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"Am I in an M. Night Shyamalan movie? Does M-Dog have a cameo as the prison warden who just happens to be Indian?"
One popular form of The Cameo is to have a franchise's creator, or a film's director or producer, appear in the franchise itself.
Similar to Author Avatar, but an Author Avatar is a creator appearing as more or less himself/herself, as opposed to a cameo as someone else. Many comics will have their creators drawn in as background characters, although they rarely have dialogue. In video games, very likely to appear in any Developer's Room.
May lead to Death by Cameo, or be expanded into Descended Creator.
Examples:
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Anime
- In the film Paprika, director Satoshi Kon and original author Yasutaka Tsutsui provide the voices for the spectral bartenders at Paprika's bar. In one cast interview actor Tōru Furuya revealed that even he didn't know this until he looked at the back of the film's bill at the premiere.
- Ken Akamatsu appears to help out
 a couple of the residents of the Hinata Inn in the Love Hina Christmas Special.
- Motoko & Kitsune hijacked his boat in the New Years' special.
- He is always overtly called by his name in these situations, though... likely because no one would be able to tell who he was since he is drawn pretty much identically to Keitaro (to the surprise of no one)
- Yoshiyuki Tomino appears in Space Runaway Ideon.
- A blink-and-you'll-miss-it example: In episode 13 of Fullmetal Alchemist, Roy and Ed are having an alchemy duel and Roy sends one of his flame attacks into the crowd, causing them to fly into the air. One of the soldiers flies past the screen in such a way that his face takes up most of the screen at one point, and looks suspiciously Japanese, considering Ed's country is apparently supposed to be European of sorts. If you compare the man to a picture of the director of the anime, you'll see they're one and the same.
- The bovine self-caricature of original creator Hiromu Arakawa makes stealth appearances in several episodes as well, including the scene in which Winry is yelling at a hospitalized Ed to drink his milk, and again much later on when Sheska is describing her UFO-related conspiracy theories to Winry.
- Director Kenji Kamiyama appears briefly in one scene of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - he's driving a car in some security feed footage pulled up by Section 9 while they try to track down Hideo Kuze.
- In a One Piece movie short based on a soccer competition, the author of the manga, going by his nickname Odachii, makes an appearance as the "world's best soccer player." His kick is the only shot the goalie could catch and block. His team was not happy.
- Creator Masashi Kishimoto appears on a billboard in the third chapter of Naruto.
- Stan Lee is seen quite a lot in Hero Man.
- And in Karakuridouji Ultimo. In fact, the Stan Lee cameo (Dunstan) kicked off the plot by creating the mechanical boys.
- In the Black Jack story "Legs of an Ant", Osamu Tezuka draws himself as a passer-by warning Mitsuo about a forest fire on the road ahead. Amusingly, he has "Why am I here anyway?" written on the back of his shirt.
- Osamu Tezuka does this alot in his works. Another case has him appear as a museum tourist in Kimba the White Lion.
- He makes a few other appearances as well, such as the doctor in "Tenacity" who helps cancer-ridden medical student Yamanobe to treat another cancer patient before he dies.
- Akira Toriyama (as the little gas-mask wearing robot) makes a cameo during Dragon Ball's last filler arc. He's right there in the audience watching the tournament on the Grand Kai's planet.
- Shinichi "Nabeshin" Watanabe has made this his signature, most prominently in Excel Saga. ES gets Bonus Points for also heavily featuring Koshi Rikdo, the creator of the original comic, and many of the episode openings revolve around the two butting heads about what direction the story should go.
- Hiroaki Samura mangaka appears in the anime version of Blade Of The Immortal as a pinewheel salesman.
- Fujiki Shun also appears on several occasions in his manga Hajimete No Aku.
Comic Books
- Herge, the author of Tintin was quite fond of making cameos in his own comics, and later the cartoon series. Full list here.
- He shows up in a very heartwarming cameo in the very beginning of the Spielberg/Jackson film, as well. As the film opens, Tintin is in a flea market getting a caricature of his face drawn (in the style of the comic, naturally), and when we get a glimpse of the artist, it's Herge! He remarks that Tintin's face is very familiar, and wonders if he's drawn him before.
- Stan Lee had cameos in Marvel Comics from the beginning; he and Jack Kirby were denied access to Sue and Reed's wedding. One more memorable (and more recent cameo) casts him as the priest who marries James Hudson and Heather McNeil (Guardian and Vindicator of Alpha Flight.)
- Grant Morrison has a door in the 4th wall. He even appears in comics that he didn't write (Tales of the Unexpected #7 and Suicide Squad #58).
- Blue Beetle creators Len Wein and Paris Cullins appear in the fourth issue of Ted Kord's first DC solo series.
- Cary Bates appears in The Flash #228.
- Wikipedia has a whole page for this.
- Artist Kurt Schaffenberger drew himself into many stories he illustrated. (Look for a tall, thin, dark haired man with a mustache and wearing glasses.)
