With numerous fairy tale characters to explore, ABC series Once Upon A Time ended up having numerous guest-starring and recurring actors. A couple of them went on to land bigger roles after the show. Considering how identifiable they are with their current roles, viewers might have forgotten that they were once in the world of Storybrooke and the Enchanted Forest too.
Given that ABC series was created by Lost writers, plenty of actors from the mystery series also but we'll avoid focusing on them because they are quite many. Instead, we'll focus on actors that have major roles in other productions but were minor characters in Once Upon A Time. Here is a list of stars who made appearances at some point in the fantasy series.
Sonequa Martin-Green
Sonequa is best known for playing Sasha Williams in The Walking Dead. She appeared in five seasons of the AMC series before exiting for an equally good role in Star Trek: Discovery.
Back in 2013, she appeared in 7 episodes of Once Upon A Time. She debuted in the fifteenth episode of Season 2 as Neal's fiancé Tamara. It was explained that Tamara had a disdain for magic and it wasn't long before she tried to kill Neal, Dragon, and Pinocchio. Luckily, all of them survived.
James Dornan
Before James Dornan was the fictional billionaire sex symbol, Christian Grey, he appeared in the ABC series. Dornan portrayed the wolf-loving Sheriff Graham Humbert, aka the Huntsman, who formed a friendship with Snow White.
Apparently, Dorman was supposed to play Sherlock Holmes in the show but the producers were unable to get the proper rights for the popular character, so they made Dorman the Huntsman. It wasn't a bad move as Graham Humbert grew to be one of the favorite characters early in the series before he was manipulated by Regina.
Sebastian Stan
Stan is currently one of the most recognizable actors in the world thanks to his role as Bucky Barnes aka the Winter Soldier in the MCU. And fans will even get to see more of him in an upcoming Disney+ series.
Stan appeared in six episodes of Once Upon A Time where he played Alice In Wonderland character Jefferson aka The Mad Hatter. As a result of the Evil Queen's actions, Hatter was separated from his daughter, an event that began his descent into madness. Sadly, Stan had to exit the series prematurely after being hired by Marvel.
Jorge Garcia
Garcia has had two major roles in his career. His breakout role was that of Hugo "Hurley" Reyes in Lost. The role earned him eight award nominations. A few years later, he was cast as conspiracy theorist Jerry Ortega in Hawaii Five-0. He went on to appear in six seasons of the procedural crime series.
In Once Upon A Time, he appeared in the sixth episode of Season 2 where played Anton The Giant from the popular tale Jack & Jill. After an encounter with a couple of series favorites in the Enchanted Forest, he was taken to Storybrooke where his size was reduced before the magic beans were taken.
Tom Ellis
Tom Ellis has played the devil for a while now and that's the role most people recognize him for. A couple of years before the Welsh actor starred in Lucifer, he portrayed the folk hero Robin Hood in Season 2's nineteenth episode titled "Lacey."
In the episode, Robin attempted to steal something from Rumple's castle but he ended up getting caught. He was held captive for a while before Belle felt pity for him and set him free. Ellis never returned to the series and in Season 3, British actor Sean Maguire took over the role.
Wil Traval
Keen Arroweverse fans will remember Wil's brief appearance as the Human Target. He would later get a bigger role in another superhero TV series as he appeared as Officer Will Simpsons in Jessica Jones.
In the ABC series, he portrayed Keith aka the Sheriff of Nottingham who became depressed, jealous, and vengeful after Marian left him for Robin Hood. When Robin married Marian and tried to start a tavern, the Sheriff blocked it from happening until he paid his taxes. After the Dark Curse, he was forced to live in Storybrooke as Keith.
Jamie Chung
Chung has had a couple of good roles such as journalist and Jim Gordon's girlfriend Valerie Vale, who came to Gotham to investigate the Indian Hill facility in Gotham. She also starred in The Gifted as the mutant Blink.
On the ABC show, Jamie Chung played the popular Disney character Mulan in select episodes of Season 2 and Season 5. She mostly appeared during the Enchanted Forest scenes. The series also pulled a surprise when she was romantically paired with Sleeping Beauty and then Dorothy.
Sinqua Walls
Walls is best remembered as Shawn Stark, the son who had a rocky relationship with his father Kanan (50 Cent) in the Starz series Power. He was also in Teen Wolf where he played Vernon Boyd.
His character Sir Lancelot, aka The Leviathan, débuted in the third episode of the second season. He was a Knight Of The Round Table who traveled around with King Arthur. He was killed quite early by Cora who began masquerading as him until she was discovered by Snow White.
Rose McGowan
Rose McGowan has had over 100 movie and TV roles in her career. She was also one of the front players of the #MeToo movement. Her breakthrough role came in the film Scream where she played a Woodsboro teenager named Tatum Riley. Apart from acting, Rose has also worked as a model.
During flashbacks intertwined throughout the years, fans witnessed the events which helped make Cora into the monster she becomes in the present day with McGowan stepping in to play the younger Cora.
Sarah Bolger
Bolger's TV credits are quite impressive. Most recently she played Emily Galindo, the first lover of protagonist Ezekiel Reyes, in Mayans MC. She also played Jade, the third Baron of the Armadillo Territory, in Into The Badlands.
Sarah Bolger starred in select episodes of the second, third and fourth seasons of Once Upon A Time. She first appeared in the premiere episode of the ABC show's second season as Princess Aurora of the Sleeping Beauty tales. Aurora's scenes mostly took place in the Enchanted Forest, with most of her interactions being with Mulan and Prince Phillip.