10 Actors Who Went Uncredited For Major Film Roles (And Why)

1. Tom Cruise - Tropic Thunder

Writer-director Ben Stiller’s 2008 action movie farce, Tropic Thunder, followed the troubled production of an Oscar-baiting film set during the Vietnam War. The comedy is a meta-commentary on the state of Hollywood and the lengths to which some will go to win some coveted gold statuettes. In the film, mega-star Tom Cruise plays the wildly off-brand character of Les Grossman, the head of a Hollywood studio. Initially, Cruise was slated to play Ben Stiller’s character’s agent—a role that would eventually be played by Matthew McConaughey.

The character of Les Grossman was actually Cruise’s idea. He suggested to Stiller that they needed to have an over-the-top studio head portrayed in the film, and then offered to play the character. So the two put their heads together and created the character of “Les Grossman.” The role required Cruise to wear so many prosthetics (including bald cap, wig, a fat suit, and even fat prosthetic hands) that it made Cruise barely recognizable. The notion to leave him uncredited was inspired by the idea that nobody would recognize him; audiences would struggle to figure out who was playing Grossman, and when they finally did, the revelation would be a big surprise. So to keep the surprise under wraps, Cruise’s name was left off all marketing for the film until after its initial release.