11 Visitor Actors You Forgot Had been On Boy Meets World

The ’90s was a sophisticated time to be a TV teen. Whereas the youngsters of “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “Melrose Place” had been entrenched in fixed scandalous teen drama, a gentler, extra family-friendly model of sweet sixteen life was drawing in audiences on ABC. “Boy Meets World” ran for a formidable 158 episodes, from 1993 to 2000, and stays a pop cultural touchstone — albeit not fairly as potent of 1 as its cattier primetime counterparts — to at the present time.

Like each memorable sitcom, “Boy Meets World” knew the right way to choose a visitor star, and a number of other of the actors who confirmed up throughout its seven-season run went on to be fairly dang well-known. In a couple of instances, individuals who had been already big-name actors on the time additionally dropped in on the youngsters of John Adams Excessive. In case you watched the present at a younger age, although, you would be forgiven for not recognizing the business veterans and fresh-faced up-and-comers who popped up in “Boy Meets World.” Listed here are 11 of one of the best of them who you might have missed:

Future “Parks and Recreation” and “Large Little Lies” star Adam Scott may truly be one of many solely actors on this checklist “Boy Meet World” followers will keep in mind, as he truly had a recurring spot on the present throughout two seasons. Scott performed the bully Griff Hawkins, who was all the time pulling dumb stunts and as soon as bought 4 years’ value of detention. Regardless of his prankster legacy, within the sequel collection “Woman Meets World,” Griff truly ended up getting an award named after him — the Griff Hawkins Completely Cool Award.

Scott apparently nonetheless has vivid recollections of his time on the present, together with one awkward second through which, as he informed the present’s solid on the podcast “Pod Meets World,” Rider Robust apparently rejected his hug and excessive 5 after wrapping on season 2. Robust had no reminiscence of the encounter, which Scott (hilariously) says ended together with his co-star working away. No matter occurred is clearly up to now: almost 30 years later, the solid welcomed Scott again to speak in regards to the present with open arms.

The late actress Brittany Murphy made each undertaking she was in higher, and “Boy Meets World” was no exception. In two season 3 episodes, she performed Trini, Topanga’s greatest buddy who ceaselessly irritated Cory (Ben Savage). Endearingly obnoxious, Trini spends a lot of her display time whacking a ketchup bottle, sipping repeatedly from a drink, and chewing gum within the background of pictures. Like most Murphy characters, she’s lovely, with a zany style sense, an enormous pink scrunchie, and a vaguely Bostonian accent.

Murphy appeared on “Boy Meets World” in 1995, a couple of months after making her breakthrough look within the teen basic “Clueless.” She would later seem in nice motion pictures like “Uptown Women,” “8 Mile,” and “Woman, Interrupted,” however her life and profession had been reduce tragically quick when she died of pneumonia in 2009. “She was wonderful,” Robust told Entertainment Tonight when speaking about Murphy in 2022. “She did two or three episodes, and I simply keep in mind us all being like, ‘She is an unbelievable actor.’ Such a sweetheart. So good to have on the set.”

By the point “Boy Meets World” hit the airwaves, the Savage household was already well-known because of baby star Fred Savage’s indelible activate the candy coming-of-age collection “The Surprise Years” and in motion pictures like “The Princess Bride.” It was his brother Ben who took the starring position in “Boy Meets World” as Cory Matthews, however Fred popped up in a single later-season episode of the present, enjoying a university professor who wasn’t as he appeared. He additionally directed two episodes of the collection in a few of his earliest work behind the digital camera.

In “Everyone Loves Stuart,” the elder Savage performed Stuart, a seemingly cool trainer who the youngsters initially favored earlier than he put the strikes on Topanga (Danielle Fishel). Cory punches him out a window and virtually will get expelled for it, and the creep trainer is rarely seen once more after his lone season 6 look. Sadly, life would imitate artwork years later when Savage was fired from the brand new “Surprise Years” present after harassment allegations surfaced in opposition to him and he was investigated for office misconduct.

Earlier than doing her primetime residencies on exhibits like “Ghost Whisperer” and “9-1-1,” Jennifer Love Hewitt appeared in one of the entertaining episodes of “Boy Meets World.” She performed a suspicious beginner at John Adams Excessive within the surreal episode “And Then There Was Shawn,” a really humorous spin on the basic Agatha Christie slasher. Jennifer Love Fefferman, or “Feffy,” is a first-rate suspect when college students begin getting picked off by an unseen killer, however she finally turns into a sufferer of the assassin herself when she will get crushed by a pile of books within the library.

Hewitt’s position right here is fairly tongue in cheek, as she was courting collection star Will Friedle on the time of her look and spends most of her runtime coming onto Eric (Friedle). On the “Pod Meets World” podcast (via People), a number of solid members had been shocked to rewatch a scene through which the pair intensely made out proper after assembly, a second that felt out of line with the remainder of the comparatively tame present. “Whose concept was the sexual assault?” Friedle requested director Jeff McCracken, calling the second “jarring” and “uncomfortable.” Nonetheless, Hewitt is a enjoyable addition to a particular episode that breaks the foundations of the present’s actuality.

With “Felicity,” Keri Russell’s haircut grew to become front-page information, however you may spot her pre-“Felicity” bushy curls within the season 1 episode “Grandma Was A Rolling Stone.” In 1993, Russell had simply begun appearing (her solely prior position was in “Honey, I Blew Up The Child”), and she or he visitor starred alongside “Golden Women” favourite Rue McClanahan in an episode through which Eric falls for Mr. Feeny’s niece. Russell performs the niece, Jessica, and the pair share a smooch that was apparently Friedle’s first-ever on-screen kiss. “Our enamel bumped. I used to be mortified,” Friedle informed his co-stars when recalling the expertise on an episode of “Pod Meets World.” Russell has come a good distance since, incomes 4 Emmy nominations and starring in nice exhibits like “The Individuals” and “The Diplomat.”

