History Main / TypeCasting

TropesAreNotBad. There are some actors whose typical role has become known so well that as soon as you see them in a movie, whatever it is, you know it's going to be awesome/hilarious/full of asskicking/etc. (WebVideo/CinemaSins, for example, [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this with the comment whenever he appears in a movie in a normal presence, "Creator/LiamNeeson is not killing anyone in this scene.")

[[quoteright:300:[[Creator/MorganFreeman https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/morgan_freeman_roles.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Hollywood's go-to authority figure.[[note]]top: ''Film/BruceAlmighty''; middle: ''Film/Ted2''; bottom: ''Film/DeepImpact''[[/note]]]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Creator/MorganFreeman https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/morgan_freeman_roles.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Hollywood's go-to authority figure.[[note]]top: ''Film/BruceAlmighty''; middle: ''Film/Ted2''; bottom: ''Film/DeepImpact''[[/note]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Hollywood's go-to authority figure.]]

-->-- '''Creator/LeVarBurton''', Dragon*Con 2010, when asked about this trope

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/landscape_1455893265_elle_morgan_index.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: MorganFreeman, a wise/seemingly omniscient character? Never.]]

[[/index]]

* Live-action actors

[[/index]]

!!!Both genders
* Actors with dwarfism, like Creator/DeepRoy, Creator/WarwickDavis, Kenny Baker, Verne Troyer, Tony Cox, Phil Fondacaro, and Creator/PattyMaloney, are always stuck doing fantasy or sci-fi films (often inside alien or robot outifts) because that's the only roles they can get. David Rappaport most likely suffered from depression because of this, which probably led to him being DrivenToSuicide. Ditto for Hervé Villechaize. Creator/PeterDinklage has been breaking this trend, as most of his non-[[Series/GameOfThrones Tyrion Lannister]] characters merely happen to have dwarfism if the subject comes up at all, instead of dwarfism being a primary character trait.
* Genre roles have a reputation for pigeonholing actors forever. Chalk it up to the SciFiGhetto. If you become famous for a role in a sci-fi show or movie, accept the fact that you'll get no work, especially in {{Film}} or LiveActionTV, except in guest spots that [[AdamWesting are parodies of your most famous role.]]
-->'''[[http://moviemoses.wordpress.com/2011/06/21/screamers-the-hunting-sheldon-wilson-2009/ Miles Antwiler]]:''' ''I also think we all need to give up on the idea of Creator/LanceHenriksen “starring” in any movies anymore. The man is the Creator/JohnCarradine of the new millennium. He will just show up for five minutes to any movie offering craft services. Chuck a few free tacos his way and BAM he will show up to your nephew’s bar mitzvah. I just assume he is in every crappy Scifi movie from now on. Yeah, as you can guess, he shows up for five minutes grunts out a few lines and collects his paycheck ([[AdvertisedExtra despite being top billed]]).''
** Especially seen with actors who appeared on ''Franchise/StarTrek''. Many of them wound up becoming directors like Jonathan Frakes, Roxanne Dawson or [=LeVar=] Burton (each of whom directed episodes of ''Star Trek''). Frakes frequently casts ''Star Trek'' alums in his projects, like ''Series/{{Leverage}}''. (Does this count as an improvement?) And it's doubly bad if you're an ''actress'' known for a role on Trek.
-->'''[[http://www.startrek.com/article/ds9s-major-kira-nerys-nana-visitor-part-2 Nana Visitor]]:''' I was in my 40’s, being put out in the world. And if you think about it, I was a Star Trek actor, in my 40’s, female, and it was hard not to think, 'This is '''not''' going to be good.'
** Creator/PatrickStewart has been able to avoid the Trek curse; sure, his other major mainstream role is Professor X in the ''Film/{{X-Men}}'' film continuity, but outside of film, he is a very, ''very'' respected Shakespearean actor, one of the finest of his generation. On the other hand, Sir Pat has faced typecasting in another way: He's stuck playing slogan-spewing, patriarchal old men, something his contemporaries (like Malcolm [=McDowell=]) enjoy ribbing him about.
** [[Creator/WilliamShatner Shatner]] isn't so much typecast in SciFi as he is typecast as [[LargeHam him]][[ChewingTheScenery self]]. Doesn't seem to bother him, though, and he does it well.
*** It wasn't until TheEighties with ''Series/TJHooker'' that he had any success as a character actor outside ''Franchise/StarTrek''. Nimoy gave up altogether, which some might consider a miscarriage of justice.
** Creator/JohnDeLancie as a field reporter in ''Without Warning: Fire from the Sky'' rather quickly shattered the effect they were going for (a spiritual homage to ''Radio/TheWarOfTheWorlds''). He did, however, play a poignant role on ''Series/BreakingBad'' as Krysten Ritter's grieving father.
