Summary

• Star Wars actors have diverse careers outside the franchise, showcasing their impressive talent.
• Despite notable roles in other projects, many actors are still mostly known for Star Wars, and their work outside the franchise is overshadowed.
• Some Star Wars actors have excelled in roles beyond the galaxy far, far away, and 11 of them have wonderful films and TV shows that are worth watching.

There have been hundreds of actors in the most influential characters in Star Wars to life, and they did so in spectacular fashion. While those actors were essential to Star Wars, and the franchise was a massive part of their careers, the experience wasn't completely a positive for some.

Star Wars is one of the biggest media franchises ever, and it often has a way of overshadowing its actors' other work. Many actors who landed roles in the series had impressive filmographies before and after their time in the Skywalker saga, but some of them are still mostly known for their work in Star Wars. While playing Jedi, Sith, and other people in the galaxy is an impressive part of their careers, those actors' other projects also showcased some great acting and stories. There are 11 actors whose biggest roles came from Star Wars, but who also starred in movies and shows that are worth watching.

11 Daisy Ridley: Sometimes I Think About Dying

Ridley Played Rey Skywalker In The Star Wars Sequel Trilogy

Star Wars was Daisy Ridley's big break as an actor, but it was far from her last impressive performance. Ridley played Rey Skywalker throughout the sequel trilogy, and much of the Disney era of Star Wars storytelling hinged on her performance. Luckily, Ridley was exceptional in the role. She gave Rey quite a bit of depth and made her character development over the trilogy seem very well-earned and compelling. Star Wars proved Ridley could excel in several different areas of acting, but her projects since 2019 have given her even more room to exceed expectations.

Ridley has starred in several movies outside of Star Wars, such as Magpie and Young Woman and the Sea, but her most ambitious role could also be her best. Ridley played Fran in Sometimes I Think About Dying, a melancholic and quiet movie about a woman who spends her days imagining her own demise. Fran is a far more subtle and grounded role for her than Rey was, but Ridley absolutely shines in it. She kept the film from teetering into being too dark with her funnier moments, but she also delivered a very heartfelt and personal performance.

Sometimes I Think About Dying is only available to rent.

10 Hayden Christensen: Shattered Glass

Christensen Played Anakin Skywalker & Darth Vader In Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, & Ahsoka

While he's rightly come to be a beloved part of the franchise, Star Wars was not kind to Hayden Christensen when he first took on the mantle of Anakin Skywalker. Christensen played Anakin in both Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. When they were released, many people criticized Christensen for giving a "wooden" performance with some often corny lines. Those criticisms were later reevaluated, and he was welcomed back to the franchise with open arms for Ahsoka, but Christensen had proven he was a capable actor long before the prequel trilogy was reclaimed.

Christensen has been in several excellent movies, from Life as a House to The Virgin Suicides, but one stands out among the rest. In 2003, Christensen took the lead role in Shattered Glass, which told the true story of Stephen Glass, a disgraced journalist who fabricated 27 articles for his magazine, The New Republic. Despite the challenges of playing a real person, Christensen was able to turn what could have been a predictable tragedy of errors into a gripping mystery-thriller. He was able to make Glass both sympathetic enough to be believed, but Christensen also peppered in hints of the manipulation that made his role so compelling.

Shattered Glass is available to stream on Roku, Tubi, and Freevee.

9 Mark Hamill: Batman: The Animated Series

Hamill Played Luke Skywalker In The Star Wars Original & Sequel Trilogies

Mark Hamill has largely been the face of Star Wars ever since he first looked out at the binary sunset as Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars, which was later retitled A New Hope. Luke is one of the most enduring characters in science fiction, largely because of Hamill's acting skills. Luke was envisioned as a kind of "everyman" that audiences could see themselves in, and Hamill made him so much more. He showed the massive heights Luke soared to as one of the most powerful Jedi ever, but he also demonstrated some remarkably human and simple moments.

