20 Actors Who Almost Starred In Your Favorite Horror Movies

8. Courteney Cox - Nancy Thompson (A Nightmare On Elm Street)

Played by Heather Langenkamp, Freddy Krueger's arch-nemesis Nancy Thompson is the quintessential horror movie heroine. She€™s brave, resourceful, clever and actually turns her back on Freddy and lives to speak about it (at least until a later sequel). The relatively unknown actress beat out over 200 actresses to land the iconic role. One of the biggest contenders was none other than future Monica Geller herself Courteney Cox. The actress only had a bit part on the soap opera As The World Turns at the time. Director Wes Craven must have remembered her (or seen her ridiculously popular sitcom at the time) because he cast her as the ambitious, strong-willed journalist and writer Gale Weathers in his blockbuster horror film Scream a decade later.