Where You've Seen The Cast Of The Menu Before

Mark Mylod's darkly comedic thriller "The Menu" follows a young couple who, along with a small group of wealthy patrons, journey to a remote island that's home to an incredibly exclusive restaurant. They arrive anticipating a sumptuous meal prepared by the legendary Chef Slowik and his dedicated staff, but there's more than food on the menu — the kitchen crew has something very special and hugely sinister in store for their guests.

The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2022, and it received excellent reviews from the critics in attendance. In his write-up for Variety, Owen Gleiberman praised the film's satirical take-down of foodie culture, commending the picture for "slicing and dicing it with a hilariously shocking thriller zest." Elsewhere, Lovia Gyarkye of The Hollywood Reporter called the film "a vengeful dark comedy that probes percolating class anxieties" in a glowing review.

Critics have directed plaudits at the film's ensemble cast, many of whom may seem familiar to general audiences. Here is a look at what other projects you may have seen the film's stars appear in before.

Front and center in "The Menu" as the enigmatic Chef Slowik is easily the biggest star of the film, Academy Award nominee Ralph Fiennes. The veteran actor has received two Oscar nominations thus far in his career, first in 1994 for his supporting role as the sadistic Nazi Amon Goeth opposite Liam Neeson in "Schindler's List." He was nominated again in 1997 (this time in the leading role category) for his turn as Almásy, a cartographer who is grievously injured in a plane crash in the Best Picture-winning World War II drama "The English Patient." Other early roles include Charles Van Doren, the game show contestant under investigation in Robert Redford's "Quiz Show," and Lenny Nero, the cop-turned-hustler in Kathryn Bigelow's "Strange Days."

However, if there's one character that the vast majority of audiences will recognize Fiennes for, it would be Lord Voldemort from the "Harry Potter" films. Fiennes debuted as the pale, evil wizard in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," making a distinctive impression. He went on to reprise the role in several sequels and video games, becoming synonymous with the blockbuster franchise. Other high-profile roles include portraying the latest incarnation of M for the James Bond franchise (first introduced in 2012's "Skyfall"), a foul-mouthed gangster in Martin McDonagh's "In Bruges," and a fastidious concierge in Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel." No matter the character, Fiennes is always a compelling presence.

English star Nicholas Hoult appears in "The Menu" as Tyler, a die-hard foodie who shows up to the island prepared to love everything about the experience. Hoult has been charming audiences since he was a child. After a number of television roles that started when he was as young as 6 years old, he made a big impression in 2002 when he starred opposite Hugh Grant as a perpetually bullied loner in "About a Boy." He continued making an impact into his teens with memorable parts, playing Nicolas Cage's son in "The Weather Man" and shining in a lead role in the teen drama "Skins."

By the time he was appearing alongside Colin Firth in Tom Ford's critically acclaimed LGBTQ+ drama "A Single Man," Hoult had grown from a boy into a strikingly handsome young man, and the roles he started to pick up reflected that. In 2011 he became a superhero, playing the brilliant Dr. Hank McCoy (aka Beast) in "X-Men: First Class," a role he continued to play for an additional three sequels (not including his brief cameo in "Deadpool 2"). He solidified his leading man credentials in 2013 when he played a zombie learning to love in "Warm Bodies" and the title character in "Jack the Giant Slayer." He also got to show off his more manic side as a conflicted War Boy in George Miller's Oscar-winning tour de force "Mad Max: Fury Road."

Born in Thailand to Vietnamese parents and raised in New Orleans, Hong Chau brings a spiky energy to her role as Elsa, a stoic taskmaster who helps run the kitchen and manage the guests. Chau has been working diligently since 2006, though sadly many of her early roles fall into the stereotype category, such as Asian Masseuse in an episode of "The Sarah Silverman Program." She started to break out of that mold after her turn in Paul Thomas Anderson's "Inherent Vice," where she played a mysterious informant. She went on to portray Jackie in the first season of HBO's "Big Little Lies" before gaining notoriety — and even a little Oscar buzz — for her performances as an imprisoned political activist in Alexander Payne's "Downsizing."

From there, the kind of roles Chau took on tended to have much more dimension to them. Whether as the lead in indie dramas like "Driveways" and "American Woman," or as an excitable canine waitress in Netflix's animated hit "BoJack Horseman," the actor always brings a spunky sensibility to her work. In perhaps her most well-known role to date, she played the eccentric trillionaire Lady Trieu in HBO's "Watchmen," an initially mysterious character who is gradually revealed to be the primary antagonist of the series. She has a prominent role in Darren Aronofsky's "The Whale," an adaptation of the Samuel D. Hunter play in which she plays the neighbor of a morbidly obese English teacher (Brendan Fraser).

