40 Extras Revealed The Truth About Appearing In Our Favorite Movies And TV Shows

One thing you can almost always expect if you sign up to be an extra is long days. Finicky filmmakers can take hours to get the right shot, or cajole their actors to perform as desired. So you’d better be prepared to wait, and re-do scenes as many times as required. Regular extra Amy Rogers – who has appeared in TV shows Banshee and Homeland among others – told website Mental Floss, “There are days you get to set and you wait and wait and you never get used, or you work all day and the footage never gets used.”

This first one comes courtesy of BuzzFeed user haleyg42657e7d3, who responded to the website’s call for readers to share experiences of being an extra. They wrote, “I was an extra for a concert scene on Empire. We were at a club in Chicago... it was super-awkward having to dance, party, be loud, and have fun right up until they called ’CUT!’ then be perfectly silent and still. It could be seconds or ten minutes until they called ’ACTION!’ But as soon as they did you had to jump right back in as if you’d been dancing all night.” Strange!

With the aforementioned long hours, being an extra can be a hungry business. But the experiences of background actors with regard to the food on offer varies greatly from one shoot to the next. Still, Dawn McHargue, an experienced old-timer, hailed the spread provided on the set of Iron Man 3. She told Mental Floss, “We had anything you could think of: the best steak, shrimp, lobster and crab. The buffet table, you couldn’t see the end of it.” Sounds great! And makes sense too, since superheroes must need a lot of protein when they're fighting evil.

This experience – courtesy of Buzzfeed user mollymcduck – is just plain awesome. She wrote, “I was picked up by Billy Crystal. Literally.” Adding, “I was an extra on City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly’s Gold. Billy’s character was running through a crowd and was supposed to bump into my shoulder as he ran past me. In one take, he came directly at me head on. To avoid knocking me over, he ended up lifting me off the ground entirely. I clearly remember my two feet dangling in the air for a few seconds. He gently set me to the side and kept running.” Alas, as molly noted, that take didn’t make the movie.

Movie and TV extras often have to create the illusion of a lively scene whilst in reality keeping schtum so they don’t hamper the main stars’ dialogue. Extra Jason Feifer told Mental Floss that while filming a crowd scene for Kevin Smith’s comedy Jersey Girl, he toiled for numerous hours feigning cheering and applauding. He revealed, “They would do entire takes where the audience would go through the whole motion but we wouldn’t clap. We would fake clap but not actually get our hands to meet.” How weird! All those extras' arms must have gotten pretty exhausted by the end of the day.

This one comes from BuzzFeed community user mallory0721, who talked up their memorable experience on the set of a 2006 coming-of-age yarn starring rappers T.I. and Big Boi. They wrote, “I was an extra on the movie ATL. They paid me extra because my car, a Honda Civic, was ’preppy’ and it was supposed to be a private school. It was fun and I literally ran into Diana Ross as I turned away from the water fountain: her son was in the movie.” Getting to see those big stars in the flesh certainly makes the hard aspects of the job seem worthwhile!

Another BuzzFeed community user called tenieller relayed an amusing tale of their time as an extra, and it goes to show how much attention to detail there is on a film set. They appeared in the live-action version of Charlotte’s Web, which was partially filmed in Australia. “At one point the director asked us to create some background babble for sound,” they wrote. “But then stopped a minute or so into filming to tell us that mimicking Paris Hilton and saying stuff like, “Oh my gawd” in exaggerated Valley girl accents probably wouldn’t work for scenes set in late ’40s to early ’50s Maine.” Yep, that’s emphatically not “hot!”

Remember Spy Game? Well casting director Lucinda Syson certainly does, largely due to one error-prone extra who slowed down production in an unusual way. She recalled to website The Richest, “There was one simple scene: Dale Dye was talking to Robert Redford. There was a chap in the background, an extra, who was meant to be reading a newspaper. But the director had to ask him to come out of the shot because he was so awful. When it came to acting natural while reading a document, he couldn’t do it. He turned the pages funnily and looked about too much.”

Being an extra can give you great insight into how films and TV shows are made. And often it is in a strange and seemingly haphazard fashion. Buzzfeed community member thesmilepig noted as much, stating, “I was an extra in Season Four of Cobra Kai. They film all the scenes way out of order. I was in the last scene that they filmed for that season even though the scene took place in one of the first episodes of the season.” Odd! But then again, the producers have to consider the actors' schedules and the availability of various sets.

A BuzzFeed member going by the moniker nathalied4bca7ae59 appeared as a background trick-or-treater in the The Invasion. They wrote about how they were given little totes and pails filled with candy, but were warned by a crew member that “the candy was super-old and expired.” But, during a break in filming Nicole Kidman came by and took a chocolate eyeball from the bucket, ate half, then put the rest of the old candy back. “I didn’t tell her it was expired, but I think she could tell,” they wrote. Yuck! No wonder she didn't finish it.

