Before they were fighting zombies (and each other) in a post-apocalyptic Southern U.S., Walking Dead stars Norman Reedus, Andrew Lincoln, Melissa McBride and others were hard at work scoring other noteworthy roles in Hollywood.
Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes
Before he took on the lead role in TWD, Andrew Lincoln was Andrew James Clutterbuck — it doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. Lincoln’s interest in acting started young — he spent a summer at the National Youth Theater, then the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (where he dropped Clutterbuck and went by Andrew Lincoln). Some of his very early work (before Love Actually and way before The Walking Dead) includes a lot of now-obscure British film and television work, like: Drop the Dead Donkey, N7, and Boston Kickout.
Jon Bernthal as Shane Walsh
Jon Bernthal’s acting career goes all the way back to the early ‘00s when he took on bit roles on television shows like Law & Order and CSI: Miami. While racking up these small, walk-on credits, Bernthal was acting on Broadway and finishing up his M.F.A. at Harvard’s Institute for Advanced Theatre Training. Bernthal’s big break was when he co-starred in The Class in 2007, which allowed him the opportunity to score the part of Shane Walsh – one of the most hated/secretly loved men on The Walking Dead.
Chandler Riggs as Carl Grimes
As the youngest cast member on TWD, Chandler Riggs’ IMDB page isn’t exactly blowing up, but he does have two interesting credits. He played a zombie in Jesus H. Zombie, a small indie made in 2006, and then in Get Low three years later, with Bill Murray, Sissy Spacek, and Robert Duvall. Of course, his credits aren’t complete without mention his part as “munchkin” in Atlanta’s Fox Theater production of The Wizard of Oz.
