History Main / RecastAsARegular

** Tom Lenk, known for playing Andrew in the evil geek trio during ''Buffy''[='=]s sixth season (and beyond), originally appeared in a bit part as one of Harmony's vampire minions.

* Creator/TomokazuSeki had several roles in a few ''Franchise/{{Doraemon}}'' movies, most prominently young Suneo in 2000's ''A Grandmother's Recollections''. Seki took up the role of Suneo full-time when [[TheOtherDarrin the voice cast changed in 2005]].
* Creator/MasakoNozawa voiced Botako, a minor character with seven episodes to her credit, in the 1973 ''Doraemon'' anime, before [[TheOtherDarrin she took over]] for Kousei Tomita as the title character in the second half.

* On ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' , Lincoln's first regular voice actor, Grant Palmer, would later voice Grant, an employee at the Burping Burger, after he hit puberty.

** ''[[Series/KousokuSentaiTurboranger Turboranger]]'' featured two future rangers as one-shot characters. Sayuri Uchida (Yumi in episode 9) went on to play [[Series/ChoujinSentaiJetman Ako Hayasaka/Blue Swallow]], while Ryo Narushima/Keiko Hayase (Mika Yamaguchi in Episode 29) went on to play [[Series/ChikyuuSentaiFiveman Remi Hoshikawa/Five Yellow]].

* In ''Series/TheWire'', Gbenga Akinnagbe was an extra as a random police officer standing in a courtroom in Episode 4 of Season 1. Years later he would return and from Season 3 until the end of the show he played Chris Partlow, TheDragon and coldly efficient [[ProfessionalKiller chief assassin/enforcer]] for sociopathic druglord and mass murderer Marlo Stanfield. Along the way, he racked up a ''huge'' body count and became [[TheDreaded perhaps the most feared]] drug enforcer to ever walk the streets of Baltimore.

** Creator/KelliGiddish appeared as a one-off suspect in ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'' episode "Depths" before later joining the main cast of ''SVU'' as Detective Rollins.
*** She also appeared as a VictimOfTheWeek in the ''SVU'' episode "Outsider"; in fact, she was interviewed after the assault by ''Fin Tutuola'', who would become Rollins' regular partner.

** ''Series/KamenRiderKiva'': Shoma Yamamoto first appeared in TheMovie as the antagonist Takato Shiramine (Kamen Rider Rey). Reportedly, the staff liked his performance so much that he was cast in the TV series proper as Taiga Nobori (Kamen Rider Saga), a major character in the latter half of the show [[spoiler:and also the protagonist's long-lost older brother.]]

** James Napier was cast as Eric, a LastEpisodeNewCharacter in [[Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm Ninja Storm's]] finale, before getting cast as Connor, the Red Ranger, of [[Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder Dino Thunder]].
** Dwayne Cameron first appeared in ''Dino Thunder'' as Derrick, the titular "[[Recap/PowerRangersDinoThunderS1E18BullyForEthan Bully For Ethan]]", then in [[Series/PowerRangersSPD SPD]] as MonsterOfTheWeek Dru/Giganis. He was then cast as [[SixthRanger Tyzonn, the Mercury Ranger]], in [[Series/PowerRangersOperationOverdrive Operation Overdrive]].

** Tim Russ did guest roles in TNG, ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'' and [=DS9=] before becoming Tuvok on ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''.

* In ''Series/BlakesSeven'', Glynis Barber played the regular character Soolin in the final season, after playing a tiny role in one episode of the first season as one of the Federation's techno-undead "Mutoid" soldiers.

** Also for the English dub, Creator/ColleenClinkenbeard provided the voice of Zangya in ''Anime/DragonBallZBojackUnbound'', before later taking over more substantial roles in the franchise as Mai beginning with the third game in the ''VideoGame/DragonBallZBudokaiTenkaichi'' series, Kid Gohan beginning with ''Anime/DragonBallKai'', and Kid Goku beginning with ''[[Anime/DragonBallCurseOfTheBloodRubies Curse of the Blood Rubies]]''.

** Masaharu Sato voiced many one-episode characters throughout the original Dragon Ball series, including the Bear Thief in Episode 3 and a Rabbit Gang member in Episode 12, before he was cast as Staff Officer Black. He also voiced Master Roshi in [[Anime/DragonBallZWrathOfTheDragon Wrath of the Dragon]] following Kouhei Miyauchi's death, but he wouldn't take over for Roshi fulltime until [[Anime/DragonBallKai Kai]].