Thinking your turn as an extra will help you make it in Hollywood? Think again. Indeed, as experienced extra Claire Beaudreault bluntly told Mental Floss, the likelihood of it leading to movie or TV fame is close to nonexistent. She said, “You’re not gonna get your big break as an extra.” And as a seasoned background actor on TV shows such as Orange Is The New Black, GIRLS and Law & Order: SVU she would know the truth of the matter. Back to the drawing board, then. But remember: there are no small parts, only small actors!

A BuzzFeed community member called jbdnco was an extra in the movie Maverick, and they made a surprising discovery. They wrote, “We were a small group for the exterior boat scenes and spent an average of 12 hours on a small sternwheeler with the stars. Mel Gibson is surprisingly short and had to stand on boxes to look taller than Jodie Foster.” This background actor also noted that a group of them got together to watch the movie when it came out and cheered whenever they saw one another! That camaraderie among extras is pretty dang cool!

If you are going to work as an extra, then please, take it seriously. That means following the strict rules around using phones and taking photos of the production. Seasoned extra McHargue told Mental Floss a cautionary tale about the worst-case scenario. She said, “While filming Insurgent, there was a girl who took a picture of the set and shared it. Lions Gate Security came from California to Atlanta and they took her away. She will never work on a set again. She’s blacklisted.” Oh dear! That single photo turned out to be a pretty costly souvenir.

Here’s demonchild945 with a tale for your amusement. “I was a child extra on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” they wrote. “We spent hours perfecting a five-minute song where the kid wasn’t actually singing. I got cropped out in the end because I was staring awkwardly at the main characters and was too close. In my defense, listening to the same song about wanting to be a star for five hours straight can really get to you.” We’re sure it can! That's a pretty good sense of humor, given that the editors left poor demonchild945 on the cutting room floor.

If you want to make it as an extra, you’ll likely need to supply your own clothes – unless it is a period piece, of course. So, wear something bright to stand out, right? Nope! Experts suggest you plump for logo-free gray or dark-blue clothes. As extra Dillon Francis told Mental Floss, emblems and white get-ups “have a tendency to shine like a beacon on camera.” And mirroring the look of any of the main characters is also a no-no. Background actor Rogers told Mental Floss that on Homeland “you’ll never see them place anyone near Claire Danes who has the same hair color as her.” Makes sense!

One common thread among movie and TV extras is that they all want to make it into the final edit, which is perfectly understandable. But you don't want to go too far out of your way to be front and center. Experienced background actor Steve D’Avria warns against trying desperately to get yourself in a particular shot. He told Mental Floss, “One guy in The Hunger Games kept staring at the camera and they finally just told him he had to sit down.” Lesson learned! That man got eliminated from the Hunger Games before they even started.

BuzzFeed community member elcara made it as an extra on football drama Friday Night Lights and “even had a couple of lines.” Recalling her experience from the hit show, she wrote, “I was working as a waitress at the time and ended up playing a waitress. The director came up to me and said ’I bet this is the biggest tip you’ve ever gotten!’ A little out of touch, but he wasn’t wrong. I got about $700 for three hours of work. Not too shabby!” Yeah, nice work if you can get it.

Here’s a terrifying and near-tragic experience courtesy of BuzzFeed reader rightbetweentheyes. They wrote, “I was an extra on Comanche Moon. The big ending was a native attack on our town. They told us to run around as they burned the town and stole our horses. I was paired with a ten-year-old kid as my son. My movie son accidentally ran into the path of 30 thundering horses and I yanked him out of the way at the last second, saving his life.” What a hero! It's easy to forget that fake movie dangers can suddenly become very real.

As we mentioned earlier, being an extra often isn’t the exciting experience you’d hope it to be. BuzzFeed user w45a189d29 suggested as much. They wrote, “There’s lots of, ‘Hurry up and wait.’ I worked on the 2019 Little Women film and as soon as we arrived, we were rushed into our costumes and through hair and makeup. Then it could be up to seven hours before we even went to set, let alone started filming.” Sounds quite boring! We would also be willing to bet that the period clothing they had to wear all day wasn't very comfortable.

BuzzFeed community member hannahs4e7efa8bf had a mixed experience as an extra in Men In Black 3. She wrote, “There’s a scene where Will Smith goes to Coney Island and it’s supposed to be in the summer. Only difference was, we filmed in April. April in New York is usually very cold. This was no exception. The whole crew of extras had to wear bathing suits, flip flops... Plus some people had to eat popsicles! We all had... emergency heat blankets on standby.” At least she got to rub shoulders with Will Smith and could use the rides for free!

