Even the minor characters on 2023's "Night Court" have long acting resumes.
From "Columbo" to "Star Trek 3," here's where you may have seen these familiar faces before.
Melissa Rauch plays Judge Abby Stone on the new "Night Court."
She's the daughter of Judge Harry Stone, who previously occupied the bench for the Manhattan
Criminal Court's night shift.
Abby brings the same approach to jurisprudence as her late father, treating those who appear
before her as people first and foremost.
"Also they gave me this fancy wooden hammer so I get to do what I want."
Rauch was a huge fan of the original "Night Court."
She shared during an interview with Glamour,
"I have such a distinct memory of watching those opening credits with the iconic theme
song playing.
I vividly remember being transfixed by it in my childhood bedroom."
Rauch got her start in the 2006 film "Delirious" alongside Steve Buscemi.
She followed up her big-screen debut with roles in the comedy shows "12 Miles of Bad
Road" and the American remake of "Kath & Kim."
Rauch got her big break when she joined the cast of the CBS sitcom "The Big Bang Theory"
as recurring character Bernadette during the show's third season.
She was promoted to the main cast the following season and played Bernadette until the show's
conclusion in 2019.
While she has worked primarily in television, Rauch has had several high-profile film projects
as well.
In 2015, she starred as Hope Ann Gregory in the sports comedy "The Bronze," and the following
year she provided the voice of Francine in "Ice Age: Collision Course."
Her voiceover resume also includes playing Harley Quinn in the 2017 animated film "Batman
and Harley Quinn."
"Night Court" is her first major project since the end of "The Big Bang Theory."
British actor and singer India de Beaufort plays Olivia, the assistant district attorney
assigned to Abby's court.
In an interview with The Mary Sue, de Beaufort discussed why she was so excited to be cast
in the "Night Court" reboot and how it continues the legacy of the original.
"I think what we've done with 'Night Court' is we've carried over a place to disappear.
The joy, the fun, the lighthearted spirit, but we've also made sure that as much as you're
laughing, you're also occasionally crying and you're invested in these characters while
you're kind of being taken out of the everyday life, which for the moment put a lot of us
very serious."
De Beaufort got her start on British television in 2003 when she was cast as India on the
family comedy "The Basil Brush Show."
After leaving the kid-centric series in 2005 she had a starring role alongside Simon Pegg
in David Schwimmer's 2007 comedy film "Run, Fatboy, Run" before making her American television
debut playing Sire Records employee Miranda Stone in "One Tree Hill."
Since then, de Beaufort has appeared in numerous television comedies, including "Chuck," "How
I Met Your Mother," and "2 Broke Girls."
She also appeared in the HBO comedy "Veep" as Brie Ramachandran.
New Orleans native John Larroquette has been acting in film and television since the 1970s.
In the "Night Court" reboot, Larroquette reprises his role as Dan Fielding from the original,
a performance which netted him four Primetime Emmy awards.
In the pilot episode of the revival, Dan, no longer a district attorney, is working
as a process server before being convinced to return to court as a public defender by
Abby Stone.
Larroquette was initially apprehensive about reprising his role but was ultimately intrigued
by the idea of exploring how his character had grown.
He said during a TV Line interview,
"How often does an actor get a chance to revisit some character that he played three and a
half decades ago?
Larroquette got his start as the narrator of "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" in 1974.
"For them, an idyllic summer afternoon drive became a nightmare."
His first major film role came in 1981 when he played Captain Stillman in the Bill Murray
war comedy "Stripes."
In the 1980s, in addition to his role on "Night Court," he played the Klingon officer Maltz
in "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock," and he was also in "Twilight Zone: The Movie,"
appearing in the segment "Time Out."
After "Night Court," Larroquette got his own sitcom about a night shift on NBC: "The John
Larroquette Show," in which he played recovering alcoholic John Hemingway.
Following the show's cancellation after four seasons, he continued to appear regularly
on television, popping up in shows like "The West Wing," "The Practice," "Arrested Development,"
and "House."
One-named actor Lacretta plays Donna "Gurgs" Gurganous, the new bailiff in Abby's courtroom.
When she read the script for the new show, she was drawn to how uniquely weird Gurgs
seemed to be.
Speaking to Theater Mania about the experience of playing Gurgs, Lacretta said
"She's smart — she's just different from our typical big, Black woman, and I really
want to embrace that.
I've worked and gotten to the point in my skill and talent where I'm able to be honest
as well and not just be weird for the sake of being weird."
"Welcome to Night Court."
Over the course of her relatively short career, Lacretta has worked primarily in theater.
She played Gary Coleman in the puppet musical "Avenue Q" and was an ensemble member for
the first national tour of the Trey Parker and Matt Stone musical comedy "The Book of Mormon."
She also originated the role of Levora in the jukebox musical "Disaster!," which premiered
on Broadway in 2016.
Kapil Talwalkar plays Abby's clerk Neil in the new "Night Court."
In an interview with Bleeding Cool, he said that being cast on a multi-camera sitcom was
something he had always dreamed about as a kid before going on to praise star and executive
producer Melissa Rauch.
"Melissa is a unicorn of a human being.
She creates the most amazing work environment ever.
She's so positive, and she's like her character in so many ways that she plays."
Talwaker's breakout role came in 2020 when he was cast as Tobin in the NBC musical comedy
"Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist."
If you're a fan of The CW, then you'll probably recognize Talwalkar from the "Charmed" reboot
— he played Dev across six episodes in 2022.
