Each February, the stars shine brighter in Hollywood than any other time of year, as the Annual Academy Awards light up the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. Movies’ greatest night is hosted this year by Jon Stewart, an actor and comedian. Stewart’s no stranger to hosting awards programs. He hosted the 78th Annual Academy Awards in 2006.
Oh, and he’s a talk show host, too. But you knew that.
There’s another thing Jon has in common with talk show hosts and the movies – she’s starred in films as well (he’s probably best known as that guy that keeps turning up in Adam Sandler films). Just like Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg and, yes, even David Letterman.
So, to honor the Academy Awards – and to showcase some of the fine cinema work of our favorite talk show hosts – here’s a short list of some of their (cough, cough) award-winning work.
These days, when Jay pops up in the movies, its usually playing himself as host of The Tonight Show. Or you might catch him as the voice of Fast Tony in the animated Ice Age films, as Jay Limo in Cars, or the fire hydrant in Robots.
But back in 1989, before he became The Tonight Show’s new host, Jay became Detective Tony Costas, a police investigator teamed up with Investigator Fujitsuka Natsuo, played by Pat Morita. The film went straight-to-video. But on rare occasions, if you’re up in the wee hours of the morning, you might – just might – catch Leno as Detective Costas on a local midnight movies.
Whoopi, co-host of The View and the latest edition to our list, starred alongside Oprah Winfrey in The Color Purple as the main character, Celie Johnson. Goldberg even garnered an Academy Award nomination for her role. She picked up another nomination a few years later when she starred as medium Oda Mae Brown. Goldberg's also hosted the awards show four times -- in 1993, 1995, 1998 and 2001.
Regis’s credits are long and impressive. But his roles in feature films are few and far between. Notable, however, is the host of Live with Regis and Kelly’s appearance (his voice appearance, anyway) in the upcoming Shrek the Third. Regis plays an Ugly Stepsister. And when you couple his voice with whatever image “ugly stepsister” conjures up for you – well, if you’re not laughing now, you won’t be later.
Jon Stewart:
Since his days on MTV, Stewart has always been regarded as one of TV’s best talk show hosts, proven nightly on The Daily Show. He’s also acted in several films including the Ishtar-like Death to Smoochy, with Ed Norton and Robin Williams. Suffice it to say, his acting skills have not be lauded by the Academy. Some of his other choices: Half-Baked and Big Daddy. Though he did have a nice turn as a romantic lead opposite Gillian Anderson in 1998’s Playing by Heart.
Oprah Winfrey:
Best known for her role as Sofia in the Steven Spielberg’s Academy Award-nominated The Color Purple, Oprah has starred or produced a number of films since then. Her biggest role since Sofia was in Beloved, based on Toni Morrison’s novel and produced by Oprah Winfrey.
Rosie O'Donnell:
Probably the most prolific film actor of all our former talk show hosts, Rosie, co-host of The View , has starred in a number of films, including hits like A League of Their Own, Sleepless in Seattle and Beautiful Girls. She’s had her fair share of bombs, as well, including The Flintstones (interestingly cast as Betty Rubble) and the Anne Rice flop Exit to Eden with Dan Akroyd.