** However, if you count voice acting as serious, a number of ''Next Generation'' actors found their way into ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}''. [=JDL=] also got to voice [[WesternAnimation/JonnyQuestTheNewAdventures Benton Quest]]. Uh-huh, a flat-out ''good'' guy.
** Creator/LeVarBurton has a few other well-known roles. He played Kunta Kinte in ''Series/{{Roots}}'', voiced Kwame in ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'', and was the host of ''Series/ReadingRainbow''.
** Poor Creator/DeForestKelley, on the other hand, jumped from one type of Type Casting (villains in [[TheWestern Western]] movies and shows) to another (he would never do a well-known role again after being cast as Dr. [=McCoy=]). However, he was the only major ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}'' cast member who never bitched about it.
** Creator/MichelleForbes managed to avoid falling victim to this. After her recurring role as Ro Laren on [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration ST:TNG]] she went on to play Dr. Julianna Cox on ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'', Lynne Kresge on ''Series/TwentyFour'', Samantha Brinker on ''Series/PrisonBreak'', and Maryann Forrester on ''Series/TrueBlood'', to name just a handful.
** The main actors in the 2009 reboot have thus far avoided the problem because they were already well known for other roles, and/or very quickly after the movies release had other projects playing very different roles.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' tends to have permanent effects on anyone who played the Doctor. Traditionally, the show has had a "Three-Year Rule" of actors exiting the lead role to avoid being typecast in the future. This tradition began with Creator/PatrickTroughton (in 1969!), who eventually gave up and realized that ''he would always be'' The Doctor. Quite literally, as he died in-costume.
** Creator/TomBaker, the longest-serving and most iconic Doctor, struggled with this severely after leaving the role. The first thing he did to break out of the role was to alter his appearance by cutting his [[MemeticHair iconic curls]] off, reacting with exaggerated CreatorBacklash to his role, and swearing a lot on television, but it didn't work. Most of his later roles have been things that have related in some way to the Doctor, such as playing Oscar Wilde and Sherlock Holmes (his Doctor was based somewhat on Wilde, and he even did a Holmes-pastiche episode), although he gets decent work as a voiceover artist on adverts and so on thanks to his famously pleasant voice. On the bright side, he loved being the Doctor, has said that the role 'saved' him, and mentioned in his 80th birthday interview that [[IAmNotLeonardNimoy everyone in his village calls him "Doctor", which he enjoys]].
** In a rumour perhaps inspired by the sad tale of Tom Baker, Creator/ChristopherEccleston was announced to have left after only one season to avoid this, though he later revealed he'd left because he'd witnessed directors bullying crew-members and overworking his costar Creator/BilliePiper, and he felt that staying in the role could not be morally justified. That, and few people believed the revival would last past one season.
** This is one reason why the Creator/BigFinish audios are so beneficial: It's a quick paycheck for people who contributed a lot to the classic series, something which doesn't involve milling about conventions like pandas at a zoo.
* The main characters of ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberiumWars'' are typecast since their previous roles, as pointed out in a ''Webcomic/CtrlAltDel'' comic.
* Creator/QuintonFlynn seems to voice three kinds of characters: [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid Badasses]], [[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren comedic villains]], or just plain Ax Crazy [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII pyromaniacs]].
* Like above with Creator/MarleeMatlin, if you have any disability whatsoever, your character is usually tied to that disability, and is the focus of the episode if you're a guest star. See DisabledCharacterDisabledActor for more of these.
* After starring in ''Film/AHardDaysNight'', Music/TheBeatles couldn't avoid getting written as [[RealLifeWritesThePlot slightly exaggerated versions of their real-life personalities]] in subsequent movies. Music/RingoStarr, who went on to have a fairly successful acting career, used to say that he'd like to [[PlayingAgainstType play a villain just to shake things up]]. When the band were still making movies together, he even suggested that he and Paul [=McCartney=], commonly considered the sweetest Beatles, play ThoseTwoBadGuys.
* ''Website/{{Cracked}}'''s [[http://www.cracked.com/article_20208_6-actors-who-play-exact-same-role-in-multiple-movies.html 6 Actors Who Play the Exact Same Role in Multiple Movies]] mentions similarities among multiple roles of Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, James Earl Jones, and more.
----