Outside of Star Wars, Hamill has lent his voice to some memorable animated characters, like Skips from Regular Show and Fire Lord Ozai from Avatar: The Last Airbender. His most famous voice acting role, though, was as the Joker. Hamill's first time voicing the supervillain, in Batman: The Animated Series, cemented him as one of the greatest actors to ever play the Joker. Hamill provided the perfect balance of rage and unbridled, unsettling joy to the role that made him an easy choice to voice the Joker consistently throughout his career, which easily makes it one of his best roles outside of Star Wars.

8 Carrie Fisher: The Blues Brothers

Fisher Played Leia Organa In The Star Wars Original & Sequel Trilogies

It's hard to imagine Star Wars without Leia Organa, and harder still to imagine her without Carrie Fisher. She effectively was Leia, and the two are essentially inseparable. Fisher lent so much to the role, as Leia's stubbornness, strength, leadership, and ion were all largely influenced by the actor. Fisher's performance is a big reason the original trilogy has had such an enduring legacy. She struggled with being seen as any character other than Leia later in her career, but Fisher was able to show that while she was the princess of Alderaan, she could also be so much more.

Most of Fisher's career after the original trilogy was spent not acting, but writing. Fisher worked as a script doctor, a writer who made edits to improve movie scripts, for several films like The Wedding Singer and even several Star Wars installments. While she found great success behind the camera, she also proved herself as an exceptional actor. One of Fisher's best films was The Blues Brothers, where she played the Mystery Woman who was obsessed with Joliet Jake. That role gave Fisher space to show off her brilliant comedic chops, as she was able to make even attempted murder seem hilarious.

7 Billy Dee Williams: Brian's Song

Williams Played Lando Calrissian In The Star Wars Original Trilogy & The Rise of Skywalker

Billy Dee Williams was an exceptional choice to play the morally complex smuggler Lando Calrissian in the original trilogy and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Lando had an enormous amount of charm and a huge presence on screen, and he was one of the only non-Force character in Star Wars that could make a cape look cool. Much of Lando's charisma came directly from Williams himself. He oozed confidence and turned a character who was originally hated in The Empire Strikes Back into one of the most beloved characters in the franchise.

Long before he ever donned a cape, Williams was a very well-respected actor who appeared in films like Lady Sings the Blues and Mahogany. Perhaps his best role outside of Star Wars, though, was in 1972's Brian's Song, which was based on a true story. Williams played Gale Sayers, a halfback for the Chicago Bears, who roomed with his white friend and teammate Brian Piccolo (James Caan) during the height of the American Civil Rights Movement. Williams gave a truly moving performance in the film, and he was a large part of the reason Piccolo's death came across as the heartbreaking tragedy it was.

Brian's Song is available to stream on Tubi.

6 John Boyega: They Cloned Tyrone

Boyega Played Finn In The Star Wars Sequel Trilogy

John Boyega, like Daisy Ridley, got his biggest break as an actor in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. He played Finn, the former stormtrooper turned Resistance leader, and he was one of the best, albeit underutilized, parts of the entire trilogy. While there are many ways Finn's Star Wars story could have been improved, Boyega still delivered a memorable and compelling performance in the role. Star Wars may be what he's most known for, but Boyega also created quite a name for himself in other movies.

While he may not have had a chance to show off every side of his acting talents, Boyega got more than a few more chances in movies like The Woman King and Attack the Block. One film in particular, They Cloned Tyrone gave him a chance to excel in several different areas at once. In They Cloned Tyrone, Boyega played the main character of Fontaine, who had to investigate a massive government cloning conspiracy. Boyega gave a fantastic dramatic performance that proved he's a master of science fiction, and the movie itself was equal parts hilarious, suspenseful, and thought-provoking.

5 Adam Driver: Marriage Story

Driver Played Kylo Ren & Ben Solo In The Star Wars Sequel Trilogy

Adam Driver is far from only known for playing Kylo Ren in Star Wars, but it still serves as one of his most popular projects. Driver added huge amounts of talent to the sequel trilogy, and he gave Rey a fittingly complex character to act as her adversary and, for a short time, ally. He also helped sell the idea that Kylo Ren was fueled entirely by rage, but that underneath it all there was still a hint of Ben Solo and the light side of the Force. It's safe to say the sequel trilogy would be wildly different without Driver's stellar performance.

