21 Actors You Probably Forgot Were in Lifetime Original Movies
Lifetime movies have become the guilty pleasure that, well, people no longer have to feel guilty about. Yes, they can be campy and slightly akward, but they're nonetheless memorable and wildly entertaining. Lifetime movies are a palette cleanser in a world where Leonardo DiCaprio wins an Academy Award for grunting his way through a near-three-hour survival movie. (No shade, Iñárritu.)
Even though stars might look down upon lowbrow Lifetime flicks, many of them got their start in them! Look ahead to find out which ones we're talking about . . .
Hilary Swank in Cries Unheard: The Donna Yaklich Story
Also titled Victim of Rage, this 1994 drama focuses on an abusive, steroid-addicted husband and his relationship with his second wife and teenage daughter Patty, played by Swank.
Melissa Joan Hart in Twisted Desire
Based on a true story, Twisted Desire (1996) shows how one rebellious teen, played by Hart, convinced her boyfriend to murder her own parents.
Maya Rudolph in The Devil’s Child
This thinly veiled Rosemary's Baby rip-off from 1997 has a surprising cameo from Rudolph, who played an embarassed student whose affair is dramatically exposed by her professor . . . who is also, you know, the actual devil.
Mark Ruffalo in On the Second Day of Christmas
Mark Ruffalo played a mall security guard who catches a pick-pocketing woman and her niece, and subsequently falls in love with the thief, in this oddly heartwarming one from 1997.
Hayden Panettiere in If You Believe
In this holiday movie from 1999, Panettiere is the central character's younger self who keeps (creepily) checking in on her present-day life until she finds self-contentment.
Kirsten Dunst and Brittany Murphy in The Devil’s Arithmetic
Dunst and Murphy starred in this 1999 film adaptation of a book about a modern-day Jewish teenager who time travels to the 1940s and witnesses her grandmother's experience during the Holocaust.
Paul Dano in Too Young to Be a Dad
In the early 2000s, Paul Dano starred in this classic drama about Lifetime's quintessential theme: teen pregnancy.
Ellen Page in Going For Broke
In one of her early roles, Ellen Page played the daughter in this 2003 movie about one mom's gambling addiction.
Kristen Bell in Gracie’s Choice
Gracie's Choice presents a real moral dilemma as Gracie, played by Bell, seeks custody of her younger siblings after her mother gets arrested.
Mariska Hargitay in Plain Truth
The Law and Order: Special Victims Unit queen once played an attorney in this 2004 drama about the murder of a newborn baby in a small Amish town, based on the Jodi Picoult book of the same name.
Kristen Stewart in Speak
Considered one of Stewart's first big roles after Panic Room, she played a high school rape victim in this powerful 2004 film adaptation of the popular book.
Zac Efron in Miracle Run
Efron was applauded for this early role as a 7-year-old twin with autism who joins his school's cross-country team.
Tatiana Maslany in Dawn Anna
The Orphan Black star is a victim of the Columbine shooting in this tragic movie from 2005.
Sarah Paulson in A Christmas Wedding
Before she was an invaluable American Horror Story cast member, Paulson played a woman whose fiancé is forced to help out with the wedding planning after she's away on a work trip.
Leighton Meester in The Haunting of Sorority Row
In this 2007 movie that utilizes plenty of college horror tropes, Meester is a college freshman who joins a sorority haunted by the ghost of a former pledge seeking revenge.
Oliver Hudson in Carolina Moon
Hudson is the love interest — because, duh — in this story about a clairvoyant woman who returns to her hometown to investigate the murder of her friend.
Kaley Cuoco in To Be Fat Like Me
Cuoco's character wears a prosthetic suit to sympathize with her overweight peers in this slightly cringeworthy one from 2007.
Ashley Benson in Fab Five
The Pretty Little Liars star is central to this 2008 take on the rebellious, real-life McKinney North High School cheerleading squad that scandalized the Texan town. Fun fact: Jenna Dewan Tatum played the squad's coach!
Mae Whitman in Acceptance
The Parenthood actor can be seen as a high school student dealing with the college addmissions process and struggling with self-harm in Acceptance.
Keke Palmer in Abducted: The Carlina White Story
Palmer stars in the sad, true story about a girl who was abducted by a hospital nurse as a baby and has grown up not knowing the truth about her biological family.
Kiernan Shipka in Flowers in the Attic
While the 2014 Flowers in the Attic reboot was pretty recent, it's still crazy to think that this Mad Men star appeared in it — especially in such a, uh, mature role.