Stars Who Were in the A Nightmare on Elm Street Movies Before They Got Famous

The nine-film A Nightmare on Elm Street saga is like similar long-running A-list horror franchises Halloween, Friday the 13th, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in that it features a decent number of stars who were just shy of really breaking big. This includes entries ranging from the very first to the 2010 remake. It’s a launching pad IP. But whereas Friday the 13th was always something actors liked to use to get their names and faces out there then swiftly move on from, A Nightmare on Elm Street was always a little more respected.

Videos by ComicBook.com

It wasn’t quite a badge of honor to be killed off by Freddy, but a Nightmare movie gave actors more to work with than a Friday the 13th movie, and their depth was something critics took note of, hence them being less of an embarrassing early entry on filmographies. So, what big names found themselves at the pointy end of Freddy’s glove? Let’s find out.

1) Johnny Depp in A Nightmare on Elm Street

Even including Scream, A Nightmare on Elm Street stands as the late Wes Craven’s most iconic film. Perfectly paced, occasionally shocking, and always inventive, it’s not just one of 1984’s best horror films, it’s one of 1984’s best films regardless of genre. It also features the very first performance by Johnny Depp, who even gets one of the entire A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise’s best death scenes.

One year after Nightmare, Depp co-lead the forgettable teen comedy Private Resort and in 1986 had a role in Oliver Stone’s Platoon (though he saw most of his scenes end up on the cutting room floor), but when it comes to movies the Freddy Krueger fright fest was undoubtedly his biggest of the ’80s. Throughout the decade he found more success on the small screen, specifically as Officer Tom Hanson on 21 Jump Street. He wouldn’t become a bonafide movie star until 1990, when he starred as the title character of Edward Scissorhands.

Big-screen success didn’t stop him from coming back to pay his respects to Freddy when (it seemed at least) the character was on his way out, as Depp had a brief cameo in Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, where he helped parody the Partnership for a Drug-Free America “This Is Your Brain on Drugs” commercials.

2) Patricia Arquette in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

One of the most financially successful Freddy Krueger movies is also its most star-studded. Specifically, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, which features not only the return of Heather Langenkamp and John Saxon but early roles for two future A-listers (not to mention a self-aware cameo from Zsa Zsa Gabor). One of those future A-listers was none other than Severance‘s Patricia Arquette.

The fantastic Dream Warriors was her first movie, and it was a great way to debut as her Kristen Parker is one of the franchise’s best and most layered characters. Her next notable on-screen performance was four years later in The Indian Runner, followed by her iconic turn as Alabama Whitman two years later in True Romance (1993). Her career has held strong, with roles in critical darlings Ed Wood (1994), Flirting with Disaster (1996), Lost Highway (1997), and Boyhood (2014) as well as a long-running stint as the lead on NBC’s Medium.

3) Laurence Fishburne in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

One of the most prolific and talented actors working today, Laurence Fishburne has been working steadily since the mid ’70s. After a few roles under the name of Laurence Fishburne III, he switched over to Larry Fishburne for 1979’s Apocalypse Now, which he held onto throughout the next 10 years. This span of time included smaller roles in big movies such as Rumble Fish, The Cotton Club, The Color Purple, School Daze, King of New York, and A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.

In Dream Warriors, easily one of the best slasher movie sequels, he plays Max, the main orderly at Westin Hills Psychiatric Hospital. Fishburne is only in a few scenes, but he makes the most of each one, selling Max as a man who not only takes his job seriously but also has substantial compassion for the patients under his care. Fishburne’s real breakthrough role came three years later in the aforementioned King of New York, followed the next year by Boyz n the Hood, but Dream Warriors served as an example of how a talented actor can make a small part feel like an important one all the same.

4) Breckin Meyer in Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare

Breckin Meyer has been acting ever since he was 12 years old. And, after working on the small screen for years, voicing a character on Potato Head Kids in 1986 and putting in one-episode appearances on shows like The Wonder Years and L.A. Law, he got his first theatrical big-screen role in Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare.

Unfortunately, Meyer’s Spencer Lewis gets the lamest death of the franchise’s history, but it’s still a decently sized role. It took Meyer another four years to get back on the big screen, but he did so in a notable way with a good part in the ’90s classic Clueless. Since then, he’s had supporting roles in movies like The Craft, 54, The Insider, Kate & Leopold, and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and has led Garfield: The Movie, Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, and Road Trip. As for the small screen, Meyer’s most notable work has been as voice actor, writer, and producer of the long-running Adult Swim stop-motion comedy Robot Chicken and as one of the two title characters on Franklin & Bash (which has accrued something of a cult following since concluding its run back in 2014).

5) Rooney Mara in A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

The Platinum Dunes version of A Nightmare on Elm Street is by far the nadir of the series. It’s a bland, overly glossy, scare-free dud that not even the talented Jackie Earle Haley or Rooney Mara could save. Mara played Nancy, the character originally played by Heather Langenkamp, but this version of Nancy isn’t particularly interesting (through no fault of Mara’s, but rather the script and direction). Prior to A Nightmare on Elm Street, she had small roles in the indies The Winning Season, Youth in Revolt as well as the lead role in fellow indie Tanner Hall.

A few years ago, Mara made it clear on the LaunchLeft podcast that her time making the Freddy Krueger movie was far from the best experience of her career. In fact, it nearly made her quit acting altogether. In her words, “It wasn’t the best experience making it and I got to this place, that I still live in, that I don’t want to act unless I’m doing stuff that I feel like I have to do. So after making that film, I decided, ‘Ok, I’m just not going to act anymore unless it’s something that I feel that way about.”

Fortunately, she’s now in a position where she can pick and choose what the next entry on her filmography will be. But, at the time, A Nightmare on Elm Street was something of a launching pad for her. It was successful enough at the time and has swiftly been forgotten since. So, really, it worked out okay for her career trajectory in the long run.

Honorable Mention: Kyle Gallner in A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

Kyle Gallner gets an honorable mention entry, as opposed to a standard entry, because he was a bit more known than Mara when A Nightmare on Elm Street came out. Most notably, when it comes to the small screen, he had a recurring (then main) role on Veronica Mars, a recurring role on the first two seasons of HBO’s Big Love, and a recurring role throughout Seasons 3-6 of CSI: NY. As for the big screen, he had already been in Wet Hot American Summer, Red Eye, The Haunting in Connecticut, and Jennifer’s Body.

But A Nightmare on Elm Street was still one of his more sizable roles in a big movie up to that point, if not the biggest of his movies up to that point. And he’s seen his star rise as a scream king since, e.g. in Red State, Scream, Smile, Smile 2, and the phenomenal horror-adjacent thriller Strange Darling. Gallner is one to watch, his star is only going to rise further.