12 American Celebrities You Probably Didn't Know Did Commercials In Foreign Countries

Lots of American celebrities do voiceover work in the United States, it's an easy gig and equals a nice pay check. What you don't often see are big name celebrities doing regular old acting work in commercials -- outside of the Super Bowl at least.

Now when it comes to acting in a commercial in Japan, that's a different story. Some of the biggest name actors have made the journey to Japan or Europe for a commercial spot because it pays so incredibly well and the work is easy.

The commercials are often ridiculous and usually include voice dubbing, but what else would you expect from a Japanese commercial? Here are 12 celebs who took their acting talents overseas for some easy commercial work.

Throughout much of the 1990s Harrison was regularly shooting commercials for Japanese beer company Kirin Lager. Some of the ads had him looking for his family in a busy restaurant, hanging at the beach or relaxing in a sauna, all while enjoying this Japanese brew.

You've probably seen Britney's popular Pepsi Super Bowl ads, but before that she was promoting candy in Japan. This commercial from sometime in the early 2000s has her on a private jet enjoy a Japanese candy called Suki that's so good it has the power to make even the most serious bodyguard breakout into a dance.

Japan isn't the only country that likes to use American celebrities in commercials. This German mobile service ad had the odd idea of having Snoop break out of a man's refrigerator to do serenade him with singing that's about as far away from gangsta rap as possible. If that weren't weird enough, the two girls in daisy dukes who bust out of the dishwasher put it over the top.

George Clooney took a little heat when he was asked about starring in foreign commercials and he summed it up rather bluntly:

“I’m trying to make movies in my life … that last longer than opening weekend. That’s it, that’s my whole goal. I don’t have to make money; I do films for scale and then, you know, I go do coffee commercials overseas, and I make a lot of money so I get to live in a nice house. … And I don’t give a sh*t."

This Japanese commercial for Softbank mobile not only landed a huge A-list star with Brad Pitt, but it also had the whimsical director Wes Anderson behind the camera calling the shots.

You probably remember Scarlett Johansson caught her big break in Lost In Translation, a movie about a celebrity (Bill Murray) who goes to Japan to shoot a commercial. She came full circle with this Japanese advert for coffee that just required her to sip the beverage and look out the window for a fat paycheck.

Before Leonardo DiCaprio became the Oscar-winning actor that he is today, he shot a series of commercials in Japan for Mastercard's Orico credit card. The commercial featured him as a secret agent who no matter what sort of trouble he got into, he good always find a way out of with his credit card.

Hugh Jackman put his Broadway experience to use for this Lipton ice tea commercial. The setup finds the actor casually enjoying some ice tea in a hotel lobby and the next thing you know, a choreographed dance routine has broken out. It's a rather high concept for an ice tea commercial, all to promote the "natural" effects of Lipton.

This Softbank commercial might just be the strangest one on our list that features the perpetually grumpy-looking Tommy Lee Jones chatting up a dog. Who knows what they're talking about, but it's serious enough to make Tommy Lee Jones' eyes light up.

It probably wasn't a bad gig for Gwyneth Paltrow to fly over to Italy to shoot this martini commercial. A day's work and she lands herself a nice pay day, plus a free trip to Italy.

Actress Nicole Kidman took a cue from Gwyneth Paltrow and jetted over to France to shoot this commercial for Schweppes. The humorous commercial sends the message that the drink is so delicious that even the classiest of women can't resist not chugging it down.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has made quite a few... scratch that, a LOT of Japanese commercials. They're so incredibly insane that they manage to make his action movies actually look realistic.