History Creator / StevenSeagal

* CoolShades: A staple of Seagal's characters, whether day or [[SunglassesAtNight night]]. On the few occasions where he plays a villain instead of the protagonist, it's SinisterShades instead.

* TheComicallySerious: Seagal maintains his cool, gritty action hero persona in just about everything he does, whether it's film, commercials, or ''Saturday Night Live'', and refuses to settle for anything less, which often makes his works unintentionally funny as a result.

* CurbStompBattle: Owing to the InvincibleHero trope (below), Seagal's characters win almost every fight they get into with ease, and the bad guys are lucky if they land even one hit on him.
* DullSurprise: In Italy, and possibly, elsewhere, TV advertised a series of Steven Seagal films with this line (translated).

* InvincibleHero: Seagal is well-known for insisting that his characters be unstoppable killing machines who are almost never seriously challenged by any opponent he faces (seriously, if you ever see him take so much as a punch in any of his later films, it'll be a cold day in Hell). This is why, in ''Film/ExecutiveDecision'', his character makes a HeroicSacrifice to save others rather than, as was originally in the script, have his head explode from air pressure. Seagal reputedly went on a one-man strike until this was changed.

* AuthorAppeal: A lot of his film roles have him carry a 1911 pistol. In RealLife, it's his favorite pistol also.

* CreatorThumbprint: Almost all his films have his characters use an M1911 pistol as their preferred sidearm as it's his favorite pistol in real life too.

* GirlyRun: He has a habit of running with his hands flailing wildly, causing mockers to compare him to this trope. This is one of the reasons why there aren't any shots of him running in his more recent movies (except through body doubles).

After the success of his first movie Seagal went on to make box office hits ''Film/HardToKill'', ''Film/MarkedForDeath'' and ''Film/OutForJustice'', securing his place as a top action star during the late 80's and early 90's. Before his limitations became obvious it even seemed that he might make the transition from exploitation films to serious drama, à la Creator/MickeyRourke. In his review of ''Above the Law'', Creator/RogerEbert even claimed that "[Seagal] can play tender and he can play smart, two notes often missing on the Bronson and Stallone accordions".

* DullSurprise: In Italy, and possibly, elsewhere, TV advertised a series of Steven Seagal films with this line (translated). Best shown [[http://geekadelphia.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/steven_segal_emotion_chart.jpg here]].
-->"His facial muscles are firm, but leg and arm muscles moves like lightning".

* WeaponOfChoice: Almost all his films have his characters use an M1911 pistol as their preferred sidearm as it's his favorite pistol in real life too.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Seems to be a requirement for all of his characters (just look at that list of roles!). We have to wonder whether he puts it in his contracts.

* Wesley [=McClaren=] in ''The Patriot'' (1998)

* Nico Toscani in ''Film/AboveTheLaw1988''

* Wesley [=McClaren=] in ''Film/ThePatriot1998''

* TheTysonZone: Mainly due to his notorious arrogance, there are anecdotes about Seagal having violent incidents with more or less every renowned martial artist or action film actor, and most of them have Steven [[ButtMonkey getting the shorter end of the stick]]. The list includes Bob Wall, Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme, Wrestling/GeneLeBell, Dan Inosanto, and even pro wrestler Wrestling/CurtHennig.

Steven Frederic Seagal (born April 10, 1952 in Lansing, Michigan) is an American actor, producer, writer, musician, activist, 7th-dan black belt in UsefulNotes/{{Aikido}}, [[RealityTV reserve deputy sheriff]], father of seven, [[{{UsefulNotes/Buddhism}} Buddhist]], "cultural ambassador" of the United States to Russia (according to the Kremlin, at least), and guardian (legally and literally) of the only child of the 10th Panchen Lama of Tibet. According to Wiki/ThatOtherWiki he was also the first foreigner to operate an aikido dojo in Japan.

Steven Frederic Seagal (born April 10, 1952 in Lansing, Michigan) is an [[ActionHero Actor]], producer, writer, musician, activist, 7th-dan black belt in UsefulNotes/{{Aikido}}, [[RealityTV reserve deputy sheriff]], father of seven, [[{{UsefulNotes/Buddhism}} Buddhist]], "cultural ambassador" of the United States to Russia (according to the Kremlin, at least), and guardian (legally and literally) of the only child of the 10th Panchen Lama of Tibet. According to Wiki/ThatOtherWiki he was also the first foreigner to operate an aikido dojo in Japan.

* ObviousStuntDouble: He is rather infamous for his excessive usage of body doubles in his later direct-to-DVD films, where many of his action scenes are actually performed by much fitter and younger stuntmen, even the standing and sitting ones, since Seagal is no longer in his physical prime. Any time he is not in close-up or his face is not clearly visible, it's plainly obvious that a stunt double is standing in for him, and JitterCam is cranked UpToEleven in fight scenes to hide this. He also has his voice looped by doubles.

* WolverinePublicity: Many of his late-career movies have been criticized as only billing him on the cover to draw in attention, while Seagal himself usually has a very minimal appearance in them. This is most apparent in the movies where Seagal doesn't play the protagonist, especially the post-Keoni Waxman works.

The apex of his success came with his most well known movie ''Film/UnderSiege'', which was also directed by Davis. Unfortunately this proved to be the beginning of the end of his big box office success. The 1994 film ''Film/OnDeadlyGround'' was a pet project of the actor, with a large budget and even an all-star cast. Co-produced, directed and starring Steven Seagal, the movie was an {{Anvilicious}} environmental crusade against evil oil companies which ended up being a BoxOfficeBomb.

* TheBigGuy: He's 6'4 with a heavy build and usually towers over his co-stars.

* {{UsefulNotes/Aikido}}: His core style and he's arguably the most famous practitioner in pop culture, being the only major action star to make it their central fighting style.

* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Is a Buddhist, environmentalist, animal rights activist, blues musician, and "essential oils" advocate. Who is also a bullying, gun-loving, anti-immigrant, conspiracy-theorist, that worships Third-World dictators.

* LightningBruiser: In his prime, he was known for his incredible speed that contrasted his tall, heavy frame.

* StoutStrength: He's gained considerable weight in his later years but is still very strong and able to execute Aikido moves.

* {{UsefulNotes/Judo}}: While he's most famous for his use of Aikido, he is also very skilled in Judo and holds a black belt in it.
* {{UsefulNotes/Karate}}: In addition to Aikido and Judo, he is also trained in Karate.

* FightSceneFailure: The latter-day films of Steven Seagal (especially by the "Fat Seagal" period) are infamous for this, being designed to conceal as best as possible the degree to which Seagal has fallen since his action-star prime. Not only do they make use of extremely rapid ShakyCam editing and regular showings by the obvious StuntDouble, but the fights themselves are so lethargic that Seagal never comes across as the OneManArmy he's usually meant to play, with his opponents rarely fighting back and Seagal frequently being visibly exhausted despite barely moving.

* TheComicallySerious: Seagal maintains his cool persona in just about everything he does, whether it's film, commercials, or ''Saturday Night Live'', and refuses to settle for anything less, which often makes his works unintentionally funny as a result.

* LightningBruiser: In his prime, he was known for his incredible speed.