* [[PigeonholedVoiceActor Voice actors]] (sub-index)

* Actors with dwarfism, like Creator/DeepRoy, Creator/WarwickDavis, Kenny Baker, Verne Troyer, Tony Cox, Phil Fondacaro, and Creator/PattyMaloney, are always stuck doing fantasy or sci-fi films (often inside alien or robot outifts) because that's the only roles they can get. David Rappaport most likely suffered from depression because of this, which probably led to him being DrivenToSuicide. Ditto for Hervé Villechaize. Creator/PeterDinklage has been breaking this trend, as most of his non-[[Series/GameOfThrones Tyrion Lannister]] characters merely happen to have dwarfism if the subject comes up at all, instead of dwarfism being a primary characteristic of their character.

* Actors with dwarfism, like Creator/DeepRoy, Creator/WarwickDavis, Kenny Baker, Verne Troyer, Tony Cox, Phil Fondacaro and Creator/PattyMaloney, are always stuck doing fantasy or sci-fi films (often inside alien or robot outifts) because that's the only roles they can get. David Rappaport most likely suffered from depression because of this, which probably led to him being DrivenToSuicide. Ditto for Hervé Villechaize. Creator/PeterDinklage has been breaking this trend, playing characters who merely happen to have dwarfism if the subject comes up at all instead of being a primary characteristic of their character. [[Series/GameOfThrones Tyrion Lannister is one of the few exceptions.]]

* Actors with dwarfism, like Creator/WarwickDavis, Kenny Baker, Verne Troyer, Tony Cox, Phil Fondacaro and Creator/PattyMaloney, are always stuck doing fantasy or sci-fi films (often inside alien or robot outifts) because that's the only roles they can get. David Rappaport most likely suffered from depression because of this, which probably led to him being DrivenToSuicide. Ditto for Hervé Villechaize. Creator/PeterDinklage has been breaking this trend, playing characters who merely happen to have dwarfism if the subject comes up at all instead of being a primary characteristic of their character. [[Series/GameOfThrones Tyrion Lannister is one of the few exceptions.]]

* [[TypeCasting/{{Actors}} Typecast actors]]
* [[TypeCasting/{{Actresses}} Typecast actresses]]

When lampshaded in the work itself, this becomes AdamWesting. When it happen with voice actors, it's called PigeonholedVoiceActor.

* Actors with dwarfism, like Creator/WarwickDavis, Kenny Baker, Verne Troyer, Tony Cox, Phil Fondacaro and Creator/PattyMaloney, are always stuck doing fantasy films because that's the only roles they can get. David Rappaport most likely suffered from depression because of this, which probably led to him being DrivenToSuicide. Ditto for Hervé Villechaize. Creator/PeterDinklage has been breaking this trend, playing characters who merely happen to have dwarfism if the subject comes up at all instead of being a primary characteristic of their character. [[Series/GameOfThrones Tyrion Lannister is one of the few exceptions.]]

