
A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief
guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the
performing arts
The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which involve the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. P ...
. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly either appearances in a work in which they hold some special significance (such as actors from an original movie appearing in its remake) or renowned people making uncredited appearances. Short appearances by
celebrities,
film director
A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...
s,
politician
A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...
s,
athletes or
musicians are common. A crew member of the movie or show playing a minor role can be referred to as a cameo role as well, such as director
Alfred Hitchcock who made
frequent cameo appearances in his films.
Concept
Originally, in the 1920s, a "cameo role" meant "a small character part that stands out from the other minor parts". The ''
Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...
'' connects this with the meaning "a short literary sketch or portrait", which is based on the literal meaning of "
cameo", a miniature carving on a gemstone. More recently, in the late 20th century, a "cameo" has come to refer to any short appearance as a character.

Cameos are generally not credited because of their brevity, or a perceived mismatch between the celebrity's stature and the film or television series in which they are appearing. Many are
publicity stunts. Others are acknowledgements of an actor's contribution to an earlier work, as in the case of many
film adaptations of television series, or of
remakes of earlier films. Others honour artists or celebrities known for work in a particular field, such as comic book writer
Stan Lee, who made
appearances in every Marvel Cinematic Universe movie up to ''
Avengers: Endgame.''
Cameos also occur in
novel
A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...
s and other literary works. "Literary cameos" usually involve an established character from another work who makes a brief appearance to establish a
shared universe setting, to make a point, or to offer
homage.
Balzac often employed this practice, as in his ''
Comédie humaine''. Sometimes a cameo features a historical person who "drops in" on fictional characters in a
historical novel, as when
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...
shares a
beer with Phillipe Charboneau in ''
The Bastard'' by
John Jakes.
A cameo appearance can be made by the author of a work to put a sort of personal "signature" on a story.
Vladimir Nabokov often put himself in his novels, for instance as the very minor character Vivian Darkbloom (an anagram of his name) in ''
Lolita''.
Cameos are also a tradition of
the Muppets' many projects over the years.
Film directors
Alfred Hitchcock is known for
his frequent cameos in his movies, as early as in his third film
''The Lodger'' (1927). In ''
Lifeboat'', as the action was restricted to the titular lifeboat, Hitchcock appeared in a newspaper ad.
Quentin Tarantino provides brief cameos or
small roles in all his movies.
Likewise,
Peter Jackson has made brief
cameos in all of his movies, except for his first feature-length film ''
Bad Taste'' in which he played a main character, as well as ''
The Battle of the Five Armies'', though a portrait of him appears in the film. For example, he played a peasant eating a carrot in ''
The Fellowship of the Ring'' and ''
The Desolation of Smaug'', a warrior of Rohan in ''
The Two Towers'', and a Corsair of Umbar boatswain in ''
The Return of the King''. All four were non-speaking "blink and you miss him" appearances, although in the Extended Release version of ''The Return of the King'', his character was given more screen time and his reprise of the carrot eating peasant in ''The Desolation of Smaug'' was featured in the foreground in reference to ''The Fellowship of the Ring''. In addition, when he was directing ''Heavenly Creatures'' (1994), he appeared as a person bumping who is kissed by one the main characters, and in the ''Frighteners'', Jackson appeared as a man with piercings.
;;;;
Director
Tim Burton briefly appears in his films. He made a short appearance as a street thug who confronts Pee-wee in the back alley in ''
Pee-wee's Big Adventure'', and a visitor at the fair in Blackpool who gets a skeleton thrown at him in ''
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children''.
Director
Martin Scorsese appears in the background of his films as a bystander or an
unseen character. In ''
Who's That Knocking at My Door'' (1967), he played one of the gangsters; he was a lighting crewman in ''
After Hours'' and a passenger in ''
Taxi Driver''. He opened up his film ''
The Color of Money'' with a monologue on the art of playing pool. In addition, he appeared with his wife and daughter as wealthy New Yorkers in ''
Gangs of New York'', and as a theatre-goer and can be heard as a movie
projectionist in ''
The Aviator''. He also appeared in his 2023 work ''
Killers of the Flower Moon'', in a minor role as a
radio drama
Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the liste ...
narrator.
In a same way,
Roman Polanski
Raymond Roman Thierry Polański (; born 18 August 1933) is a Polish and French filmmaker and actor. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Roman Polanski, numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, three Britis ...
appeared as a hired hoodlum in his film ''
Chinatown'', slitting Jack Nicholson's nose with the blade of his clasp knife.
F. Gary Gray has made many appearances in the films he has directed including ''
Friday'',
''Set It Off'', ''
Law Abiding Citizen'', and
''Straight Outta Compton''.
