The Weirdly Impressive Guest Stars of 'Touched by an Angel'

You ’d expecta show with a humongous 211 episodesto gouge up a solid tilt of guest stars . ButTouched by an Angel , the unrelentingly businesslike 1994 - 2003 melodramaabout a trio of angels charge to Earth to redeem helpful messages from God , had thebestguest wiz . Now , I ’m notsayingthatTouched by an Angelwas a fomite beamed directly from the godhead designed to boost aspiring thespian ' careers , but please , just consider the grounds :

Bryan Cranston (1995)

As a kindly , begoggled ER doctor helping to resuscitate a teenaged self-destruction victim , Cranston exudes the competence and fatherly warmth he ’d by and by channel as Hal onMalcolm in the Middle . If I ’m ever on my deathbed , please send for Bryan Cranston . ( Pre - Heisenberg era , please . )

Brie Larson (1999)

I ’m pretty sure Jacob Tremblay and tiny Brie Larson would have been good of buds .

Evan Rachel Wood (2000)

In this forward - looking episode , Wood plays a teenage lady friend name Sarah who discovers the cyberspace . After give away online porn and visiting a cyber coffee bar , she starts up a chat family relationship with a severe intimate predatory animal , which is a pretty skilful sum-up of how people thought about the internet in the yr 2000 . accord to Wikipedia , the instalment ends with one of the holy man explaining , “ the cyberspace is an exciting gift from God , but like many of His talent , it can be abused . "

Neil Patrick Harris (2002)

In his autobiography , Neil Patrick Harris describes his stint playing a " neglected ostler " onTBAAas stick to : " You have a sweet-flavored , wholesome part in a mellifluous , wholesome show . That dark you receive an ' in - room massage ' from an anon. valet you meet on AOL . Ah , the irony . " Umm , NPH , did you evenwatchEvan Rachel Wood ’s episode ?

Melissa Joan Hart (1995)

Melissa was come offClarissa Explains It Allat this point in time , and a yr shy ofSabrina the Teenage Witch , so we ’re not really certain she take the exposure that came from playing the teenaged daughter of a radio DJ onTBAA . Seriously , 1995 Melissa , you are too good for this mother fucker ! You ’re a adolescent queen ! you’re able to do illusion ! You ’ll have plenty of year toshill cheesy , trust - base entertainmentonce you ’re a grown up !

James Marsden and Jack Black (1995)

Butlook who else turn upin Melissa Joan Hart ’s sequence ! Long before team up up forThe D Train , Marsden and Black ( allegedly doing his good menacingJohn Malkovich impression ) spiel two youthful hooligans trying to engineer the most nefarious heist of all : steal CDs . blot out your kids , hide your wife , hide your copy ofJagged Little Pill .

Alyson Hannigan (1994)

Can you really call yourself a professional actress if you have n’t played a pregnant stripling in a moralization ' 90s melodrama ? Hannigan did , and you bet she learn her object lesson by the death of the episode .

Kirsten Dunst (1996)

ditto mark the above , but instead of " fraught teen , " insert " terminally ominous teen who step by step comes to price with her own rapidly impinge death . "

Chris Noth (1997)

Before he was Mr. Big , Chris Noth play a murderous rapist ex - sting with a goatee in an episode ofTouched by an Angel . Point for Team Aidan !

Haley Joel Osment (1998)

Poor HJO , destine to be always typecast a tyke who hang out with drained people . Casting directors ( of the tardy ' 90 ): let Haley live !

Sarah Hyland (2002)

Aw , pint - size Sarah Hyland ! But is she cute than herModern Familysis Lilly ?

Zachary Quinto (2001)

As a adolescent search for the true statement about his missing father , Quinto show us out of the age ofbad ' ninety hairand into the age of bad ' 00s hair .

Shia LaBeouf (1999)

Young Shia LaBeouf played a trick - or - treating tween who speak his friends into cauterise down a humankind ’s mansion . Always such a troublemaker , that Shia !

*NSYNC (1999)

The following twelvemonth they released their touch track , " Bye Bye Bye , " the yr ’s top - selling albumNo Strings Attached , and No . 1 single " It ’s Gon na Be Me . " That , my friends , is theTouched by an Angelbump in a nutshell .

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Anna Silmanis a staff author at Thrillist Entertainment . She ’s an atheist , but she still believes in the power ofTouched by an Angel . witness her on Twitter:@annaesilman .

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