19 Actors Who Made A Massive Impact With Less Than 10 Minutes Of Screentime

1.Viola Davis as Mrs. Miller in Doubt (2008)

Onscreen for just shy of eight minutes, Davis appears in a single scene as Mrs. Miller, the mother of a Catholic school's first Black student, Donald Miller.

In her scene, Mrs. Miller meets with the school's principal, Sister Aloysius Beauvier, who suspects that Donald is being abused by the new priest in the parish. Sister Beauvier is played by Meryl Streep.

Viola Davis was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance in Doubt.

Here's the full scene:

2.Zendaya as Chani in Dune (2021)

Fans were shocked when they discovered that Zendaya, who has been heavily promoted as a main character in Dune, was only onscreen for seven minutes, "or 4.5% of the film."

However, Chani, a Fremen, or native to the desert planet Arrakis, is an essential character; she just so happens to be introduced more than halfway into the source material. Zendaya will be way more prominent in Dune's (recently confirmed) sequel, which will cover the latter half of the novel of the same name.

Here's the trailer for Dune:

3.Judi Dench as Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love (1998)

Judi Dench's royal performance clocks in at around eight minutes, and she doesn't waste a single second of it.

When Dench accepted the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance, she joked in her acceptance speech, "I feel for eight minutes on the screen, I should only get a little bit of him."

Nevertheless, they let her bring home the whole statue.

Here's one of Dench's scenes as Queen Elizabeth:

4.Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Englund and director Wes Craven were downright efficient when it came to making Freddy Krueger one of the most recognizable horror movie villains ever.

Krueger is only onscreen for roughly seven minutes, but with every second he proves that you just don't need all that much time to give nightmares to an entire generation.

Here's the trailer for A Nightmare on Elm Street:

5.Jonathan Groff as King George III in Hamilton (Disney+ recording, 2020)

With only three brief musical numbers that take up less than eight minutes, Groff establishes King George III as a manchild who doesn't let his buffoonery get in the way of his desire to crush any resistance to his rule.

His fondness for threats of violence doesn't make him any less fun to watch, and once America wins the Revolutionary War, he settles into the role of jilted ex perfectly. Naturally, Jonathan Groff was nominated for an Emmy for his performance in the recorded Disney+ version.

Here's one of Groff's musical numbers as King George III:

6.Beatrice Straight as Louise Schumacher in Network (1976)

Straight's performance as a woman who is cheated on by her husband took only three days to film, and resulted in three scenes that lasted a touch under six minutes.

Straight won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in Network, and as of now, she holds the "record for the shortest-ever Oscar-winning performance."

Here's one of Straight's scenes in Network:

7.Kimberly Adair Clark as Honey in The Incredibles (2004)

With a handful of exceptionally memeable lines, Honey easily secures her place in Pixar (and cinematic) history.

Honey is the real hero in this movie.

Here's the full scene:

8.Alec Baldwin as Blake in Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)

Baldwin only appears in a single scene, during which he repeats, over and over again, the line "Always be closing." The scene lasts a little over eight minutes.

Apparently, David Mamet added Baldwin's scene to the movie, which was an adaptation of his play, because the producers at New Line Cinema wanted an "explosion" with which to start the story.

Here's the full scene:

9.Billy Crystal and Carol Kane as Miracle Max and Valerie in The Princess Bride (1987)

This dynamic duo only get around five minutes of screentime, but Crystal was apparently so funny during his three days on set that he kept making cast and crew members burst out in laughter.

In Cary Elwes' memoir As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales From the Making of The Princess Bride, he wrote, "For three days straight and ten hours a day, Billy improvised thirteenth-century period jokes, never saying the same thing or the same line twice."

Here's Crystal and Kane's scene together:

10.Estelle Reiner as Unnamed Diner Patron in When Harry Met Sally... (1989)

With only a few words, Estelle Reiner (the mother of director Rob Reiner) established her place in film history.

"I'll have what she's having" is ranked at #33 on the American Film Institute's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes ranking.

Here's the full scene:

11.Bill Murray as Bill Murray in Zombieland (2009)

In a brief cameo appearance, Bill Murray plays critically acclaimed and beloved actor Bill Murray, who disguises himself as a zombie during the apocalypse in order to live his life unbothered by the undead.

Which works just fine, until Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) accidentally shoots him.

Here's the full scene:

12.Ruby Dee as Mama Lucas in American Gangster (2007)

Dee was onscreen for "less than ten minutes" as the mother of Denzel Washington's character, Frank Lucas. Her performance ends with a "climactic slap across her son's face."

For this role, Dee was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and she won a Screen Actors Guild Award in the same category.

Here's one of Dee's scenes as Mama Lucas:

13.Meat Loaf as Eddie in Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

He only lasts for a single musical number ("Hot Patootie, Bless My Soul") before being killed off by a jealous Dr. Frank-N-Furter, but as soon as he is gone, he is dearly missed.

And then, just like that, he's dinner.

Here's the musical number:

14.Kenneth Tigar as the German Old Man in The Avengers (2012)

This old German guy has the distinction of being one of the few non-superheroes to tell Loki to go directly to hell, and for that, we honor him.

In fact, I like to think that this man is hidden somewhere in this picture.

Here's the full scene:

15.Gwyneth Paltrow as Beth Emhoff in Contagion (2011)

Paltrow's character, Patient Zero of a deadly pandemic (because hey, in 2011, that was all just fun thriller fodder), dies in the first 10 minutes of Contagion.

Here's one of Paltrow's scenes as Emhoff:

16.Drew Barrymore as Casey Becker in Scream (1996)

Casey lasts only a few seconds over 10 minutes before she is brutally murdered at the beginning of the movie.

Barrymore spent five days on set to film the scene.

Here's the opening scene:

17.Cher as Ruby Sheridan in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018)

Cher is onscreen for "seven and a half minutes" as Ruby, who is the mother of Donna (Meryl Streep) and the grandmother of Sophie (Amanda Seyfried).

Fun fact: In real life, Cher is only three years older than Meryl Streep.

Here's one of Cher's numbers as Ruby:

18.David Reale as Glen Coco in Mean Girls (2004)

I think Glen Coco technically gets no time onscreen, but he lives eternally online (and in our hearts) for this moment:

Here's the full scene:

19.And finally: James Sie as the Cabbage Merchant from Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005–8)

Only appearing in a handful of episodes for a few seconds at a time, the Cabbage Merchant is the unluckiest vegetable seller in the extended Avatar universe.

This is the only entry from a TV show, not a movie, but the Cabbage Merchant has become one of the most iconic memes from a show overflowing with them, and he can't go unmentioned.

Nickelodeon / giphy.com

Here's a compilation of the Cabbage Merchant's slow descent into madness: