The Now-Super-Famous Guest Stars of ‘Miami Vice’ 🌴

Hi WNVM-ers,

It's me, Fawnia, again, as Cheryl is OOO this week and I’m back on the “Miami Vice” beat. In honor of the recent 40th anniversary of its premiere, I tracked down the casting director Bonnie Timmermann — who also stacked the callsheets of The Karate Kid and Dirty Dancing. The casting on “Miami Vice” left an indelible legacy on the culture, not just for catching — but also maybe even making — movie stars before they hit it big. Think: Bruce Willis, bb Julia Roberts, WNVM icon Joan Chen and more.

We’re also taking a break on news links, but will be back next week!

Baby, Remember My Name (Fame!) 

An oral history of the game-changing casting in ‘Miami Vice’ 

By Fawnia

‘Miami Vice’ guest stars you must recognize, but jic, left to right: Joan Chen, Liam Neeson, Bruce Willis, Phil Collins, Jimmy Smits, Pam Grier (top), James Brown (bottom), Annette Bening, and Julia Roberts

As a child of the largely unsupervised MTV generation, I obsessively watched “Miami Vice” at 10pm every Friday night. Earlier this year, as a grown ass adult preparing to interview executive producer Michael Mann for a 40th anniversary oral history of the game-changing fashion, I immersed myself in a rewatch marathon of the entire first season — in the age of streaming, 23 episodes is a real commitment, btw — plus some choice eps from later ones. 

On top of delighting in the New Wave music and aesthetic, the swaggy style of undercover detectives Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson, can still get it) and Ricardo Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas), and the Michael Mann-signature vroom-vroom cuts, I had the best time spotting the guest stars. Before big screen A-listers appeared on “Friends” and nascent movie stars played small bits on “Law & Order,” “Miami Vice” set the benchmark. (Liam! Annette! Harry from “Sex and the City” as a collegiate drug mule!) Plus, chart-topping musicians, from Glenn Frey as a contraband smuggling pilot to Willie Nelson making a grand appearance soundtracked to Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive” to Sheena Easton as Crockett’s doomed wife, gleefully tried out side hustles, often as the villain of the week. Plus, the show honored trailblazing ‘70s action star Pam Grier with a recurring role as Valerie, a badass NYPD detective (and Tubbs’ love interest). A decade later, Quentin Tarantino would cast her as the lead in Jackie Brown.

“We had so many unique people in the show, and, in some way, we changed the face of television,” says casting director Bonnie Timmermann, on a call. She explains that Mann, producing from Los Angeles, hired her to cast out of her New York City base, while the series filmed in Miami. “For me, always, it was about theater,” says Timmermann, who still begins her search through frequenting on and off-Broadway shows.

“I ride the buses, I take the trains. I go to bars and look for people, and I see people on the street,” she continues. Timmermann instinctively filled out the “Miami Vice” world with a diverse range of actors with the intention to make “television more real.” She has an eye, that’s for sure — giving early small-screen roles to Laurence Fishburne, Wesley Snipes, John Leguizamo, Benicio del Toro, Chris Rock, Nathan Lane, and Viggo Mortensen, to name a few.

“‘Miami Vice’ set the template for bringing so many different types of talent into one show: the up-and-comers, the established, the downtown people,” says Ron Simon, curator at The Paley Center for Media and author of The Encyclopedia of Television. He also recently had a rewatch, and spotted a pretty deep cut Easter egg in the sixth episode: Andy Warhol The Factory muse Joe Dallesandro as a mob racketeer. “The casting was just so compelling for anyone to watch. Looking back again 40 years later, you can see why it really shook up television.”

Ahead, Timmermann, and “Miami Vice” costume designers spill the tea on casting and fitting future Oscar winners and red carpet style icons, like that time Bruce Willis questioned his feloniously fancy shirt and Liam Neeson didn’t wear one.

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Jimmy Smits, Season 1, Episode 1 ‘My Brother’s Keeper’ (1984)

Before Smits played attorney and social justice warrior Victor Sifuentes on “L.A. Law,” and carried a badge as Detective Bobby Simone in “NYPD Blue,” he held a brief (as in like minutes), but pivotal role as Crockett’s partner Eddie Rivera in the pilot. RIP.

Bonnie Timmermann: He’s a wonderful actor, and I was very proud to see [Smits and Johnson] on the Emmy stage together. I love Jimmy, and everybody was sorry that we killed him. We killed quite a few actors and brought ‘em back. We did not care. [Like, MVP Giancarlo Esposito played three characters, in two different seasons.] Giancarlo came in to read for me and I thought, “Oh my gosh, this guy is so interesting.” He was just a beautiful person and such a fine actor, even in the beginning.

