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And Starring - TV Tropes

  • ️Thu Jun 14 2007

And Starring (trope)

"Welcome to the Rooster Teeth Podcast! Starring Gus... [other members]... and Gus."

When the Title Sequence includes credits, there is a whole mess of jockeying for position that goes on. The dominant position within the credits sequence is either at the very beginning of the list, or at the very end.

As a way to draw special attention to the last actor on the list, their name will often be bracketed with an additional annotation, such as "With", "And", or "And Starring". Sometimes, this would be elaborated even further, giving the name of the character portrayed by the actor, although this type of credit may also be used to hide the actor's name. In Hong Kong cinema, some films take this further by giving "Special Starring" credit to especially prominent actors.

In the past, this was reserved for either the star of the show, a cast member who is not part of the "primary" ensemble (e.g. villians and mentors), or a big name doing a cameo. Over time, as stars and their agents learned about the power of marketing, it has become an increasingly important bargaining point.

Although not done as often these days, "And Introducing" was a common credit on movies, indicating where the company felt they had a potential star on their hands and wanted to ensure everyone remembered that "you saw them here first" (even if it wasn't their first major role). Often, these people were never seen or heard from again, and the perception that an "and introducing" credit was a kind of "kiss of death" to a career may explain its disappearance.

The most extreme form of this is the Fake Guest Star. Compare Billed Above the Title, when special attention is drawn to the first actor in the cast list. Very common in All-Star Cast fare. Contrast with And Zoidberg.

Examples with their own pages:

Other Examples

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Anime & Manga 

Films — Animation 

Music 

  • Before Clarence Clemons' death in 2011, Bruce Springsteen would introduce the members of the E Street Band during his concerts, and would invariably introduce Clarence last, usually shouting "And last but not least..." In the DVD of one of the band's 2000 concerts in New York City, Bruce handled the band intros during an extended bridge before the third verse of "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out". When he got to Clarence, he shouted, "Do I have to say his name?" while the rest the of the band led the audience in chanting "CLAR-ence! CLAR-ence!", segueing seamlessly into the first line of the third verse, "The change was made uptown and the Big Man joined the band!"
  • Similarly to Springsteen, Mick Jagger will introduce his fellow members of The Rolling Stones culminating with Keith Richards, and often right before a song or two where Richards sings lead; Mick's usual intro for him is "On guitar and now the vocals, Keith Richards!"
  • For some reason, the second (and final) album by short-lived Country Music duo The McCarters credited the group as "Jennifer McCarter and the McCarters".
  • Billy Dean and Suzy Bogguss's 2001 single "Keep Mom and Dad in Love" featured a new singer named Jillian (full name: Jillian Jacqueline); it was credited on the charts as "Billy Dean and Suzy Bogguss Introducing Jillian".
  • Pavement put an "...and" before the last song title on their album Terror Twilight in this style. Because the trope is usually only applied to people, it led to confusion as to whether the song was officially titled "...And Carrot Rope". It was later released as a single as just "Carrot Rope".
  • Disco One-Hit Wonder Santa Esmeralda ("Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood") gave their lead singer special notice by officially billing themselves as "Santa Esmeralda starring Leroy Gomez"

Professional Wrestling 

Puppet Shows 

  • On Bear in the Big Blue House, Brad Garrett and Gilbert Gottfried received a "with" credit for voicing possums in the second half of "Welcome to Woodland Valley," while Whoopi Goldberg received an "and" credit for voicing "The Great Bandini." Regular cast members Lynne Thigpen and Tara Mooney (Luna and Shadow) also normally received a "with" credit, though in the second half of "Welcome to Woodland Valley," they received an "and" credit, despite being billed before Garrett and Gottfried.

Radio 

  • Hamish and Dougal has 'and Sir Ian McKellen' credited as Jolly Mick the Undertaker. A parody, as this is radio and Jolly Mick doesn't actually say anything.

