Real Housewives Who Were On-Screen Stars Way Before The Show

Television By TooFab Staff | 10/15/2021 12:11 PM PT

Find out which "Housewives" had acting careers before the show...

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Kyle Richards

Kyle Richards has been acting for practically her whole life, landing her first role at just five-years-old. In a matter of years, she scored numerous roles including a part on “Little House on the Prairie,” which shot her to stardom, and a role in the iconic original “Halloween” flick alongside Jamie Lee Curtis. Now, 40 years after its release, Kyle is making her return to the franchise in "Halloween Kills," one of her biggest roles over the past two decades. "I didn't have any hesitations. I was so excited, and I only got a little nervous when they told me I may be in a swamp with alligators, but other than that, it was very exciting...I felt very comfortable from the second I got on the set, and I loved every minute of it even though we were filming all night long, went to work at 5pm, coming home at seven in the morning, I just felt so excited every day, I didn't even have a chance to feel tired!" Kyle told TooFab.

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Kim Richards

Kyle’s sister Kim was also involved in acting from a young age, making her debut in a television commercial at just four-months-old. By the time she was four and a half, she had already appeared in 20 TV advertisements. Several years later, she landed her first recurring role on “Nanny and the Professor” and went on to land many other acting gigs throughout her career including a starring role in “Escape to Witch Mountain.” In the ’90s, she took a break from acting to focus on her family before later joining “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.”

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Garcelle Beauvais

One of the newest members of the “Housewives” franchise, Garcelle Beauvais, actually made her on screen debut when she was just a teen in a small role on “Miami Vice.” Since then, she’s landed a ton of other acting jobs but says viewers will best know her from “The Cosby Show,” “Coming to America,” and “The Jamie Foxx Show.” Garcelle currently has quite a few acting projects lined up, which she’s balancing with her role on “RHOHB” and her hosting gig on “The Real.” Most recently, she appeared in "Spider-Man: Homecoming" and "Coming 2 America."

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Lisa Rinna

Lisa Rinna had been acting for a good part of her life before landing “RHOBH,” most notably starring on “Days of Our Lives” for numerous years. She’s also been featured on “Melrose Place” and “Veronica Mars,” and continues to balance an acting career with reality television. While Lisa was initially not cast in the series because of Andy’s no actors policy, she says she believes her acting background has helped her be more authentic. Since she plays dramatic characters for a living, when it comes to filming “RHOBH,” all she wants to be is herself. “People say to me and to Eileen Davidson that even though we’re the actors on the show it feels to them that we’re actually more real. I think viewers might feel that way because these other girls have now created a character, which is a version of themselves, that they rely on. And why wouldn't they after being on the show for six years?” Lisa told Forbes.

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Eileen Davidson

Before joining “RHOBH” for two seasons, Eileen Davidson was a major soap opera star. After getting her start on “Santa Barbara” she eventually moved on to “The Young and the Restless.” She starred on the show for numerous years before being offered to continue her role on "The Bold and the Beautiful." She also appeared on “Days of Our Lives” before making her return to “The Young and the Restless,” where she is still appearing. Although soap operas can be pretty dramatic, she says it was nothing like reality television. “[It’s] like comparing apples and oranges. I mean, with scripted, you know what you’re getting yourself into, and you leave [it] at the studio, when you drive off the lot. But I mean, these are real things that are being said and you’re real people. So it’s just night and day...I don’t think you can really describe the situation to anybody. It is like nothing else,” Eileen told AV Club.

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Kenya Moore

After winning “Miss USA” in 1993, Kenya Moore began an acting career that included appearances on “The Jamie Foxx Show” and “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” much like fellow “Housewife” Garcelle Beauvais. She also appeared on “The Steve Harvey Show” and “Girlfriends” and can currently be seen making appearances on “Family Reunion.” Kenya recently looked back at her time on “The Jamie Foxx Show” with Garcelle, joking that they had always been preparing for “Real Housewives.” “I loved working with @garcelle she was sweet and fun! Welcome to the @bravotv family We were practicing being a housewife even back then 😍🙌🏾👸🏾👸🏾,” Kenya wrote on Instagram.

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Heather Dubrow

Heather Dubrow was in her 20s when she earned her first acting gig but quickly landed a starring role in “Jenny” alongside a young Jenny McCarthy. By 2000, she was cast in her own series “That’s Life,” about a bartender who decides to go to college a little later in life. After the series wrapped, she took a break from acting but decided to get back into things when she joined the cast of “Real Housewives of Orange County.” Her guest appearances didn’t last long though as Heather says her reality show career changed the type of roles she’s offered. “I think because I’m now so well-known for being ‘me’ that it’s just an odd thing. And the kinds of things they call me about are to either be myself – which I don’t wanna do – or kind of a ‘stereotypical of my character as it’s perceived on the show’ role,” Heather told Reality Tea.

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Denise Richards

Denise Richards got her start in the entertainment industry in the early ’90s as a model and quickly began racking up various acting credits. She most notably appeared in “Starship Troopers” and “Wild Things.” She’s also appeared on “Melrose Place,” “Blue Mountain State,” and most recently “The Bold and the Beautiful.”

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Eva Marcille Sterling

Eva Marcille Sterling got her start as a model and gained notoriety after winning the third season of Tyra Banks’ show “America’s Next Top Model.” From there, she launched an acting career, appearing on “House of Payne” and “Born Again Virgin,” and eventually landed a role on “The Young and the Restless.” Most recently, she earned the lead role in the new BET+ series “All the Queen’s Men.”

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Real Housewives Who Were On-Screen Stars Way Before The Show

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