Bruce Willis, season 1, episode 7, ‘No Exit’ (1984)

A year before he traded steamy, wisecracking banter with Cybill Shepherd in “Moonlighting,” Willis menaced as abusive arms dealer Tony Amato. His outfits, like the most voluminous, high-waisted, and pleated white Parachute pants, befit Tony’s brazen international criminal persona — but perhaps not Willis himself.

Timmermann: I used to go into this bar, where [Willis] was a bartender. He threw a paper airplane at me — which was wild — and it landed on my table. He said, ‘May I come to see you?’ And I said, ‘Of course.’ He came to see me at my office, and then I went to see him in Sam Shepard’s play [1983’s Fool For Love, where he started as an understudy], and that was it. 

Jodie Tillen, season 1 costume designer: Well, let me tell you. Bruce Willis came into the costume department and we knew that this was something. Oh, he really made the air change. There's a scene at the very end, when he's coming down the steps [in a black-and-white shirt, above]. He called from the set and said, “Why does Tony have on this shirt? I don't feel that he should wear that.” So I said, “This is ‘Miami Vice.’ This is how this would go down.” He got comfortable with it, but it was really funny.

Joan Chen, season 1, episodes 13 and 14 ‘The Golden Triangle, Part I and II’ (1985)

Lieutenant Marty Castillo’s (national treasure, Edward James Olmos) origin story reveals his past life as a DEA agent in Thailand (and a lot of skin during a slow-mo speedos-only swimming sequence). I yelped when a pre-The Last Emperor Joan Chen pops up as his long lost and supposedly dead wife, May Ying. Did I actually never watch these episodes as a kid? Or maybe I blocked them out because my adult self couldn’t finish Part I due to the very-’80s problematic representation of Asians. (Someone telling a couple “Thai” gangsters to “go back to Hong Kong” did it for me. But it was nice to see AAPI icons, like the late Keye Luke and James Saito, who played Randall Park’s dad in Always Be My Maybe.)

Timmermann: Joan was so beautiful. Well, she's still beautiful, and a really wonderful actress. She auditioned in L.A, and there was a tear that went down her cheek, and I couldn't believe that I watched this tear just roll down her cheek. I must have seen other things too that she was in, because I always do my homework. But Joan, I remember a tear. I just thought she was incredible, so I said, ‘This is our girl.’

Joan Chen-aissance + Beetlejuice 2 Red Carpet

We are two Gen X journalists who analyze all the '80s and '90s nostalgia in current pop culture, fashion, and beauty. Read more stories like this one here!

Liam Neeson, season 3, episode 1, ‘When Irish Eyes are Crying’ (1986)

It was especially fun to revisit the season three premiere during the Hot Irish Guy frenzy. Then hallelujah — a wee Liam Neeson appeared as Sean Carroon (lol), a dreamy Irish pacifist who would obviously turn out to be an IRA terrorist. His vest and jacket SANS shirt look — like Barry Keoghan on the red carpet — should have given Gina (Saundra Santiago) a clue. I also felt like Neeson's 2022 cameo as a gruff Northern Irish police chief in the finale season of “Derry Girls” brought his TV arc full circle.

Timmermann: I went to see Cuba and His Teddy Bear, a play at the Public Theater, starring Robert De Niro and my good buddy Ralph Macchio. I went backstage to say hello to Robert, and the next day, he called me and he said, “I have a friend in town. Would you see him?” I said, “Of course, send him by,” and in walks Liam Neeson. Everyone just bowed to him as he walked down the hallway. He was so tall and so beautiful and very kind. When he sat down, the script for the third season just came off my printer, reading, ‘Six-foot four, Irish.’ That was the character, and he just walked into my room! I called Michael Mann and said, ‘Michael, this guy just walked in. We have to give him this part because he's right off the printed page.’ We became friends. I actually just produced a movie for [Neeson] called In the Land of Saints and Sinners. 

Eduardo Castro, season 3 wardrobe supervisor, season 4 costume designer: I believe [the suit] is by Nino Cerruti. [The shirtless-ness] was one of those elements where Liam brings something to the table. He was like, “Oh, well, I'll just wear it [like] this,” and so it came from him. He was really sweet

Julia Roberts, season 4, episode 22: “Mirror Image” (1988)
In a surprise to no one, the future Pretty Woman stole the episode in a tiny role as an assistant to a powerful drug lord — particularly impressive considering the far-fetched storyline about an amnesiac Crockett morphing into his drug dealing alter-ego, Sonny Burnett. 