You might be surprised to learn that despite the big money swilling around in Hollywood, costumes that are worn in one particular movie often get recycled for other productions. It doesn't matter if they're set in completely different times and places; the wardrobe department finds a way to stretch any piece of clothing to its limit. In fact, a regular extra named McHargue confirmed as much to Mental Floss. She stated, “One outfit I wore for Insurgent was worn on Pirates of the Caribbean.” Well, at least it didn’t go to waste! That thriftiness makes you wonder what the budget is really spent on.

This story from Tessa Fahey made our day. She recalled how her grandparents were somehow selected as extras for the movie At Any Price, and that they “got to bring family and friends for some larger crowd scenes.” Fahey wrote that sometime during filming, her affable gran “completely charmed one of the assistant directors.” To cut a long story short, granny Fahey managed to negotiate a meeting between her grandkids and Zac Efron, the film’s star “dragged out of his trailer after a day of filming to meet us and take pictures.” Great work, grandma!

The BuzzFeed community user chazitysepeda claims they appeared in a few episodes of Friday Night Lights. They wrote, “The football game scenes were fun, but lasted all night.” Those sound trying enough, but it was a nightmare scene in a school cafeteria that irked them all these years later. “The lead actress was carrying a tray with food and a juice carton on it,” they wrote. “Her juice kept falling off of her tray, and every time she’d just stare at it on the floor until someone else picked it back up for her.” Name and shame, chazitysepeda!

If you are selected to be an extra in a movie or a TV show, be prepared to spend some significant spare time in a “holding” section. It’s a good idea then to bring a book or some playing cards, as a phone likely won’t be allowed. Dillon Francis told Mental Floss that on the set of the high school movie Easy A, the background actors had to carry backpacks stuffed with bubble wrap. He said, “A fun way to distract yourself in downtime was to open up your backpack and pop bubbles.” Sure, whatever you say, Dillon!

BuzzFeed community user chloebadenhorst appeared as an extra in Kissing Booth 2, and suffered from the common grind of shooting a summer scene out of season. She wrote, “We were dressed in summer clothes for a scene we shot from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. in the middle of winter.” To make it worse, one of the main actors “spat coffee out for it being too hot and then told us to stop complaining about the cold because they were much colder than us.” This despite the thespian sporting a suit and a puffa jacket, while our contributor was wearing a miniskirt and crop top in 5°C. Brrr!

As an extra, you can be freezing one minute and then be overheated the next. Your comfort is certainly not the production's top priority! Case in point, BuzzFeed user magnoliastree recalled filming “a winter scene in July for a holiday movie,” and opined that the layered sweaters they were required to wear “were brutal.” This background actor claims to have also filmed a scene for a TV show in a church during summer where “the air conditioning was too loud so they turned it off and let us bake inside.” Someone get them a fan!

This internet user going by the name danny has an interesting story from their time as a background actor in a beloved comedy film. Too bad there weren't many laughs to be had. They told BuzzFeed, “I was an extra in Step Brothers as an audience member for the talent show scene. I was in high school at the time and since I was a minor, I had to go to ’set school’ and basically just do homework until we were ready to go.” Wow, that doesn’t sound like much fun. Unless Will Ferrell was your teacher!

But wait, danny wasn't finished with his Step Brothers tales quite yet. It turns out things got a little more awkward from there. They continued with a description of the actual scene, saying, “We did a bunch of alternates for a heckling chant that got more and more inappropriate. Some of the adult extras couldn’t handle the dirty words coming out of a bunch of teens’ mouths and warned our parents, ’Do you know what your kids are saying?!’” Well, there’s no need for that, danny. You deserved those extra classes by the sound of it.

This tale from katien464011fe7 really made us chuckle — and feel a little bad. She told BuzzFeed how she was an extra in High School Musical 3, saying, “It really opened my eyes to the long hours actors and crew have to work.” Then the funny bit. “We were filming until 3am on one of the days trying to get one shot of Zac Efron making a basketball shot. Poor guy isn’t very good at basketball but worked his hardest to make it believable!” Ouch. At least Efron's singing and acting chops come a little bit more naturally.

Want to make a bit more money as an extra? Then bring along your car. You’ll most likely get a “bump” – that is, an extra wedge of cash – for doing so. Extra D’Avria told Mental Floss, “They want boring cars that will never be noticed on screen. My 2003 Toyota Camry has been in more TV shows than I have. You get a whole $20 for it.” Not exactly big bucks, sure. But that is better than nothing, we guess. It's a pretty decent deal if you are planning on driving to set anyway.

