Time for another Before They Were Big here at Remote Patrolled - and this time we’re taking a look at Jeremy Renner, one of the stars of summer 2012 with The Avengers and The Bourne Legacy hitting movie theaters.

For most people Renner broke out in 2008 with his Oscar nominated turn in The Hurt Locker (sorry, I still think the movie is over-rated!). But like many ‘overnight successes’ the actor had been ploughing away for years and had a string of credits under his belt including a critically acclaimed turn as Jeremy Dahmer and roles in North Country and 28 Weeks Later.

Plus like many actors of his generation Renner was a frequent guest star on network TV shows, appearing in The Net, Angel and in 2001, an episode of CSI.

Speaking of which, here’s Jeremy in action, aged 31, in an episode entitled Alter Boys… hmm, reminds me of a younger Breckin Meyer (the stoner from Clueless now starring in TNT’s Franklin And Bash) – anyone else get the same vibe?

Click here to view the embedded video.

This wasn’t Renner’s last time on TV though… since CSI he’s also popped up on a 2005 episode of House and even appeared in 10 episodes of ABC’s quickly cancelled The Unusuals in 2009. Phew – bet he’s glad the latter wasn’t a hit… or there likely would have been no Mission Impossible, Avengers or Bourne… funny how fate works out!

Yesterday, over at the Huffington Post I spotted a fun feature looking at celebrities who’ve starred in McDonalds commercials – including Michael J Fox, Julianna Margulies and Christopher Meloni…

But check out the most amusing advert of the bunch – former Will and Grace star Megan Mullally shilling for the burger giant back in 1983!

Megan would have been about 25 at the time and is still instantly recognizable, with that squeaky voice that would eventually morph into the high pitched Karen Walker.

I’m a big Megan fan and think she’s been criminally wasted since her Will and Grace heyday on shows like Party Down and In the Motherhood. And let’s not even talk about that butter commercial! Someone please get Megan a starring role in a worthy 2012 Fall sitcom – she totally deserves it…

In the meantime check out Megan in action… oh and as an added bonus, look out for a young John Goodman in his pre-Roseanne days!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Time for another Before They Were Big here at Remote Patrolled – and this time around we’re taking a look at Hugh Jackman in one of his earliest TV roles…

Jackman is of course currently starring in the boxing robots movie Real Steel (a film I just can’t take seriously) but back in 1995 he landed his first major TV role, in the Australian drama Corelli.

Correlli was a prison drama that ran for 10 episodes on ABC in Australia. Jackman played the role of Kevin Jones, a convicted armed robber  whose injuries have caused brain damage – or have they?

Acting opposite Hugh is his future wife Deborah-Lee Furness, who plays the prison psychologist. As Jackman himself says, “meeting my wife was the greatest thing to come out of it.”

Check out the clips below to see Hugh in action – he and the show are actually rather good. Plus Jackman gets naked in the first two minutes!

Click here to view the embedded video.

It’s time for another Before They Were Big here at Remote Patrolled, our look back at the stars before they were famous.

Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgard has been hitting the headlines over the last couple of weeks, with the season finale of True Blood season 4 and the debut of his new movie, Straw Dogs this weekend.

By now you probably know Alex’s backstory. He’s the son of well know actor Stellan Skarsgard (Mamma Mia, Thor, Deep Blue Sea) and famously made his US debut in the Ben Stiller comedy Zoolander (one of my picks for most over-rated movie of all time).

Later Alexander would appear in HBO’s Generation Kill, before landing his big break in 2008 on True Blood.

But Skarsgard is no newcomer to the acting scene. As the son of a famous actor, he started very young back home in Sweden… check Alexander out, aged 11, in the TV series Idag Rog… no idea quite what’s going on here but it certainly looks dramatic!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Plus here’s Skarsgard a couple of years later – this time with subtitles – in the Swedish film Hunden Sum Log. Let’s just say it all looks very Swedish!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Fast forward 20 odd years and Alexander is all grown up – and about to star in next year’s Battleship – a movie that looks just as stilted and with as slight a grasp on the English language…!

Still, Alex has always got those cheekbones and abs to fall back on…

Chance are if you’ve been to see The Help at the movies you’ve become a fan of Octavia Spencer!

As put upon maid Minny in the film adaptation of the best-selling novel, Octavia steals almost every scene she’s in – and this in a movie that’s full of big characters and performances.

I’d been wondering for a while where I’d seen Octavia before and turns out it wasn’t that long ago that she was gracing the small screen with another memorable role…

Yep, back in 2008, Octavia had a guest arc on Ugly Betty, playing Constance, an INS caseworker who became obsessed with Ignacio and tried to blackmail him into marriage. As you’ll see from the clip below – the part displays more of Octavia’s trademark ‘sass’, a stereotype she’s going to have to work hard to break in future performances.