Los Angeles native Kimia Behpoornia plays Maggie in the "Night Court" reboot.
She has been active in the industry since 2012, when she played Shelley in the short
film "Treasure."
Since her acting debut, she has appeared regularly on television.
In 2017, she plied her trade in two episodes of the loosely scripted comedy series "Drive Share."
She also appeared in her first feature film that year, acting alongside Brie Larson, Samuel
L. Jackson, and Joan Cusack in the Netflix original movie "Unicorn Store."
Her career really began to take off in 2019 when she played Rosie in the short-lived NBC
sitcom "Abby's," appearing in all ten episodes.
Two years later, she returned to the big screen, playing the part of Marie in the adventure
comedy "Hero Mode" and landing the lead role of Emilou Paunch in the mockumentary film "Marathon."
She had a major supporting role in the third season of "Atypical," popped up in the HBO
comedy "Hacks," and recurred on the Hulu original comedy series "Reboot" before appearing in
the first season of "Night Court" in 2023.
She is also currently providing the voice of Watt in the PBS Kids show "City Island."
Actor and musician Dimiter Marinov appears in "Night Court" as Nikolai, the court's mysterious
maintenance man.
Per his website, he was originally a classical violinist in Bulgaria.
Marinov began acting in ad campaigns when he moved to the United States in 1990.
His first major role came in the 2012 war thriller "Act of Valor," where he shared the
screen with real-life Navy SEALs.
He followed up this role with small parts in numerous television shows including "NCIS,"
"Brooklyn Nine-Nine," and the Marvel series "Agent Carter."
Marinov continued to work steadily in television into the late 2010s, landing roles in the
Zach Galifianakis comedy series "Baskets" and HBO's dark comedy "Barry."
His big break would arrive in 2018 when he was cast as Dr. Shirley's cellist in the historical
drama film "Green Book."
The film would go on to win best picture at the Academy Awards, and Marinov became the
first Bulgarian actor to walk the red carpet at the Oscars.
More recently, he played the hotel manager in the 2021 crime drama "The Little Things,"
sharing the screen with Hollywood heavyweight Denzel Washington.
Iris Bahr appears in the retooled "Night Court" as the supposed psychic Esmeralda the Magnificent.
She's been active in film and TV since the turn of the millennium, first appearing as
a Starfleet cadet in a 2001 episode of "Star Trek: Voyager."
The New Yorker spent most of her early career appearing in one-off episodes of TV shows,
including the Kevin James sitcom "The King of Queens" and the final season of the classic
detective show "Columbo" in 2003.
Her film debut came in 2006 when she landed the role of Amy Butlin in "Larry the Cable
Guy: Health Inspector."
She snagged her first major movie role four years later when she played Iris Reisen in
the horror film "The Last Exorcism."
The same year, she created and starred in the comedy series "Svetlana", which ran for
two seasons before being canceled.
One of her most recognizable characters is Rachel from Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm."
She played the devout Jew in three episodes of the long-running HBO comedy.
More recently, Bahr appeared in two episodes of ABC's "The Conners" and played Perla in
the HBO comedy series "Hacks."
Brendan Jennings plays Howie in the second episode of the new "Night Court."
A product of the illustrious Second City in Chicago, Jennings' improv background has gotten
him numerous roles in TV comedies since 2013, when he appeared as Walt Koypond in a Season
5 episode of "Parks and Recreation."
His other early TV roles include small parts in "Cougar Town" and "New Girl."
In 2018, he briefly appeared in the "Breaking Bad" prequel series "Better Call Saul" as
an office worker, then, two years later, he was cast in an episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm."
His most recent roles prior to "Night Court" were as Dale in "A.P. Bio," Dennis in "Superstore,"
and as Massacre Mike in the Netflix Comedy series "The Woman in the House Across the
Street from the Girl in the Window."
Will Hines plays a customer that's served, in multiple ways, by Dan Fielding at the beginning
of the pilot episode of "Night Court."
Like Brendan Jennings, Hines got his start in the world of improv comedy.
He's an alumnus of the Upright Citizens Brigade in New York City and has written two books
on improv, according to his website.
After starring in some comedic web series, he appeared with Donald Glover in the Derrick
Comedy feature film "Mystery Team," playing Mr. Stevens alongside several other established
improv actors.
Later in his career, Hines landed roles in a number of TV comedies, including "Broad
City," "Community," and "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," and he was featured in sketches on "Inside
Amy Schumer."
He is perhaps best known for playing Carl Kurm on "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" and Professor
Bennett on "The Sex Lives of College Girls."
Podcast fans may also know him from a series of appearances on "Comedy Bang Bang."
In addition to acting, Hines has released two albums as one half of the band Wayne & Rodney,
which he created with fellow improviser Joel Spence.
He also runs the online improv school The World's Greatest Improv School.
Al Bayan hadn't been acting for very long when he appeared in the second episode of
"Night Court" in 2023.
He got his start in the industry in 2018 when he played a coroner in an episode of "9-1-1"
and since then he has appeared regularly on the small screen, popping up in a number of
big shows.
He followed up his debut role by appearing in 2019 episodes of "Good Girls," "Why Women
Kill," and the Oprah Winfrey Network legal drama "All Rise."
In 2020, Bayan landed his biggest role to date, appearing in HBO's critically acclaimed
dystopian science fiction series "Westworld."
He played a behavior tech in the Season 3 episode "The Winter Line."