The first movie in the Scream franchise was released in 1996. These movies are a series of slasher flicks that are set in the fictional town of Woodsboro where a masked killer known as Ghostface is terrorizing the residents of the town. Ghostface has a different identity in each film, but it’s always someone who has some kind of relationship with Sidney Prescott, the main character in the films. The movies have a humorous touch and often satirize the slasher genre in a way that makes them both scary and hilarious.

We all remember that the movies have featured stars like Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Skeet Ulrich, and Emma Roberts. But, there are some other stars that had roles in the films that many people have forgotten about. From dreamy primetime show actors to horror icons, there have been a lot of celebrities that have made appearances in the Scream films that many of us may have forgotten about amidst all the serial killer action!

To see 10 stars you forgot were in the Scream films, keep reading!

Patrick Dempsey

Patrick Dempsey is an actor who is best known for his roles in shows like Grey’s Anatomy and movies like Sweet Home Alabama. Even though we may know and love him as McDreamy now, he wasn’t always the heartthrob doctor we know and love today.

He appeared in Scream 3 as Mark Kincaid, a police detective that came to the high school in order to talk to Gale Weathers about the series of murders that she was writing a book about. Dempsey had a fairly large role in the movie as the detective that continued to investigate Cotton Weary’s murder and he was even supposed to appear in Scream 4, but had to be written out due to scheduling conflicts.

Carrie Fisher

Carrie Fisher was an actress, author, and comedian who had a long career in Hollywood up until her passing in 2016. Fisher was best known for playing the iconic role of Princess Leia in the Star Wars franchise and was the daughter of actress Debbie Reynolds. Although many people immediately think of Star Wars when they think about Carrie Fisher’s acting career, she also had a super fun cameo in Scream 3.

In the movie, she played the role of Bianca. Bianca is an employee of the archive rooms of the fictional movie studio Sunrise Studios, the studio working on the fictional Stab movies. When Gale Weathers goes to the archive rooms, she encounters Bianca who is very bitter about the fact that she wasn’t cast in the Star Wars movies. This cameo is the kind of clever humor that the Scream films have become known for.

Lucy Hale

Although Pretty Little Liars fans may know Lucy Hale as Aria, she also had a small role in Scream 4. This movie has a pretty heavy focus on making fun of horror film remakes and reboots, fitting since it is one. The movie follows Sidney Prescott several years after the events of Scream 3 while she’s on a book tour and makes a stop in her old hometown of Woodsboro.

The movie features Lucy Hale at the beginning of the film as one of the characters in Stab 6, a fictional series of slasher flicks in the Scream series that are based on Ghostface’s kill spree. Scream 4 opens with several scenes from horror movies that people in the film are watching before it gets into the real movie.

Portia De Rossi

Scream 2 featured a ton of snotty sorority girls. Considering there were so many of them, it’s no surprise that there were some famous faces in the bunch and it’s also not surprising that some fans have totally forgotten about some of the actresses that played these characters.

Among them, a serious Scream fan may recognize Portia de Rossi. The actress is best known for appearing in Arrested Development and for her marriage to comedian Ellen DeGeneres. In the movie, she played Murphy, one of the heads of Delta Lambda Zeta who tries to convince Sidney to join their sorority during the Windsor College Murders.

Jenny McCarthy

Jenny McCarthy got her start in the world of Hollywood in the early 1990s as a model. Today, she’s known as an actress and TV host. But,  many people may not remember that she also appeared in one of the Scream films back in the 1990s when she was still a somewhat fresh face in the world of Hollywood.

She played the role of Sarah Darling in Scream 3. Sarah was the actress that was going to be playing the role of Candy in the fictional film Stab 3, but her career as an actress was cut short when she was tricked into going to Sunrise Studios where Ghostface attacked her.

Linda Blair

Linda Blair is an iconic name in the world of horror movies. Anyone who likes horror films has likely seen Blair portray the role of Regan in The Exorcist or saw her host The Scariest Places on Earth back in the early and mid-2000s. But, she also appeared in one of the Scream films, although her role was much less scary than that of a possessed child like Regan.

The horror movie icon had an uncredited cameo in the very first Scream movie. She played an annoying and invasive reporter who was pestering Sidney for a statement about the first attack that happened in the movie. This cameo is one that you’ll definitely miss if you’re not looking for it, but was a really cool homage to classic horror films.

Henry Winkler

Henry Winkler has been in Hollywood since the 1970s. Some of his most iconic roles include playing Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli on Happy Days and Coach Klein in Adam Sandler’s classic 90s comedy The Waterboy.

In the very first Scream movie, Winkler played the role of Principal Himbry. He was the principal of the high school that Sidney attended and was one of the people that was helping to investigate the series of heinous crimes. Unfortunately, Principal Himbry fell victim to Ghostface fairly early in the film while at the school.

Rose McGowan

Rose McGowan is an actress who is known for appearing in shows like Charmed, but only the most dedicated horror movie fanatics will remember the fact that she also had a role in the first Scream movie. In the movie, she played the role of Tatum, one of the most popular students at the high school that both she and Sidney Prescott attended.

Tatum was the younger sister of Dewey and best friend to Sidney, meaning that she had a fairly big role in the movie. She was killed by Ghostface in the garage in what is definitely one of the most unique death scenes in the movie.

Sarah Michelle Gellar

Despite being best known for roles in shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sarah Michelle Gellar is an actress that has had quite a few roles over the years. One of them that many people may forget was in Scream 2 where she played the role of Cici.

She was a member of the Omega Beta Zeta and one of the first people to be killed by the Ghostface copycat that was attacking students at the school in this movie. Cici, whose real first name was Casey, was chosen as a victim because of the fact that her name was similar to that of Casey Becker, one of the victims from the first movie.

Jay And Silent Bob

Among the most unique cameos in the Scream films are actually not actors playing new characters, but actors reprising classic characters for a cameo in the movies. In Scream 3, Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes appear in-character as Jay and Silent Bob as tourists wandering around Sunrise Studios.

The connections between the Scream franchise and the world of Jay and Silent Bob don’t stop there, either. In Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, there’s a reference to Wes Craven direction the fictional movie Scream 4, a movie that was actually made 10 years later.

Next: 10 Great Horror Movies To Watch If You Loved Scream