*** The official InUniverse explanation for the resemblances: The face is originally Caecilius'. Frobisher is a direct descendant, and the 12th Doctor subconsciously copied his appearance for the reasons mentioned above.

** Creator/KoichiYamadera portrayed Tenshinhan for a few episodes in ''Dragon Ball Z'' when Creator/HirotakaSuzuoki was unavailable. He returned to the franchise over two decades later to play Beerus in the films ''[[Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods Battle Of Gods]]'' and ''[[Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF Resurrection F]]'' and the TV series ''Anime/DragonBallSuper''.
** Creator/MasakazuMorita played Vegeta's younger brother Tarble in the ova ''Anime/DragonBallYoSonGokuAndHisFriendsReturn'' and returned a few years later to voice Whis beginning with ''Battle of Gods''.
** For the English Dub, Creator/MonicaRial had a minor role as Coco in the film ''Anime/DragonBallZBrolySecondComing''. Five years later she would take over as the new voice actress for Bulma after Tiffany Volmer's retirement beginning with ''Anime/DragonBallKai''.
** Also for the English Dub, Creator/ColleenClinkenbeard provided the voice of Zangya in ''Anime/DragonBallZBojackUnbound'', before later taking over more substantial roles in the franchise as Mai beginning with the third game in the ''VideoGame/DragonBallZBudokaiTenkaichi'' series, Kid Gohan beginning with ''Anime/DragonBallKai'', and Kid Goku beginning with ''[[Anime/DragonBallCurseOfTheBloodRubies Curse of the Blood Rubies]]''.

[[folder:Films — Live Action]]

** In another inversion, Anjli Mohindra, who played Rani Chandra on ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'', guest-starred as the Queen of the Skithra in series 12 episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E4NikolaTeslasNightOfTerror "Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror"]].

* Creator/AoiYuuki voiced minor recurring character Aika Nakamura in ''Anime/Persona4TheAnimation'' before voicing main party member Futaba Sakura in ''VideoGame/Persona5''. Ditto for Aika's English voice actor Creator/CassandraLee, who would later on voice main party member Morgana.

** Creator/MichaelRosenbaum provided the voice of Ghoul for the film ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker,'' before later getting cast as The Flash for ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague''.

** Also for the English Dub, Creator/ColleenClinkenbeard provided the voice of Zangya in ''Anime/DragonBallZBojackUnbound'', before later taking over more substantial roles in the franchise as Mai beginning with the third game in the ''VideoGame/DragonBallZBudokaiTenkaichi'' series, Kid Gohan beginning with ''Anime/DragonBallKai'', and Kid Goku beginning with ''Curse of the Blood Rubies''.

* Joe Don Baker played Film/JamesBond's CIA contact in both ''Film/GoldenEye'' and ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies'', after having played a villain in ''Film/TheLivingDaylights''.

** Creator/SamanthaJo played one-shot minor villain Car-Vex in ''Film/ManOfSteel''. She went on to play the Amazon Euboea in both ''Film/{{Wonder Woman|2017}}'' and ''Film/{{Justice|League 2017}} [[Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague League]]''.

** Creator/JunkoTakeuchi voiced [[Anime/FutariWaPrettyCureSplashStar Kenta Hoshino]] before voicing [[Anime/YesPrettyCure5 Cure Rouge]]. Apparently, this does have its perks because he is one of the few minor characters with a speaking role in ''Anime/PrettyCureAllStars''.

** Creator/YuiHorie voiced [[Anime/HappinessChargePrettyCure Orihara Tsumugi]] before voicing [[Anime/MahoGirlsPrecure Cure Magical]].

** Creator/AoiYuuki voiced the BigBad [[Anime/KiraKiraPrecureALaMode Cook]] before voicing [[Anime/HealinGoodPrettyCure Cure Grace]].

** Creator/PeterScanavino had guest-appearances in the other shows in the franchise before being cast as Sonny Carisi in ''SVU''.

** Creator/RaulEsparza appeared as the perp of the week in an episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'' before becoming ADA Rafael Barba on ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit''.

* Patrick Newell had brief roles in ''Series/TheAvengers'' episodes "The Town of No Return" and "Something Nasty in the Nursery" before playing Mother in the show's final season.