Many years ago, using the weekly TV guide that came with the Sunday Chicago Tribune, I started keeping track of all of the movies I had seen over the course of my lifetime. The guide would list the two main stars for each movie, and that is a tradition that I’ve carried on in my database ever since. Given those guidelines, it is time once again to look at the now 111 actors that have starred in at least ten films that I have seen, as of August 1.
We start today with the 28 actors that have starred in exactly ten movies that I have seen, up one from three years ago.
Jessica Alba
With her first starring role coming in 2000’s Paranoid before stringing together eight films in six years in the mid 2000s, there has been nothing new for Jessica Alba since I saw her in 2010’s Valentine’s Day in 2011.
Dan Aykroyd
No change in Aykroyd’s total, with it going on 24 years since I last saw one of his starring roles, in the 2000 film Stardom.
Elizabeth Banks
Banks first graced my screen in a starring role in 2006 thanks to The Baxter. After a dry spell in the early 2010s, she bounced back with seven films in five years, finishing up with 2018’s The Happytime Murders, which I saw in 2019.
Kate Beckinsale
It’s been a quiet six years for Beckinsale, who I last saw in Underworld: Blood Wars in early 2017.
Emily Blunt
Emly Blunt’s first starring role was in 2007’s Wind Chill. Thanks to three films in 2014 and another two in 2018, her latest, 2021’s A Quite Place Part II, gave her ten appearances.
Chevy Chase
No change for the SNL vet, who I last saw in 2009, when I saw 1985’s Fletch for the first time.
Billy Crystal
No change for the former SNL star, who I haven’t seen in a starring role in 18 years.
Zooey Deschanel
Former indie darling Zooey Deschanel remains unchanged, with no new film activity since I saw The Good Life in 2011.
Anna Faris
Despite being the star of the franchise, Anna Faris first received top billing in 2003 for Scary Movie 3, After seven starring roles between 2007 and 2011, she made her last appearance in 2019 thanks to 2018’s remake of Overboard.
Michael J. Fox
1996 remains the last time that I had a movie experience with Michael J. Fox.
Brendan Fraser
Our first new entry, Fraser first appeared on my screens in 1994 thanks to two films from two years earlier, Encino Man and School Ties. Adding another two films the following year, he went quiet until 2001. After 2006, when I saw 1999’s Blast from the Past, he went away again until this decade, with his most recent performance coming in 2023, when I saw the previous year’s The Whale.
Jennifer Garner
Garner first showed up on my big screen in 2000, when I saw her in 1998’s 1999. Yeah, that’s what I said. After putting up five films in five years through the mid-2000s, she went fallow between 2015 and 2023, when she returned to my screens in Family Switch.
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Television’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been absent from my screen for quite some time, last appearing in 2015, with 2007’s Veronika Decides To Die.
Mel Gibson
The Hollywood pariah has been stuck on ten films since 2015, when I saw him in Machete Kills.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
First appearing in two films in 2000, 1994’s Holy Matrimony and 1997’s Sweet Jane, Gordon-Levitt went quiet until 2009, when he started a run of six films in six years. His most recent appearance came in 2024, in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F.
Jake Gyllenhaal
Like most people, I first saw Jake Gyllenhaal in 2001’s Donnie Darko, which I saw the following year. That started a streak of nine films in eleven years, followed by a six-year dry spell before one last go-around in 2018, when I saw 2017’s Life.
Melissa Joan Hart
Made-for-TV movies had been very good for Melissa Joan Hart, but 2011 remains the last time I’ve seen her in a film.
Jonah Hill
First appearing on my screen in 2007, Hill became a pretty standard presence for the following decade. He put together a pretty impressive five-year streak, comprising of seven films between 2010 and 2014, and was last seen in 2014’s 22 Jump Street, which I saw in 2016.
Ashley Judd
1995 saw Judd’s first appearance on my screen, thanks to 1993’s Ruby in Paradise. She followed that up with an impressive run of seven films between 1996 and 2002. After a fifteen-year hiatus, she returned to my screen in 2021 thanks to 2006’s Bug, which I missed seeing on stage at the Steppenwolf Theatre so I went for the film version instead.
Ashton Kutcher
From an inauspicious debut in 2002, when I saw 2000’s Dude, Where’s My Car?, Kutcher became a steady presence through 2011. Following a twelve-year absence, he returned in 2023 in Your Place or Mine.
Matthew McConaughey
Matthew McConaughey movies tend to come in spurts for me. Starting in 1997 with 1996’s A Time To Kill, I saw four of his films over three years. Following a five-year break, he returned in How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, which I saw in 2005 and kicked off a streak of five films over the next decade. He returned to my screen most recently in 2019 with Serenity.
Elliot Page
Page first appeared on my screen in 2006 with Hard Candy and became a breakout star the following year in Juno. Thus began a run of five films in six years, culminating with Super in 2011. After lying low for five years, he came back in a big way in 2017, when I saw both Into The Forest and An American Crime. That started a four-year streak, which ended in 2019 when I saw the 2017 film My Days Of Mercy.
Dennis Quaid
His last starring appearance on a screen in front of me continues to be 2008’s Vantage Point, which I saw in 2009.
Christina Ricci
After making her mark as a child in the Addams Family films, Ricci snared her first starring roles in 1998, with The Opposite of Sex and Buffalo ’66, both of which I saw the following year. She followed that up with a string of five films between 2003 and 2005 before stalling out. She next appeared on my screen fifteen years later when, in 2020, when I finally saw 2003’s Monster. Her most recent appearance was in 2022, thanks to the similarly named Monstrous.
Seth Rogen
After appearing on my radar in 2007, thanks to the big hit Knocked Up, I saw him in five films between 2009 and 2011. Since then, he has popped up fairly regularly, most recently in 2019’s Long Shot.
Amanda Seyfried
Either 2009’s Jennifer’s Body or 2010’s Dear John, both of which I saw in 2010, marked the first starring role I saw for Amanda Seyfried. That began a string of eight films between 2010 and 2014. After an eight-year hiatus, she returned to my screen in 2022, with 2021’s Things Heard & Seen. Her most recent appearance came in 2023 in You Should Have Left, released in 2020.
Ben Stiller
I still last saw Ben Stiller in 2011, when I watched Night at the Museum: Battle of The Smithsonian.
Renee Zellwegger
Zellwegger burst through with starring roles twice in 1996, in both Shake, Rattle, & Rock and Love and A .45. She picked up another three films in 2002 and seemed to wrap things up in 2006, when I saw 1999’s The Bachelor. Then came the corona virus pandemic, where I saw three of her films in 2020, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Case 39, and The Whole Truth.