The Predator prequel Prey has been a big hit with fans, even if it didn’t feature a cameo from the original star, Arnold Schwarzenegger. But as big of a star as Schwarzenegger has been, he has shown a real willingness to pop up in various movies with small and entertaining cameo appearances.

With such a big and iconic personality, many of these cameo appearances play on Schwarzenegger’s reputation in movies. Others allow him to embrace his underrated comedic skills. While they might be brief appearances, these Schwarzenegger cameos are certainly memorable.

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Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001)

The original Dr. Dolittle was a charming and entertaining family comedy starring Eddie Murphy as a doctor who discovers that he can hear animals talking. While the sequel seemed to suggest the movie’s premise had already run out of steam, it continued the trend from the original of featuring a number of cameos from actors voicing the various animals, including Bob Odenkirk and Norm MacDonald.

Schwarzenegger lent his voice to the brief role of a white wolf who teaches Lucky the dog how to properly mark his territory. With the strong Austrian accent, Schwarzenegger’s voice is instantly recognizable as the animal and he delivers some of the most iconic Schwarzenegger movie quotes in case fans didn’t notice who he was.

Terminator: Salvation (2009)

Technically speaking, Schwarzenegger doesn’t appear in a cameo in Terminator: Salvation but his famous face does make a memorable appearance. This fourth Terminator movie was the first that didn’t star Schwarzenegger. And despite Christian Bale taking the lead role as adult John Connor, Schwarzenegger’s presence was sorely missed.

The closest thing fans get is John being confronted by an early creation of Schwarzenegger’s iconic T-800 character. Unfortunately, the potential of the moment is let down by the lackluster CGI used to bring back a younger version of the villain. However, it is exciting to see Schwarzenegger return even in such an unexpected way and cements that the Terminator is one iconic character that should never be recast.

The Long Goodbye (1973)

Given that he would eventually go on to become the biggest movie star of all time, it is a lot of fun seeing Schwarzenegger pop up in some of his small early roles. It is particularly mind-blowing to watch the excellent noir mystery The Long Goodbye and see Schwarzenegger’s small role as a wordless goon.

This adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s novel stars Elliott Gould as private detective Philip Marlowe who finds himself implicated in a murder. Though he doesn’t have any lines, Schwarzenegger stands out with his muscular stature as a goon who briefly roughs up Marlowe. With such a small early role, it is wild to see how far Schwarzenegger has come since then.

Around The World In 80 Days (2004)

Around the World in 80 Days is the first time Schwarzenegger shared the screen with fellow action icon Jackie Chan. Although fans hoping to see these superstars fight will be disappointed, Schwarzenegger does at least get to add a comedic spark to the movie with his silly cameo.

The adventure comedy remake is set in the 19th century and follows a British inventor and his valet who embark on a trip around the world where they meet all kinds of colorful characters. The movie features a number of cameos, including Kathy Bates and Owen Wilson. But Schwarzenegger briefly steals the show as Prince Hapi, a self-centered ruler who only cares about giant parties and marrying as many wives as he can.

Dave (1993)

The political comedy Dave has such a winning and fun premise that it doesn’t even really need a cameo from Schwarzenegger in order to be great. Kevin Kline stars as a man who shares an uncanny resemblance to the President of the United States. When the President is incapacitated, he is recruited to stand in for him.

Amidst the wacky and funny political misadventures, the White House gets a visit from Arnold Schwarzenegger himself who is there to promote his health program for children. It is fun seeing Schwarzenegger playing himself in a grounded way in a movie. Instead of relying on his iconic status, he plays the straight man to Kline’s comedic abilities in his brief appearance.

The Rundown (2003)

Once Schwarzenegger started moving towards a political career, Hollywood was looking for a new larger-than-life figure who could take his place as the biggest action star. Wrestler turned actor Dwayne Johnson proved he had what it takes in the wild and entertaining action adventure The Rundown.

Johnson plays a bounty hunter sent to the Amazon to find a target. In the opening scene, Johnson’s character enters a club for his first action sequence of the movie. As he is walking in, he passes Arnold Schwarzenegger who simply says to him, “Have fun.” Though it is a blink-and-miss-it appearance, it feels like a really cool moment of Schwarzenegger passing the torch to the next generation of action stars.

The Expendables (2010)

Sylvester Stallone assembled a very impressive cast of action stars for The Expendables, including Jason Statham and Jet Li. But even with the movie’s huge action sequences, perhaps the most exciting moment was seeing a conversation between Stallone and fellow action movie icons, Bruce Willis and Schwarzenegger.

The single scene appearance finds Stallone’s hero Barney Ross being recruited by the mysterious Mr. Church (Willis) for a job only for his old colleague Trench (Schwarzenegger) to show up. With the obvious animosity between the characters, it is a lot of fun to see the two stars butting heads. And while fans would have to wait until the sequels to see Trench get in on the action scenes, there are still some great inside jokes to make this appearance the best of the franchise.
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