One of the most instantly recognizable character actors in Hollywood, John Leguizamo plays a fading movie star looking to reignite his career in "The Menu." With over 160 acting credits to his name, it might be easier to list the films that he hasn't appeared in over the course of his nearly 40-year tenure in Hollywood. After working his way up with bit parts in "Miami Vice" and "Die Hard 2," Leguizamo emerged onto the scene in 1993 with a pair of high-profile roles. He played the earnestly optimistic Luigi in the first film adaptation of "Super Mario Bros." and plied his trade as a grudge-bearing gangster opposite Al Pacino in the hit crime drama "Carlito's Way."

Leguizamo went on to appear alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes as the vengeful Tybalt in Baz Luhrmann's "Romeo + Juliet," and he put on layers of makeup to play a demonic clown in "Spawn," a relatively early comic adaptation that he went to extreme lengths for. He reunited with Luhrmann to play the charismatic Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in the psychedelic jukebox musical "Moulin Rouge!," became a key voice in the "Ice Age" franchise as the hapless sloth Sid, and worked with George A. Romero as a human villain in "Land of the Dead." More recently he appeared in the "John Wick" franchise as car shop owner Aurelio and voiced uncle Bruno (the one we don't talk about) in Disney's "Encanto," a huge moment for him. "Disney's 60th movie is all Latinx," he pointed out during an interview with Variety. "I mean, I never thought I'd see this in my lifetime."

A highly versatile actor who has been putting in memorable performances on screen since the mid-1980s, Janet McTeer's role in "The Menu" is that of Lillian Bloom, a self-involved food critic proud of her ability to close down a restaurant with a single review. In addition to decades of stage work, McTeer has dozens of film and TV credits to her name. She actually collaborated with "The Menu" star Ralph Fiennes quite early in their respective careers, playing the role of Ellen Dean alongside Fiennes' Heathcliff in a 1992 adaptation of Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights." From that point onwards she would secure increasingly meaty roles, playing a prison warden in the British crime series "The Governor" and a Southern woman escaping an abusive relationship in Gavin O'Connor's "Tumbleweeds," which netted the actor an Oscar nomination.

A second Oscar nomination came some 12 years later, given for her supporting role in the 2011 drama "Albert Nobbs," in which she stars alongside Glenn Close as a pair of women disguising themselves as men in order to find work at a time when women aren't encouraged to be independent. In between her two nominations and beyond, McTeer has been keeping more than busy. She worked with director Terry Gilliam on his fantasy drama "Tideland," played Audrey in Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of Shakespeare's "As You Like It," and starred opposite Brendan Gleeson as Clementine and Winston Churchill, respectively, in HBO's TV movie "Into the Storm."

The role of Margot, who serves as the audience surrogate in "The Menu," is played by Anya Taylor-Joy. After breaking out in a big way with her turn as the daughter of a Puritan family plagued by black magic in the Robert Eggers horror "The Witch," Taylor-Joy quickly established herself as a leading lady with both passion and vulnerability to spare. She co-starred with James McAvoy in M. Night Shyamalan's "Split," playing the hostage of a man with severe Dissociative Identity Disorder. She reprised her role in the 2019 sequel "Glass," the final installment in a trilogy that began with 2000's "Unbreakable." In between those two films, she appeared opposite Olivia Cooke and the late Anton Yelchin in the suburban dramedy "Thoroughbreds" and lent her voice to the puppet-centric prequel series "The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance."

In 2020, Taylor-Joy cemented her place as a mainstream star with a trio of high-profile roles. She played the title character in a new adaptation of Jane Austen's "Emma," appeared as the superhero Magik in "The New Mutants," and, most significantly, portrayed chess prodigy Beth Harmon in the Netflix miniseries "The Queen's Gambit," for which she was nominated for an Emmy and won a Golden Globe. She hasn't slowed down since, going on to play a would-be singer in Edgar Wright's "Last Night in Soho," reteaming with Robert Eggers for his Viking revenge tale "The Northman," and joining the massive ensemble cast of David O. Russell's period dramedy "Amsterdam."

