History Main / AlterEgoActing

* Music/DaftPunk never appear in public without helmets on and have not been photographed as themselves in ages. There are currently only one or two pictures of them without their helmets or another face obstructing item.

** A strange example of this: on Australian program Rove Live, Sacha was playing Film/{{Bruno}} while promoting the film of the same name. When Rove did his usual "20 bucks in 20 seconds" questionnaire, his final question was for Bruno to tell Rove what he thought of a picture of Borat, to which Bruno replied that Borat was "an incredibly racist stereotype" and "he's played by Sacha Baron-whatever, right? Yeah, he really can't act".

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/colbert_3.png]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Above: Creator/StephenColbert, humble liberal satirist.
Below: [[Series/TheColbertReport Stephen Colbert]], egotistical conservative pundit. Do not confuse the two.]]

** WebVideo/ToddInTheShadows stated that "I may exaggerate my anger a little, but I'm not a good enough actor to adopt a different persona." There is still a difference between Todd Nathanson and Todd In The Shadows, as the real Todd is friendly with the real cast and dating [[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick Lindsay Ellis]], making him happy, romantic and positive about life, while the character is still a mopey, pathetic, rather creepy BasementDweller who harbors a crush on [[Creator/AllisonPregler Lupa]] and acts obnoxious to the rest of TGWTG.

* Theatre/TakarazukaRevue actresses, particularly ''otokoyaku'' (women who play male roles) are this. They have to maintain {{Kayfabe}} in public as an unwritten rule, and many have expressed difficulties in settling into their own gender identity after they've graduated from the company. To paraphrase retired Takarasienne Yamato Yuuga, they've spent their adolescence learning how to play men convincingly that it's very easy to default back to the ''otokoyaku'' learned mannerisms.

* Daniel Handler shows up at "[[Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents Lemony Snicket's]]" book signings as a [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis representative of Mr. Snicket]], or sometimes "Mr. Snicket's Handler", and tells fans that the author was detained by some unfortunate accident. This is a slight variation since while Handler writes under the pseudonym Lemony Snicket, he never "plays" Snicket in public. He would occasionally give an interview where he acknowledged Snicket's fictionality, making him a type 3 as well.

** UsefulNotes/AlGore, perhaps from fatigue, forgot which Colbert was interviewing him and casually mentioned Colbert's character ''to Colbert's character''. [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Colbert's character didn't know who he was talking about.]]

However, some actors not only allow the character this existence, they actively cultivate them as a persona as real as any other person walking around. This is usually done in one of a couple of ways.

# The first way is to portray the individual as an entirely separate person, while acknowledging the existence of the actor. The character may refer to the actor in the third person, or vice versa.

* Creator/DanAykroyd as [[Film/TheBluesBrothers Elwood Blues]]. In fact, bonus material from the House of Blues Radio Hour even features Elwood interviewing Dan about his work with Jim Belushi, as the "Dancing Refrigerators". In another example, Creator/JohnLandis gets interviewed, and treats Elwood and Dan as totally different people
* Paul Reubens tended to portray Pee-Wee Herman as a completely separate person, even billing the character as being played by "himself" in movie credits. He had never been interviewed as Paul Reubens until the film ''Film/MysteryMen'' came out. Even then he managed to get through the first few minutes of the interview without saying a word, responding with nodding or shaking his head until forced to answer a non yes/no question.

* Daniel Handler shows up at "[[Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents Lemony Snicket's]]" book signings as a [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis representative of Mr. Snicket]], or sometimes "Mr. Snicket's Handler", and tells fans that the author was detained by some unfortunate accident. This is a slight variation, since while Handler writes under the pseudonym Lemony Snicket, he never "plays" Snicket in public. He would occasionally give an interview where he acknowledged Snicket's fictionality, making him a type 3 as well.
** This trope was inverted, subverted, and played with 6 ways from Sunday on the DVD commentary, featuring Handler in character as Snicket, with director Brad Silberling. Silberling tries to claim that Jim Carrey was replaced by the real Count Olaf, and Snicket plays along at first. After a while, he becomes bored, and begins accusing Silberling of lying to him. So we have the real author playing his fictional creation critiquing a real actor under fake circumstances while the real director claims that his real film features the fictional author's fictional character for real.

