Each February, the stars shine brighter in Hollywood than at any other time of year, as the Annual Academy Awards light up the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. Traditionally - though not always - movies’ greatest night is hosted by a talk show host.
In recent years Jon Stewart has been one of Oscar's go-to guys (Actor Hugh Jackman was the most recent Academy Award host). But other talk show hosts have hosted as well, including David Letterman, Ellen DeGeneres, and Whoopi Goldberg.
There’s another thing many talk show hosts and the movies have in common – they've appeared as actors in films, as well.
So, to honor the movies – 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.
Stephen Colbert:
Stephen, host of The Colbert Report,with his friend and colleague Amy Sedaris, turned their hit Comedy Central series Strangers with Candy into a feature film. It had some distribution issues, but managed to overcome those. Oh, and one of its executive producers? David Letterman.Ellen DeGeneres:
We mentioned Finding Nemo above, but Ellen, host of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, has starred in a number of films, including Mr. Wrong with Bill Pullman and The Love Letter with Tom Selleck. She’s had a number of supporting and cameo roles, too, in such films as edTV and Doctor Doolittle.Craig Ferguson:
That lovable Scot is first and foremost an actor, primarily known in the States for his role on The Drew Carey Show and as host of the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. But he had a moderate hit a few years back with the wonderful comedy Saving Grace, in which he plays a gardener who shows a widow with financial problems how her greenhouses can be used to cultivate a cash crop of a most illegal variety. He also turned up in Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events as the Person of Indeterminate Gender.David Letterman:
Dave likes to stick to cult films whenever he takes on a film role. His two most famous scenes – and, really, his only two scenes – are cameos in two 90s era comedies: Chris Elliot’s Cabin Boy, in which Dave played an odd vagrant in a seaside shanty town, and Beavis and Butt-head Do America, in which Dave leant his voice talent, playing a Motley Crue roadie. He’s credited in the film as Earl Hofert.Jay Leno:
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.
Conan O’Brien:
Yep, you can find our redheaded wunderkind, host of Late Night with Conan O’Brien, in the movies – but you gotta look really hard. Conan appears as “Coco” in a low-budget indie flick titled Good Money. This is one of those “filmmaker funded project with his own credit card” films. But it includes cameos from all the stars of Seinfeld and is compared to Woody Allen’s Manhattan. Sounds like it’s worth checking out – if you can find it.Whoopi Goldberg:
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 Philbin :
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.
