Usually, when a TV star gets the chance to go to the big screen and have a career in movies, they drop whatever show they're on and accept the first script that comes their way. Hollywood is filled with TV stars who, like Eddie Murphy, successfully made the jump to the silver screen, but there are also plenty of actors, like Shelley Long, who never had the movie career they expected.
But not every actor who went from TV star to movie star was so quick to leave one medium for another. Some stars chose to play in both sandboxes for a time, waiting to make sure their movie careers would keep them working for years to come before leaving the shows that made them famous in the first place.
10 Steve Carell Kept His Day Job For A While
Steve Carell had been working as a professional writer and actor for well over a decade by the time he landed the role of Michael Scott on The Office in 2005. What the actor couldn't have known was that in that same year he would have two hit films that would turn him into a superstar.
Carell co-wrote and starred in box office smash The 40-Year Old Virgin and starred in the Academy Award-winning Little Miss Sunshine, but didn't walk away from his show. Carell stayed on The Office until 2011, during which time he made Evan Almighty, Get Smart, and Despicable Me.
9 Ed Helms Kept His Job While Hungover
Ed Helms joined The Office at the start of the show's third season in 2006 and would stay with the show until it ended in 2013, but in 2009 the actor's star skyrocketed when he appeared in The Hangover as Stu. The hit comedy turned Helms and his two co-stars Bradley Cooper and Zach Galifianakis into household names almost overnight.
Still, Helms followed the lead of fellow Office star Carell and didn't leave the show. When Carell did leave the show a few years later, Helms took over as the "boss" of The Office while also making The Hangover II and Cedar Rapids.
8 Michael J. Fox Needed A Time Machine For All His Work
When Michael J. Fox had the back-to-back hits of Back to the Future and Teen Wolf in 1985, he easily could have walked away from Family Ties, which was in its third season at the time. Instead, the actor chose to stay on the show for another four years, leaving alongside the rest of the Keaton clan at the end of the show's seventh season in 1989. Along with the two hit comedies from 1985, Fox starred in The Secret of My Success; Bright Lights, Big City; and Casualties of War while being on the hit sitcom.
7 George Clooney Healed His Bruised Ego At The ER
George Clooney had been a part of a number of failed TV shows when he was cast in ER, the show that not only made him a '90s heartthrob, but a huge star to boot. Clooney left the show in 1999, five seasons into ER's fifteen-season run, but while he was on the hit series, the actor starred in classic films like From Dusk Till Dawn and Out of Sight as well as the not so great Batman & Robin. Surely the praise Clooney received for his work on ER helped him get over the bruised ego he received for his turn as the Dark Knight.
6 Jennifer Garner Kicked Butt In Both Mediums
Jenifer Garner first gained the world's attention when she played Sydney Bristow in the hit series Alias. It was while starring as the international spy that the actress would break into the world of film as well. Garner played Elektra opposite Ben Affleck in 2003's Daredevil, then went on to star in the hit comedy 13 Going on 30 in 2004 before donning the red leather again for 2005's Elektra. And between starring in three movies and a hit TV series, Garner also appeared in Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can.
5 Chris Pratt Went To Space But Stayed In Pawnee
When Chris Pratt joined the cast of Parks and Recreation in 2009, the actor had already starred on the series Everwood for four years, but his part as Andy Dwyer brought him a whole new fanbase.
Pratt stayed on Parks and Recreation while starring in 2011's Moneyball alongside Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill, but it was 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy that turned the actor into a superstar. Still, Pratt stayed with the sitcom until it ended. The show even worked his sudden transformation from out of shape goofball to amazingly in shape goofball into the story.
4 Melissa McCarthy Became A Movie Star Right When She Got Her Own Series
Melissa McCarthy first gained attention for her role as Sookie St. James on Gilmore Girls, but it was 2011's critically acclaimed Bridesmaids that turned the actress into a comedy superstar.
A year before Bridesmaids became a smash hit, McCarthy had been cast in the sitcom Mike & Molly. McCarthy stayed on the show for six seasons while also starring in Identity Thief, Spy, The Heat, and Ghostbusters. In 2016, McCarthy returned to her role as Sookie St. James for Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, showing that she had not forgotten her roots.
3 John Travolta Danced Between TV And Movies
When it comes to the second half of the 1970s, there may not be a bigger name than John Travolta. The actor became an overnight sensation for playing high school student Vinnie Barbarino in the hit sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter in 1975, and he went on to rule the box office for two years in a row.
First, Travolta starred as Tony Manero in 1977's Saturday Night Fever, which was made for $3.5 million and grossed $237 million. The next year Travolta played Danny Zuko in the musical Grease, which made $366 million on a $6 million dollar budget. Welcome Back, Kotter ended in 1979, and Travolta has gone on to have one of the most impressive film careers in history.
2 Benedict Cumberbatch Solved The Case Of Playing Two Iconic Characters At Once
Benedict Cumberbatch had already made a name for himself on the stage by the time he was cast to play the iconic detective Sherlock Holmes in 2010's Sherlock, a show that would turn the actor into a superstar. While just 14 episodes were made over seven years, each Sherlock episode is 90 minutes.
During those seven years, Cumberbatch turned his fame as Sherlock into movie stardom, co-starring in films like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Star Trek Into Darkness, and 12 Years a Slave before taking on lead roles in movies like the Academy Award-winning The Imitation Game and, of course, Doctor Strange.
1 Katie Holmes Stayed In Capeside While Working In Films
Katie Holmes became a star alongside her castmates on the teen drama Dawson's Creek, and during her six seasons on the show, she worked to prove to the world that she could do more than just pine over James Van Der Beek.
In 1999, Holmes starred in the lackluster horror film Teaching Mrs. Tingle, but in 2000 Holmes co-starred in the critically acclaimed Wonder Boys alongside future superhero actors Toby Maguire, Robert Downey Jr., and Michael Douglas and played a major role in Spider-Man director Sam Raimi's The Gift. It was 2002's Phone Booth that gave Holmes her first box office hit. A year later, Dawson's Creek would come to an end.