* Actors with dwarfism, like Warwick Davis, Kenny Baker, Verne Troyer, Tony Cox, Phil Fondacaro and Creator/PattyMaloney, are always stuck doing fantasy films because that's the only roles they can get. David Rappaport most likely suffered from depression because of this, which probably led to him being DrivenToSuicide. Ditto for Hervé Villechaize. Creator/PeterDinklage has been breaking this trend, playing characters who merely happen to have dwarfism if the subject comes up at all instead of being a primary characteristic of their character. [[Series/GameOfThrones Tyrion Lannister is one of the few exceptions.]]

You recognize the character immediately as being right off the {{Characters}} list. He hasn't said anything yet, but you know him because he is an example of
typecasting. There are a host of ways to be typecast. Whereas stage actors are shuffled around quite a bit, allowing them to play all sorts of roles, it's a different story with movies and television.

TropesAreNotBad. There are some actors whose typical role has become known so well that as soon as you see them in a movie, whatever it is, you know it's going to be awesome/hilarious/full of asskicking/etc. (WebVideo/CinemaSins, for example, [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this with the comment whenever he appears in a movie in a normal presence, "LiamNeeson is not killing anyone in this scene.")

* [[{{TypeCasting/Actors}} Typecast actors]]
* [[{{TypeCasting/Actresses}} Typecast actresses]]

* Actors with dwarfism like Warwick Davis, Kenny Baker, Verne Troyer, Tony Cox, Phil Fondacaro and others are always stuck doing fantasy films because that's the only roles they can get. David Rappaport most likely suffered from depression because of this, which probably led to him being DrivenToSuicide. Ditto for Hervé Villechaize. Creator/PeterDinklage has been breaking this trend, playing characters who merely happen to have dwarfism if the subject comes up at all instead of being a primary characteristic of their character. [[Series/GameOfThrones Tyrion Lannister is one of the few exceptions.]]

** Especially seen with actors who appeared on ''Franchise/StarTrek''. Many of them wound up becoming directors like Jonathan Frakes, Roxanne Dawson or [=LeVar=] Burton (each of whom directed episodes of ''Star Trek''). Frakes frequently casts ''Star Trek'' alums in his projects, like ''{{Series/Leverage}}''. (Does this count as an improvement?) And it's doubly bad if you're an ''actress'' known for a role on Trek.

** [[Creator/WilliamShatner Shatner]] isn't so much typecast in SciFi so much as he is typecast as [[LargeHam him]][[ChewingTheScenery self]]. Doesn't seem to bother him though, and he does it well.
*** It wasn't until TheEighties with ''TJHooker'' that he had any success as a character actor outside of ''Franchise/StarTrek''. Nimoy gave up altogether, which some might consider a miscarriage of justice.
** Creator/JohnDeLancie as a field reporter in ''Without Warning: Fire From the Sky'' rather quickly shattered the effect they were going for (a spiritual homage to ''Radio/TheWarOfTheWorlds''). He did, however, play a poignant role on ''Breaking Bad'' as Krysten Ritter's grieving father.
** However, if you count voice acting as serious, a number of ''Next Generation'' actors found their way into ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}''. [=JDL=] also got to voice [[JonnyQuestTheNewAdventures Benton Quest]]. Uh-huh, a flat-out ''good'' guy.
** Creator/LeVarBurton has a few other well-known roles. He played Kunta Kinte in ''Series/{{Roots}}'', voiced Kwame in ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'', and was the host of ''Series/ReadingRainbow.''
** Poor DeForestKelley, on the other hand, jumped from one type of TypeCasting (villains in [[TheWestern Western]] movies and shows) to another (he would never do a well-known role again after being cast as Dr. [=McCoy=]). However, he was the only major ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}'' cast member who never bitched about it.

** This is one reason why the BigFinish audios are so beneficial: It's a quick paycheck for people who contributed a lot to the classic series, something which doesn't involve milling about conventions like pandas at a zoo.
* The main characters of ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberiumWars'' are typecast since their previous roles, as pointed out in a ''CtrlAltDel'' comic.