Theatre 

  • The 2011 Broadway revival of Follies had "Starring Elaine Paige as Carlotta." Billed above her and the title are the players of the four principal characters.
  • The original production of Bye Bye Birdie had "and Kay Medford" (who played Mae).
  • Wicked had "and Joel Grey as the Wizard."
  • The original production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum ended the list of principal cast members with "also Raymond Walburn / and / John Carradine." (They played Erronius and Lycus, respectively.)
  • The Broadway production of Thoroughly Modern Millie had "and introducing Sutton Foster as Millie."
  • City of Angels had a boxed final credit for "and René Auberjonois" (playing Buddy Fidler).
  • Its A Bird Its A Plane Its Superman's principal cast listing included "Patricia Marand as Lois Lane" and culminated with "and Bob Holiday as Superman."
  • The back cover for the 1984 composer-conducted recording of West Side Story credits the four principal singers with the names of their roles, followed by "and Marilyn Horne singing 'Somewhere'" because that song is performed in the show by a nameless character who does nothing else.

Video Games 

  • Parodied in the game box cover art for Brain Dead 13, which says, "Starring Fritz".
  • The first credit after the main title of The Curse of Monkey Island says, "STARRING: Dominic Armato as Guybrush Threepwood".
  • Nolan North gets the "And Starring" version for his role as David in The Last of Us. Likely because he's a major name in video game voice acting, but plays a supporting villainous role toward the end of the game.
  • The voice actor credits of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots end with "And Richard Doyle as Big Boss" (who had not yet appeared in the story). An extra scene then plays out with this character before the general credits roll.
  • Zap Dramatic's Move or Die does this with Jackie Burroughs, who plays Mrs. Grimm.
  • The Sims 2: In the GBA version of the game, where you’re an actor in a "Truman Show" Plot, each episode begins with an opening sequence for the Strangetown show you’re a part of, and the last part of the opening is you getting the “And introducing” credit.
  • In Wing Commander III and IV, rounding out the All-Star Cast was "And Malcolm McDowell as Tolwyn". Also in IV, "With Tom Wilson as Maniac" was the first credit after the title, a promotion from the last game. In Wing Commander Prophecy, it was "With Ginger Lynn Allen As Chief Technician Rachael Coriolis, And Mark Hamill As Commodore Christopher Blair". Hamill, the lead in the two earlier games, had been first-billed in III, and Billed Above the Title in IV. Wilson, who also returned for Prophecy, remained second-billed, after the unknown who played the new lead, but lost his "with" designation.

Web Videos 

  • The Twilight Chronicles at one point credited Gen Borg with "and Gen Borg as Jacob" (she is in the credits as two different characters). As of Episode 8, Jamie Kathleen is credited with "And".
  • This awesome 80s-retro Firefly intro sequence has "And Introducing Summer Glau as River Tam"
  • This Buffy-style interpretation of the Doctor Who credits gives us "and Alex Kingston as River Song".
  • Singer Olivia Thai in season one of Pretty Dudes and Power Ranger Yoshi Sudarso in season two.
  • In the first Welcome to Night Vale live show, "Condos," the credits at the end with "And introducing Dylan Marron as Carlos." This was the first time that Marron voiced the character, after the show's co-writer Jeffery Cranor voiced him for a single episode, "The Phone Call." Cranor decided that he would give the part up since he, as a straight white man, felt uncomfortable playing a gay Latino man when the role could instead be given to a Latino or Hispanic man.
  • The name of the Special Guest of certain React episodes is usually listed below the episode's title with a "Featuring" citation.
  • Kickassia has "With Bhargav Dronamraju, Rob Walker, and Kevin Baugh as the President."
  • Suburban Knights has "With Brian Heinz, Rob Walker, Bhargav Dronamraju, and Orlando Belisle Jr."
  • To Boldly Flee has "With Elisa Hansen, Antonella Inserra, Jim Trokan, Orlando Belisle, and Rob Walker as The Executor."
  • Various RedLetterMedia projects conclude the cast list with "...and Rich Evans".

Western Animation