The Only Bones Guest Star To Appear In Every Season

The beloved procedural crime show "Bones" ran for an impressive 12 seasons, continuing the upward TV star trajectory for David Boreanaz after his work on shows like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel," and helping to launch Emily Deschanel to become a household name after a slew of small roles in a handful of TV shows and movies. (See if you can spot her as a receptionist in Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man 2," which came out the year before "Bones" began.)

As the co-stars of "Bones," Deschanel and Boreanaz naturally appeared in every single episode of the series. And while viewers know guest stars didn't pop up nearly as frequently, some casual watchers may think that some of the more familiar faces might have at least popped up one time per season. But as it turns out, out of all of the guest stars who graced the series from 2005-2017, only one performer managed to make at least one appearance across all 12 seasons: Patricia Belcher, who played Caroline Julian, a federal prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney's office.

Belcher played the highly capable yet demanding prosecutor who helped Brennan and Booth countless times over the course of the show, and prosecuted her way into the "Bones" history books along the way. But that series is far from the only place the actor has appeared on screen.

Patricia Belcher has one of the most impressive filmographies I've seen in a long time. Her first credited role is as a ward nurse in Joel Schumacher's 1990 film "Flatliners," and her career took off like a shot straight from there. She also had roles in movies like "Clear and Present Danger," "Species," "Jeepers Creepers," "The Number 23," "500 Days of Summer," "Bad Words," and "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania."

But she really made her bones (sorry about the pun) on the small screen, popping up in practically every major TV show of the '90s and 2000s. Get a load of this list, which doesn't even include every show in which she appeared: "Beverly Hills, 90210," "Who's the Boss?", "NYPD Blue," "Seinfeld," "Martin," "ER," "Step By Step," "Everybody Loves Raymond," "The Hughleys," "Ally McBeal," "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch," "Malcolm in the Middle," "How I Met Your Mother," "Boston Legal," "Community," and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." That may be one of the most impressive runs in sitcom history. 

And she's not slowing down, either — as of this writing, Belcher has six upcoming projects listed on IMDb, including a role in this summer's action comedy sequel, "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F." She may not always play a lead character, but Patricia Belcher has quietly become a mainstay in American entertainment, and her steady work on "Bones" went a long way toward cementing herself as one of the all-time great "Oh hey, it's her!" character actors.