Here's Why The Cast Of Running Point Looks So Familiar

"Running Point," a TV series co-created by Mindy Kaling, dropped on Netflix on February 27, 2025. The show has since topped the streaming service's charts as viewers have fallen in love with its whip-smart comedy. This is perhaps unsurprising, as we've all witnessed Mindy Kaling's complete evolution into one of the most sought-after television creators in Hollywood. In addition to starring in "The Office," she was the creative force behind, and the lead of, "The Mindy Project." She's also the co-creator of hits like "The Sex Lives of College Girls," "Never Have I Ever," and now, of course, "Running Point."

The show reunites Kaling with Ike Barinholtz and David Stassen, who both also wrote on "The Mindy Project." The three writers, she said, bonded over their love of sports films when they watched "Remember the Titans" together. "I love 'Sex and the City,' I like 'Bridget Jones Diary,' but I also love a sports movie," she told IndieWire. "So we tried to take our favorite things from the best sports TV shows and movies and kind of infuse the show with that."

To pull off a show that mixed inspirations that way, Kaling and crew needed a cast that would be able to go along with the show's shifts in genre. It's a workplace comedy that's also a sports show. It's a family drama that's also full of slapstick. It's kind of like if "Succession" were about a family who runs a sports team. However, one of the very best things about "Running Point" is its incredibly talented cast — and chances are you recognize them from their past work.

As "Running Point" opens, Cam Gordon (Justin Theroux) has a confession for his siblings. He's just crashed his car into a family of Dutch tourists, but he's got a good excuse. "Everyone, listen up," he tells them. "We have a problem. I am an alcoholic, and I'm addicted to cocaine. And crack." Even though he was in charge of the fictional Los Angeles Waves, Cam passes on the responsibility (and the team presidency) to his sister; then, the character spends much of the rest of the season in rehab.

It's probably a good thing Cam isn't very involved in running the team, because Theroux told a panel that he has no interest in sports whatsoever. "I honestly can't fathom that people get so worked up," he said, adding that he has no idea what the show's title refers to (via People). "I don't know what it means," he insisted. "People have tried to explain it to me, I still don't know."

If the actor looks familiar, you may have spotted him in projects like "Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion," "American Psycho," "Mulholland Drive," or "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle." These days, Theroux is perhaps best known as Kevin in "The Leftovers," the critically-acclaimed HBO series about a world left to pick up the pieces after 2% of the population mysteriously vanishes.

After Cam goes to rehab, Isla Gordon is named President of the LA Waves. The character is a former party girl who's spent the last few years working in the team's low-profile charitable contributions office, meaning that when she suddenly finds herself in charge of everything, she has to step up to the plate.

Isla is played by Kate Hudson, who's such a fan of basketball that she was already aware of Lakers owner Jeanie Buss, on whom Isla is partially based. In fact, Hudson used to shadow Buss back when she was a teenager. Playing her on television, however, took some convincing; after all, she'd never led a television show before. Thankfully, she loved it. Hudson told Variety, "The dream is that you just love the people you're working with, you love the character you're playing, you love the world that you're in. And we get to shoot in Los Angeles, so I get to be home in our beautiful town, that's been through so much, that we get to celebrate right now."

Hudson is the most famous member of the cast, which has earned her a net worth that is probably even more than you think. She's an Oscar nominee thanks to her role in "Almost Famous." She spent the 2000s ruling the box office as the queen of rom-coms, leading films like "How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days," "Bride Wars," "Something Borrowed," and "Nine." Kate Hudson even jumped into the music industry, debuting a hit album in May 2024. What can't she do? 

Drew Tarver plays Sandy Gordon on "Running Point." He's the family's more analytically-minded brother and is tasked with keeping track of the team's bottom line, which means he's often a bit of a stick in the mud compared to some of the more wild antics his siblings get up to. Still, Sandy gets quite the romantic storyline in the show's first season. After he's dumped by the boyfriend he was hiding from his family, he goes on a quest to win him back.

Tarver jumped at the chance to work with Kate Hudson and told The Wrap that they got along great on set. "She really set an amazing tone. We [were] hanging out for people's scenes after hours," he recalled, "and we're doing jokes offset and bringing that energy into the scene."

Thankfully, the actor has some significant experience playing brother to a more famous sibling. He starred as Cary Dubek on "The Other Two," a Max series about two millennials who must grapple with the fact that their much younger teenage brother has become a Justin Bieber-esque popstar. In fact, it's similar to his real-life story, too. Tarver's sister Katelyn was a finalist on "American Juniors," the "American Idol" spinoff that formed a short-lived band made up of kids. 

