The Only Actors To Star In Both James Bond And Mission: Impossible

In the battle of super spy dominance, the two names at the top of the table (unless Jason Bourne turns up with a rolled-up newspaper) are James Bond and Ethan Hunt. 007 might have a few years on Tom Cruise's Impossible Mission Force member, but since the latter arrived on screens in 1996, the competition has always been there and might never stop, even after "Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning." While the argument might rage on, though, there are a handful of fortunate souls who are lucky enough to give perhaps the best comparison possible, given that they've inhabited both of those worlds. Yes, over the eight "Mission: Impossible" movies and 27 Bond films (James, you show-off), some actors have dared to get a taste of danger by dabbling in both their worlds, crossing paths with both Ethan Hunt and James Bond sometimes mere years apart.

These appearances are comprised of some blink-or-you'll-miss-it moments that'll have you skimming through the opposing franchise films just to double check, and lengthy roles that pulled a performer into the selected spies' missions, but which roles worked out better for the talent in question? Did one cast member come away in a better state when encountering Mr. Bond than Mr. Hunt, and did one franchise impact the other in the specific star's making a comeback in the later films? Let's take a look.

Before she ended up becoming the father of James Bond's child in "No Time To Die," Lea Seydoux first got caught up in a scam hatched by Ethan Hunt in what many consider to be the franchise reviver, "Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol." In the fourth film in the franchise, Seydoux played French assassin Sabine Monreau, who was working for the movie's big bad, Kurt Hendricks, and was part of the exchange that saw Hunt hanging off the side of the Burj Khalifa.

Unfortunately, her time in the "Mission: Impossible" was much shorter than it was in 007's world, but that's what you get for daring to take on the IMF team. After being briefly incapacitated, Seydoux's character breaks free to take on Paula Patton's Jane in a fight to the death. The battle led to Jane getting the upper hand and kicking Sabine out of the window to a record-breaking fall.

Thankfully, her time in Bond's world didn't come with such a bleak exit. She made her debut in "Spectre" as the daughter of Mr. White (Jesper Christensen), Madeleine Swann, who fell under Bond's protection and worked with the MI6 agent to break down the titular organization run by Blofeld (Christoph Waltz). This led to the two getting together (typical Bond), and it was later revealed in "No Time To Die" that after some lengthy time apart, Madeleine had given birth to their daughter, Mathilde, who she'd later go on to raise alone following Bond's death. Well, at least she made it out alive this time.

As another entry on this list makes apparent, sometimes henchmen, though not necessarily good at their jobs, will find employment with other villains in film history. Jens Hultén, for example, worked under Javier Bardem's Raoul Silva in "Skyfall" and came to blows with Bond during the hero's run across the frozen lake in the final act of Sam Mendes' beloved Bond entry. 007 brought the bad guy down with a neck snap, letting him sink to the bottom as he headed off for his final showdown with Silva. In the case of "Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation," Hultén was a little more prominent and even came with a more unsettling title to highlight just how much of a threat he was.

In the fifth film in the "Mission: Impossible" franchise, Hultén played Janik Vinter, also known as The Bone Doctor, a dedicated member of Solomon Lane's (Sean Harris) group that's tasked with torturing Ethan when he and Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) are kidnapped. Naturally, Vinter has the traditional henchman exit after Hunt breaks free via that incredible pipe shuffle and Ilsa stabs The Bone Doctor to death. Perhaps after coming up against these two legends and failing, it might be best for Hultén to give up the henchman gig and try a safer occupation in the future.

Michelle Arthur might not be a name that rings many bells, but early in her career, she was lucky enough to be present for pivotal moments in both the legacies of Bond and Ethan Hunt through their time on screen. Her first encounter with a secret agent was 007, specifically the era when Pierce Brosnan had the license to kill. In one of the essential entries in the Bond franchise, "Goldeneye," Arthur played Anna Nishkova, a technician who worked at the Severnaya facility and one of the many executed by Famke Janssen's Xenia Onatopp, the awesomely named assassin that Bond would get (ahem) wrapped up with later in the film.

Over a decade later, Arthur would cross paths with Ethan Hunt in the J.J. Abrams-directed "Mission: Impossible III" and thankfully didn't encounter any lethal individuals by working as an airline worker. Coincidentally, that's not the only time she dealt with air travel for Abrams, after being one of the cabin crew on the ill-fated Oceanic 815 flight in his groundbreaking series "Lost." Fans of "The Big Bang Theory" might also be more familiar with Michelle Arthur as Mrs. Petrescu, who lived on the second floor of Penny (Kaley Cuoco) and Leonard's (Johnny Galecki) apartment building.

Perhaps one of the most handsome henchmen in action movie history, Andreas Wisniewski is best known as being the bad guy John McClane (Bruce Willis) stole a machine gun from ("ho-ho-ho") in "Die Hard." Years later, though, he appeared in "Mission: Impossible" as the companion to Max (Vanessa Redgrave), conveniently credited as Max's Companion in the Brian De Palma film (which some argue to be best in the franchise). Years later, he returned to the franchise as the contact for The Fog in "Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol," beginning the franchise's subtle links to earlier films that would increase before we eventually reached "Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning."

For his brush with Bond, Wisniewski appeared alongside Timothy Dalton during his brief stint as 007 in "The Living Daylights." In the 15th film, directed by John Glen, Wisniewski played the ex-KGB agent and assassin Necros, who went through various disguises to get his man, posing as a milkman, a balloon seller, and a lighting technician. He eventually meets his end at the hands of Bond during a fight on an aircraft, which sees him fall to his death after Bond cuts his shoelaces, setting up Necros to be killed off by perhaps one of the simplest means in 007 history.