- The co-creators of Atomic Robo, writer Brian Clevinger and artist Scott Wegener, appear in Atomic Robo and the Shadow From Beyond Time #5 as Louis and Martin, respectively, the two bumbling Action Scientists who almost accidentally end the universe.
- In Dirty Pair: Fatal but not Serious, a picture of author/illustrator Adam Warren appears on the label of "Adam's Cranberry Lambic" beer.
- Creator Fred Perry of Gold Digger often loves doing these in his comics. He usually the bald black person meandering around in the background or doing news reports.
- Albert Uderzo frequently drew himself and Rene Goscinny into Astérix as background characters. In Asterix And The Black Gold, the second book after Goscinny's death, Uderzo gives him a greater role as the Gauls' Judean ally Saul ben Ephishul.
- Incredible Hulk writer Peter David cameos as the priest who officiates the wedding of the Hulk's friend Rick Jones.
- In an issue of Transmetropolitan, Spider Jerusalem is accosted in a bar by a man who wants his son mentioned in Spider's column. He bears a striking physical resemblance to the comic's writer, Warren Ellis, while the man accompanying him looks just its artist, Darick Robertson.
- In The Batman Adventures, the comic book adaptation of Batman The Animated Series, the Terrible Trio of the Perfessor, the Mastermind, and Mr Nice are based on the then DC Comics group editors: Denny O'Neil, Mike Carlin, and Archie Goodwin.
Film
Literature
- In Thomas Mann's novel The Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man, the main character successfully cons a Scottish lord who is physically identical to Mann.
- And in Mephisto, the novel by Thomas Mann's son, Klaus Mann, among several characters based on real people, there is also that of Sebastien Bruckner - based on the author's own person.
- Kim Newman's short story "Pitbull Brittan", in the Temps anthology edited by Alex Stewart, features a brief mention of a bullied schoolboy named Sandy Stewart asking the title character for help. Later in the story, Sandy's pleas having been ignored, a news report reveals he has committed suicide.
- Martin Amis in the novel Money - he beats his protagonist at chess.
- This occurs in almost every Clive Cussler novel. Cussler's character will usually give the protagonists his current vehicle to aid them in their mission.
- Jan Kantůrek, the Czech translator of Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, managed to include himself in his translation of Jingo. At one point, a character says that Carrot talked like "a little schoolteacher"; naturally, he translated the word as "kantůrek" ("little teacher"), and italicized it for good measure.
- Ayn Rand shows up in Atlas Shrugged as one of the denizens of Galt's Gulch, a fishwife who's also one of the best authors there. She notably also pines for John's affection.
- Don Quixote features a few characters discussing Cervantes' work at a Book Burning. It's massive Self-Deprecation, with the characters offering some pretty sharp criticisms.
- East of Eden being partly about the author's family, obviously has him there a few times, mainly in one intercalary chapter explaining one of his Uncles. But it's most notable that he has a scene where Adam Trask shows up to his mother's house to speak with his Grandma, and they meet as John Steinbeck and his sister stand behind their mother.
Live Action TV
Theatre
- On the 1960 Columbia recording of On the Town, composer Leonard Bernstein not only conducts but also sings the part of the barker at Coney Island ("Rajah Bimmy"). When the recording was first issued, the singer was credited as Randel Striboneen. (It also had Betty Comden and Adolph Green in their original roles, which are hardly cameos.)
Toys
- The head sculpt for the G.I. Joe action figure "Tunnel Rat" is based on Larry Hama, the longtime writer of the Joe Comic Book. This was done by the toy developers as a tribute.
Video Games
- Chris Roberts has a cameo in the big trial scene at the end of Wing Commander IV when you win the game, as the Black Lance member who proclaimed "... and I couldn't go on!"
- He also provided the voice for the Communications Officer for the TCS Coventry, one of the destroyers escorting your carrier later in Wing Commander III.
- Hideo Kojima lends his voice to Psycho Mantis' passing-on scene in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
- He also acted as the motion-capture actor for the sailor aboard the Missouri.
- He is also recruitable in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, found inside a truck at the Crater Base before fighting the Pupa.
- Yuji Naka is referenced in dialogue as a civilian in Shadow the Hedgehog.
- To win Doom 2, you must kill oremoR nhoJ.
- In the next installment, one of the guards is voiced by John Carmack. "Welcome to the Dungeon, Marine" indeed.
- Harlan Ellison, author of I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, voiced AM in the game adaptation.
- Stan Lee also continues his trend of Marvel cameos in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, appearing in-game as Senator Lieber, whom you rescue from Titanium Man. Deadpool, per his Fourth Wall breaking antics, claims he knows him from "somewhere".
- Brutal Legend has (as of its second piece of downloadable content) a bust of some guy available to put up on Mount Rockmore. The Guardian of Metal thinks he knows him from somewhere.
