10 Actors Who Got Their Start as MTV Stars

Find out which celebs got their star on MTV…

Jamie Chung was just a college student when she appeared on The Real World: San Diego in 2004 and then was later cast on Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Inferno II. Her MTV reality show roots helped kickstart her career — and she couldn’t be more grateful. 

“I have no shame in my humble beginnings. They kick-started my career,” Jamie told People. “They gave me the opportunity to live with six other strangers in a house. And I think those are the growing things. I don’t think we have that with social media. You can’t have a conversation and have disagreements and live with each other for three months. That’s insane to do.”

Early in his career, Dax Shepard found notoriety for his role on MTV’s Punk’d, helping Ashton Kutcher pull off his epic pranks on his celebrity friends. Despite branching out into acting, Dax says for years people believed he was about to pull a prank on them. After getting into a motorcycle accident and a bystander thinking it was a prank, he said it unlocked a new fear for him. 

“My ultimate fear is that I’m probably gonna have, like, severed legs in some kind of a motorcycle accident at 40 and people are gonna be like, ‘Don’t you dare call 911 because he’s trying to punk you!” he said on Conan. 

B.J. Novak also got his start as a featured actor on Punk’d. In fact, appearing on the MTV show was his first on camera job. Looking back, B.J. says it was one of his favorite jobs he’s ever had. 

“I’ve always loved pranks … So here was a job where there was a professional team that set up the prank for you and you just knock the pins down. It was unbelievable. And Ashton Kutcher … he was in my ear piece telling me what to say to these pop stars that would freak them out. As someone who loves pranks, it was a dream come true,” B.J. said on Conan Needs A Friend. 

Johnny Knoxville got his start on MTV’s Jackass but initially left the show after just two seasons in order to pursue an acting career. While he took it slow at first, appearing in indie flicks, he eventually made his way to box office hits — and even later returned to his roots on Jackass. While he now appreciates both careers, he admits being an actor is a lot easier on his body.

“It was nice going into a job where I don’t have to worry about if I’m going to be able to walk at the end of the day, because you have those concerns when filming Jackass,” he told Vanity Fair. 

Jenny McCarthy had just been named Playmate of the Year when she auditioned to co-host MTV’s dating show, Singled Out. Since being in Playboy wasn’t helping her get any jobs, she kept it a secret and casting agents didn’t figure it out until she had already made it to the final six women. While she thought it might backfire, it turned out that MTV loved her. 

“I leaned all the way into self-deprecating humor, went full goofball and made it clear I wasn’t intimidated by the guys — I could dish it out as much as they could,” she told Us Weekly. “I think seeing a woman with confidence and edge who could flip the script was kind of refreshing for them. And just like that, I got the gig.”

The show became so popular that it landed Jenny on the cover of Rolling Stone and opened tons of other doors. She eventually left in 1997 when she landed her own sitcom on NBC.

Adam Sandler was still a student at NYU when he began appearing on MTV gameshow Remote Control. Contestants were asked questions that were posed by a rotating cast on the show, which included Adam. He appeared on a handful of episodes where he took on the role of characters like “Stud Boy” and the “Trivia Delinquent.”

Long before Karamo Brown appeared on Queer Eye, he was cast on The Real World: Philadelphia, making him the first openly gay Black man on reality television. Looking back years later, Karamo says appearing on the show helped him evolve as a person and grow into the man that people now see on Queer Eye.

“At that moment in my life, I was so unclear, I was so afraid to be vulnerable. I was so afraid to talk about what I was feeling. All of my issues and challenges were coming up in negative ways, and now here I am, years later, fully aware of who I am, living my passions, being honest with myself, being vulnerable, and helping,” he told People. 

He continued, “I say this all the time, ‘If my gay, Black ass can do it, anyone can do it.’ Because you just have to take the time to want to grow and then ask for help and go on that journey,” he concluded

One of Christina Hendricks’ earliest acting jobs was on the MTV sexy anthology series, Undressed, which aired between 1999 and 2002. Christina appeared on four episodes, portraying the character Rhiannon. Looking back years later, Christina admitted that taking part in the show was one of her biggest acting regrets. 

Before Ben Stiller had The Ben Stiller Show on Fox, he had The Ben Stiller Show on MTV back in 1990. The short-lived series, which only spanned six episodes, featured comedy sketches that were interspersed with music videos introduced by Ben and the rest of the cast. Two years later, the series was picked up by Fox. 

Jacinda Barrett was working as a model but had plans to become a pilot when she was cast on The Real World: London. She didn’t know much about reality television at the time but thought it would be a fun adventure. 

“I know it sounds funny now, but at that time there were no reality shows, and MTV was just a late-night music show in Australia,” she told the Los Angeles Times. “I was like, ‘This sounds interesting: I get to live in London, they’ll pay me to get my pilot’s license and there will be this little documentary of this five-month period of my life.'”

The show ended up igniting her passion for acting and she enrolled in acting classes at the University of Oxford in England. While she admits it was hard being taken seriously as an actress at first, she eventually found her footing in entertainment.