Martin Scorsese is best known for his work as a filmmaker and his cameo appearances in his own movies, but he has also appeared in movies outside his own work, and here’s every one of those roles. Like most filmmakers, Martin Scorsese’s career started with short films in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and in 1967, he made his feature-length film debut with Who’s That Knocking at My Door, which was also the first time he worked with frequent collaborators Harvey Keitel and editor Thelma Schoonmaker.
Martin Scorsese continued to explore different genres in his movies but found the most success in the crime and gangster genres, with movies like Goodfellas, Casino, and The Departed, which have also established his trademark narrative and visual styles, characterized by the use of freeze frames, profanity, and graphic depictions of violence. Scorsese’s works have also become known for including cameos by himself, some more noticeable than others, but Scorsese’s acting work goes beyond his own movies. Here’s every Martin Scorsese role outside his own movies.
11 Cannonball (1976)
Cannonball is a comedy movie directed by Paul Bartel, based on the real story of Erwin G. “Cannon Ball” Baker, who traveled across the United States several times and on the Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, an illegal cross-continent road race. Cannonball has various uncredited cameos from various actors and directors, including Martin Scorsese, whose character is listed as “Mafioso #1”.
10 In The Pope’s Eye (1980)
In the Pope’s Eye (original title Il pap’occhio) is an Italian comedy released in 1980 and directed by Renzo Arbore. In The Pope’s Eye follows a musician who has a vision of Don Gabriel bringing an Annunciation from the Vatican that leads to him being hired as the artistic director of the new but poorly organized Vatican State Television. Martin Scorsese has a cameo appearance in it as a TV director.
9 Anna Pavlova (1983)
Anna Pavlova (also known as A Woman for All Time) is a biographical drama movie written and directed by Emil Lotean. It tells the story of Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova (Galina Belyayeva), depicting her passion for art and her collaboration with the reformers of ballet, such as Michel Fokine, Vaslav Nijinsky, and Sergei Diaghilev. Martin Scorsese has a cameo role in Anna Pavlova as Giulio Gatti-Casazza, an Italian opera manager who was general manager of La Scala in Milan, Italy, and later the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
8 Round Midnight (1986)
Round Midnight is a musical drama movie directed by Bertrand Tavernier and based on the memoir Dance of the Infidels, by Francis Paudras. It’s the story of jazzman Dale Turner (Dexter Gordon) who struggles with addiction and decides to improve his life by traveling to Paris and playing at the jazz club Le Blue Note until his luck gets better. Martin Scorsese appears in Round Midnight as a character named Goodley.
7 Dreams (1990)
Dreams is a magical realist anthology movie written and directed by Akira Kurosawa. It’s formed by eight vignettes, all written by Kurosawa, based on recurring dreams he said he had repeatedly. One of these segments is titled “Crows”, and it follows a student who finds himself inside the world of Vincent van Gogh’s artwork, where he meets the beloved artist in a field, and Van Gogh tells him he cut his left ear off because it gave him problems during a self-portrait. Vincent van Gogh was played by none other than Martin Scorsese.
6 The Grifters (1990)
The Grifters is a neo-noir crime thriller movie directed by Stephen Frear, produced by Martin Scorsese, and based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Jim Thompson. The Grifters follows Roy Dillon (John Cusack), a conman whose life is turned upside down when his estranged mother, veteran con artist Lilly Dillon (Anjelica Huston), returns home and doesn’t accept his girlfriend, Myra Langtry (Annette Bening), unleashing a battle for Roy’s attention. Martin Scorsese’s role in The Grifters is easy to miss, as he’s the narrator at the beginning of the movie.
5 Guilty By Suspicion (1991)
Guilty By Suspicion is a drama movie released in 1991 and written and directed by Irwin Winkler. Guilt By Suspicion is a story about the Hollywood blacklist, McCarthyism, and the activities of the House Un-American Activities Committee, and so it follows David Merrill (Robert De Niro), a director in 1950s Hollywood who returns from abroad to find that he’s not allowed to work in films anymore. Martin Scorsese plays a character named Joe Lesser.
4 Quiz Show (1994)
Quiz Show is a historical mystery drama movie directed by Robert Redford and based on the book Remembering America by Richard Goodwin. Quiz Show is a dramatization of the quiz show scandals of the 1950s, and so it chronicles the rise and fall of popular contestant Charles Van Doren (played by Ralph Fiennes) after the fixed loss of Herb Stempel (John Turturro). Martin Scorsese played Geritol executive Martin Rittenhome in Quiz Show.
3 Search and Destroy (1995)
Search and Destroy is a drama movie directed by David Salle and released in 1995. It follows Martin Mirkheim (Griffin Dunne), who feels like a complete failure after his marriage fell apart and he ran a business into debt, owing a big amount of money to the IRS. Martin sees an opportunity in adapting a self-help novel into a movie, but given his terrible track record, it won’t be easy to get the help he needs. Martin Scorsese has a cameo role in Search and Destroy as The Accountant.
2 Shark Tale (2004)
Shark Tale is an animated comedy movie directed by Vicky Jenson, Bibo Bergeron, and Rob Letterman. Shark Tale follows Oscar (Will Smith), an underachieving fish who claims to have killed the son of a shark mob boss so he can advance his community standing… but that was a big lie. However, Oscar counts on the help of the mobster’s youngest son to keep up his made-up story. Martin Scorsese voiced Sykes, a loan shark pufferfish who owns the Whale Wash and to whom Oscar owes a lot of money.
1 Campus Code (2015)
Campus Code is a sci-fi action movie directed by Cathy Scorsese. Campus Code follows Ari (Jesse McCartney), Becca (Hannah Hodson), Izzy (Alice Kremelberg), and Arun (Ritesh Rajan), who after one of their classmates disintegrates right in front of them, are forced to battle security, the Griefers, and each other to uncover many truths about what happened, themselves, and their other-worldly campus. Martin Scorsese has a cameo role in Campus Code as a doctor.