Not only is House one of the most iconic medical dramas of all time, but it is also one of the most notorious television shows of the 2000s. Complex characters navigating intense medical thrills are to thank for this, but so are the stellar casting choices, from the main cast to walk-on roles.
With new patients and patient families in almost every episode, a medical drama like House has ample casting opportunities. The show’s popularity while it was on air and its eight-season run means that quite a few well-known actors had guest star roles here before they went on to their big breaks, whether it be as MCU villains or musical stars.
Jeremy Renner – Season 4
Before he was armed with a bow and arrow, Jeremy Renner can be found portraying a measles-ridden punk rock musician in the fourth season of House.
Following his role in the medical drama, Jeremy Renner went on to make his debut as Hawkeye in the 2011 film Thor, bumping him up to the Hollywood A-list as a member of the MCU. There is even a pinch of irony in the rock music aspect of his House role, as Renner himself utilized his fame to begin releasing his own rock music in 2018.
Jayma Mays – Season 2
In the second season of House, Glee star Jayma Mays appears as a heavily sleep-deprived patient who ends up with a diagnosis of the bubonic plague and the liver of a woman whom she no longer loves.
This heavy role in the 2000s drama gave way to Jayma’s most iconic role as Glee’s endearing but eccentric school counselor, Emma Pillsbury. When she is not seen covering songs from Company as Emma, she is easily recognizable as Amy in Paul Blart: Mall Cop and as the voice of Grace in The Smurfs.
Evan Peters – Season 5
In the ninth episode of season five, American Horror Story star, Evan Peters, plays a teenager named Oliver whose clinic visit goes horribly wrong when a sick man holds him and several other patients hostage with House and Thirteen.
The small role in this heart-racing episode of House played a huge part in kickstarting the actor’s incredibly diverse career. Peters assumes some twisted characters like dead mass murderers and cult leaders in American Horror Story, he has superspeed as Quicksilver in X-Men and WandaVision, and will soon portray Jeffrey Dahmer in Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.
Leighton Meester – Season 3
Just a few months before Gossip Girl hit the small screen, Leighton Meester guest-starred in the first few episodes of House’s third season. She portrays House’s underaged and sex-crazed stalker who owes her behavior to spores in her brain.
After her slightly deranged role in House, Meester came to be known as the face of Blair Waldorf in Gossip Girl. The show is now a cultural landmark with a modern reboot that is chock full of references and callbacks to the original Gossip Girl show. She also made appearances in Pretty Little Liars, Riverdale, and The Vampire Diaries.
Elle Fanning – Season 2
The eleventh episode of season two features none other than a young Elle Fanning as the wandering daughter of a patient who has been lying to her husband about actually wanting another child.
The Maleficent and Mary Shelley star technically made her big-screen debut alongside her older sister Dakota in I Am Sam, but her role in this particularly drama-filled episode of House is undoubtedly one of the first serious television roles that helped her land characters like Mary Shelley and Jesse in The Neon Demon.
Skyler Astin – Season 8
One of Skyler Astin’s first roles in a major work before the cultural milestone of Pitch Perfect was as a college cheerleader named Derrick in the last season of House.
The musical films that make up the Pitch Perfect franchise are some of the best movies about talent shows and are also the reason that Skyler Astin has become so recognizable. Astin can also be found in Ghosts of War and Secret Society of the Second-Born Royals, though much like Derrick on House, his characters are far less musical than Jesse Swanson.
Taraji P. Henson – Season 2
Taraji P. Henson makes an appearance in the sixth episode of season two as the overbearing manager to a professional cyclist who is very open about the fact that he has been blood doping.
While this guest star role was not necessarily a huge part, her performance was powerful enough that Taraji P. Henson’s career began to climb to new heights after the episode. She is most well-known as Cookie Lyon in Empire, a show about a family business empire, as well as Ali in What Men Want.
Michael B. Jordan – Season 8
Before taking to the ring as Adonis Creed and seeking vengeance as Killmonger, Michael B. Jordan guest-starred in the last season of House as a blind man whose diabetes allows a fungal infection to progress too quickly.
In Black Panther, Michael B. Jordan plays Killmonger, one of the best villains in the MCU. This role is a far cry from the sick man that fell under the care of Gregory House’s diagnostics department a few years prior to Black Panther‘s release. The same can be said for his stand-out starring role in Creed.