The character of Ted, the spineless editor of Janet McTeer's famous food critic, is played by Chicago native Paul Adelstein. After making his film debut as a sailor in Stephen Frears' crime drama "The Grifters," Adelstein quickly earned a reputation as a solid character actor. He co-starred with Jeremy Piven in the short-lived fantasy romcom series "Cupid," played a variety of characters opposite Brendan Fraser in the comedy "Bedazzled," and played a divorce attorney alongside George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones for Joel and Ethan Coen's "Intolerable Cruelty." Later he joined the all-star ensemble cast of "Be Cool," F. Gary Gray's sequel to the popular gangster comedy "Get Shorty."

Shortly after that, Adelstein landed a series regular part on the "Grey's Anatomy" spin-off "Private Practice," playing lovelorn pediatrician Cooper Freedman in every episode of the show's six-season run. In recent years, Adelstein has become a prolific guest star on various popular series, including "Prison Break" (as a Secret Service special agent), "Scandal" (as a crisis management consultant), and "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" (as a mob boss). He's a pro at playing characters who are professionals at work, even if their personal lives leave something to be desired. Adelstein can also be seen as Zac Efron's father in Peter Farrelly's wartime comedy "The Greatest Beer Run Ever."

The role of Felicity, the unhappy assistant of John Leguizamo's movie star character, is played by the talented Aimee Carrero. Despite her young age, Carrero already has quite an impressive resume. Her career began the way that many in Hollywood do: She made lots of single-episode appearances in popular shows (including "The Americans," "Hannah Montana," and "American Horror Story") and had some very minor film roles, popping up in the likes of "The Last Witch Hunter" and "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel."

Carrero's big break came in the form of the Cartoon Network TV movie "Level Up." She plays Angie, one of several teenagers who find themselves fighting video game creatures in the real world. The movie did well enough to lead to a series of the same name, which ran for 36 episodes (and co-stars a very young Jessie T. Usher). Beyond that, Carrero is carving out a career for herself as a go-to voice actor.

The Dominican Republic-born, Miami-raised actor is the star of the Disney Channel action-adventure series "Elena of Avalor," in which she voices the titular princess. Elena has recently saved her kingdom from an evil sorceress and must navigate the trickier aspects of ruling. In addition to that, she also voices the title character in the Netflix fantasy series "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power," a modern update of the classic 1980s animated show.

A two-time Tony Award winner for her roles in Jon Robin Baitz's "Other Desert Cities" (2012) and Richard Greenberg's "The Assembled Parties" (2013), Judith Light plays the role of Anne, one half of a wealthy couple who are in for more than they bargained for in "The Menu." Light is a prolific star of the stage and screen whose career started in 1970 when she made her professional theater debut. From a television standpoint, she broke out as the gold-digging Karen Wolek in the long-running daytime soap opera "One Life to Live," a role that Light actually inherited after two previous actors had played it (Kathryn Breech and Julia Duffy). The part kickstarted her TV career and ultimately led to her winning two Daytime Emmys.

Beyond the world of soap operas, Light is possibly best known for her role as ad executive Angela Bower in the popular sitcom "Who's the Boss?," though she may be just as well known for playing socialite Claire Meade in "Ugly Betty." Younger TV audiences would certainly recognize her for her series regular part in the Amazon Original series "Transparent." As Shelly Pfefferman, the fragile but increasingly brave ex-wife of a transgender woman who doesn't come out until later in life, Light was a frequent highlight and received two Primetime Emmy nominations for her work on the show. More recently, she appeared in Ryan Murphy's "American Crime Story," playing the self-styled "conservative feminist" Susan Carpenter-McMillan in another critically acclaimed performance.

Playing Richard, the other half of the wealthy couple who don't know what they've let themselves in for, is the esteemed character actor Reed Birney. With a career spanning almost five decades, this native Virginian is a pro when it comes to the film industry. After making his debut in Martha Coolidge's pseudo-documentary "Not a Pretty Picture" in 1976, Birney proceeded to star in a number of low-budget independent features. He played a New York yuppie in 1985's "Chain Letters" and worked alongside Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi in a little-known collaboration with Joel and Ethan Coen called "Crimewave."

Going into the 1990s and early 2000s, Birney found himself gradually taking on minor roles in bigger productions, such as when he played a merchant prince in the Hitchcock remake "A Perfect Murder" or when he played the mayor in Clint Eastwood's child abduction drama "Changeling." Though he kept busy with guest roles in series ranging from "Law & Order" to "The Good Wife," he started getting back into bigger roles in the mid-2010s. Birney appeared as the protagonist's uncle in Jeff Barry's political dramedy "Occupy, Texas," as a doctor in the biographical HBO medical drama "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," and a representative turned Vice President in "House of Cards." More recently, he received acclaim as part of the ensemble cast of Fran Kranz's school shooting drama "Mass."