Like many other filmmakers, Quentin Tarantino has built his own list of frequent collaborators, and here’s every actor who has been in multiple Quentin Tarantino movies. Tarantino has become one of the most respected, popular, but also controversial filmmakers thanks to his peculiar narrative and visual style, his mastery at writing dialogues, and the generous doses of violence and blood in each of his movies. Tarantino has also had the privilege of working with some of the biggest and most popular names in the industry, of which many have become his frequent collaborators.
Tarantino’s career in the film industry started in 1992 with the crime movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood –, and his list of frequent collaborators gets bigger and bigger with each project.
Tarantino seems to always have a role reserved for some of his frequent collaborators, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be a main role, as they have also taken part in his projects in minor roles, cameos, and even voice roles, though there have been some whose scenes ended up being shortened during the editing process or completely cut. Here’s every actor who has been in multiple Quentin Tarantino films.
Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel L. Jackson is the one actor who has appeared in most Tarantino movies, appearing in six movies in main, secondary, and voice roles. Samuel L. Jackson’s first Tarantino movie was Pulp Fiction, where he played hitman Jules Winnfield alongside John Travolta’s Vincent Vega, and he later appeared in The Hateful Eight as Major Marquis Warren.
Uma Thurman
Uma Thurman has been the star of some of Tarantino’s most popular movies, as are Pulp Fiction and both Kill Bill movies. Thurman played Mia Wallace in Pulp Fiction, the wife of Jules and Vincent’s boss and one of the movie’s main characters, and nine years later, she re-teamed with Tarantino to star in Kill Bill: Volume 1 and Volume 2 as The Bride/Beatrix Kiddo.
Michael Madsen
Michael Madsen has been part of multiple Tarantino movies in main, secondary, and cameo roles, and it all started with Reservoir Dogs, where he played Vic Vega/Mr. Blonde, who was later revealed to be the brother of Pulp Fiction’s Vincent Vega. Madsen’s subsequent roles in Tarantino’s movies were Budd in both Kill Bill movies, “Grouch" Douglass/Joe Gage in The Hateful Eight, and Sheriff Hackett in Once Upon a Time a Hollywood, though this one was a cameo role that was cut even shorter during post-production.
Harvey Keitel
Harvey Keitel is one of the actors who starred in Tarantino’s very first movie and continued to appear in more projects by him. Keitel played Larry Dimmick/Mr. White in Reservoir Dogs, Winston “The Wolf” Wolfe in Pulp Fiction, and had an uncredited voice role as an allied Commanding Officer in Inglourious Basterds. Additionally, he played Jacob Fuller in From Dusk till Dawn, written by Tarantino but directed by Robert Rodriguez.
Christoph Waltz
One of Tarantino’s most notable and beloved frequent collaborators is Christoph Waltz. Waltz famously played antagonist Colonel Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds, for which he won the Academy Award for Best ing Actor in 2009, and he later played Dr. King Schultz in Django Unchained, an ally to Jamie Foxx’s Django, winning his second Oscar in the same category in 2012.
Tim Roth
Tim Roth has appeared in four movies by Quentin Tarantino, beginning with Reservoir Dogs, where he played Mr. Orange/Freddy Newandyke, the undercover cop among the group of thieves. Roth later played Pumpkin in Pulp Fiction, ‘English’ Pete Hicox/Oswaldo Mobray in The Hateful Eight, and Raymond, Jay Sebring's butler, in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, but his scenes were cut. Additionally, he starred in Quentin Tarantino’s segment in Four Rooms.
Kurt Russell
Kurt Russell starred as Stuntman Mike McKay in Tarantino’s Death Proof, the director’s entry for the Grindhouse project with Robert Rodriguez. Although Death Proof is widely considered as Tarantino’s weakest movie, that didn’t stop Russell from working with him again. Russell played John Ruth in The Hateful Eight and later Randy Lloyd and The Narrator in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt has appeared in two Tarantino movies so far. It all started when he played Aldo Raine in Inglourious Basterds, the leader of the title Basterds, and in 2019, he played Rick Dalton’s best friend and stuntman, Cliff Booth, in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which gave him his first Academy Award for Best ing Actor.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio has also appeared in two Tarantino movies so far, the first one Django Unchained, where he played villain Calvin J. Candie. DiCaprio returned to the Tarantino universe in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, where he played movie star Rick Dalton, whose career was in decline as Hollywood’s Golden Age came to an end.
Michael & James Parks
Michael and James Parks are also part of Tarantino’s most frequent collaborators, with Michael being the second one on the list. Michael Parks played Texas Ranger Earl McGraw in Kill Bill: Volume 1 and Death Proof (as well as in Planet Terror and From Dusk till Dawn), Esteban Vihaio in Kill Bill: Volume 2, and an employee of LeQuint Dickey Mining Company in Django Unchained. Funny enough, James Parks played the son of his father’s character, Edgar McGraw, in both Kill Bill movies and Death Proof, as well as a tracker in Django Unchained and O.B. in The Hateful Eight.