* For some time, Music/{{Devo}} did the same thing, opening for themselves as "Dove (the Band of Love)". At first they were hippies, but during the 80's they became a parody of right-wing ChristianRock, and even captured and brain-washed Devo's mascot Booji Boy during a show. Devo's music was held as Satanic and horrible, despite the fact that Dove played an awful lot of covers.

'''Tom:''' No, I'm going to be be defending in the style of a John Grisham, deep southern American lawyer, Mr Fanshawe Standon.

** Company policy at Creator/JimHenson Co. was that the actors and puppeteers who play the various Muppet characters are not allowed to engage anyone in an on camera interview.

* The members of Finnish heavy metal band Music/{{Lordi}} make all of their public appearances in the elaborate monster costumes they wear onstage, and have gone to unusual lengths to keep their real names secret from the public. (Indeed, the band's first demo video has never been released to the public because it shows the singer, "Mr. Lordi", with no mask.)

*** Part of this is because all the members of the band are very private people, actually working in a normal job as well as being a monster rocker, or both. Amen, for instance, is a web designer, and at least one of the members is a music teacher.

* Likewise, the Australian rock-band {{Music/TISM}} made a point of never appearing (on stage or for interviews) without wearing some sort of identity concealing outfit, and referred to each other only by their stage names (such as Ron Hitler-Barassi and Humphrey B. Flaubert).
* Experimental rock band Music/TheResidents have never been seen without their masks, never dropped out of character in public, and have never released their real names. They've managed to keep their identities a secret for ''40 years.'' It is, however, long been suspected that "The Cryptic Corporation," a group of two "spokesmen" who speak for the band in all interviews, are actually the creative core of the band. The Cryptic Corporation admits to collaborating with the Residents, but always denies that they are actual bandmembers.

* Rob Potylo used to record albums, play concerts, and make appearances on radio shows or at comedy clubs as Robby Roadsteamer, a trashy {{Jerkass}} GutturalGrowler initially inspired by the way he saw singers for local nu-metal bands carry themselves on stage. He did some interviews as himself where he'd acknowledge Robby Roadsteamer as a character, but for the most part he would never appear publicly as himself. The character eventually got retired because he was concerned that if he kept it up too long he'd be pigeonholed - nowadays he makes music as himself rather than the character. It's since been joked that Robby Roadsteamer still exists, he just hasn't been heard from in years because he and his band left the Boston music scene for Western Massachusetts.
* Comedian Leigh Francis has hardly ever appeared on TV as himself. He is currently known as Keith Lemon, but has previously been Avid Merrion, The Bear, and singer Craig David [[note]]One of his many celebrity impressions from ''Bo' Selecta!'', which is ''nothing'' like the real person: Craig is not an incontinent Northerner with a pet falcon[[/note]].

* In an unusual subversion, comedian Andrew Clay Silverstein has been practically forced into a sort of Type 2 version of this trope. His character, Creator/AndrewDiceClay, is seen as such an [[UpToEleven over the top]] misogyist and homophobe that fans and detractors alike are unable or unwilling to separate the actor from his character, despite the profound difference between his real and assumed personalities, and his more recent attempts to distance himself from "The Diceman". This hasn't been helped by many other performers refusing to perform or appear with Silverstein, even out-of-character.

* While Chris Sievey had a musical career before becoming the papier-mache-headed Creator/FrankSidebottom, once the character took off, Sievey was never mentioned in relation to him. Jon Ronson, who played keyboards for Frank for a while and co-wrote the VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory film ''Film/{{Frank}}'', wrote in his memoir of the time that when they first met, Sievey was wearing the head backstage and wouldn't answer to the name "Chris". Once he removed it, he seemed somewhat apologetic about "Frank"'s behaviour, but with a sense that there wasn't much he could do about it.