- Masahiro Sakurai lend his voice to King Dedede in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
- Pokémon has one in every single one of its main games. They are in the developers room. They also usually give you a certificate if you fully complete your Pokédex.
- In Pokemon Black And White, you actually get to BATTLE one of the employees. Shigeki Morimoto to be specific. Too bad he doesn't have Mew on his team...
- In Scott Pilgrim, in Lucas Lee's stage, twice a guy jumps into the action with one of those things you use to yell "Cut!" or "Action!" and begin an encounter. The guy is Edgar Wright, the director of the film.
- Sonic Team's Saturn firefighting game Burning Rangers has you rescue civilians, who email you with letters of thanks after each mission. Several of the civilians are Sonic Team members, who include cheat codes, production sketches and the like with their emails. (There's also a real-life Japanese poet who sends you a couple of poems - she's a friend of then-Team head Yuji Naka.)
- George Lucas makes a brief cameo in The Secret Of Monkey Island as a man in a troll suit.
- In Tales Of Monkey Island, there is a mention of a "Nor Treblig" (Ron Gilbert backwards) through the series, and Murray MSTing mentions many staff members of LucasArts and Telltale Games in the end credits of Chapter 3]], including Dan Connors and Kevin Bruner (whose portrayals in two picture frames as "D.C. Grosscup" and "K.B. Popnecker" appear in the Courthouse in Chapter 4).
- The first Ace Attorney has a cameo by Shu Takumi's dog Missile, as an enthusiastic (but not very useful) police dog.
- A different Missile becomes a full-on cast member in Takumi's later game Ghost Trick. This time he's a Pomeranian, which is the same breed as Takumi's Missile.
- Jacques Portsman's design is based on his voice actor, Yuuki Furukawa.
- Buddy Faith was originally based on another member of the design team, who later asked them to make Buddy look less like him. Apparently he wasn't comfortable seeing himself as a corpse.
- In a more minor example, the characters' voices are provided by members of the dev team (the localization team for the English versions) rather than dedicated voice actors - for instance, Manfred von Karma is voiced by the first game's composer, Masakazu Sugimori, in the Japanese version, while his daughter Franziska is played by localizer Janet Hsu in the English version.
- Rise of the Triad's cast of enemies consist of some members of the Developers of Incredible Power, such as George Broussard as the Triad Enforcer, Joe Siegler as Sebastian "Doyle" Krist, and Tom Hall as the Final Boss El Oscuro.
- Aquaria has a Developer's Room*) in The Abyss with two unattractive (according to Naija humorous narration) fish that happen to have hair, one short and blonde, the other long and black. Now, in case you didn't know before, one of the amazing features of this game was that it was made just about entirely by two men.
- Jane Jensen appears in Gabriel Knight : The Beast Within, on the cover of a German newspaper Gabriel picks up at the Hunt Club, and in Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned, when Gabriel looks through the bookstore's window in Rennes-le-Château.
- David Cage is modeled for and voices the intro/tutorial of Indigo Prophecy.
- While he isn't the creator, Dan Forden, who worked with sound and music for the Mortal Kombat games, would occasionally pop up in the corner of the screen and say "TOASTY!" when one of the fighters performed an uppercut. After 3, he stopped appearing, but he's back in Mortal Kombat 9
- Jeff Vogel is a fourth-wall breaking Easter Egg near the end of Avernum 3.
- In Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2, say hello to a weaponized Keiji Inafune.
- The third game of the series introduces us Keiji Inafune as a freaking battleship! Oh and he brings former Xbox Mission Division spokesman Izawa along for the ride.
- Sid Meier has served as an advisor to the player throughout the Civilization series; in later games, his digital avatar even runs the tutorial.
- One title in the NHL Hockey series allows you to basically create members of the EA development team if you input their names in the Create-A-Player option.
- In an early level of Half-Life, it's revealed Gabe Newell has an office in Black Mesa.
Web Animation
- Broken Saints writer/director Brooke Burgess (a bit reluctantly) agreed to be the voice actor for Gabriel when voices were recorded for the DVD. Like with Shayamalan's cameos, this is actually a meaty role and more than just a regular cameo.
Web Comics
Web Original
- Metal Gear Solid Philanthropy director Giacomo Talamini gets top billing as Solid Snake in the film because no other capable actors who looked enough like Solid Snake could be found.
- Dr. Horrible\'s Sing-Along Blog has quite a few:
- All three Whedon brothers lend their voices to the Bad Horse Chorus.
- Jed Whedon also plays both Chorus member #2 onscreen, and ELE member Dead Bowie.
- Zack Whedon gets a bit part as a paramedic during the ending.
- Maurissa Tancharoen is one of Captain Hammer's groupies.
- And it's actually Joss Whedon's fist that smashes Dr. Horrible's van-controlling device.
- On the Lego Indiana Jones website, there is a short cartoon that ends with minifigs of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg watching the short itself, complete with a E.T baseball cap and a plaid T shirt.
Western Animation
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