In an earlier post, we looked at Hollywood actors and actresses who got their start on Broadway.  Today we’re going to look at the reverse–entertainers who started in Hollywood and then tried their hand on stage.

Daniel Radcliffe

Having already received a warm reception from West End theater critics and audiences, Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe arrived on Broadway with the all-important stamp of British approval. Broadway fans and critics embraced the young man as well, and Radcliffe has now officially earned his stripes as a legitimate adult actor with his performances in Equus in 2008 and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying in 2011.  In between the two shows, he still needed to complete the Harry Potter series.  But his decision to return to Broadway after filming was a good one.  Apparently, he can dance too!

Katie Holmes

With the stigma of being a Hollywood tabloid darling firmly attached,  Holmes had little chance of winning over Broadway die-hards, and it didn’t help that she couldn’t rise to the level of experienced co-stars John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest, and Patrick Wilson. Lack of critical love notwithstanding, there were no shortage of fans at the stage door each night waiting to get photos of this Hollywood celebrity.  Holmes is best known for playing Joey Potter on six seasons of the popular teen drama Dawson’s Creek in the late ’90s. She made her Broadway debut in the 2008 revival of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons and originated the role of Lorna in Dead Accounts.

Lauren Bacall

Bacall began her career as a model, before making her debut as a leading lady with Humphrey Bogart in the film To Have and Have Not in 1944. She continued in the film noir genre with appearances with Bogart in The Big Sleep (1946), Dark Passage (1947), and Key Largo (1948), and starred in the romantic comedies How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) with Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable, as well as Designing Woman (1957) with Gregory Peck. She co-starred with John Wayne in his final film, The Shootist (1976), by Wayne’s personal request. Bacall also worked on Broadway in musicals, earning Tony Awards for Applause (1970) and Woman of the Year(1981), which I also saw as a kid!

Denzel Washington

Mostly known as an A lister among A listers in Hollywood, the charismatic film star packed in the crowds and gave them a hell of a performance in this revival of August Wilson’s drama Fences in 2010. Washington did an excellent job of navigating a difficult character, who is initially so likable and funny before he reveals his ugly side.  He will be returning to Broadway in a revival of Eugene O’Neill’s classic work The Iceman Cometh in 2018.

Keifer Sutherland

The young movie star of the Brat Pack era went on to establish himself as a TV action hero with several seasons of 24 and as the President of the United States Tom Kirkman in his current role on the hit TV drama Designated Survivor. But in his Broadway debut in 2011, he co-starred in an ensemble cast of the Broadway revival of That Championship Season, which is a play about a group of guys reflecting on the 20th anniversary of their high school championship basketball season.  Sutherland plays a school principal who’s tired of being small.  Sutherland garnered positive reviews for being the best of the cast, which included Chris Noth, Jim Gaffigan, Jason Patric (his Lost Boys co-star), and Brian Cox.