With 10 seasons, 217 episodes and an 11th season released in form of a comic book, as well as a number of spin-off and side stories released in form of comics and novels Smallville is an extremely successful superhero series. Yes it was dragged out unnecessarily, and yes it did get a lot of things wrong about Superman, and yes, at times it was more of a soap opera than a superhero show, but it had a great influence on the modern day superhero era. If it weren’t for Smallville who knows if the CW would have gotten this far with the Arrowverse. In fact, Arrow was imagined as a Smallville spin-off with Justin Hartley as the Emerald Archer.
Over the years, Smallville introduced the audience to a bunch of original and comic book-based characters, which gave the show the opportunity to feature a great number of aspiring and renowned actors. Actually, there were so many actors who walked in and out of the series during its 10-year run that it’s impossible to remember every single star who once popped up on the screen alongside Clark, Lana and Chloe. Which is why we are taking a look at 19 stars nobody remembers appeared on Smallville.
19 JENSEN ACKLES
The CW sure likes to recycle actors. Case in point: Jensen Ackles. Nowadays, the fantasy horror series Supernatural, starring Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki as the two demon-hunting brothers, is in its 13th season and still one of CW's most popular shows. The role of Dean Winchester has pretty much defined Jensen Ackles, who had big ambitions -- including playing Captain America in the MCU.
However, Ackles had already had an affair with the superhero genre. Back in the early '00s, Jensen Ackles played Jason Teague, an assistant football coach for the Smallville Crows football team. He was rightfully fired once Lex Luthor exposed his romantic relationship with Lana Lang, who at the time was a high school student. Jason Teague died during the 2005 meteor shower.
18 AMY ADAMS
Today, Amy Adams is recognized worldwide for her portrayal of Lois Lane in the DCEU. Adams first appeared as Lois in Man of Steel alongside Henry Cavill’s Superman. However, this is not the only time Adams was part of the DC Universe. In 2001, Adams guest starred on an episode of Smallville, playing a meteor freak Jodi Melville.
Jodi was somewhat overweight and often teased by her fellow students. She wanted to be thin so badly that she started a special diet and unknowingly used vegetables that were affected by the meteor rock, which caused her to lose 60 pounds in two days and become a fat-sucking vampire-like creature. What’s kind of sad is that Adams was given more to do in that one episode of Smallville than she was in three DCEU movies.
17 CARRIE FISHER
Unfortunately, the beloved Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher left us in 2016. Star Wars made Carrie Fisher one of the most iconic and popular actresses. Her final movie Star Wars: The Last Jedi was released in late 2017 to critical acclaim and financial success, but controversial reaction from long-time fans of the franchise. Fisher, who portrayed the fiercest princess of all, Princess Leia, reprised the role of her life for one last time.
In 2005, Fisher made an appearance on the CW series Smallville, where she portrayed Pauline Kahn, Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Planet. Fearless, clever and resourceful, the character shared many personality traits with Princess Leia. After putting Chloe’s skills to a test, Pauline Kahn decided to give the young journalist a chance to start at the bottom and work her way up.
16 BRIAN AUSTIN GREEN
Brian Austin Green is best known as Mr. Megan Fox … uhum, we’re sorry. Mr. Green is best known for his role on the FOX teen drama series Beverly Hills, 90210. After Beverly Hills came to an end, Green has had a number of big and small television roles, including Smallville.
Brian Austin Green appeared on three episodes of Smallville during season nine. As the above image pretty much gives it away, Green portrayed John Corben, aka Metallo. Green’s Metallo was quite different from the current Supergirl version in a way that he wasn’t always evil. Green's version of the character started out as a good guy who just wanted to live a normal life, but an unfortunate series of events led him to adopt the role of Metallo.
15 CHRISTOPHER REEVE
Christopher Reeve needs no introduction. This man has pretty much set the standard for Superman in live-action media and thus far no one has been able to surpass him or even match him. The actor portrayed the Man of Steel in four live-action movies and made an appearance on the Clark Kent origin show Smallville.
Reeve was a recurring character during the series second and third season, portraying Dr. Vergil Swann. Dr. Swann was a brilliant and wealthy scientist, a founding member of Veritas and the founder of S.T.A.R. Labs. It is believed that the character of Dr. Swann was based on, or inspired by, Dr. Stephen Hawking, since the two are very similar in terms of their professional achievements, on top off being wheelchair users.
14 LIZZY CAPLAN
Lizzy Caplan got a lot of attention with the Showtime period drama Masters of Sex, however, you might also remember her as Janis Ian from the critically acclaimed teen comedy Mean Girls. What you may not remember though, is that Lizzy Caplan made two appearances on Smallville.
The Masters of Sex star portrayed Tina Greer, a metahuman shapeshifting teenager from Clark’s hometown of Smallville. Tina had the ability to alter her appearance and voice in order to impersonate others. As a child, Tina was treated for a soft bone disease with the use of meteor rock radiation, which granted Tina her powers. After being ignored by too many people, including her good friend Lana, Tina decided to take revenge by committing crimes while impersonating other people.