We imagined being on the set of one of the Jurassic Park movies would have been great fun. But according to kristenh44a23b96b, we were wrong. And dinosaurs weren't the real danger facing the extras. She told BuzzFeed, “I worked as an extra for the first Jurassic World and it was horrible. We were in the direct heat the entire time and had to do a lot of running and such. They did not take care of us. Occasionally, waters and Powerades were handed out, but we were still in the direct sun!” Hope you packed the sunscreen, then.

This one from an experienced extra going by the alias lexcat29 is a real eye-opener. They told BuzzFeed, “I worked on That’s So Raven, Cory in the House, Wizards of Waverly Place, and so many other kids/teen shows and movies. Most, if not all, of the background workers are what is called 18 TLY or 18 ‘to look younger.’ Everyone is older than 18 so they can work for an extended amount of hours and the production won’t be fined for child labor laws. So, if you look young, you could be in your 30s and playing a teenager.” Remarkable!

Many extras no doubt want to keep a little keepsake of their time on a movie or TV show set. That isn't always a wise idea, especially since you're usually being watched, but one background actor who got away with taking a little something was D’Avria. While filming The Hunger Games, he couldn't help but notice some funny bathroom signs that read, “Flush the toilet or you’ll be sent to the Hunger Games.” He told Mental Floss that he “borrowed that sign as a souvenir.” Erm, when you say borrowed, Steve, we think you mean stole!

As scuoz13 found out, film and TV bigwigs can be very strict and particular with extras. As soon as you break from their particular instructions, you are likely to get called out for it — in front of the entire cast and crew. They told BuzzFeed, “We were filming for John Wick 3 in the summer, and yet they had us all in winter clothes, so there was a lot of sweat all around. I made the mistake of wearing heeled boots, and when I tried to sneakily change to sneakers I got called out by a wardrobe supervisor.” Oops.

Think being an extra will help you get close to an A-lister and making a valuable connection? Don’t get your hopes up. In fact, casting director Tona B. Dahlquist told Mental Floss, “As a general rule, don’t speak to them unless they speak with you first.” And on the set of one film, McHargue and all the other extras were warned against making eye contact with the lead actor. “They were very adamant that we were not to go near him or touch him or we would get kicked off set immediately.” How strict!

One actor who has been named and shamed as one whose gaze extras shouldn’t meet is Leonardo DiCaprio. The elderly background actor Lizzie Cahill – who appeared alongside the star in The Great Gatsby – divulged to Mental Floss, “We were told, ‘Don’t look at him, don’t speak to him, don’t go near him.’” Oh Leo, you big headed so-and-so. That's no way to treat an older lady! But Cahill praised the down-to-earth Tobey Maguire, revealing, “He talked to me when I was walking around Fox studios.” Aww. It's nice to know that not everyone who headlines big movies has an oversized ego.

Then again, extras won’t always be ignored by off-limits actors. There are cases when sparks can fly between big stars and no names. If you can believe it, according to shannonelizabethj – presumably not the American Pie actress – they might even get a date! She told BuzzFeed, “I was an extra in 22 Jump Street. I sat right behind Jonah Hill in an auditorium and heard him hitting on the girl in front of me. He got her number!” Nice work, Jonah. We wonder how that date worked out in the end.

It is not just background actors who get nervous around A-listers on movie and TV sets. It can sometimes be the other way around, surprising as that may sound. Indeed, one nameless extra told The Richest about a surprising interaction in the film Don Jon with the lovely Scarlett Johansson. They spoke about “a club scene where Scarlett was very unsure of her dancing” and revealed that she kept making “self-deprecating jokes about it to the extras around her.” How interesting! Johansson seems like the last person in the world who would seem self-conscious about her appearance.

We’ve all seen those videos of embarrassing errors from famous movies and TV shows. So it should come as no surprise that producers go to great lengths to stop them from happening. One potential pitfall is extras’ clothing, which is carefully reviewed for consistency. Rogers told Mental Floss, “You’ve gotta wear the same clothes every day. The production assistant will take your picture for continuity to make sure you haven’t taken off a necklace or something. For the Homeland finale, I wore a pair of leggings and a raincoat for a solid week.” We bet it felt good to change at the end of production!

Let’s end things on a happy note, shall we? In spite of all the negative experiences around background acting, some gigs can be incredibly rewarding. All it takes is the right people and circumstances. Check out this tale from melialexander, a seasoned extra who told BuzzFeed: “I worked on a lot of shows, but my favorite was Season One of Homecoming! It was a regular gig and most of the group bonded very nicely. We were treated very well and the catering crew memorized our breakfast orders. We even had our own wrap party!” That’s so cool.