Why These Netflix Stars Look So Familiar

Ryan Reynolds leads the numerically identified cast of characters in 6 Underground, a Michael Bay blow-'em-up-and-shoot-'em-up thrill ride. Reynolds plays a vigilante known only as "One," while Adria Arjona plays an equally justice-minded doctor named "Five." Only breaking into filmed entertainment in 2012, Arjona has already landed a number of high-profile roles in big TV shows and major movies, and usually of the fantasy or science-fiction variety. In 2017, she landed the lead role in a network show, portraying Dorothy Gale on NBC's Emerald City, a dark and bizarre take on The Wizard of Oz. Shortly after, she co-starred in the blockbuster sequel Pacific Rim: Uprising as Jules Reyes, part of the Pan-Pacific Defense Corps. While also finding supporting roles in the college comedy Life of the Party, the Colin Farrell-fronted second season of True Detective, and the Spiderverse movie Morbius, Arjona portrayed modern-day good witch and prophecy interpreter Anathema Device in Amazon's adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's apocalyptic comic novel Good Omens. But her voice may be most familiar: Arjona is the voice of Ramirez, a character in the extremely successful video game Fortnite.

Not only is the actress who portrayed the partly psychic Theodora Crain recognizable for her on-screen work, but chances are horror fans will appreciate what she's done behind the scenes as well. After starring in TV guest roles and short films for close to a decade, Kate Siegel decided to put pen to paper and create her own story to star in with 2016's Hush, which also debuted on Netflix.

Siegel co-wrote Hush's script with her husband, director Mike Flanagan, whose film Oculus she previously starred in. The two went on to partner on several other memorable screen projects, with her starring in his film Ouija: Origin of Evil as well as his adaptation of Stephen King's Gerald's Game and the Netflix series based on Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. Siegel and Flanagan have also teamed up to co-write an adaptation of Patrick Carman's YA novel 13 Days to Midnight.

Allison Williams' turn as the musical prodigy Charlotte in The Perfection made for a hair-raising experience for audiences of the stomach-churning Netflix suspense thriller, but it's far from the first place fans have seen her. The daughter of famed NBC anchor Brian Williams, she studied at Yale University, where she joined the improv comedy group Just Add Water. After creating and starring in a series of royal wedding-themed Funny or Die sketches, she enjoyed an early career breakout as Marnie Michaels in HBO's critically revered dramedy series Girls, for which she received a Critics' Choice Award nomination. Williams also impressed audiences with her stage work in the gender-bent title role of NBC's musical production Peter Pan Live! She further enjoyed guest roles in series like The Mindy Project and A Series of Unfortunate Events. 

While Williams was first known for her work on the small screen, she also made a lasting impression as the duplicitous Rose Armitage in Jordan Peele's 2017 horror film Get Out and was nominated alongside her co-stars for a Screen Actors Guild Award for the role. She will continue to explore her newfound penchant for thrillers with a leading role in Mikael Macimain's Horizon Line, a survival film about a couple whose small plane pilot suffers a heart attack and strands them mid-air above the Indian Ocean.

Netflix broke a lot of hearts when it declined to renew its quirky teen dramedy series Everything Sucks! The coming-of-age story featured a captivating love connection between lead Kate Messner and the series' fascinating ingenue Emaline. The actress portraying the latter, Sydney Sweeney, had been working her way up in the television world at the time, having enjoyed guest roles in a bevy of shows including Criminal Minds, 90210, Grey's Anatomy, and Pretty Little Liars. She'd also done a handful of films, including The Bling Ring.

