama "The Young and the Restless." After appearing on several Disney series and an episode of "The Vampire Diaries," Grace was cast as the daughter of James Van Der Beek's character on "CSI: Cyber," after which she went on to play Emma Swan as a child on "Once Upon a Time." In addition to recurring roles on "Young Sheldon" and "Fuller House," Grace also appeared as a young Theo Crain on "The Haunting of Hill House" and Penny Kirkman on "Designated Survivor." She has also appeared in quite a few films, including "Ready Player One," "Captain Marvel," and "Ghostbusters: Afterlife."