13 MARGOT KIDDER
Back when Christopher Reeve was Clark Kent, Margot Kidder was his Lois Lane. For Kidder, the role of Lois in the Superman movies was a real breakthrough and landed her among Hollywood’s biggest stars of that time. So, it’s not surprising that Smallville wanted her to make a cameo appearance on the show.
Margot Kidder appeared as Bridgette Crosby, the emissary and assistant of Dr. Virgil Swann, played by her Superman co-star Christopher Reeve. It was implied that Dr. Swann and Dr. Crosby were in a relationship at some point. Kidder was brought on to serve as a link between Clark Kent and Dr. Swann and she was supposed to be the big bad of season four. However, after Reeve's death the writers had a change of mind, so this plotline was abandoned and Kidder's character killed off-screen.
12 LYNDA CARTER
Decades before Gal Gadot got hold of the infamous Lasso of Truth, Lynda Carter wielded this powerful weapon on the popular 1975 television series Wonder Woman. Recently, Carter made a number of appearances on the CW’s Supergirl as the President of the United States, Olivia Marsdin. However, this is not Carter’s only cameo appearance in DC Comics television.
In 2007, Carter appeared on an episode of Smallville playing Chloe Sullivan’s mother, Moira Sullivan. Both Chloe and her mom were apparently affected by the meteor rock, which gave Moira the ability of mind control limited to other metahumans. In season six, it was revealed that she has been using this power to manipulate her daughter Chloe, upon which she was transferred to a secure facility in Star City.
11 ADAM BRODY
Adam Brody will forever be remembered as The O.C.’s Seth Choen, the existential hero along the lines of Holden Caulfield. Presently, Brody is starring on the Crackle crime thriller StartUp where he plays the sharp and intelligent financier from Miami named Nick Talman. However, before he started landing starring roles, Adam Brody made guest appearances on a number of television series, including Smallville.
The actor appeared in the season one episode "Crush" in which he played Justin Gaines, a student and Torch contributor at Smallville High School with a crush on Chloe. Justin turned into a metahuman by developing the ability of telekinesis after an accident and a negligent surgeon cost him the use of his hands. Upon going into a fit of rage and crossing the line to achieve what he thought was justice, Justin was institutionalized.
10 IAN SOMERHALDER
To teenage girls around the world, Ian Somerhalder is best known as the vampire Damon Salvatore from the CW’s show The Vampire Diaries. However, before he got a starring role on the television version of Twilight, Somerhalder made an appearance on another the CW series -- Smallville. The actor played Adam Knight, the character initially suspected of being Smallville’s iteration of Bruce Wayne.
These speculations proved to be incorrect, however, Somerhalder’s character still played quite an important role during Smallville’s third season, appearing in seven episodes. Adam Knight was created by Lionel Luthor by resurrecting Chad Nash using the Lazarus Serum. Adam was sent to befriend Lana Lang in order to gather intelligence on Clark Kent. While he was merely a pawn at the beginning, for reasons unknown he went full-on villain in the end.
9 COBIE SMULDERS
Kids, did you ever hear the story of how your aunt Robin tried to kill Lex Luthor in the winter of 2004? Here’s how it happened. Cobie Smulders is best known for playing Robin Scherbatsky on the CBS sitcom How I met Your Mother and Agent Maria Hill in the MCU. However, way before she got to star in one of the most successful sitcoms, Smulders made an appearance in an episode of the fourth season of Smallville.
Smulders played Lex Luthor’s psycho ex-girlfriend Shannon Bell, who after being ignored by Lex sets out to get revenge. Shannon kills one of Lex’s old girlfriends and frames him for the murder, before killing her boss, who’s also Lex’s ex. She then kidnaps Lex and tries to set him on fire, but she’s stopped by, you guessed it, Clark Kent.
8 PAUL WESLEY
Smallville’s Luthor family drama often reminded us of plotlines you find in soap operas. In season two, it was revealed that Lionel Luthor has an illegitimate son named Lucas. Unsurprisingly his son is a volatile and manipulative sociopath willing to do pretty much anything to further his goals. To put things into perspective, at the time, Lex was the "good one."
The actor who portrayed Lucas Luthor was Paul Wesley who’s best known for playing Stefan Salvatore in the teenage drama series The Vampire Diaries. Paul Wesley appeared on Smallville back in 2003 and after an entire episode dedicated to a battle of wits and cunningness between the Luthor men, Lucas disappeared never to be seen again. His Vampire Diaries co-star, Ian Somerhalder, outlasted him by six whole episodes on Smallville.
7 MICHAEL CASSIDY
In Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, we briefly got to see James Olsen played by the actor Michael Cassidy. Unfortunately, Olsen was killed by a terrorist group after a tracking device was found in his camera. However, this wasn’t Cassidy’s first appearance in a Superman story. In season seven of the CW show Smallville Cassidy appeared as Grant Gabriel, managing editor at the Daily Planet.
