The Cast Of Buffy The Vampire Slayer Before They Were Famous

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" is an iconic cult classic that aired from the late 90's through the early 2000's. The show followed the story of Buffy Summers, a high school girl by day and a vampire slayer/demon hunter by night, and her closest friends, dubbed the Scooby Gang. The crew encountered various supernatural baddies each week and each week good conquered evil, even when it seemed like the forces of good might not make it.

The show had all the camp of a B horror movie plus the drama of 90210 and the genius dialogue that only the team of Joss Whedon, Drew Goddard, and Marti Noxon could produce. Instead of just being another cheesy high school drama or another wacky sci-fi show, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" mashed up these genres to pull in all sorts of die hard fans. It was a hit in its time and it's passed the time as new generations have discovered its charm.

The first episode of Buffy just celebrated its 20th anniversary and we got all the feels when the cast got together to do a shoot for "Entertainment Weekly." The whole core cast was there with the exception of Anthony Head, who played Buffy's Watcher, Giles.

Seeing the whole cast together again made us think about all the actors who have been on "Buffy" throughout the years. Turns out some of the most recognizable faces in television and movies had their moment on "Buffy" way before they were famous. Here's 11 familiar faces who were on an episode or two of Buffy way before we knew who they were.

Post contains spoiler alerts, but if you've waited twenty years to watch this classic masterpiece, that's your loss.

11 Wentworth Miller

You may recognize Wentworth Miller as the lead in "Prison Break" or as supervillain Captain Cold from DC's "Legends of Tomorrow" and "The Flash." But long before he starred in either of those roles, he had a one episode spot on "Buffy."

Miller appeared in "Go Fish," episode 20 of season two of "Buffy." His character was a popular and pretty jerky member of the swim team. At Sunnydale High, the high school Buffy attends, the swim team is actually the winningest team at the school and Miller plays Gage, a star member of the team. The swim team members start disappearing and of course, Buffy and the Scooby Gang are all over the case.

Spoiler alert: The swim team is being dosed with a magical concoction that turns them in to fish and Miller's character gets literally ripped apart when he turns in to a fish. Talk about a gnarly death.

10 Amber Tamblyn

Amber Tamblyn has been in quite a bit since her brief appearance on "Buffy." She played the adorable and relatable Tibby in "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," the movie beloved by any girl in middle or high school in the mid 2000's. She also had major roles in the movies "127 Hours" and "Django Unchained." Her television career has been just as notable with roles on "Two and a Half Men" and "House M.D."

Tamblyn appeared in episode six of season six, "All the Way." Her character is a friend of Buffy's sister, Dawn. Dawn and Tamblyn's character sneak out on Halloween night to hang out with some older guys and get in to trouble, and of course, they end up getting in to way more trouble than they bargained for.

Spoiler alert: one of the guys they're hanging out with ends up being a vampire and violence ensues.

9 Amy Adams

Amy Adams is probably the most famous face on this list. She's starred in a few Oscar nominated films, such as "Arrival" and "American Hustle." Some of her other notable movie credits include "Julie and Julia," "The Fighter," "Enchanted," and the new Superman movies. She hasn't done much television in the past, but she is starring in a new show called "Sharp Objects" due out this year.

Amy Adams played Amber Benson's character Tara's super religious cousin in episode six of season five, called "Family." Tara is a lesbian witch, in a relationship with fellow lesbian witch Willow, a core member of Buffy's Scooby Gang. Tara's whole family believes that she is cursed and that she will turn in to a demon on her twentieth birthday. They insist that Tara must be taken away to be dealt with.

Spoiler alert: Tara is not a demon and will not turn in to a demon. Her family was just super backwoodsy religious and closed minded. They leave and everyone lives happily ever after. Well, not really. They live on a Hellmouth.

8 Pedro Pascal

If you're a "Game of Thrones" fan seeing Pedro Pascal's face may still hurt your heart. Dear Oberyn Martell, we barely knew thee. Though Pascal is most well known for his role on "Game of Thrones," he's been in plenty of other popular television shows. He;s had recurring roles on "The Good Wife," "Graceland," "The Mentalist," and most recently "Narcos."

Pascal played a Eddie, a fellow college student of Buffy's, on the first episode of season four. Buffy and Eddie run in to each other while lost on campus at night. They have a brief conversation which mainly serves to show that Eddie is a super nice guy. Of course, as soon as they part ways Eddie is killed by a vampire and Pascal joins the list of famous people who have died on an episode of "Buffy."

Spoiler alert: The group of vampires that kills Eddie has been picking off students on campus one by one and leaving notes in their room saying they just couldn't take the pressure of college. Buffy finds them and violence ensues.

7 Shane West

This mid 2000's heartthrob stole most of our hearts when he played Landon Carter in "A Walk to Remember." He also had memorable television roles on "Once and Again," "ER," and "Nikita." Most recently he's been seen in the show "Salem."

West actually made his "Buffy" appearance in the same episode as Wentworth Miller, the first slot on this list. His character, Shawn is also a member of the Sunnydale High Swim team, which, as we already know, meets their messy demise when they turn in to hideous gill monsters. West's character tries to attack one of the Scooby gang after being transformed in to one of the gill monsters.

Spoiler alert: the Sunnydale High swim team members who become gill monsters don't actually die, they just transform. After the transformation, the swim team members move to the sewers below the school and hunt their classmates.

