Trending badgeTrendingPosted 55 minutes agoSubscribe to Screen Time NewsletterCaret DownBlink And You'll Miss 15 Actors Who Got Their Early Start On "ER"All the greats passed through County General.by psychicdaredevil152BuzzFeed ContributorFacebookPinterestLinkHot Topic🔥 Full coverage and conversation on ER Premiering in 1994, ER burst onto the television landscape, forever changing the medical drama and TV dramas in general. Its fast-paced, quick cutting, extended shots, and in-your-face realism set a new standard in the days before streaming and the TV revolution that began with Mad Men, The Sopranos, and Breaking Bad. NBC / NBCUniversal via Getty Images Running for 15 seasons and a total of 331 episodes, the show came from the powerhouse creative team of writer Michael Crichton and Steven Spielberg.
Featuring an initial cast of seven actors for its first season, in addition to launching George Clooney into the superstar stratosphere and helping pave the way for Noah Wyle's recent career resurrection in The Pitt, the series would go on to introduce numerous future stars to the world. Here are just 15 of the numerous stars that made their way through Chicago's fictional County General. 1. Zac Efron HBO Max The future High School Musical and Neighbors star played fatal gunshot victim Bobby Beville in Season 10. 2. Eva Mendes HBO Max Before playing Will Ferrell's movie wife and becoming the real-life wife of Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes appeared as a babysitter who brings in a sick child in Season 4. BuzzFeed TrendingHot TopicLet's chat about all things ERSee our ER Discussions 3. Nick Offerman HBO Max Future Pawnee carnivore Ron Swanson, and real-life woodworking guru and husband of Will and Grace's Megan Mullally, Nick Offerman played a rock n' roller in Season 4. 4. Emile Hirsch HBO Max Before he hit the big screen in Speed Racer and Into the Wild, heartthrob Emile Hirsch played a teen with alcohol poisoning in Season 6. 5. Chris Pine HBO Max Long before he piloted the USS Enterprise on the big-screen reboot of Star Trek, Chris Pine played a drunk frat boy on ER in 2003. 6. Dakota Fanning HBO Max Some fans might forget that Dakota Fanning was one of Hollywood's most enduring (and endearing) child actors. She appeared as a young leukemia patient. 7. Shia LaBeouf HBO Max Before starring in Transformers and Indiana Jones, Shia LaBeouf delivered a moving performance as a child with muscular dystrophy in a 2000 episode. 8. Aaron Paul Axelle/Bauer-Griffin / Getty Images Long before he started making those little blue crystals with Bryan Cranston in Breaking Bad, Aaron Paul appeared as Doug in a 2003 episode. 9. Jurnee Smollett HBO Max Jurnee Smollett is known for her roles in everything from Full House to Lovecraft Country, but she appears in Season 9 as a young mom. 10. Octavia Spencer HBO Max In 1998, long before she won an Oscar for The Help or helped launch the space program in Hidden Figures, Octavia Spencer appeared on an episode that was her ninth professional credit. 11. Taraji P. Henson Samir Hussein / WireImage Future Empire superstar Taraji P. Henson played two different roles on two different episodes in Season 4 and Season 5, respectively. 12. Kristin Davis HBO Max Before she explored Sex and the City, Kristin Davis made an appearance at Chicago's Country General Hospital in an episode back in 1995. 13. Ewan McGregor HBO Max Before his turn as a Jedi Master in Star Wars, Ewan McGregor appeared as a robber in a powerful episode in Season 3. 14. Gabrielle Union HBO Max In 2000, the same year she changed the game in Bring it On, Gabrielle Union also appeared in an episode, playing an athlete faking an injury to get out of a stressful game. 15. Lucy Liu HBO Max Lucy Liu is receiving Oscar buzz for her starring role in Rosemead. But 30 years ago, she appeared in Season 1 as a mom to a young boy with AIDS complications. Stream ER on HBO Max.