Not everyone can be a star. Films are stuffed with extras and supporting actors who you will probably never see again.

But wait... That zombie shuffling across the screen looked very familiar. And that nameless Star Trek ensign – we're sure we've seen him before.

Here are 14 of the sneakiest cameos to ever make us double-take in a movie:

1. Hot Fuzz – Cate Blanchett

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Even though she has a lot more lines than most of the characters in this piece, you'd be forgiven for not noticing that the masked, goggled and British-accented Scene Of Crime Officer (and ex-girlfriend of PC Nicholas Angel) Janine is played by Edgar Wright superfan Cate Blanchett. In the same scene: a masked Joe Cornish and Robert Popper.

2. Hot Fuzz – Peter Jackson

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Blanchett wasn't the only cameo from Down Under. The Father Christmas who stabs Simon Pegg in the hand? That was Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson.

3. Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Daniel Craig

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The return to a galaxy far, far away was chock full of celebrity cameos, but our favourite had to be Daniel Craig's appearance as the Force-bamboozled stormtrooper who Rey tricks into letting her go.

4. Hook – Carrie Fisher and George Lucas

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The couple kissing on Westminster Bridge who start floating as Tinkerbell passes over them are Princess Leia herself, Carrie Fisher, and her Star Wars director George Lucas. Fisher had served as a script doctor on Steven Spielberg's movie. The impossible to spot cameo was only confirmed in 2016 during the 25th anniversary celebration of Hook.

5. The Man from UNCLE – David Beckham

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Guy Ritchie called on his pal David Beckham for a one-line role in his 2015 movie reboot. He plays a Russian projectionist whose face is partially hidden by a pair of large glasses.

6. Shaun of the Dead – Chris Martin

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Edgar Wright loves himself some cameos, doesn't he? As well as appearing on a TV screen within the film as himself, Coldplay's Chris Martin was one of the zombie horde waiting outside the Winchester at the climax of Wright's film.

7. Dumb and Dumber To – Bill Murray

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Jennifer Lawrence may have asked for her cameo to be cut from the film, but Bill Murray's turn as Harry's meth-cooking, hazmat-wearing Heisenberg pastiche of a roommate Icepick remains.

8. Ghostbusters – Ron Jeremy

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Paranormal disasters affect everyone, so no wonder porn legend Ron Jeremy was among the onlookers when the Ghostbusters' ghost containment system went boom.

9. Hook – Glenn Close

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Albert Nobbs wasn't Glenn's first turn as a man. She is unrecognisable as the bearded pirate Gutless, who is consigned to the 'Boo Box' for doubting her captain.

10. Minority Report – Cameron Diaz and Cameron Crowe

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Steven Spielberg snuck in as many Camerons as he could into the train scene in Minority Report. The man with the newspaper is director Cameron Crowe, and next to him is Cameron Diaz, who appeared alongside the movie's star Tom Cruise in Crowe's Vanilla Sky.

11. Indiana Jones & The Temple Of Doom – Dan Aykroyd

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The Ghostbusters star cracked out his best terrible English accent to tell Indie and his pals that they had been downgraded to the cargo plane.

12. Hoffa – Tim Burton

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This thriller came out in the same year as director Danny DeVito's turn in Batman Returns, so he got Tim Burton to make a fittingly gothic cameo – as a corpse.

13. Casino Royale – Richard Branson

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The Virgin founder and James Bond fan can be seen passing through airport security as 007 chases down the bad guy – we'd know that bouffant anywhere.

14. Eurotrip – Matt Damon

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Why did Matt Damon – by then already a massive star – don piercings and a neck tattoo to play a punk rocker in this trashy teen flick? Because, in a nutshell, he went to college with the directors and they asked.

From: Digital Spy
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Hugh Armitage
Hugh Armitage is Movies Editor at Digital Spy.