See These Game of Thrones Cast Members Before They Were on the Show

Dormer, who plays the cunning Margaery Tyrell on Thrones, was best known as the leading lady of Showtime’s The Tudors—she played Anne Boleyn (above) for two seasons before the queen's infamous beheading. Since joining the GoT cast, you've probably spotted the blonde beauty in a number of big films, including Rush alongside Chris Hemsworth, and blockbuster hits The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Parts 1 and 2.

Dinklage's Tyrion Lannister is one of our very favorite Thrones characters—seriously, if he dies, we’re done! His wit, humor, and good heart make him a lovable part of the cast (hey, it’s all relative, right?). But one of Dinklage’s most memorable roles long preceded GoT: his hilarious appearance in Elf back in 2003, the same year he starred in his breakout role in The Station Agent, for which he received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.

Cersei Lannister is one of the most formidable characters on television. But before this role, Headey played a sweet young lady (hard to imagine now, right?) named Katherine as a lead in the 1994 rendition of children’s classic The Jungle Book (above). She went on to score a starring role in The Brothers Grimm opposite Heath Ledger and Matt Damon, as well as parts in 300 and its sequel, 300: Rise of an Empire.

This hunk had parts in a number of series before making his Game of Thrones debut in Season 4, when he took over the role of Daario Naharis from Ed Skrein. His pre-GoT roles included a regular spot on HBO series Treme, as well as arcs on Orphan Black and Nashville, on which he portrayed Liam McGuinnis (above), a music producer and love interest to Rayna. And one of our favorites of Huisman’s early projects was the Chanel commercial he starred in with supermodel Gisele Bündchen—talk about major swoon. After his recent lead role opposite Blake Lively in The Age of Adaline, the Dutch star is sure to be a Hollywood fixture for a while.