There has almost always been a kind of snobbish elitism Hollywood directed at television commercials. Serious actors worked on stage. Serious actors did films (not movies). Serious actors were hesitant at best to do television and commercials were embarrassing. They did however, pay the bills and provided experience and exposure. There’s certainly a difference between performing in Pulp Fiction and pitching bandages, but many a major star got their start doing TV spots. Pictured above is a 19-year-old John Travolta doing a Band-Aid commercial back in 1973.
By the way, the jingle he is singing was written by 30-year-old Barry Manilow who wrote many jingles before hits, including State Farm’s iconic, “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.” If you are up for a look back, scroll down!
It was 1989 when Ben Affleck did this Burger King commercial. It would be another 8 years before he and close friend Matt Damon would write and perform in Good Will Hunting.
The same year Ben Affleck was hawking hamburgers, Brad Pitt was pitching Pringles. He was 26 at the time.
In 1990, one year after Ben and Brad’s commercial work, a 15-year-old gave her first performance in a promo for MTV’s My Super Sweet 16. No bones about it, that was Jennifer Lawrence.
Our favorite member of the Skywalker family is still doing commercials, a recent one for Uber Eats is on the top. On the bottom is one from the early 70s for Kodak. That 20-year-old Mark Hamill appeared in the spot with Eve Plumb, who would be cast as middle daughter Jan in the Brady Bunch. It was a long time ago, but in this galaxy.
In the early 70s, this talented actor, known for his commanding, unmistakable voice, was for unknown reasons, in a commercial, on a telephone pole, pitching a mouthwash. It seems a long way from Glory but Morgan Freeman got there.
There were a great many puns that crossed our mind, but we’ll just play this as straight as Bryan Cranston would. Before he established himself as among the best actors of a generation, he did perform in a television commercial for Preparation H.