However, it was after Everything Sucks! that things really began to fall into place for Sweeney. She soon landed the heartbreaking role of Eden Spencer in the second season of Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale. The role may have been short-lived, but she won't soon be forgotten by fans of the show. She went on to star in a major role as Alice in HBO's adaptation of Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects, and she'll return to the same network for its remake of the Israeli series Euphoria. Meanwhile, her film career is beginning to flourish as well, as she'll be seen in Jason Orley's Big Time Adolescence and Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

After bringing Weeds and Orange is the New Black to TV, Jenji Kohan has another series about a little-explored aspect of the criminal justice system on the way. She'll executive produce Slutty Teenage Bounty Hunters, a Netflix show about two fraternal twin sisters who team up with a well-established bounty hunter in pursuit of criminals who jumped bail in exchange for cash, all while remaining in school and pursuing active romantic lives. An up-and-coming actress named Anjelica Bette Fellini has landed the role of Blair, one of the two aforementioned bad guy-nabbing twins. 

Landing a title part in a major Netflix show is all the more impressive considering that Fellini has been acting professionally for only about two years. After appearing in some short films, she scored the recurring role of Rebecca Hoover, a.k.a. Twist, a dangerous, parent-killing mutant on Fox's short-lived X-Men universe series The Gifted. With that show canceled, Fellini is free to work on Slutty Teenage Bounty Hunters, along with featured roles in two films, Sid is Dead and The French Dispatch.

Fionn Whitehead may not have achieved household name status yet, but his turn as the playable game developer Stefan in Black Mirror: Bandersnatch certainly got him close to it. An unusual experiment from the creators of the tech-based anthology show, Bandersnatch is interactive, requiring audiences to actively participate in the character's journey. Stefan is front and center for the many hours of possible action ahead in the interactive story.

Prior to becoming the nerdy existentialist in the game/movie, though, Whitehead was already well on his way to stardom. The British thespian previously starred in the title role of ITV's mini-series HIM, the story of a boy who discovers he has telekinetic powers. He then landed a part in Christopher Nolan's gripping war epic Dunkirk. This kicked off a string of roles that's included the film adaptation of Ian McEwan's The Children Act, the upcoming drama Roads, and the thriller Don't Tell a Soul. 

Despite his current climb, Whitehead doesn't necessarily want you to know his name so much as his work. As he once told The Evening Standard, "I don't feel the need to go and make everyone like me because, to be honest, I'm not looking to be friends with the world. I'd much rather people watch the things that I'm in." Maybe that "accept" or "refuse" prompt on Bandersnatch would come in handy for his real life.

Tom Hopper was already quite the TV veteran before he stepped into the space boots of Luther Hargreeves a.k.a. Number One for Netflix's The Umbrella Academy. Although this adaptation of the comics by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá might be Hopper's most recent TV role, he got his start way back in 2007 with a guest role on Casualty and went on to appear in an episode of Doctor Who and the police procedural mini-series Good Cop.

Hopper's small screen career flourished with several regular roles as well, including his part as Sir Percival in the BBC's Merlin and as Bones in Starz's Black Sails. Hopper likely caught the most attention in his short-lived turn as Dickon Tarly, the favored brother of Samwell Tarly, who was burned to death by Daenerys Targaryen's dragon in Game of Thrones. He's also been seen in a few films, including Northmen – A Viking Saga and the romantic comedy I Feel Pretty. Hopper knows that his visage lends itself to strongman roles like Luther, but he told Elle Magazine that he doesn't want to be restricted to roles that peg him as "a big guy."

On My Block hit Netflix in 2018, earning raves from critics in part because it's one of the few TV series to tackle the experience of growing up a teenager in America from the point of view of people of color. Jason Genao was a breakout On My Block star portraying Ruben "Ruby" Martinez," a math genius and the moral compass of his social group. Ruby is Genao's biggest acting showcase to date in a career that's barely underway. He was already in the Netflix family, with the recurring role of Napoleon on the hip-hop historical series The Get Down. He also guest starred on episodes of Law and Order: SVU and the inspirational CBS drama God Friended Me. Apart from On My Block, Genao is most recognizable for his role as Julio Richter, or Rictor, one of the young members of the X-23 genetic experiment in Hugh Jackman's Wolverine swan song, Logan.

