You played yourself: Our 25 favorite celebrity cameos

Al Pacino has an Oscar. To many, he is one of the greatest actors of his generation. He’s the star of “The Godfather” trilogy! Who could have ever seen Pacino playing himself in a bad Adam Sandler comedy? Pacino plays a key role in the film “Jack & Jill,” where Sandler plays two characters who are brother and sister. Al Pacino does a rap for Dunkin’ Donuts. It’s worse than you’re thinking.

People have been poking fun at James Van Der Beek ever since he said the words “I don’t want your life.” Fortunately, Van Der Beek is happy to be in on the joke. It wasn’t surprising that the “Varsity Blues” star would be a main cast member on the sitcom “Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23.” What was a bit of a surprise is that he played a parody version of himself.

Willis has played himself a few times, but we’re going to highlight the little-seen Hollywood satire “What Just Happened?” In the movie, Willis is portraying a difficult version of himself, which rumors and murmurs would indicate is not exactly a stretch. Specifically, in the film, Willis refuses to shave his beard for a movie, which causes consternation on the movie set.

Murray has led his deadpan charm to a couple of roles where he spoofs himself. First, he did it in “Space Jam,” where he has many of the only funny lines in the movie. Then, famously he showed up in “Zombieland.” There, he pokes fun at some of his career decisions, particularly lending his voice to Garfield.

Harris has become quite prominent in recent years, so it can be hard to remember that he was out of the spotlight for a while there. Between “Doogie Howser” and him hosting every other award show, Harris made a memorable turn in “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle” as a libidinous, revolting version of himself. As the years went on he showed up in the sequels as well, just raising the level of insanity.

In “Ocean’s 11,” Brad Pitt’s character teaches celebrities how to play poker as a gig. While a few different famous faces show up, Grace definitely stands out among the group. He gets the most lines and makes the biggest impact. The “That ‘70s Show” star is genuinely funny as himself.

In terms of actors playing themselves on TV, Weathers may be the most delightful of the bunch. The man who played Apollo Creed shows up in the seminal sitcom “Arrested Development” as a guy who is always looking for a bargain or a hustle. In addition to being Tobias’ acting teacher, Weathers is definitely an aficionado at getting a stew goin’.

There are many celebrity cameos in “Zoolander.” We could honestly go with Garry Shandling as the best of the bunch even though he doesn’t even say a word. David Bowie also definitely makes a splash. That being said, Zane’s role is probably the funniest, even if it mostly relies on Owen Wilson’s Hansel saying “Listen to your friend Billy Zane. He’s a good dude.”

“Being John Malkovich” is exceedingly meta, to be sure. After all, it’s a movie about people finding a portal into the head of actor John Malkovich, who plays himself. However, what’s even better, and what feels more like an actor poking fun at themselves, is the fact that Sheen is cast as Malkovich’s best friend and Hollywood confidante. Winning, indeed.

Julia Roberts plays Tess in “Ocean’s 11.” She also plays Tess in “Ocean’s 12.” However, it goes beyond that. In that movie, Tess poses as actress Julia Roberts, because the people in the movie notice how much she looks like Roberts. So in a way Roberts isn’t really “playing herself,” but she also sort of is. By the way, the person who realizes something is amiss? Bruce Willis as himself.

Reeves is a beloved actor, be it for comedies like “Bill & Ted,” or action films like “The Matrix” and “John Wick.” He also has a pretty distinct public persona, and the internet is quite fond of the actor. This goodwill was put to good use in the Netflix romantic comedy “Always Be My Maybe” starring Randall Park and Ali Wong. Reeves definitely makes an impression in his spoofing cameo.

Hey, when you star in “Baywatch,” you aren’t necessarily going to have a sterling reputation as an actor. He’s parodied himself a few times, usually when water is involved. That’s definitely true in “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.” In that film, SpongeBob and Patrick hitch a ride on the ‘Hoff’s back in a key moment.

Wheaton started acting as a kid and became famous on “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” That made him a fitting figure to appear in “The Big Bang Theory,” where such projects are enjoyed by the main crew. In the show, though, Wheaton is a bit of an antagonist, a snooty, arrogant actor who looks upon Sheldon and company with disdain.