Brenda Song plays Ali Lee on "Running Point," executive assistant to Kate Hudson's character. She's a hyper-competent fix-it woman, always ready with a green juice or a detailed plan to topple an enemy. Sure, she spends the series at Isla's beck and call, but the two have a great rapport that reveals itself to be quite sweet.

Song told Buzzfeed that working with Hudson was a dream come true. "To be able to play Kate's bestie is, I mean, it's iconic. I never thought that I would be able to say those words. I can't tell you how many Kate movies live rent free in my head. I've admired her for so long. I've loved her for so long," she gushed. "Everything that you think of Kate, she's that, and more. She's the best."

If Song looks familiar, you may have seen her supporting turn in the 2024 film "The Last Showgirl," a film in which she plays a dancer alongside Pamela Anderson. She also starred on the Hulu series "Dollface" and in the Netflix thriller "Secret Obsession." It's more likely, however, that you're familiar with the actor from her days on the Disney Channel. She played London Tipton on "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody," a hotel heiress whose out-of-touch quips reliably led to laughs. You might also know about Brenda Song due to her relationship with Macaulay Culkin – keep an eye out for a cameo from the "Home Alone" star in "Running Point."

Ness is the only Gordon sibling who has actual basketball experience. He was trained from a young age and then spent less than a season playing the sport professionally, ultimately ending up behind a desk instead of on the court. Aside from the drug-addled Cam, Ness is the messiest Gordon, constantly tossing out anecdotes that reveal his life to be quite absurd.

Scott MacArthur, who plays Ness, told Decider that "Running Point" is an eye-catching comedy because it blends things that appeal to many different types of people. "You have sports, you have family, you have romance — that's really a testament to Mindy [Kaling] being able to corral that entire world into one show," he said. "And hopefully, it's a blast to watch because it was a lot of fun to make."

MacArthur is no stranger to making shows that are fun to watch. He's a sitcom vet who's appeared on projects like "The Righteous Gemstones" and "Killing It." In 2023, he played one of Jennifer Lawrence's friends in "No Hard Feelings." From 2017 to 2018, he was one of the main cast members in "The Mick," a show that found Kaitlin Olsen from "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" playing a party girl who has to take care of a family. MacArthur starred as Jimmy, the burnout boyfriend of Olsen's character. 

If there's a breakout performance on "Running Point," it might just be Chet Hanks' portrayal of Travis Bugg. He's one of the star players on the Waves lineup, hazing the other team members in the locker room just as often as he's insisting he's about to be a rap superstar. He's a bit of a wild child, forcing Isla to step in and care for him ... or threaten to trade him away. As the season goes on, however, Hanks gets some surprisingly meaty material to chew on, giving the show a big part of its heart.

Hanks told Esquire that the role was a last-ditch grab at a respectable career. "I said, 'If I don't get this role, I'm just going to quit acting.' It was just uncanny — it's almost like it was written for me, but it wasn't," he said. "So I basically get to be a slightly exaggerated version of myself."

He's not lying. Much of Bugg's journey does seem to be a reflection of Hanks' time in the public eye. He's Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson's son, after all, who made a name for himself thanks to his questionable love of speaking in Jamaican Patois and his problematic prediction that, post-pandemic, it would be a "white boy summer." You may know him from such antics or recognize him from his previous roles in "Empire" and "Your Honor."

Toby Sandeman plays Marcus Winfield on "Running Point," one of the most senior players on the Los Angeles Waves. The other guys on the team look up to him, which means Marcus is often called upon to solve squabbles and protect his teammates from each other — or from themselves.

This isn't the first sports-related show that Sandeman has starred in. Chances are you recognize him from his role on the Paramount+ update of "The Game," which ran for two seasons. On that series, he was a star football player rather than a basketball player. He also played Sebastian on "The Royals," Terry on "She's Gotta Have It," and Symphony on "Power Book III: Raising Kanan."

"Running Point" and "The Game" both play on Sandeman's real-life persona. After all, he was a gold-medalist track star before he was an actor. "I fell out of love with the sport and this huge void sort of arose," he told People of his transition to acting. His athletics experience then came in handy on "Running Point," as he explained to Us Weekly: "I think some of the insights that I had being an athlete [helped] — certainly knowing the business side of being an athlete and how much that can actually take away from the love. I think Marcus Winfield is going through that in this season." He continued, saying, "Even when we were on the court, even though it wasn't real, sometimes it felt real."

Jay Ellis plays Jay Brown on "Running Point," the head coach of the LA Waves. Like most of the characters on the show, he has some personal problems. As the season goes on, Jay finds himself struggling to manage the team as his home life falls apart.

