Cloverfield: 10 Actors You Forgot Were In The Movie

It’s been well over a decade since Cloverfield took the nation by storm with its viral marketing and innovative take on the found footage genre. Since then there have been two Cloverfield movies with another supposedly on the way. The first one continues to have a fond place in the hearts of many monster movie lovers. Now that Matt Reeve’s The Batman has arrived in theaters, there’s no better time to look back at his first major motion picture.

With a script from Drew Goddard, Cloverfield follows a group of friends as they try to survive a giant monster attack in New York. At the same time, they’re attempting to save their friends and uncover the mystery of where the Cloverfield monster came from. Many actors from this film went on to have successful film and television careers.

Lizzy Caplan

In the film, Lizzy Caplan plays Marlena, who was present at the going-away party at the start of the story. During the film, she gets infected by some unknown virus from the pint-sized monsters that attacked them in the subway. Her condition quickly deteriorates and the military tries to quarantine her before she explodes.

Caplan had a pretty good career before Cloverfield, having starred in 2004’s Mean Girls, and since then she’s been consistently working in both film and television. Marvel fans may recognize her from The Avengers short film Item 47, which became so popular that many felt she would be the lead in the upcoming Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Now she can be heard in the Netflix original animated series, Inside Job where she plays Reagan Ridley.

Jessica Lucas

The character that Jessica Lucas plays in Cloverfield is Lily who has the distinction of being the only character fans know survived the events of the film. She was instrumental in saving Beth from her toppled building and escaped on a helicopter in the evacuation when the others couldn’t make it in time.

After Cloverfield, Lucas appeared in a number of films, including 2013’s Evil Dead, the remake of the original classic which still remains one of Sam Raimi’s best movies. She appeared in over sixty episodes of Gotham as Tabitha Galavan, and can currently be seen in The Resident as Billie Sutton.

T.J. Miller

Cloverfield was T.J. Miller’s first-ever role on film. Miller plays Hud, the cameraman for most of the movie.  As such he doesn’t appear on-screen a lot but often provides comedic relief from behind the camera. Since he’s the cameraman, his death provides the viewers with a clear look at the creature just before the monster kills him.

Miller had quite the career going before certain controversies came to light, including allegations of assault (per The Daily Beast) and making a false 911 call (per Deadline). Before this, he did plenty of animation work, such as Tuffnut in the How to Train Your Dragon franchise. Most recently he was seen in the Kristen Stewart film Underwater but currently has no new projects lined up.

Odette Annable

Odette Annable played the role of Beth in Cloverfield. Beth was in her own apartment when the monster attacked and much of the film’s runtime is dedicated to finding and saving her. Unfortunately, she and her boyfriend Rob seemingly die at the end of the film due to the military’s strike on the creature.

Annable has had a successful television career since Cloverfield having appeared in shows like House and Supergirl. In the latter, she played Reign, one of Supergirl‘s vest villains. Currently, she can be seen in the CW’s Walker as Geri Broussard.

Theo Rossi

Audiences may not recall Antonio in Cloverfield since he plays a small role. Antonio was one of the people at the party before the monster attack begins and the last time he’s seen in the film is on the bridge.

Fans of the Netflix Marvel shows, such as Luke Cage will instantly recognize him, however, as Shades. Many fans want to see his Luke Cage character return in the MCU. Rossi was the last seen in Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead, with plenty more projects in the pipeline, including his directorial debut Diamondback (per Deadline).

Kelvin Yu

Another small character in Cloverfield was Clark. Played by Kelvin Yu, Clark was another party-goer before the monster attack. He survived the initial attack when the Statue of Liberty head is thrown into the streets, but after his plan to take a different bridge is rejected, it’s unclear where he ended up next.

He’s had plenty of TV roles since Cloverfield but he’s been mainly focusing on his work on Bob’s Burgers, where he’s been a writer and executive producer. Recently though, he was cast in the ensemble murder mystery show The Afterparty, one of the funniest shows on Apple TV+, where he plays Ned.

Liza Lapira

Since viewers are introduced to most characters at a party, it’s no surprise that Liza Lapira plays another partygoer. Lapira has a small role, and it’s unclear if she made it to the end of the film or not.

Recently Lapira has been a major role in The Equalizer rebooted series as Melody ‘Mel’ Bayani. Before that, she had a number of television roles, including Dollhouse where she played Ivy.

Ben Feldman

Ben Feldman is another actor that people watching the film now may recognize. Feldman plays Travis who arrives at the party with Beth. They don’t stay too long, leaving just before the attack happens, and his role’s primary purpose seems to be just to make the main character, Rob, jealous.

Feldman appeared in a few films after Cloverfield before landing Mad Men. Recently he wrapped a multi-year run on the hit comedy series Superstore and is now the lead in Monsters At Work.

Billy Brown

Staff Sgt. Pryce appears towards the middle of the film to offer some context for what’s happening and provide a ticking clock for the characters trying to reach Beth. He helps the characters escape the parasites and then warns them of the plan to nuke New York to kill the monster.

Billy Brown has had many TV roles since Cloverfield, such as Son’s of Anarchy as August Marks and the Vampire King from Adventure Time. The last few roles include Bronze Tiger in Suicide Squad: Hell To Pay and Nate Lahey in How to Get Away With Murder.

Scott Lawrence

Audiences may not remember Scott Lawrence in Cloverfield. He’s only credited as “Lead Soldier.” The character helps the main characters through a path that helps them get to Beth’s building faster. He’s not in the movie long, but he does play a crucial role.

While Scott Lawrence has done plenty of live-action work, many will probably know him best as the voice of Darth Vader. Whenever James Earl Jones doesn’t voice the role, Scott Lawrence steps in, and he has in every Vader appearance in video games. He’s also the voice of Jarek Yeager in Star Wars: Resistance.

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