Inside every star is a real person. One unexpected (but very enjoyable) way to see this is by catching them on game shows. Some celebrities have pretty low-profile past lives. It’s crazy to think that some were on game shows as run-of-the-mill contestants before they ever entered the entertainment industry.
Other celebrities utilized the spotlight as game show hosts, which propelled many of them to bigger projects and quite accomplished careers. Here are ten actors who each got their starts in the entertainment industry on a game show of some sort.
10 Dick Van Dyke
Dick Van Dyke is most famous for his classic film and television roles, like Bert in Mary Poppins and Rob Petrie in The Dick Van Dyke Show. However, he was in entertainment long before his work on these projects.
Van Dyke served in the Air Force during World War II as a service show performer and radio announcer. A Britannica encyclopedic entry explains that Dick Van Dyke and his comedy partner pantomimed from 1947 to 1953, and Van Dyke then hosted several game shows and variety shows. Van Dyke remained a host throughout the 1950s until his Broadway and movie work took off in the 1960s.
9 Gene Patton
Gene Patton worked as a janitor in Pasadena in 1969. He then worked as a stagehand at NBC, but before long, Gene Patton became Gene Gene the Dancing Machine. He was a central fixture on a game show called The Gong Show, hosted by Chuck Barris.
Gene was loved by the crew and audience, and The Hollywood Reporter notes that he was “the first African-American member of the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees, Local 33.” Stage technicians revered Gene as a legend.
8 Steve Martin
It’s no secret that Steve Martin was also on The Gong Show. In fact, he was in loads of game shows and variety shows before some of his more prominent roles.
In the midst of writing for The Smothers Brothers, Martin went over to The Dating Game, and he did The Muppet Show a decade later. And, of course, Steve Martin had his share of fun and games in the 70s on Saturday Night Live after his time on game shows.
7 Kirstie Alley
It feels like Kirstie Alley has always been famous, but back in the late 1970s, she was an interior designer. Alley appeared on the game show Match Game in 1979 and won big.
A few years later, Kirstie Alley started to gain more formal film roles. She was in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan in 1982, and in 1983, she did a TV movie called Highway Honeys before her role in the dramatic film One More Chance.
6 Jon Hamm
Before he was famous, Mad Men’s Jon Hamm was on a little game show called The Big Date. During his 1996 moment in the spotlight, Hamm sported a classic 90s hairdo, and he was a handsome young catch.
Unfortunately, the then-25-year-old did not win a date while on the show.
5 Linda Cardellini
Linda Cardellini is often remembered for her work on Freaks and Geeks, but she’s also an old friend to the American game show world. Cardellini first appeared on television in The Price is Right in 1994. She was only 19 at the time.
In addition to this memorable TV moment, Cardellini was also on Family Feud.
4 Arnold Schwarzenegger
Did you know that Arnold Schwarzenegger was on a game show early in his career? And not just any game show, he was on The Dating Game.
This vintage game show, hosted by Jim Lange, began in 1965 and was on air for over twenty years. Arnold Schwarzenegger was on the show in 1973 with Amanda Jones, that year’s Miss USA.
3 Joey Fatone
Known more for his singing than his acting career, Joey Fatone did something pretty rad before he soared to his *NSYNC fame. He was on Nick Arcade, a 1990s Nickelodeon game show.
He didn’t win, but it’s still super cool. It also makes sense for Joey to have this early game show experience now that he has done the game of all games, The Masked Singer, as an adult.
2 Aaron Paul
Before he went on to projects like Breaking Bad, Aaron Paul was also on The Price is Right. He came close to a win in the late ’90s when Bob Barker was the host.
James Corden helped him recreate his experience two decades later. Unfortunately, the bad memories came flooding back as he lost again on Corden’s show.
1 Maggie Smith
This one is pretty mind-blowing. Maggie Smith was a host of Double Your Money back in 1955 and 1956. It’s interesting to think that game shows themselves have such a long television history. It’s even more exciting to think that an accomplished actress like Maggie Smith actually hosted such a show.
A clip of the Downton Abbey star on the game show is not readily available, but it’s still exciting to think about. She must have been fabulous to watch.
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