Netflix's film version of Jenny Han's young adult novel To All the Boys I've Loved Before proved so popular that the streamer quickly produced a sequel, To all the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You, featuring the further quirky and embarrassing romantic adventures of teenager Lara Jean Covey (Lana Condor). The main object of her desires this time (and childhood crush) is John Ambrose McClaren, played by actor Jordan Fisher. While he's a familiar face in teen-directed cable entertainments of the past decade — he was Jacob on The Secret Life of the American Teenager and Holden Dippledorf on Liv and Maddie — he's primarily a song and dance man. Fisher is a familiar presence in the recent slew of made-for-TV musicals, from original productions like Teen Beach Movie and Teen Beach 2 (he played Seacat), to Rent: Live (documentary filmmaker Mark Cohen) and Grease Live (T-Bird member Doody). He also won the 25th season of Dancing with the Stars and went on to host spinoff Dancing with the Stars: Juniors.

Portraying the supporting role in The Irishman of William "Bill" Bufalino, a lawyer who represented the Teamsters labor union as well as many organized crime figures, is one of today's most notable dramatic character actors: Ray Romano, who previously appeared in another Martin Scorsese production, the short-lived, '70s-set HBO music industry drama Vinyl. It's a little surprising that Romano wound up a dramatic actor, as he spent the previous few decades of his career as a stand-up comedian and one of the most famous sitcom stars of all-time. 

From 1996 to 2005, Romano starred in Everybody Loves Raymond as Ray Barone, an exasperated sportswriter contending with the demands of his wife and kids, plus his sad-sack brother and meddling parents (who lived across the street). That series won Romano an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, and after that show ended its long run, he co-created and starred on TNT's acclaimed Men of a Certain Age, and followed it up with a stint on Parenthood. He recently returned to comedy (albeit dark comedy) with a starring role on the TV version of Get Shorty.

Netflix's Missouri-set family drama-meets-crime saga Ozark is loaded with both big stars. Jason Bateman plays Chicago finance guy turned backwoods money launderer Marty Byrde, while Laura Linney stars as his wife Wendy, desperate to maintain normalcy. But newcomer Julia Garner steals the show, and is the only cast member to win an Emmy Award, for her work as Marty's scrappy, savvy, but sensitive local accomplice, Ruth Langmore. While Garner landed supporting roles throughout the 2010s in fare like The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, she's worked prolifically in television, both cable and streaming, since Ozark debuted in 2017. She portrayed Michele Jones, real-life wife of Branch Davidian leader David Koresh, on the miniseries Waco, recurred as Kimberly Breland in the latter seasons of The Americans, and played a pivotal role in Dirty John, Bravo's adaptation of a true-crime podcast. Her most notable non-Ozark role is Ellie Landsberg, the narcotically-accessed memory of Emma Stone's troubled character on the futuristic Netflix dramedy Maniac.

Lost Girls is full of powerful performances from recognizable faces. Amy Ryan (Holly from The Office) stars as Mari Gilbert, a real person who led the investigation into the disappearance of her daughter, which led to the discovery of multiple, serial killer-related deaths of sex workers. Another familiar actor from way back in Lost Girls is Thomasin McKenzie, who co-stars as Sheree Gilbert, one of Mari's other daughters and partners in the fight. A New Zealand native, McKenzie's first major role came at the age of 14, portraying Astrid in the third and final chapter of Peter Jackson's locally shot The Hobbit trilogy, The Battle of the Five Armies. She received accolades from multiple film societies and festivals for her role as Tom, daughter of a man suffering from PTSD (Ben Foster) living in the woods in Leave No Trace. She went on to portray Queen Philippa of Denmark in The King, Netflix's epic adaptation of Shakespeare's King Henry tetralogy. But McKenzie's most career-making work to date is easily playing Elsa, the Jewish girl hiding out in an attic in Nazi Germany who kills the hate in the mind of the title character of Jojo Rabbit.