He also does a nightly, syndicated radio show, 'Nights with Alice Cooper' where he is very well spoken, funny and knowledgable. He tells jokes and stories about other musicians and interviews his famous friends. He regularly makes the distinction between his real life self and his stage persona on air.\\
In interviews, Vincent Furnier (Alice Cooper's real name) refers to Alice Cooper in the third person, and has mentioned that his children didn't think of Alice Cooper as their father when they were growing up.
* Creator/PennAndTeller also maintain a distinct "version" of themselves for the stage. Most notably, Teller is almost never seen to speak on stage, maintaining a mute contrast to Penn Jillette's boisterous, extra-large personality. This model of themselves has been consistent even in other roles, for example in an episode of ''Series/BabylonFive'' where they played comedy team Reebo and Zooty. Off stage, however, Teller is known to be an articulate and engaging speaker. On occasion, when Teller speaks on camera, his face is obscured. A notable subversion is their feature-length film ''Film/PennAndTellerGetKilled'', in which Teller maintains his mute persona until the very end, when he breaks character and speaks.

** One episode parodied this. It featured the fake Stephen Colbert thinking he was going to interview the animated members of the cartoon band Music/{{Gorillaz}}, but was disappointed to find out he was only interviewing their creators Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett (after Murdoc Niccals called Stephen up and explained he couldn't make it). Stephen stormed off the set, forcing the real Stephen to fill in.

* In-character as WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic, Doug Walker uses his real name, but the Critic's persona, opinions and backstory are wholly fictional.
** Though The Nostalgia Critic may have started as a Type 3, the argument could be made that he has moved to Type 1 over time. The Nostalgia Critic has interacted with Doug several times as a separate entity and knows himself to be a character, though distinct from Doug as actor/writer and it is setup in 'To Boldly Flee' that The Nostalgia Critic has grown beyond what Doug had intended.
** This has led to an occasion where the Critic made various comments about [[Creator/MaraWilson a child actress's]] acting ability, only for fans of the Critic [[FanDumb to email said actress that they agreed with the Critic]]. Holly (TGWTG web mistress) then had to email her personally to explain that the Critic is just a character and it wasn't really Doug's opinion.

** Many internet critics get flack from angry [[strike:fans]] random passers-by who think they agree with their characters about everything. WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd gets a steady flow of hatemail for his first video, in which he bashed a genuinely good game for fun.

*** Noah himself has said that this is the case, but confessed that he's not as good at separating himself from the Spoony persona as Walker is with Nostalgia Critic or James Rolfe is with the Angry Video Game Nerd. This has resulted in some backlash, as seen in his ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' review where Spoony angrily calls for people to murder fans of the game and forced Noah to do some backtracking and apologizing when people believed that he felt the same way in real life.

*** [[https://indie-outlook.com/2017/05/25/brad-jones-on-jesus-bro/ In an interview]], Brad makes clear that when the Snob is being analytical instead of pretentious and cynical, it's his thoughts "in a snarkier and shoutier way", as the Webvideo/MidnightScreenings show how he's "pretty chill and laid-back in real life." At most, the Snob side emerges in real life when Brad gets really angry at a movie (i.e. ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ywhhx8IVlQ4 Old-Fashioned]]'').

* "Bill and Ben" from the New Zealand TV show ''Pulp Sport'' half embody this trope - while some of their skits are pre-scripted and they act alongside other people who are also generally playing themselves, other skits (usually the ones involving [[AmusingInjuries physical pain]]) aren't scripted and the guys are reacting in genuine ways. Interestingly, Ben could be seen as just playing himself, while Bill could be seen as playing a character - his real first name is Jamie.

* Comedian Lewis Black, in reality a very gracious and soft-spoken man whose stage persona is a loud, profane near-lunatic. He said in one interview "If I was that person all the time, I would die."

* Music/NickiMinaj: Onika Maraj is her real self, Nicki Minaj is her larger-than-life "Harujuku Barbie" identity, and Roman Zolanski is the angry, twisted version of herself.

