Why These Hulu Original Actors Look So Familiar

An adaptation of Margaret Atwood's seminal dystopian novel, The Handmaid's Tale is a gripping, frequently horrifying show that is often a little too close to real life. In the central role of Commander Fred Waterford, Joseph Fiennes has an incredibly difficult job, in that he has to play an entirely reprehensible human being but still find a way to make him a real, nuanced person. As Commander, he "owns" women who bear his name — specifically, Offred (Elisabeth Moss) — that he must also forcibly impregnate, particularly because Commanders maintain wives who can no longer bear children. Despite several attempts on his life, Waterford is still very much alive to torment Offred (whose real name is June), and Fiennes has remained a regular on the series through its third season.

Before his turn as Waterford, Fiennes played at least one other hateful character — during his one-season tenure on American Horror Story, he appeared as Monsignor Timothy Howard in Asylum, a man of the cloth running a corrupt and terrifying home for the criminally insane. However, his most famous role is definitely his most likable, as the Bard himself in 1998's Best Picture winner Shakespeare in Love opposite Gwyneth Paltrow. He also comes from a family of famous thespians; his brother, Ralph Fiennes, has played everybody from Charles Dickens to Lord Voldemort, and his nephew, Hero Fiennes-Tiffin, played young Voldemort in the Harry Potter series as well.

Men hold all the power in Gilead, the main republic in the world of The Handmaid's Tale, and Commander Nick Blaine is no exception. As the show begins, he's merely a driver for Commander Waterford, but he rises through the ranks despite some notably rebellious behavior, including carrying on an illicit affair with June and seemingly helping her escape before June discovers that he is secretly an "Eye" — a spy for the Republic. Nick's feelings for June seem to be real, but considering his deception, nothing about Nick is what it seems.

The man behind the character, Max Minghella, has worked in television and film for quite some time, racking up plenty of credits before he joined Handmaid's Tale. Minghella's breakout role came in Art School Confidential in 2006, and in just a few years, he scored a hefty role in David Fincher's Oscar-nominated film The Social Network as Divyra Narendra, friend and accomplice to the Winklevoss twins. You might also remember him from his other high-profile television role on Mindy Kaling's The Mindy Project, where he popped up occasionally as Danny Castellano's (Chris Messina) younger brother Richie.

Letterkenny is home to a pretty small cast, so the core actors who appear on the show have to shoulder plenty of responsibility, requiring a solid amount of talent. K. Trevor Wilson, who plays Squirrely Dan on Letterkenny, is just one example of that. As Squirrely Dan, Wilson plays a total country boy, but apparently, he's nothing like his character in real life, proving that this comedian is definitely transformative in his performance. 

In the rest of the world (particularly in the United States), Wilson is better known for his stand-up routine, which he's performed on late night shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live!, as well as his notable appearance on Comedy Central's Roast Battle. You're likely to see more of him as he continues to build up his comedy reputation beyond his work in Canada. You might also recognize a younger version of Wilson; as a child, he made frequent appearances on the hit children's horror show Goosebumps.

The Cusack family is extremely well known in the acting world, between John Cusack's iconic romantic comedy performance in Say Anything and Joan Cusack's Oscar-nominated turn in Working Girl. But don't forget about Ann Cusack, sister to both Joan and John and a storied actress in her own right. During the first season of Castle Rock, the third Cusack appears as Theresa Porter, the new warden at the very familiar Shawshank State Penitentiary. During her tenure, she covers up the existence of a supernatural force known as "The Kid" (Bill Skarsgård) who has been held at Shawshank without real cause for nearly 30 years.

Before she decided to spend some time in Stephen King's version of Maine, Cusack kept plenty busy, popping up in everything from Grey's Anatomy to Scandal to Criminal Minds to Boston Legal. Her biggest other television appearances have been a role on the first season of FX's anthology series Fargo and a part on AMC's lauded Better Caul Saul, where she has played Rebecca Bois since the second season. 

As one half of the Difficult People duo, all Billy Eichner had to do was live up to the title, and thanks to his chemistry with his co-star (and the show's creator), Julie Klausner, he handled that challenge with aplomb. Playing Billy and Julie, the two made their way through New York City as two aspiring but completely unsuccessful comedians, insulting everybody from Jimmy Fallon to Blue Ivy Carter along the way and finding themselves in increasingly ridiculous situations. Unfortunately, the show was canceled after its third season, despite a rollickingly funny slate of episodes, an executive producing credit from Amy Poehler, and high-profile guest spots from stars like Nathan Lane and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

However, Billy Eichner's star has been on the rise long before Difficult People, and he's still got plenty of work ahead of him. For years, Eichner has been running an extremely original game show-type series called Billy on the Street, which originated as a web series where he screamed questions at complete strangers on the street. It's now evolved into a web series where he brings various celebrities with him, from Emma Stone to Paul Rudd, and, well, screams questions at complete strangers on the street. He was also seen in Parks & Recreation as Craig in the show's final two seasons and can be heard in 2019's hyper-realistic Lion King remake as Timon, receiving plenty of praise for his voice performance and improvisation.

Shows about cults and mysteries have been all the rage throughout the past couple of years. It's no surprise that Hulu got in on the craze with The Path, which focuses on a fictional, super-intense religion known as Meyerism. Founded by the late Stephen Meyer, Meyerism places a specific focus on healing your own suffering so that you can cure the suffering of others, but of course, there's plenty of corrupt elements involved. Hugh Dancy plays Cal Roberts, one of the biggest champions and leaders of Meyerism. One of his followers is the devout Eddie Lane, played by Aaron Paul, who changes his way of life after a rough past.

Of course, Aaron Paul is one of the most recognizable faces in prestige TV; for the entire run of Breaking Bad, he starred alongside Bryan Cranston as Jesse Pinkman, an addict who ends up making meth with Cranston's Walter White when the former chemistry teacher needs money for his cancer treatment. His time on the show netted him a whopping three Emmy Awards as well as international acclaim, and he clearly remembers his time on the show fondly, maintaining a good relationship with Cranston. Since The Path ended its run in 2018, he has provided his voice to Netflix's BoJack Horseman, on which he also serves as an executive producer. In the fall of 2018, it was announced that he would join the cast of HBO's Westworld for its third season.

One of Hulu's quirkier projects, Future Man boasts a pretty stacked comedic cast, including Ed Begley Jr., Eliza Coupe (Happy Endings), the late Glenne Headly, and Haley Joel Osment (as he attempts to break out of his past as a child star in The Sixth Sense and A.I.). But a particular standout is Josh Hutcherson, who stars as a janitor unexpectedly called upon to save the world when characters from his favorite video game, Biotic World, come to life and ask for his help. Alongside the main cast, comedians like Paul Scheer and Awkwafina hold recurring roles on the show, and just to add even more comedic pedigree, the whole thing is produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. In 2019, the series was renewed for a third and final season.

This marks the first starring television role for Hutcherson, who previously rose to fame in a series of blockbuster films. After appearances in films like Bridge to Terabithia and The Kids Are All Right, he hit box office gold with the Hunger Games franchise, where he made up a part of the main trio of characters with Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth. As Peeta Mellark, the baker's son who ends up competing in a fight to the death for his district, Hutcherson brought real heart to the dystopian franchise, appearing in all four films and cementing himself as a talented young actor with a great career ahead of him.