Like his co-star Toby Sandeman, Ellis had significant athletic experience before signing on to play the basketball coach in the series. He played college basketball for Concordia University, and he told Us Weekly that he brought that experience to his character. "I thought about injuries, like guys who had gotten hurt. I thought about my own selfishness or my ambition of wanting to be the best player on my team," he explained. "I thought of all of those things and how that relates now that I'm a coach in a show, having to talk to these younger players."

Like Sandeman, Ellis also starred in "The Game," but he was part of the show's original run before it made the jump to Paramount+; he starred as Bryce in 48 episodes. Ellis also played a hotshot pilot nicknamed Payback in "Top Gun: Maverick," and perhaps most famously, he played Lawrence on "Insecure." When that show came to an end, he knew it was time to let Lawrence go. "We've gotten to see it from Lawrence on the couch to Lawrence rockin' a suit and going to work every day," he told GQ, "and I think there's a beautiful journey there."

"Running Point" is centered on the Gordon siblings who jockey for power at the LA Waves organization sometime after the death of their father. Early in the series, it's revealed that the four main siblings aren't the only kids fathered by the dearly departed patriarch — he's got a secret son, and that son happens to be working in concessions. Suddenly, Jackie Moreno, played by Fabrizio Guido, goes from being a nobody to a somebody, finding the family he's always wanted, even if they're not sure they want anything to do with him.

Thankfully, Guido got along with his co-stars better than his character did. "There's nothing but good vibes," he told CBS 19 News. "They're super open to talking. I'm amazed every time I'm with Kate because she'll be going into these stories and she has so much life experience that I honestly just love to listen."

Guido is considerably younger than most of the cast, but he's not inexperienced. He played Mikey Gutierrez, one of the main students on the Netflix sitcom "Mr. Iglesias." He was Pedro in the Prime Video vampire movie "Black as Night," and he had an arc as Rafael Gallardo on the second season of HBO's "Perry Mason."

Max Greenfield plays Lev Levenson on "Running Point," the supportive fiancé to Kate Hudson's Isla Gordon. They've been engaged for years but are in no hurry to get married, as both parties are focused pretty heavily on their demanding careers. As the season goes on, however, Lev learns to open up about the toll that Isla's job takes on their relationship.

Most of Greenfield's scenes are opposite Hudson, and he told People that's exactly why he agreed to do the show. "I was like, 'I'm in. I don't even need to read anything I'm in because I love Kate,'" he said. "I've been such a fan of hers for so long, and the idea of working with her was really exciting." He added, "It was fun to play a different shade and to specifically do that with somebody like Kate, who's so strong and such a presence. I had a really good time."

Greenfield is no stranger to playing supporting roles on sitcoms. He's perhaps best known for being part of the cast of "New Girl." In it, he plays Schmidt, one of the roommates who fills Zooey Deschanel's character's life with all sorts of ridiculous shenanigans. You may also recognize Greenfield from his arcs on "Veronica Mars," "American Crime Story," and "American Horror Story." He's been in movies like "Promising Young Woman" and "The Big Short," and he also starred in seven seasons of "The Neighborhood," a show in which he plays a well-meaning white guy opposite Cedric the Entertainer. 

Scott Evans plays an affable dog groomer named Charlie on "Running Point," one of the only characters not directly connected to the LA Waves. As the series opens, Charlie is Sandy's secret boyfriend, but this arrangement soon becomes untenable, leading to conflict between the lovers as Sandy tries to figure out his public relationship to his sexuality.

Like Drew Tarver, who plays his on-screen boyfriend, Evans is familiar with stories involving a more famous relative. After all, he's the brother of Captain America himself, Chris Evans. "We still have our game nights and there will still be fights and it will still be storming out after Monopoly," Scott told Us Weekly, revealing his competitive nature with his own siblings. "Of course it's good. It gives you a hard shell."

If Scott looks familiar, you might have seen him as Oliver on "Grace and Frankie," another Netflix show. Fittingly, he also played a character called Oliver on the iconic soap opera "One Life to Live." He starred in the Hulu Original horror movie "Midnight Kiss," and he even popped in for one episode of "Insecure" alongside "Running Point" co-star Jay Ellis. Perhaps most famously, Scott can be spotted in "Barbie," playing one of the good-natured Kens. He told Out Magazine that he'd once danced with Margot Robbie at an Oscars party, and she remembered him on set of the massive Mattel comedy. "I was like, 'Oh, my goodness!'" he recalled. "For once my party antics have paid off."