* Members of the UsefulNotes/FurryFandom vary wildly on how they apply this trope to themselves and their characters, with some considering themselves and their characters to be entirely separate and never referring to themselves as their character in real life (unless wearing a fursuit or other costume); some viewing their characters as real people whom they "channel", speaking of them in third person and slipping in and out-of-character in public; some refusing to answer to any name but their furry name (further complicated by people who get their names legally changed, not all of whom believe their furry self to be real or separate from themselves); and some not even ''having'' a "fursona", just an online handle. But in general most furries are of the Type 3 variety, acknowledging or even proudly admitting that their fursona is just like real life, only with animal features (or a different body type), with very different fursonas either being a challenging exercise in roleplaying or indulging in wish fulfillment about their ideal self.

* For the most part, the main character of WebVideo/TVTrash, Chris "Rowdy Reviewer" Moore, seems to be just a snarkier version of the real life Chris Moore.

* Creator/TomBaker kept up the persona of the fourth Doctor during his time on ''Series/DoctorWho'', and if fans met him in the street, he always tried to make sure they met the Doctor. Even when speaking in first person about acting and doing the job, he would often refer to 'Tom Baker' in the third person to refer to the person who he ''used'' to be. The interview with him on ''Swap Shop'' (included as a special feature on the DVD of "The Hand of Fear") shows Noel Edmunds, the interviewer, becoming clearly disquieted by this, and several times asking Tom to drop the persona. There are also several points in the interview where confusion arises over whether people are asking the actor or the Doctor questions, causing Tom to give ambiguous answers in the Doctor persona with blatant RealitySubtext ("I can't remember my age... sometimes I feel like I'm over 700 years old and sometimes I feel like I'm 42"). Done in the long term that it was, and not helped by the fact that the Doctor's personality in that incarnation was based on his own, it caused the line between the Doctor and the real Tom to become very blurry to the point where even forty years later he occasionally speaks of his difficulty separating them. It also had deleterious effects on his mental health, causing InferioritySuperiorityComplex, [[LostInCharacter occasional delusions]] and [[CreatorBreakdown drastic shifts in his on-screen personality]].

* The presenters of ''Series/TopGearUK'' and ''Series/TheGrandTour'' are basically [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderized]] versions of their real life personas. The real Jeremy Clarkson is not as boorish, smug, and insensitive as he appears, Richard Hammond is far from stupid and not nearly as risk-taking, and James May is quite modern in outlook and not nearly as fussy as the shows make him out to be. ''Top Gear'' tended to blur the line more, especially as in the early days when the presenters had yet to fully develop their style; perhaps as a result, many have noticed ''The Grand Tour'' playing up to the cartoonish personas more.

* While Chris Sievey had a musical career before becomig the papier-mache-headed Frank Sidebottom, once the character took off, Sievey was never mentioned in relation to him. Jon Ronson, who played keyboards for Frank for a while and co-wrote the VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory film ''Film/{{Frank}}'', wrote in his memoir of the time that when they first met, Sievey was wearing the head backstage and wouldn't answer to the name "Chris". Once he removed it, he seemed somewhat apologetic about "Frank"'s behaviour, but with a sense that there wasn't much he could do about it.

* While Chris Sievey had a musical career before becomig the papier-mache-headed Frank Sidebottom, once the character took off, Sievey was never mentioned in relation to him. Jon Ronson, who played keyboards for Frank for a while and co-wrote the VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory film ''Film/{{Frank}}'', wrote in his memoir of the time that when they first met, Sievey was wearing the head backstage and wouldn't answer to the name "Chris". Once he removed it, he seemed somewhat apologetic about "Frank"'s behavious, but with a sense that there wasn't much he could do about it.

* Theatre/TakarazukaRevue actresses, particularly ''otokoyaku'' (women who play male roles) are this. They have to maintain {{Kayfabe}} in public as an unwritten rule, and many have expressed difficulties in settling into their own gender identity after they've graduated from the company. To paraphrase retired Takarasienne Yamato Yuuga, they've spent their adolescence learning how to play men convincingly that it's very easy to default back to the ''otokoyaku'' learned mannerisms.