Timmermann: [Her brother] Eric Roberts was managed by Bill Treusch, who called me and said, “You need to meet Eric's sister.” I said, “Sure.” You gotta be open; it's either hit or miss. But anyway, she walked in, and I just went, “Oh, boy.” So we put her on tape, sent her to Michael and the producers in Miami, and they just immediately said, “Yes.” You could tell that she was gonna have a career.

Castro: I remember the day she came into a fitting, all bubbly, and then she said, “Hi, my name is Julia.” She was very, very young and very easy to work with and very nice. She hadn't even done Steel Magnolias [1989 and Mystic Pizza would come out five months later]. She had a tomboyish attitude. I remember I put her in Vicky Tiel [an American designer in Paris, known for her corseted dresses beloved by Goldie Hawn and Elizabeth Taylor]. She wasn't used to high fashion, but she said, ‘All this is cool.’ 

Annette Bening, season 3, episode 19, “Red Tape” (1987)

In 2018, the five-time Oscar nominee revisited her small-screen appearance — her second TV job! — on Jimmy Kimmel. As a last minute replacement, Bening didn’t have to try out. “The casting director had seen me audition [already] or something,’” she told Kimmel, who then played a clip of Bening in the most ‘80s white strapless leather dress. “I’m the bad guy’s girlfriend, that's all I can remember,” she said to Kimmel. But, turns out, Bening remembers the dress, too.

Timmermann: I wanted Annette Bening on the show, and her agent kept saying “no” to me, so I remember fighting with the agent. Sometimes there's a struggle. I got rejected quite a bit from other actors. But once the show became popular, it became more and more easy.

Castro: I ran into Annette Bening at the Academy Awards a few weeks ago. We reconnected and she had some interesting insights because she was a replacement. [I last saw her] 20 years ago when I was [an associate costume designer] on Bulworth. She was on the set and caught my eye, and said, “You look very familiar,” and I said, “Do you remember the white leather dress?!” She said, “Oh my god, ‘Miami Vice.’” She remembered! I put her in North Beach Leather.

Phil Collins, season 2, episode 11, ‘Phil the Shill,’ (1985); James Brown, season 4, episode 7 ‘Missing Hours’ (1987) and more musical artists

The Genesis drummer/lead singer/Lily’s dad played a prominent role in the pilot, of course. In a very music video-esque sequence, Crockett, with the wind blowing through his hair, and Tubbs, vengefully loading ammo, drive in the former’s Faux-rarri backed by Collins’ solo debut single, “In the Air Tonight.” In season two, Collins himself guest stars as a sleazy game show host-slash-con artist, who scams the wrong drug dealers and wears the flashiest outfits. Kyra Sedgwick pops up as his assistant-slash-accomplice.

Timmermann: Every week we would make suggestions. Sometimes Michael Mann or Don or Philip would have requests. Maybe somebody suggested Phil Collins? It could have been Don, or Michael, or [late producer-director] John Nicollela… It could have been me… We'd read the scripts and say, “Hey, what about Phil Collins?” Then the journey is to find them, track them down.

Bambi Breakstone, season 2 costume designer: That short sleeve blue, rayon-seersucker jacket that [Collins, above right] has on, that’s — oh my god — a Jean Paul Gaultier jacket that I bought in Paris because it was just so cool with a fabulous Memphis Milano tie that I bought in Italy. Holy Toledo — it was fabulous on him.

Timmermann: We loved musicians, whether it was Willie Nelson or Iggy Pop or Eartha Kitt or Little Richard or Miles Davis, we just said, “Hey [would you come on the show?]” I called James Brown up — and he was in jail. He called me back from jail, and I said, “You're such a great musician, I was wondering if you'd be on the show.” He said, “Yeah, when I get out of jail, I'll call you.” And he did, and we put him on the show [to play an alien cult leader in a season four foray into sci fi]. I also suggested Leonard Cohen [to play Francois Zolan, evil Interpol commander in season two] and everyone said, “Oh, no, you're not going to get him, no. It’s Leonard Cohen.”  I said, “Yes, I can get him, because he was a boyfriend of mine,” and so I called him up.

Simon: The Fat Boys were [in a 1986 season two episode, as drug dealers who rap]. You did not see that much of hip hop on prime time television right in the mid ‘80s, that's for sure. [Note: ‘Yo MTV Raps’ didn’t debut on cable until Aug. 1988.] So [‘Miami Vice’ was] both consolidating everything that was happening in the ‘80s, but also looking forward to the future.

The above interviews have been edited and condensed for clarity.

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