The episode additionally noticed the introduction and sole look of Eric and Cory’s grandma, performed by McClanahan. The actress was already by that time often called Southern seductress Blanche Dubois, Vivian from “Maude,” and Aunt Fran from “Mama’s Household” by the point she popped up on the present, enjoying zany, sparkly grandma Bernice. The character makes a terrific first impression, bringing the household bizarre presents like a shrunken head and a cactus, however she’s finally revealed to be a little bit of a flake. True to her unlucky fame, Grandma Matthews by no means comes again after this episode.

A yr earlier than making her breakout flip in “Freaks & Geeks,” Linda Cardellini appeared in “Boy Meets World,” enjoying one of many present’s greatest non-Topanga love pursuits for Cory. She appeared in three episodes of the present (plus in flashback in a fourth) as Lauren, a lady who labored at a ski lodge that the John Adams Excessive children visited on a discipline journey. She and Cory, who instantly sprained his ankle, hit it off and frolicked for many of the journey, and she or he later went on a date with him that went fairly properly. Nonetheless, by the point she made her second look within the present’s fifth season, Cory’s coronary heart firmly belonged to Topanga, and she or he did not stand an opportunity.

Cardellini would go on to play a number of memorable roles, from geeky investigator Velma within the 2002 “Scooby-Doo” film to angsty teen Lindsay Weir in “Freaks & Geeks” to sunny assassin Judy in “Useless to Me.” Lauren takes up roughly the identical house in “Boy Meets World” that Rory’s good faculty buddy Marty did in “Gilmore Women,” in that she would’ve been a very good however undramatic selection for a protagonist who finally — inevitably — selected a extra passionate love as an alternative.

Topanga’s dad and mom, Jedidiah and Rhiannon, had been recast all through the collection sufficient to offer the Bobbys from “Mad Men” a run for their money. The pair had a reasonably main plotline within the present, making an attempt to reconcile after Jedidiah’s affair and finally getting a divorce, all of which made the revolving door of actors enjoying them extraordinarily noticeable. “Higher Name Saul” actor Michael McKean, who performs Saul Goodman’s principled brother Chuck in that present, is essentially the most immediately recognizable actor to tackle the Jedidiah position, which he performed for only one episode. Different actors who performed Topanga’s hippie dad embody Peter Tork and Mark Harelik. McKean has many years of nice roles below his belt, and you may also know him from “A Mighty Wind,” “That is Spinal Faucet,” or “Clue.”

In the meantime, Rhiannon was recast simply as soon as, with future “Determined Housewives” star Marcia Cross taking up for “Nash Bridges” alum Annette O’Toole for 3 season 7 episodes. Cross’ different main roles embody “Melrose Place,” “Quantico,” and a number of other widespread soaps. Topanga’s dad and mom’ separation made her briefly jaded about love, however she ended up following via together with her teenage marriage to Cory, and when her wedding ceremony lastly got here, Jedidiah — performed by Harelik at that time — walked her down the aisle.

The lady behind one of many most-loved blockbuster rom-coms of the 2000s as soon as performed a waitress on “Boy Meets World.” Like another acquainted faces (see: “American Magnificence” star Mena Suvari), Vardalos performed two completely different characters throughout the collection’ run, popping up first as a waitress in season 6, then as a lady named Mrs. Gallagher simply ten episodes later. It is the latter look that is extra memorable, because it’s Mrs. Gallagher who talks Eric out of adopting an orphan boy named Tommy when he learns {that a} extra established household can be keen to take care of the kid.

Simply three years after her “Boy Meets World” stint, Vardalos grew to become well-known for writing and starring in “My Large Fats Greek Wedding ceremony,” a shoestring-budget film that made major bucks at the box office and impressed two sequels. Surprisingly, she’s uncredited for her work on “Boy Meets World,” which she did pretty early in her profession — however after she had already voiced a personality on the now-forgotten collection “Group Knight Rider.”

The uncommon visitor star who made a “Boy Meets World” look close to the tip of her profession slightly than the start of it, Phyllis Diller is immediately recognizable as fortune teller Madame Ouspenskaya. Diller added some chaotic humor to the Halloween episode “Who’s Afraid of Cory Wolf,” telling Cory that he is doomed to remodel right into a werewolf and – gasp! – kill Topanga. He would not, because it seems he was bitten by a rabbit, not a werewolf, however the episode delivers the seasonal mix of spookiness and silliness that Disney-made exhibits would develop into recognized for.

Diller was one of many first vastly well-known feminine comics in America, and by the point she passed away in 2012 at age 95, she was also referred to as an actress, artist, writer, and musician. Diller lent her skills to a wide-ranging assortment of flicks over the many years, from 1961’s intercourse drama “Splendor within the Grass” to Pixar’s 1998 animated favourite “A Bug’s Life.” Regardless of her foolish demeanor and mystical garb, Diller was one of many extra prestigious visitor stars on the present, having acquired a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Comedy Awards, Emmy and Golden Globe nominations, and a star on the Hollywood Stroll of Fame. For a technology of viewers, although, she might have been greatest often called the mysterious stranger who virtually turned Cory right into a monster.