6 Clea DuVall

Clea DuVall was a teen movie powerhouse in the late 90's and her career hasn't really slowed down since then. She's one of those actresses that always makes you think "I've seen her somewhere," and open up IMDB to find out. Her more popular movie credits include "Can't Hardly Wait," "The Faculty," "But I'm a Cheerleader," "Girl Interrupted," and Argo. She's also well known for her roles on the television series "Heroes," "American Horror Story," and "Veep."

DuVall appeared on episode eleven of the very first season of "Buffy" entitled "Out of Sight Out of Mind." DuVall's character Marcie was wildly unpopular and felt so invisible that she actually became invisible. After she disappeared she hung around the school plotting her revenge, eventually kidnapping the homecoming queen.

Spoiler alert: Buffy saves the homecoming queen before Marcie can do any damage and Marcie is recruited by a secret government agency because of her unique qualities.

5 Eion Bailey

If you're a "Once Upon a Time" fan, and you should be, you'll immediately recognize Eion Bailey as August Booth/Pinocchio. He's also had prominent roles on "Ray Donovan," "Covert Affairs," "Band of Brothers" and "ER." You may have also noticed him in the movie "Fight Club" where he played a Tyler Durden devotee.

Hi appearance on "Buffy" was Bailey's very first acting credit! He appeared in an episode called "The Pack," which was the sixth episode in "Buffy's" very first season. Bailey's character is a popular bad boy at Sunnydale High School who gets possessed by the spirit of an ancient African spirit that emulates animals. Bailey's character essentially turned in to a human hyena.

Spoiler alert: the high school students who become possessed by the hyenas eat their principal while possessed. Not a metaphor. They literally eat him. When they are no longer possessed the students maintain their memories of what happened while they were possessed. Talk about years of therapy!

4 Nathan Fillion

Nathan Fillion has long been a favorite actor of the geek community, mostly because of Joss Whedon's repeated casting of him in his shows. Whedon is, of course, the genius mind behind "Buffy" and also behind "Firefly," the show which Fillion starred in for its one season. Today Fillion is most well known for the hit show "Castle" in which he plays the title character. Fillion has also had recurring roles on the shows "Con Man," and "Modern Family." He does a lot of voice acting for movies and appeared in the "Guardians of the Galaxy" movie as well.

Fillion played a large, recurring role in the last season of "Buffy." His character, Caleb, was a fallen priest who served 'The First,' the big baddie of the last season of the show. His character tortured the Slayer and her friends for the majority of the last season.

Spoiler alert: Caleb is responsible for tearing out Xander's eye late in the last season. He does a lot of damage in his run, but in the end, Buffy kills him good.

3 Felicia Day

The darling of the geek world, Felicia Day, is known mostly for her leading role on the webseries "The Guild." Another favorite of Joss Whedon, Day appeared in his movie "Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog" alongside Nathan Fillion. Day also had recurring roles on the shows "Eureka" "Supernatural" and "Con Man."

Day has a large recurring role in the last season of "Buffy." In the seventh season all of the girls who could ever be slayers, called Potentials, gather together to fight 'The First.' Day plays one of these Potentials, named Vi. She lives with Buffy and the other Potentials, training for their eventual confrontation with 'The First.'

Spoiler alert: though Vi starts out as one of the post quiet and timid of the Potentials, she ends up being one of the only Potentials to make it to the final battle, and when she's there, she kicks some serious butt.

2 Julie Benz

Julie Benz is most famous for her role as the lover and eventual wife of serial killer Dexter Morgan on the wildly popular show "Dexter." She's also had recurring roles on the TV shows "Hawaii Five-0" and "Defiance." She also had a large role in the late 90's movie "Jawbreaker."

Benz had a recurring role throughout the first season of "Buffy." She played Darla, one of the oldest and most respected vampires in the Sunnydale. She is the first vampire we ever see in the series and she is present through most of the first season. Darla made Angel, Buffy's boyfriend who also happens to be a vampire, in to a vampire and they were lovers a long time ago. Angel, who is now good (long story) ends up killing Darla in the seventh episode of the first season.

Spoiler alert: In "Angel," a "Buffy" spinoff, Darla is brought back from the dead and impregnated by Angel (again, it's a long story.)

1 Charlie Weber

These days Charlie Weber is most well known as Frank Delfino in "How to Get Away with Murder." He also starred in the 2012 reboot of "90210."

Weber played a recurring role in season five of "Buffy." His character, Ben, was a kind doctor who, unbeknownst to him, shared his body with an evil God named Glory. Ben frequently blacks out and transforms in to the God Glory in order to commit acts of evil. Ben has literally no idea what's going on. Buffy and the Scooby Gang frequently tail Ben in order to keep tabs on Glory, who is relentlessly trying to kill Buffy's sister Dawn.

Spoiler alert: toward the end of the season it becomes apparent that the Scooby Gang cannot kill Glory without also killing Ben since his body served as her host. Buffy repeatedly tries to find ways to avoid this as she cannot bear to kill Ben. Eventually, Giles smothers Ben in order to ensure Glory's complete destruction.

If you haven't watched all seven seasons of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" you're definitely missing out on some of the funniest and most interesting television out there. You're also missing some awesome cameos from the actors on this list. Unfortunately "Buffy" is getting pulled from Netflix as of April 1st, but it's still available on Hulu if you've got a subscription, or for $1.99/episode on Amazon Prime. Get watching!