I remember Constance well – though at the time of course, Octavia was largely unknown. In typical Ugly Betty fashion, the ‘joke’ was dragged out for too long and Constance became annoying by the end of her run. But how interesting to see Spencer’s big screen success now…

Check out Octavia / Constance in action below with Hilda (Ana Ortiz)

Click here to view the embedded video.

But just a few years ago Emma Stone was a REALITY show contestant who ended up WINNING on Vh1′s long forgotten In Search Of The New Partridge Family!

Yep, in case you missed the show – and really WHY would you have watched – In Search featured a range of contestants vying to play iconic characters such as Keith, Laurie, Shirley and Danny in a Partridge family reboot.

Stone won the role of Laurie – but the show only taped a pilot episode, so the prize wasn’t really worth winning (like many reality prizes sadly!) Still it at least got Emma started on the road to stardom…

Here’s Stone in action on the show’s finale – looking (and sounding) EXTREMELY uncomfortable singing on stage with one of her ‘co-stars’.

Never mind Emma – at least you got to make out with Ryan Gosling a few years later…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Watch this cool compilation, just released on You Tube, of 25 big showbiz names in some of their earliest roles.

You’ll notice the likes of Sandra Bullock, Sean Connery, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Steve Buscemi years before they became stars. A couple of the clips you may know already – but there’s a few surprises in there too.

Check out Joseph Gordon Levitt starring in an episode of Roseanne (I remember that one too!) And wow – there’s Jack Black BEFORE he put on the weight – dare I say it, he was actually quite hot. And as for Sarah Jessica Parker, well let’s just say that she certainly grew into her looks!

I always find it fascinating watching stars in their pre-fame days. And thanks to the internet, nothing is ever forgotten! Enjoy…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Over the last couple of weeks we showcased what Chris Evans,  Ryan Gosling and James Franco were all up to before they made it famous. And today’s the turn of their fellow summer movie star Jesse Eisenberg.

Jesse is starring in the new comedy 30 Minutes Or Less (or as I call it – ‘Yet Another Attempt To Make Aziz Ansari A Star’) but is of course most well known for movies like Zombieland, The Squid And The Whale and obviously The Social Network.

But back in 2001 Jesse was still a newbie to the acting scene. Check him out in action in this UK Dr Pepper commercial, hinging on the soda’s famous tag line ‘What’s The Worst That Could Happen’…

Watch the commercial and find out for yourself… it’s Jesse playing the stock ‘Jesse Eisenberg nerdy character’ (I guess Michael Cera wasn’t available) but still interesting to see the actor at age 17 finding his feet…

Enjoy!

Click here to view the embedded video.

But before he hit the big time James Franco was just another jobbing actor – taking roles wherever he could to build up his resume and skills.

Most people know that Franco scored his big break in the cult TV series Freaks And Geeks (alongside other future stars like Seth Rogen and Jason Segel). But here’s James in a far less familiar early role – on the barely remembered Pacific Blue.

Nicknamed ‘Baywatch On Bikes‘, Blue followed a team of police officers from the Santa Monica PD who patrolled the beaches on bikes. Yep, seriously! But even more amazing than the fact that the show was commissioned in the first place was that it ran for 5 seasons  on the USA network!

As if that wasn’t bad enough – king of cheese Mario Lopez also starred in the show from 1998-2000.

Anyway for his part James played a bike shop worker who ticks off his boss and takes a bit of a beating – until the Pacific Blue team arrive – on their bikes. Sorry, I just can’t get over how gimmicky and silly the whole premise is. And to think people complain about reality TV today…

Check out James in action below (apologies for the annoying subtitles!).

So do you remember Pacific Blue? And what are your thoughts on James Franco in general – have you forgiven him for that Oscar hosting gig yet…?

Click here to view the embedded video.

It’s time for another movie star flashback – this time featuring Crazy, Stupid, Love star Ryan Gosling…

Most people know that Ryan’s first big break was on The Mickey Mouse Club - the series that also famously launched Britney, Christina and Justin…

But Mickey wasn’t Ryan’s only notable early role. 3 years after he left the Club in 1998, Ryan headed to New Zealand to star as the title character in Young Hercules, a sword and sandals series from Sam Raimi, who also oversaw the adult Hercules and Xena: The Warrior Princess (and the current Spartacus)

Though Young Hercules only made it to one season, it was a super-size series – comprising of 50 episodes in total – all filmed for an amazing $20 million TOTAL! That’s some crafty TV making. The effects came courtesy of Weta Workshop, the New Zealand based effects house that would go on to win Academy Awards for their work on the Lord of the Rings movies…

The show ran on the Fox Kids network and attracted a passionate and devoted young female audience (I wonder why). Even back then Gosling was turning heads – though as anyone who’s watched the likes of The Believer, Half Nelson and Blue Valentine knows, he’s also not lacking the talent department.

Anyway check out the show’s opening, below (unfortunately it’s been cut a little short for copyright reasons)

Click here to view the embedded video.

And check out a young Gosling in training for the role…

Click here to view the embedded video.