Game of Thrones actors had some pretty funny roles before turning up in Westeros

YOU may not have seen a lot of the Game of Thrones cast before they turned up in Westeros, and you won’t believe what some of them used to get up to.

Same bloke. Seriously.

YOU may not have seen a lot of the Game of Thrones cast before they turned up in Westeros, and you probably won’t believe what some of them used to get up to.

The sprawling TV epic features an impressive collection of actors who have rightly won praise for sterling performances throughout the show’s run.

And while you may think of them in unknowns, plenty of them were familiar faces in their own countries before landing a gig in the hugely popular HBO show.

Interestingly, many featured in comedies in their homelands before arriving in King’s Landing or Winterfell.

Take Rory McCann, for example, a friendly faced Scotsman who played a mild-mannered paraplegic in UK sitcom The Book Group. You may know him better as The Hound.

Same bloke. Seriously.

Meanwhile, Michael McElhatton, who relishes playing one of the most odious villains of the Game of Thrones universe in Roose Bolton, is barely recognisable as the hapless ‘Rats’ in one of Ireland’s finest comedy efforts, Paths to Freedom.

Here he is trying to get a taxi in Belfast, funnily enough not far from where the ‘North’ scenes in Game of Thrones are filmed in the Northern Irish countryside.

Arguably the only character more unlikable than Roose — his on-screen son Ramsay — is played by Iwan Rheon, who portrayed the painfully shy love interest of UK comic Simon Amstell in the excellent Grandma’s House.

You may want to sit down for this one. Jerome Flynn, who plays everyone’s favourite wisecracking badass Bronn, once upon a time made up half of a godawful singing duo Robson and Jerome.

Believe it or not, the cheesy pair topped the UK charts three times in the ’90s, with their cover of ‘Unchained Melody’ the biggest selling single in Britain in 1995. That’s scarier than anything Bronn’s done in the show so far.

Game of Thrones star Jerome Flynn (Bronn). Picture: Peter Wallis

Real Game of Thrones nerds will recall a character who crossed Arya’s path in Season 3 named Thoros, who ended up selling Gendry to Melisandre and was impressively portrayed by Paul Kaye.

Paul Kaye as Thoros. Remember him from S3? Had a friend who was immortal. There it is.

Kaye was already well know in the UK as a comedian who became notorious for pranking celebrities on red carpets as his alter-ego Dennis Pennis.

And finally, this. Check out the poindexter on the right! He clearly knows nothing.

The (very) young Stark children (including Greyjoy and Snow members) before all that unpleasantness.

Originally published as Game of Thrones actors had some pretty funny roles before turning up in Westeros