Driver has appeared in several acclaimed films, like Paterson and BlacKkKlansman, which earned him an Oscar nomination. It's hard to pick just one of his films to consider the best, but Marriage Story is a reasonable choice. In Marriage Story, Driver played Charlie, a man going through a devastating divorce and fighting for custody of his son opposite Scarlett Johansson's Nicole. Driver gave a breathtakingly real and melancholy performance, and he managed to convey the complex emotions, stress, and rage of a real-life divorce. He was so good in the role that he even earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination in 2020.

4 Ian McDiarmid: Crime & Punishment (2002)

McDiarmid Played Emperor Palpatine In Every Era Of Star Wars

Many of the actors in Star Wars were well suited for their roles, but Ian McDiarmid seems to have been born to play Sheev Palpatine. He's perfect, he has the best possible blend of charm and manipulation for Palpatine, combined with melodrama and overt vileness for Darth Sidious. A character like Palpatine, who's entire purpose is to act as a stand-in for everything bad in the galaxy, could easily have come across as too much. McDiarmid not only makes Palpatine's mustache-twirling plans work, he makes them so convincing that Palpatine is widely considered among the best villains of all time.

Part of the reason McDiarmid so expertly plays Palpatine is that he has an extensive background in classical acting. He was part of the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he performed in plays like Hamlet and King Lear for over a decade. That background in classical theater served him well when McDiarmid played Porfiry in the BBC's 2002 adaptation of the classic novel Crime & Punishment. That role essentially saw him combine both sides of Palpatine and Sidious into one incredibly complex character. Because of McDiarmid, Porfiry leaps off the page and becomes a real person, as does his subtly thrilling torment of the murderer Raskolnikov.

Crime & Punishment (2002) is available in select regions via Amazon Prime Video.

3 Frank Oz: The Muppet Show

Oz Puppeteered & Voiced Yoda In Every Era Of Star Wars

Yoda is one of the most iconic characters in not just Star Wars, but all science fiction. He was originally brought to life via a puppet, which was both controlled and voiced by Frank Oz. He was responsible for Yoda's strange manner of speaking, and for making the wise old Jedi so lovable. Oz voiced Yoda throughout Star Wars, even when he was depicted in CGI or animation instead of a practical puppet. There's a reason Oz was chosen to puppeteer and voice Yoda. It's because he was already one of the best in the business in 1979, when The Empire Strikes Back was filmed.

Oz was one of the founding cast of The Muppets alongside Jim Henson, and arguably his best showing in bringing the colorful gang to life came in 1976 in The Muppet Show. Oz voiced and performed several roles on The Muppet Show and for decades after, including Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Sam the Eagle, Animal, and more. He even worked with Henson on other projects like Sesame Street, where he voiced Bert, Grover, and Cookie Monster. His work with The Muppets showed Oz could breathe life into a huge array of colorful characters, and Yoda was just the tip of the iceberg.

The Muppet Show is available to stream on Disney+.

2 James Earl Jones: The Lion King

Jones Voiced Darth Vader In Every Era Of Star Wars

While Oz was a legendary voice in Star Wars, there's one actor who has commanded even more attention with just his voice: James Earl Jones, who provided the voice for Darth Vader. Part of why Vader is such a memorable and intimidating villain was because of David Prowse and his massive stature and shiny black armor, but equally important was Jones' booming voice. With his first gravelly line, Jones instantly created one of the best villains of all time. His voice added an otherworldly, uniquely terrifying quality to the Sith Lord that made him who he is.

Looking at his work outside of Star Wars offers even more evidence that Jones was the perfect pick to voice Vader. Jones appeared in several incredible roles in movies like Field of Dreams and The Hunt for Red October, but one of his best was also in voice alone, in The Lion King. That movie saw Jones play Mufasa, and while he may have the same voice as Vader, Jones made them wildly different characters. Where Vader was scary and dark, Mufasa was loving and noble, and Jones' voice acting made his death truly tragic, even after such a short time of knowing the character.