In addition to
George Lucas's cameo in
''Revenge of the Sith'', his children were cast in a number of cameo roles across the
''Star Wars'' prequels. Amanda and Katie Lucas both had cameo roles as three different characters each across
''The Phantom Menace'',
''Attack of the Clones'' and
''Revenge of the Sith'' (in addition to Amanda's voicing a fourth character), and Jett Lucas has two cameo roles for different characters in
''Attack of the Clones'' and
''Revenge of the Sith''.
Actors and writers
Directors sometimes cast well-known lead actors with whom they have worked in the past in other films. In ''
Jane Eyre'' (1943),
Elizabeth Taylor makes a cameo appearance as Helen Burns, Jane's friend from school who dies from a cold.
Mike Todd's film ''
Around the World in 80 Days'' (1956) was filled with cameo roles:
John Gielgud as an English butler,
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...
playing piano in a saloon, and others. The stars in cameo roles were pictured in oval insets in posters for the film, and gave the term wide circulation outside the theatrical profession.
''
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World'' (1963), an "epic comedy", also features cameos from nearly every popular American comedian alive at the time, including
The Three Stooges,
Jerry Lewis,
Buster Keaton and a voice-only cameo by
Selma Diamond.
Anthony Daniels made a cameo appearance in
''Attack of the Clones'', despite already starring in the film. Daniels voiced the droid
C-3PO, but also made a brief appearance (revealing the actor's actual face and body) as a patron in the background of the Outlander Club.
"Murder on High C", a 1975 episode of the TV series ''
Get Christie Love!'', which starred former ''
Laugh-In'' cast member
Teresa Graves, featured a number of her former cast members, including the villain
(
Arte Johnson),
Johnny Brown,
Judy Carne,
Henry Gibson,
Gary Owens and
Joanne Worley.
''
Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood'' (1976) features cameos by dozens of actors from Hollywood's golden age.
''
The Player'' (1992) features cameos from 65 Hollywood actors.
''
Run for Your Wife'' (2012) is filled with cameos from 80 of Britain's film and TV stars from the 1960s, '70s and '80s.
Aaron Sorkin also had cameos in some works he wrote: as a bar customer speaking about the law in his debut film screenplay ''
A Few Good Men'' (1992), as an advertising executive in ''
The Social Network'', and as a guest at the inauguration of President
Matt Santos in the final episode of ''
The West Wing''.
Franco Nero, the actor who portrayed the Django character in the original
1966 film, appears in a bar scene of the Tarantino film ''
Django Unchained''. There, he asks Django (
Jamie Foxx) to spell his name, which led to the famous promotional tagline for the film - "The 'D' is silent". Franco's character responds simply, "I know."
Many cameos featured in ''
Maverick'' (1994), directed by
Richard Donner. Among them,
Danny Glover –
Mel Gibson's co-star in the ''
Lethal Weapon'' franchise also directed by Donner – appears as the lead
bank robber. He and Maverick (Gibson) share a scene where they look as if they knew each other, but then shake it off. As Glover makes his escape with the money, he mutters "I'm too old for this shit", his character's
catchphrase in the ''Lethal Weapon'' films. In addition, a strain of the main
theme from ''Lethal Weapon'' plays in the
score when Glover is revealed. Actress
Margot Kidder made a cameo appearance in the same film as a robbed villager: she had previously starred as
Lois Lane in Donner's ''
Superman
Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...
'' (1978).
J. Michael Straczynski makes an appearance in the
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
television series
Babylon 5
''Babylon 5'' is an American space opera television series created by writer and producer J. Michael Straczynski, under the Babylonian Productions label, in association with Straczynski's Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Warner Bros. Domestic Tel ...
finale episode "
Sleeping in Light" (1998) as a maintenance man turning off the lights for the last time.
Ben Stiller,
Vince Vaughn,
Owen Wilson,
Luke Wilson and
Will Ferrell have made appearances in so many of the same films (whether as lead characters or cameos) that ''
USA Today
''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
'' coined the term "
Frat Pack" to name the group. Actor
Adam Sandler
Adam Richard Sandler (born September 9, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, producer and screenwriter. Primarily a comedic leading actor in films, List of awards and nominations received by Adam Sandler, his accolades include an Independent Sp ...
is also known for frequently casting fellow ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...
'' performers (including
Rob Schneider and
David Spade) in various roles in his films (as well as making cameo appearances of his own in theirs, most of which he co-produces).
Sam Raimi frequently uses his brother
Ted and
Bruce Campbell in his films.
The American singer/actress
Cher had a couple of cameos. She had two cameos in ''
Will & Grace'' and she even had a few in the 1990s.
Actor
Edward Norton appeared as himself in the satirical film ''
The Dictator'' (2012) starring
Sacha Baron Cohen.