Grant Gabriel was a clone of Lex Luthor’s brother Julian Luthor who died as an infant when Lex was only twelve years old. Grant hired Lois Lane at the Daily Planet and the two were in a romantic relationship for some time. However, once Grant’s true origin was brought to light things went south and Grant was killed by assassins working for his "brother" Lex.
6 ADRIANNE PALICKI
Adrienne Palicki is no stranger to the superhero genre, although, she hasn’t always had the best of luck with her endeavors. Most of us know Palicki for her role as Bobbie Morse, aka Mockingbird, on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., as well as her current sci-fi gig on Seth McaFarlane’s The Orville. However, back in 2004, Palicki made a one-episode appearance on Smallville in a role that many speculated was going to be Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl.
As it turned out, Palicki’s character was no Supergirl, but an impostor -- a human person, named Lindsey Harrison, imbued with Kryptonian powers. After Smallville, Palicki was set to star in the the unaired Aquaman pilot as the villain Nadia, as well as unaired Wonder Women pilot as the titular hero. More recently, Palicki was hung out to dry once again when the Marvel's Most Wanted pilot wasn't picked up by ABC.
5 DEAN CAIN
Dean Cain, who’s currently playing Alex Danvers’ father Jeremiah on the CW’s Supergirl, first joined DC television in 1993 as Superman in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. The series ran for only four seasons, but both Cain and his co-star Teri Hatcher became big television stars and went down in history for portraying one of the most iconic comic book couples.
However, Supergirl is not the only DC Comics TV show on which Dean Cain has made a cameo appearance. Back in 2007, Cain appeared in an episode of the Superman origin series Smallville. The former Superman played Dr. Curtis Knox, an immortal doctor who pretended to cure meteor freaks, but in fact was trying to use their kryptonite-infected bodies to make his wife immortal.
4 SHAWN ASHMORE
Hold your horses! We’re not talking about the actor who played Jimmy Olsen. That was Aaron Ashmore. Shawn Ashmore is his twin brother who also made an appearance on Smallville, albeit a considerably shorter one. Way before Aaron Ashmore was cast as Jimmy Olsen in season six, his identical twin Shawn guest starred on two Smallville episodes as Eric Summers, a student at Smallville High School and a metahuman who "leeched" Clark’s powers after the two were struck by lightning.
When Eric first appeared on the show it was believed that he is Smallville's version of the villain Parasite. However, this theory was disproved once Parasite showed up in season eight. As for Shawn Ashmore, he gained worldwide recognition as the mutant Iceman in the X-Men franchise.
3 TERI HATCHER
Teri Hatcher’s affair with the world of DC Comics, specifically Superman, is a long-lasting one. Most recently she’s appeared on Supergirl as Mon-El's mother and the former Queen of Daxim, Rhea. However, her most prominent DC role is that of Lois Lane in the 1993 television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.
But what you may not remember is that this Desperate Housewives star had a cameo appearance in the CW’s series Smallville. Hatcher played Ella Lane, the deceased mother of Lois and Lucy Lane. In the Smallvilleverse, Ella died when Lois was just a girl. So, when she appeared in season 10, it was Lois watching a recording her mother made in order to pass some words of wisdom onto her daughter.
2 DIEGO KLATTENHOFF
Diego Klattenhoff, the actor on the left, is currently starring on NBC's chilling crime drama The Blacklist. Klattenhoff plays the FBI Agent Donald Ressler who starts out as an incorruptible square shooter but ends up being dragged into a real mess once Raymond Reddington enters his life. Before Blacklist, Klattenhoff also appeared on Showtime's hit series Homeland, as well as a number of other television series.
More than a decade ago, this Blacklist star made a one-episode appearance on the superhero show Smallville. Diego Klattenhoff played Josh, one of the Greenfield brothers, who experimented on enhanced dogs and trained the dogs to attack and steal for them. The other brother, Zack, was played by Nolan Gerard Funk, whom you may remember as Felicity's ex-boyfriend Cooper Seldon from Arrow.
1 EVANGELINE LILLY
Evangeline Lilly is best known for her role as Kate Austen in ABC’s mind-bending television series Lost. Currently, however, this Canadian actress is busy playing Hope Van Dyne, aka the Wasp, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But way before she became a big MCU star, Evangeline Lilly had a couple of background appearances on the CW’s series based on DC Comics -- Smallville.
Between 2002 and 2004, Lilly could be seen as an extra in four different Smallville episodes. Her "appearances" were brief, speechless and very difficult to catch. Ironically, over the years, Evangeline Lilly became a much bigger star than the stars of Smallville. While Tom Welling, Michael Rosenbaum, Kristin Kreuk and Allison Mack mostly remained on TV without much success, Evangeline Lilly had a broke through with Lost.