History Main / TagAlongActor

[[folder:Film]]

* In ''Film/DickieRobertsFormerChildStar'', when Rob Reiner asks whether he had seen Dickie valet parking at a restaurant (Dickie's "day job"), Dickie confirms he was but claims he was doing research for a role in a movie titled "Valet Parking".

* One episode of ''Series/MidsomerMurders'' had an actor boyfriend of Cully's riding along with Barnaby and Jones to research the role of a detective sergeant. It's a comment of his that gives Barnaby the EurekaMoment.

* ''Series/ForeverKnight'': In "Amateur Night," an actress shadows police detectives Nick and Schanke to research for a movie role. She ends up getting too involved in the case, putting herself and others in danger. In a humorous parallel, Schanke learns more about the movie business and decides he wants to pursue an acting career.
* ''Series/SueThomasFBEye'': In the two-parter "The Actor" and "Planes, Trains & Automobiles," the movie star Adam Kinsey shadows FBI agents as they investigate a possible terrorist threat. He constantly questions their actions, and the one time they agree to his request (cuffing a suspect's hands in front rather than behind her back) it ends badly (she is now able to take poison and kill herself). Reinforces the show's usual [[AnAesop Aesop]] about how law enforcement knows best and is doing the right thing, even if their reasoning is not readily apparent to an outsider.
* ''Series/{{CSI}}'''s "I Like To Watch" had a TV crew following the [=CSIs=]. This presented many opportunities to hang some lampshades on the show's familiar tropes; the crew mentions that "beautiful people solving crimes" was a good idea for a show, Hodges bemoans that TheCSIEffect makes his job look less difficult (taking something that took him a lot of manhours and compressing into a few moments), and when Grissom makes his usual quip, the crew requests that he say it again, [[QuipToBlack this time to the camera]].

* ''Series/HermansHead''. An actor works with Herman to fulfill this trope. He starts imitating everything Herman does, much to his irritation, so Herman starts to act in an increasingly ridiculous manner, dancing around the room with the actor following, ending with Herman poised in a ballet position. Unfortunately, Herman's boss walks in; the actor quickly pretends to be busy reading a file while the unknowing Herman is still imitating a ballerina.
* ''Series/HillStreetBlues'' had a particularly naive young actor spend most of an episode making a bloody nuisance of himself before trying to talk his way into going along on a stakeout with Detective Belker. Despite being told what a stupid idea this is by Belker ''and'' Captain Furillo, he tags along in secret and gets caught in the crossfire and killed when it ends in a shootout.
* In an episode of ''Series/BlueBloods'', a famous actor shadows Danny throughout the day. In an aversion of how this trope is typically portrayed, he does ''not'' get on Danny's nerves (he's actually more annoyed by his wife, sister, and niece showing up at the police station to meet the guy), nor does he interfere with his work. The real drama comes from the guy being stabbed in what he tries to pass off as a mugging but later admits is the result of an ill-fated anonymous gay hookup.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'': A Hollywood actress who is going to be playing a spy tags along with ISIS agents to get into character. [[spoiler:It turns out she's a Russian sleeper agent and kills some political ambassador while Archer and Lana aren't taking her seriously. She was sad about her movie career but consoled herself with the fact that the Russians had offered her the chance to start [[DirectedByCastMember directing]].]]

* ''Series/{{Castle}}''

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'': A Hollywood actress who is going to be playing a spy tags along with ISIS agents to get into character. [[spoiler:It turns out she's a Russian sleeper agent and kills some political ambassador while Archer and Lana aren't taking her seriously. She was sad about her movie career but consoled herself with the fact that she could be a Russian movie superstar.]]

* ''Film/{{Showtime}}'', starring Creator/EddieMurphy and Creator/RobertDeNiro. This one put a slight twist on it as Eddie Murphy's character ''was'' a cop, but was more interested in launching an acting career, while De Niro's character was frustrated that Murphy did not take his police duties seriously

* In an episode of ''Series/BlueBloods'', a famous actor shadows Danny throughout the day. In an aversion of how this trope is typically portrayed, he does ''not'' get on Danny's nerves (he's actually more annoyed by his wife, sister, and niece showing up at the police station to meet the guy), nor does he interfere with his work. The real drama comes from the guy being stabbed in what he tries to pass off as a mugging but later admits is the result of an ill-fated anonymous gay hook-up.

[[folder: Film ]]

* In ''Film/TropicThunder'', extreme method actor Kirk Lazarus mentions at one point having prepped for his third Oscar winning role by working in a Beijing textile factory for 8 months.

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Live-Action TV ]]

* ''Series/ForeverKnight'': In "Amateur Night," an actress shadows police detectives Nick and Schanke to research for a movie role. She ends up getting too involved in the case, putting herself and others in danger. In a humorous parallel, Schanke learns more about the movie business and decides he wants to purse an acting career.

* ''Series/HermansHead''. An actor works with Herman to fulfill this trope. He starts imitating everything Herman does, much to his irritation, so Herman starts to act in an increasingly ridiculous manner, dancing around the room with the actor following, ending with Herman poised in a ballet position. Unfortunately Herman's boss walks in; the actor quickly pretends to be busy reading a file while the unknowing Herman is still imitating a ballerina.

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

** Another episode had Mr. Burns hire Creator/MichaelCaine to impersonate Homer in order to convince Bart that he (Homer) didn't love him (Bart) any more. Later in the episode Homer [[BrickJoke mentions]] that Caine had followed him around trying to get a handle on his character.

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* For the film ''Film/{{Ray}}'', Creator/JamieFoxx studied Music/RayCharles to better mimic him. After a few weeks he stopped visiting Ray saying that a 73-year-old Ray Charles couldn't help him in portraying a 19-year-old Ray Charles, up until age 49, by the movie's ending.

* For the film ''Flm/{{Ray}}'', Creator/JamieFoxx studied Music/RayCharles to better mimic him. After a few weeks he stopped visiting Ray saying that a 73-year-old Ray Charles couldn't help him in portraying a 19-year-old Ray Charles, up until age 49, by the movie's ending.

* Creator/DustinHoffman spent a year working with autistic men and their families to understand their complex relationships as a preparation for his role in ''RainMan''.

** In one episode, James Woods researches the job of a Kwik-E-Mart employee as a reference to ''The Hard Way''.

* ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' has [[IdiotHero Josh Birk]], star of an [[ShowWithinAShow in-universe parody of]] {{Twilight}}, who kicks off the plot by [[IdiotBall getting the Saints arrested]] after talking them into letting him tag along for a bank robbery. He is later kidnapped to publicly humiliate [[StateSec STAG]], [[spoiler: and can possibly be unlocked as a LethalJokeCharacter]].

** Another episode had Mr. Burns hire MichaelCaine to impersonate Homer in order to convince Bart that he (Homer) didn't love him (Bart) any more. Later in the episode Homer [[BrickJoke mentions]] that Caine had followed him around trying to get a handle on his character.

* ''Film/TheHardWay'': An action movie from 1991 starring MichaelJFox and James Woods, in which an action movie star shadows a police detective for research so he will be taken more seriously as an actor.

* VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird has [[IdiotHero Josh Birk]], star of an [[ShowWithinAShow in-universe parody of]] {{Twilight}}, who kicks off the plot by [[IdiotBall getting the Saints arrested]]. He is later kidnapped to publicly humiliate [[StateSec STAG]], [[spoiler: and can possibly be unlocked as a LethalJokeCharacter]].

!Examples:
[[AC: {{Film}}]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:Live-Action TV]]

[[AC: VideoGames]]

[[AC: WesternAnimation]]

[[AC: RealLife]]