The mangaka
Shotaro Ishinomori made many cameos in his ''
Kamen Rider'' series.
The animated series ''
The Adventures of Tintin
''The Adventures of Tintin'' ( ) is a series of 24 comic albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century. By 2007, a c ...
'' featured its author
Hergé in all the episodes.
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...
is famous for making short cameo appearances in almost every movie based on his novels.
''
An Adventure in Space and Time'', a drama about how ''
Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...
'' began, features many
actors from the show's past, including two past companions in a party scene, another as a mother calling her children in for dinner and a fourth in a car park at the BBC as a guard.
In the movie adaptation of ''
Les Miserables'',
Colm Wilkinson, who originated the role of Jean Valjean in the West End and on Broadway, made a cameo as the
Bishop of Digne.
In the Soviet film ''
Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears'',
Innokenty Smoktunovsky appeared for a minute as himself.
In
''Percy Jackson and the Olympians'', author
Rick Riordan
Richard Russell Riordan Jr. ( ; born June 5, 1964) is an American author, best known for writing the ''Percy Jackson & the Olympians'' series. Riordan's books have been translated into forty-two languages and sold more than thirty million cop ...
appeared as a teacher in the first episode.
Other
Films based on actual events occasionally include cameo
guest appearances by the people portrayed in them. In ''
The Pursuit of Happyness'',
Chris Gardner made a cameo at the end. ''
24 Hour Party People'', a film about
Tony Wilson, has a cameo by the real Tony Wilson and many other notable people. In the film ''
Apollo 13'',
James Lovell (the real commander of that flight) and his wife Marilyn appeared next to the actors playing them (
Tom Hanks and
Kathleen Quinlan respectively), and
Chuck Yeager, whose story is told in the early part of the film, appears in a cameo in the airfield bar.
Domino Harvey made a short appearance in the credits of ''
Domino'', while the real
Erin Brockovich had a cameo as a waitress named Julia in the
eponymous movie (where her role is played by the actress
Julia Roberts).
Sophie Wilson had a cameo as a barmaid in ''
Micro Men'', which shows her work for
Acorn Computers. In a
flashback sequence in ''
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'', Raoul Duke (played by
Johnny Depp) runs into the real-life
Hunter S. Thompson, upon whom the character of Duke is based, leading him to remark "There I was...mother of God, there I am! Holy fuck."
Stephen Hawking in popular culture lists more than a dozen appearances of the scientist playing himself.
Maria Von Trapp made an uncredited brief cameo appearance in the film version of her life, ''
The Sound of Music''. She appeared in the background during the song "I Have Confidence" with her daughter
Rosmarie and stepson Werner Von Trapp.
Jacqueline Susann, author of the best-selling novel ''
Valley of the Dolls'', appears as a TV reporter in a brief scene in
the film based upon her novel.
Tom Morello, American guitarist and musician, made an appearance in the Marvel film ''
Iron Man
Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, the character first appearan ...
'' (2008), in which he also participated in the
soundtrack
A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...
.
Elon Musk and
Larry Ellison, both founders of large technology companies, were featured in cameos in ''
Iron Man 2'' (2010).
The king of Sweden,
Carl XVI Gustaf, was in the children's program ''Mika'' () when Mika was in
Stockholm
Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
with his reindeer.
In ''
The Wolf of Wall Street'' (2013), the real
Jordan Belfort appeared as an
emcee to introduce
Leonardo DiCaprio, who played Belfort, in the final scene.
Boxer
Roberto Duran and his wife Felicidad made a cameo appearance towards the end of the film ''
Hands of Stone'' , about Duran's life.
In ''
The Big Short (film)'', the real investor
Michael Burry appeared as an employee of his hedge fund "
Scion Capital" while answering the phone saying "Doctor Burry's office".
An unusual example of a famous non-actor being given a small but speaking fictional role occurred in the ''
Star Trek: The Next Generation'' episode "
Second Chances." Dr.
Mae Jemison
Mae Carol Jemison (born October 17, 1956) is an American engineer, physician, and former NASA astronaut. She became the first African-American woman to travel into space when she served as a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavou ...
, an
astronaut
An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...
, the first Black woman in space, and a long-time fan of ''Star Trek'', was offered the opportunity to appear on the show. She was given the role of a Starfleet crewmember and a few lines, thus becoming the first real-life astronaut to appear on ''Star Trek''.
Somewhat likewise King
Abdullah II of Jordan appeared briefly in a non-speaking role the ''
Star Trek: Voyager'' episode "
Investigations".
See also
*
Allusion
*
Bit part
*
Extra
*
Crossover fiction
*
Self-insertion
References
{{Authority control
Acting
Performing arts
Film and video terminology