The teen novel All the Bright Places was the new The Fault in Our Stars, the story of two teens deeply affected by the effects of illness (in this case, mental illness) who find love in their tiny Indiana hometown. Starring as young Theodore Finch, a young man suffering from an undiagnosed case of bipolar depression, is actor Justice Smith. Speaking of The Fault in Our Stars, the success of the film version of that John Green novel led to the production of another movie based on one of the author's titles: the romantic mystery Paper Towns. In that YA movie, Smith played Marcus "Radar" Lincoln, best friend to main character and fellow nerdy teen, Q. After an 11-episode run on Netflix's early-hip-hop show The Get Down, Smith nabbed parts in two back-to-back blockbusters. In Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, that's him as systems analyst Franklin Webb, and in Detective Pikachu, he portrayed wannabe trainer turned sleuth Tim Goodman, a.k.a. the film's most prominent non-CGI, non-animal character.

Eddie Murphy earned some of the best reviews of his life for the 2019 Netflix feature Dolemite is My Name, the story of comedian and filmmaker Rudy Ray Moore in his journey to make the classic '70s Dolemite movies. Ron Cephas Jones co-stars as Ricco, a homeless man whose utterance of the word "Dolemite" inspires the whole story. Something of a late bloomer, Jones didn't start appearing on screens until he was nearly 40, landing guest star roles on various early '90s crime shows like NYPD Blue, Law and Order, and New York Undercover. But his most famous roles have all come over the last half decade. On USA's complicated conspiracy drama Mr. Robot, Jones portrayed Leslie Romero, one of the original fsociety hackers, into the show's second season. Jones also landed roles on Netflix's late-'70s-set The Get Down (sax-playing salon owner Winston Kipling) and Luke Cage (chess king Bobby Fish). But Jones likely earned the most attention of his career for his role on NBC's phenomenally popular tearjerker This Is Us as William Hill, biological father of the adopted Randall Pearson (Sterling K. Brown). Jones was nominated for three Emmy Awards for his role, winning the prize in 2018.

Over the course of Coffee & Kareem, a kid gets in way over his head with Detroit criminals when a childish scheme goes awry and he encounters a character with the highly descriptive and unforgettable name of "French Canadian Terminator." While actor Jesse Hutch isn't French Canadian, he is Canadian, born in the predominantly English-speaking province of Alberta. He didn't have to go all that far from home to make a living as an actor, amassing a number of credits on some of the many American teen dramas and sci-fi shows that based production in Canada. Hutch put in brief appearances on Dark Angel, Smallville, Tru Calling, Kyle XY, and Once Upon a Time. His most famous role was also on a show for teens, NBC's moderately popular American Dreams, set in the mid-century against the backdrop of the early '60s and the filming of American Bandstand. Hutch portrayed Jimmy Riley, dance partner of main character Meg Pryor (Brittany Snow) who goes off to fight in the Vietnam War and comes home severely injured. More recently, Hutch was a semi-regular on the second season of Arrow as Officer Daily.

In The Wrong Missy, a 2020 entry in the Adam Sandler/Happy Madison canon of Netflix originals, David Spade stars as a guy trapped on a company retreat with the obnoxious, overbearing Missy — he'd meant to invite along a beauty queen named Melissa, only to accidentally text a woman with whom he shared a nightmarish blind date also named Melissa. (In other words, the "wrong" Missy.) 

Holding her own in a cast of comedy veterans as the over-the-top and truly weird Missy is Lauren Lapkus. In 2014, she landed her most high-profile film role to that point, playing babysitter Tracy in Adam Sandler's Blended. The following year, she popped up in Jurassic World as control room worker Vivian. More recently, Lapkus has landed major roles in a couple of big comedies. In Will Ferrell's Holmes & Watson, she turned in a wacky, near-silent performance as the supposedly feral human Millie, and in Between Two Ferns: The Movie, she played cable access producer Carol Hunch. Lapkus has worked primarily in television, with regular supporting roles on the sitcoms Are You There, Chelsea? and Clipped. She also had recurring roles on Crashing, as Jess, the unfaithful estranged wife of Pete Holmes' character, and on The Big Bang Theory as comic shop employee Denise.