9 Actors You Didn’t Know Were In Movies

4. Ian Brown In The Prisoner Of Azkaban

Okay, okay, he's not an actor, per se. But still, The Stone Roses' legendary frontman Ian Brown in a Harry Potter movie?

In the epitome of a 'blink and you'll miss it' appearance, King Monkey is shown in the Leaky Cauldron pub. This super brief cameo finds Brown magically stirring his drink while reading Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time.

You wouldn't necessarily think of Ian Brown's swagger and cocksure persona being a natural fit for the world of Harry Potter, but this appearance all came about after Azkaban director Alfonso Cuarón approached the singer to see if he wanted to appear in the threequel.

After speaking to his son, Brown decided to take the gig. The logic being, his son was a huge Harry Potter fan - plus this afforded Ian's son the chance to spend a day on the set of The Prisoner of Azkaban.

To go all 'this writer' for a second, this writer may or may not have dragged along to see this film in the cinema purely on the promise of Ian Brown being in it. Shortchanged, much? As someone who at that point in time hadn't seen the previous two Potter movies, shortchanged for sure.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.