10 celebrities who made surprising appearances in the 'Fast & Furious' franchise

• Cardi B made her debut in the "Fast and Furious" universe with "Fast 9."
• She is one of a number of famous people who have appeared in the franchise outside the main cast.
• Chrissy Teigen, Kevin Hart, and Helen Mirren also had surprising roles in the series.

From the streets of LA to outer space, the "Fast" franchise has grown exponentially in the last 20 years. In those 20 years, there have been a number of celebrity appearances that have caught fans off guard.

The most recent entry, "Fast 9", graced viewers with a cameo from rapper Cardi B. Vin Diesel told Entertainment Tonight that we will see more of Cardi in "Fast 10". With 2 more films left in the franchise here is a look back at the top celebrity cameos that surprised fans. 

Ja Rule — 'The Fast and the Furious'

In the first "Fast and Furious" film, we get an appearance from our first rapper turned actor. Ja Rule, who had acted in a couple of roles before 2001's "The Fast and the Furious," had a minor part as a street racer called Edwin.

Fans may remember him as the driver who was propositioned by his girlfriend to encourage him to win the race against Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel). He, of course, loses but the scenario adds a few laughs to the opening of the film. 

Ja Rule told MTV News in 2002 that he was supposed to have a more starring role in the sequel, "2 Fast 2 Furious," but turned it down.

Minka Kelly — 'The Turbo Charged Prequel to 2 Fast 2 Furious'

The first of two short films in the "Fast" universe features actress Minka Kelly in a small uncredited role. The short was used to connect the dots after Brian Conner (Paul Walker) lets Dom escape from the police.

In the short film, Kelly helps Brian whilst he's on the run. This was one of Kelly's first roles before going onto bigger things such as "Friday Night Lights."

Keiichi Tsuchiya — 'The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift'

Whilst many viewers may have focused on rapper Bow Wow's performance in "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift," there's an even more surprising cameo in the film. The real "Drift King," the driver who introduced drifting to the world, had a small part in "Tokyo Drift."

Professional driver Keiichi Tsuchiya appears as a fisherman mocking the driving of the main character Sean (Lucas Black). At one point, you hear Tsuchiya say to the fisherman next to him, "you call that drifting?"

Chrissy Teigen — 'The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift'

Model and TV personality Chrissy Teigen told fans last year that she appeared briefly in the film. Yet you probably wouldn't be able to recognize her because her face never appears on-screen.

The camera angle focuses on the neck down as she gets out of the car. She explained on Twitter that she was pulled out of a crowd in LA to do the scene. Teigen later shared a video of her watching the scene again.

Don Omar — 'Fast & Furious' onwards

By the fourth film, we were used to rappers finding their way into "the Fast and Furious" universe. However, the fourth film also introduced Latin singers into the mix.

Puerto Rican singer Don Omar first appeared in "Fast & Furious" as a prison bandit who joins Dom's growing family. He has had a role in each installment ever since. He even added to the soundtrack of the franchise, including the iconic song at the end of Fast Five, "Danza Kuduro."

Rita Ora and Iggy Azalea — 'Fast & Furious 6' and 'Furious 7'

"Fast and Furious" made its name in street racing and each installment would not be complete without the mandatory random street race to show the roots of the series. In "Fast and Furious 6," British singer Rita Ora appears to countdown the start of the race between Dom and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez).

This was followed up in "Furious 7" with Australian rapper Iggy Azalea appearing in the scene at the racetrack. At the beginning of the film, Dom takes Letty to a race to help her remember her past. After the race, Iggy cameos as part of the crowd that congratulates her.

Coincidently, the two artists have worked together outside of the "Fast" saga on the song "Black Widow."

Ronda Rousey — 'Furious 7'

Several wrestlers have made their way from the fighting world to the "Fast and Furious" universe. This includes UFC champion Ronda Rousey, who gets into a brawl with Michelle Rodriguez in "Furious 7."

Rousey played a bodyguard who tries to stop Dom's crew when they try to steal a flash drive from a billionaire in Abu Dhabi. When Letty gets busted, she has to go head-to-head with Rousey's character Kora.

Helen Mirren — 'The Fate of the Furious' onwards

When thinking of feasible big names to join the "Fast and Furious" series, Academy Award-winner Dame Helen Mirren probably would not be anywhere near the top of that list. Yet, Mirren has now appeared in three films, including the 2019 spin-off, "Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw."

Helen Mirren told Buzzfeed UK that she actually begged for the role for two reasons: the opportunity to work with Vin Diesel and to drive the flashy cars. Mirren plays Magdalene Shaw, mother of ex-villains Owen (Luke Evans) and Deckard (Jason Statham) Shaw.

Kevin Hart — 'Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw'

In the 2019 spin-off "Hobbs and Shaw," comedian and actor Kevin Hart got his chance to shine as an air marshal. Kevin has worked with half of the Hobbs and Shaw duo, Dwayne Johnson, on multiple occasions including the reboot of "Jumanji."

Hart shows up in two scenes, the first of which is a comedic stand-off on a plane. Hobbs (Johnson) and Shaw (Statham) work out pretty quickly that he is an air marshal and Kevin's character tries to get the duo to recruit him.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7o8HSoqWeq6Oeu7S1w56pZ5ufonynrdKtZJqmlGKztr7IqKysZaOqv7G%2ByKygp59dmLKtscGroK2xXZiurrHOrGScmaKZtm6ujJyfq6GjqMZuwMSinp6mXWd9c32Mbw%3D%3D