One of the interesting things about getting into a show as late as twenty years after it first aired is that I've seen a lot of other more recent shows and movies, and some of the people who may not have been stars then have since moved on to bigger and better things. (Though some came from bigger and better things than even The X-Files at the time.)
I mean, I do this all the time in everything I watch, not just this. I'm sure everyone does to some degree, especially if there are people you see again and again - after all, there does seem to be a bit of a line between TV and film actors, and there are an awful lot of people who have just been in dozens and dozens of TV shows for one or two episodes.
A lot of times, when watching, I'll vaguely recognise an actor and get that feeling of, "Oh, where have I seen that person before?" And it'll bug me for a little while, and then I'll somehow remember a name of a character or actor and more often than not, I'll be right.
And I'm not even counting the actors who have appeared in multiple episodes of The X-Files as different characters. Though that's kind of weird, too, like the couple of actors who appeared on both Buffy and Angel but in different roles. I mean, they still look basically the same, right? So I can't even count the fact that Nicholas Lea was in 'Gender Bender' back in season one before becoming the recurring character, Alex Krycek, in seasons two and three. I didn't recognise him in 'Gender Bender' anyway.
Though in that episode, I did manage to recognise Brent Hinkley, whose name I didn't remember, but who I thought looked familiar for much of the episode, and finally, near the end, figured out that he was Manny on the Buffy episode, 'Doublemeat Palace'. I don't even like that episode, so it's not even one I rewatch very often, and yet, I managed to pull that one out somehow.
A few I get right away - I saw that the Affably Evil Sheriff in 'Our Town' was the just affable Roger Burkle on Angel, and when I watched 'Død Kalm', I immediately caught Vladimir Kulich's name in the guest credits - though I was sure I wouldn't be able to tell who he was, since on Angel he was covered head to toe in makeup and prosthetics as The Beast. (Of course, that was before I found out the episode took place almost entirely on a mostly abandoned ship and he was one of four people there.)
Sometimes the actors are even more obvious - like Željko Ivanek, who I recognised from Damages, in 'Roland', or another Buffy guest star, Vincient Sciavelli, in 'Humbug'. Obviously they've both been in plenty of other things, so maybe it seems weird to recognise them from those specific shows, especially since both happened so much later and they were both already well-established as actors.
There are also times when I don't notice actors during the show, but when I look at the credits online later, I'll click on someone's name and find that they were in something else I've watched - Nick Chinlund, who played the extremely creepy Donnie Pfaster in 'Irresistible' was an Army Major in two fifth season episodes of Buffy, and similarly, Brian Thompson, who I really should have recognised in 'Colony' and 'End Game' due to his distinct voice, appeared as two different characters on Buffy, as well.
I never watched Wings or Monk, so I didn't notice Tony Shalhoub in 'Soft Light', but my girlfriend identified him right away. My response was, "Who?" Apparently I'd never seen him in anything else. At least not that I could pick him out from.
But saving the best for last, I definitely did a double take when I saw Seth Green's name in the credits for 'Deep Throat'. I thought, "Well, it could be a common name. How old is Seth Green? Will he play a young kid?" Turns out he was 19 at the time, and playing pretty much every other character I've seen him as, too. Not that Scott Evil or Oz are necessarily stoners. Probably.
And another one I didn't really allow myself to believe at first, because I didn't think she'd be the right age, was Jewel Staite in 'Oubliette'. 13! Though now it also occurs to me she was only 20 in Firefly. For some reason I kept thinking she was older.
There's a certain feeling of comfort and familiarity in seeing an actor you recognise on a show you're just watching for the first time. I can't quite put my finger on why, because depending on who it is, sometimes it's even a little distracting, especially if it's someone who's now much better known, like Seth Green. It's much easier for the actors who essentially make a career out of being guest actors on TV shows to just sort of blend in.
With six seasons and change left to go, not to mention two feature films, I'm pretty sure I'll need to do another post like this at some point.
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