** The host of ''Series/TheLateShowWithStephenColbert'' is real!Stephen Colbert, but a recurring character is "conservative pundit Stephen Colbert", played by Stephen Colbert and with the same mannerisms as the host of ''Series/TheColbertReport'' (see type 3)... but who isn't the host of that show, [[OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope since that character is owned]] by Creator/ComedyCentral. Instead, he's [[LawyerFriendlyCameo his]] "[[SingleMindedTwins twin]] '''[[UpToEleven cousin]]'''".

** This became surreal when he was vetted for a position in Barack Obama's cabinet, and Fake!Colbert insisted that he, the real person, could not be held responsible for the actions of a character he portrayed.

** It got really interesting at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, where the Fake!Colbert "[[TakeThat praised]]" UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush's administration. ("'Oh, they're just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.' First of all, that is a terrible metaphor. This administration is not sinking. This administration is soaring. If anything, they are rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg!")

** UsefulNotes/AlGore, perhaps from fatigue, forgot who was interviewing him and casually mentioned Colbert's character to Colbert's character. [[http://www.aoltv.com/2011/09/14/al-gore-slips-up-refers-to-stephen-colberts-character-video/ Colbert's character didn't know who he was talking about.]]

* Anthony Fantano of the music review ''WebVideo/TheNeedleDrop'' has a slightly offbeat silly "roommate" Cal Chuchesta, that pops up [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXcbNP9i2jw time to time]] and sometimes gets [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm-Y6U3d7W8 his own reviews]].

* The presenters of ''Series/TopGear'' and ''Series/TheGrandTour'' are basically [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderized]] versions of their real life personas. The real Jeremy Clarkson is not as boorish, smug, and insensitive as he appears, Richard Hammond is far from stupid and not nearly as risk-taking, and James May is quite modern in outlook and not nearly as fussy as the shows make him out to be. ''Top Gear'' tended to blur the line more, especially as in the early days when the presenters had yet to fully develop their style; perhaps as a result, many have noticed ''The Grand Tour'' playing up to the cartoonish personas more.

* For some time, Music/{{Devo}} did the same thing, opening for themselves as Dove: the Band of Love. At first they were hippies, but during the 80's they became right-wing Christians, and even captured and brain-washed Devo's mascot Booji Boy during a show. Devo's music was held as Satanic and horrible, despite the fact that Dove played an awful lot of covers.

* Jane Turner and Gina Riley rarely appear out of character as KathAndKim.

** The host of ''Series/TheLateShowWithStephenColbert'' is real!Stephen Colbert, but a recurring character is "conservative pundit Stephen Colbert", played by Stephen Colbert and with the same mannerisms as the host of ''Series/TheColbertReport'' (see type 3)... but who isn't the host of that show, [[OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope since that character is owned by Cartoon Network]]. Instead, he's [[LawyerFriendlyCameo his]] "[[SingleMindedTwins twin]] '''[[UpToEleven cousin]]'''".

** When addressing complaints of how she treats Nella, Lindsay has also commented that WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick is just a character and so is BFF Nella. In fact, if you want to see how they really are together, just check out their usually-{{squee}}ful conversations on {{Twitter}}.

* Caused a major media shitstorm in the UK in 2014 when WebOriginal/{{Vine}} artist Dapper Laughs got his own [=ITV2=] show, ''On The Pull with Dapper Laughs'', a dating show in which he gave various men advice in getting girls. When {{Twitter}} had a collective meltdown about the [[UnfortunateImplications sexist]] content, Dapper Laughs' use of RapeAsComedy and the fact that a lot of his fans were the sort of people who [[{{GIFT}} send abuse to women online]], ITV pulled the show and Laughs was invited on the news to apologise. He appeared as 'himself' and explained that Dapper Laughs was just a character, that he didn't realise people took so seriously - prompting a certain amount of debate as to whether using an ironic 'character' made awful content acceptable. Creator/CharlieBrooker suggested that much of the problem was that, even though Laughs was a character, he was giving advice about dating to ''real people'' as that character, meaning it seemed sincere.