Before Ryan Murphy's All's Fair, Kim Kardashian Played A CSI Villain

Though she's best known as a reality show star, Kim Kardashian has increasingly taken on acting roles. In 2025, she became a centerpiece of a star-studded series, playing divorce lawyer Allura Grant on Ryan Murphy's Hulu legal drama "All's Fair," which also features heavy hitters like Naomi Watts, Niecy Nash-Betts, Glenn Close, and Murphy regular Sarah Paulson. The reviews for "All's Fair" haven't been particularly kind, though TVLine has pointed out that Paulson is the show's saving grace. However, it would be wrong to assume that the criticism toward Kardashian's performance stems from her being an absolute novice as an actor. 

It can be easy to forget that Kardashian has been acting for quite a while now. In fact, in 2009, she played one of the villains of the week on "CSI: NY." In Season 6, Episode 11 of the CBS procedural — titled "Second Chances" — Kardashian plays the seemingly benevolent Debbie Fallon, who purportedly helps homeless addicts with her friend, Grace Chandler (Vanessa Lachey). In reality, Debbie and Grace are remorseless schemers and killers who take out life insurance policies for the men they supposedly help, and run them over with a car in order to collect — and it's up to the Crime Lab to figure out what they're doing and put a stop to it. 

Apart from her roles in "CSI: New York" and "All's Fair," Kardashian has amassed a notable number of other acting credits over the years. Granted, she often simply cameos as herself, but she's also taken several legitimate character roles. On the movie front, the first character she played was Lisa in the 2008 parody film "Disaster Movie," as well as the 2009 Chris Pratt comedy movie "Deep in the Valley, " and Tyler Perry's 2013 drama "Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor." 

Kardashian's main body of acting work, however, has been on television. Here, her first notable role was recurring character Elle in Season 3 of the surf drama "Beyond the Break." This was in 2009 — the same year she appeared on "CSI: NY." In 2012, she played Nikki LePree in Season 4 of the Lifetime comedy-drama series "Drop Dead Diva." However, her most notable pre-"All's Fair" role didn't come until 2023, when she played central character Siobhan Corbyn on Ryan Murphy's "American Horror Story: Delicate."