There are so many examples of actors playing themselves on “The Larry Sanders Show.” We could have frankly done a list of actors poking fun at their personas just off of this show. However, we wanted to limit it to only one example. For that, we have to go with Duchovny, his particularly odd (and recurring) turn definitely stands out among the many cameos on the show.

We could make the same point about “This is the End” as we made about “The Larry Sanders Show.” It’s full of people playing versions of themselves. Michael Cera’s appearance is definitely memorable, but Watson’s stood out more. After making her name in the “Harry Potter” films, an appearance in a raunchy, R-rated comedy definitely stuck out.

Oprah is definitely an actor. She even has an Oscar nomination. When she shows up in something, it’s noteworthy. In fact, “30 Rock” heavily promoted the fact that Oprah was going to be appearing on the show. She gets to both play herself and not quite play herself, because the reveal is that Liz Lemon had only hallucinated seeing Oprah on a plane.

“Curb Your Enthusiasm” is built on Larry David playing a version of himself, so we could really stop there. However, David wasn’t really a known actor before “Curb,” instead being most famous for co-creating “Seinfeld.” Beloved couple Danson and Steenburgen both have made multiple appearances on the show. Sure, the duo is often playing the straight role to Larry’s insanity, but they still get to work in a little fun at their own expense.

We have to include Affleck and Damon as a duo for the purposes of this entry. The two show up as themselves in “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,” which is fitting because they were both in earlier Kevin Smith movies. This somewhat facile Hollywood satire features Affleck and Damon making a sequel to “Good Will Hunting,” entitled “Good Will Hunting 2: Hunting Season.” By the way, James Van Der Beek plays himself in that movie as well.

LeBlanc is one of the most-famous sitcom actors ever. He was one of the stars of “Friends,” after all, and was the only one to get a spinoff. “Joey” didn’t work, but LeBlanc found sitcom success again. In “Episodes,” a show about making a TV show, LeBlanc plays a difficult parody of himself. It wasn’t always as successful as it could have been, but “Episodes” lasted a few seasons.

People like to see classic TV personalities subvert their image. Take, for example, Florence Henderson on “30 Rock.” Yes, we went to the “30 Rock” well again, but it’s worth it. Also, we were surprised how many more men than women have gone the self-parody route, and we wanted to balance things out a bit. The once-and-future Carol Brady is brought to 30 Rock by Tracy to try and rekindle Kenneth’s love of television. She ends up chugging glass cleaner to try and get drunk in an elevator.

“Coffee and Cigarettes,” Jim Jarmusch’s movie built out of short films, features a few people playing themselves. In terms of riffing on one’s image, though, Blanchett does the best job. She’s playing up her actress persona, but that’s in part because she also plays her own (not real), twin sister. Hey, leave it to a great actor to do a great job playing themselves.

If you ask people what the most-memorable episode of “Chappelle’s Show” is, you are going to get one of two answers: The Rick James episode or the Wayne Brady episode. Brady plays against his personable, squeaky-clean image in his appearance on Dave Chappelle’s sketch comedy show. He’s basically Denzel Washington in “Training Day,” but only he’s, you know, the guy who sings songs on “Whose Line is it Anyway?”

Let’s go back to “Harry Potter.” “Extras” is another show set in showbiz, which means plenty of actors playing themselves. Patrick Stewart (and David Bowie again) had a memorable turn on Ricky Gervais’ show. Radcliffe was only 17 when he appeared on “Extras,” and he spoofed his persona by talking of nothing but sex.

Could you imagine Schwarzenegger doing “Hamlet?” You can if you’ve seen “Last Action Hero.” Schwarzenegger stars in the film, but he also has a small role as himself as the Melancholy Dane. He’s spoofing the idea of himself doing Shakespeare while doing what he does best: Blowing stuff up and shooting bad guys.

Ripa is known primarily as a TV show host, but she has acted. In fact, before she became a morning show staple she was a soap opera actress, and she’s done some acting since. This included playing herself on “Broad City.” Of course, in real life, we don’t imagine her drinking so much moonshine and being such a mess.