* After starring in ''Film/AHardDaysNight'', Music/TheBeatles couldn't avoid getting written as [[RealLifeWritesThePlot slightly exaggerated versions of their real-life personalities]] in subsequent movies. Music/RingoStarr, who went on to have a fairly successful acting career, used to say that he'd like to [[PlayingAgainstType play a villain just to shake things up]] (when the band were still making movies together, he even suggested that he and Paul, commonly considered the sweetest Beatles, play ThoseTwoBadGuys).

* Actors with dwarfism like Warwick Davis, Kenny Baker, Verne Troyer, Tony Cox, Phil Fondacaro and others are always stuck doing fantasy films because that's the only roles they can get. David Rappaport most likely suffered from depression because of this, which probably lead him to be DrivenToSuicide. Ditto for Hervé Villechaize. Creator/PeterDinklage has been breaking this trend, playing characters who merely happen to have dwarfism if the subject comes up at all instead of being a primary characteristic of their character. [[Series/GameOfThrones Tyrion Lannister is one of the few exceptions.]]

->''"I've made a career out of playing blind black men."''
-->-- '''Creator/LeVarBurton''', Dragon*Con 2010, when asked about this trope

You recognize the character immediately as being right off the {{Characters}} list. He hasn't said anything yet, but you know him because he is an example of
typecasting. There are a host of ways to be typecast. Whereas stage actors are shuffled around quite a bit, allowing them to play all sorts of roles, it's a different story with movies and television.

This is not entirely the fault of casting directors. When Ed O'Neill left ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' to spread his wings as a dramatic actor, audiences laughed the instant he appeared onscreen in ''Film/TheSpanishPrisoner''. The extreme example of this is IAmNotSpock (and also IAmNotLeonardNimoy).

MetaCasting is playing off this Type Casting to push it into another realm of familiarity.

TropesAreNotBad. There are some actors whose typical role has become known so well that as soon as you see them in a movie, whatever it is, you know it's going to be awesome/hilarious/full of asskicking/etc. (WebVideo/CinemaSins, for example, [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this with the comment whenever he appears in a movie in a normal presence, "LiamNeeson is not killing anyone in this scene.")

When lampshaded in the work itself, this becomes AdamWesting. When it happen with voice actors, it's called PigeonholedVoiceActor.

The opposite is, naturally enough, PlayingAgainstType (subtropes of which include TomHanksSyndrome, LeslieNielsenSyndrome and PlayingWithCharacterType).
----
!!A not-so-short list of:
[[index]]
* [[{{TypeCasting/Actors}} Typecast actors]]
* [[{{TypeCasting/Actresses}} Typecast actresses]]
[[/index]]
!!!Both genders
* Actors with dwarfism like Warwick Davis, Kenny Baker, Verne Troyer, Tony Cox, Phil Fondacaro and others are always stuck doing fantasy films because that's the only roles they can get. David Rappaport most likely suffered from depression because of this, which probably lead him to be DrivenToSuicide. Ditto for Hervé Villechaize. Creator/PeterDinklage has been breaking this trend, playing characters who merely happen to have dwarfism if the subject comes up at all instead of being a primary characteristic of their character. [[Series/GameOfThrones Tyrion Lannister is one of the few exceptions.]]
* Genre roles have a reputation for pigeonholing actors forever. Chalk it up to the SciFiGhetto. If you become famous for a role in a sci-fi show or movie, accept the fact that you'll get no work, especially in {{Film}} or LiveActionTV, except in guest spots that [[AdamWesting are parodies of your most famous role.]]
-->'''[[http://moviemoses.wordpress.com/2011/06/21/screamers-the-hunting-sheldon-wilson-2009/ Miles Antwiler]]:''' ''I also think we all need to give up on the idea of Creator/LanceHenriksen “starring” in any movies anymore. The man is the Creator/JohnCarradine of the new millennium. He will just show up for five minutes to any movie offering craft services. Chuck a few free tacos his way and BAM he will show up to your nephew’s bar mitzvah. I just assume he is in every crappy Scifi movie from now on. Yeah, as you can guess, he shows up for five minutes grunts out a few lines and collects his paycheck ([[AdvertisedExtra despite being top billed]]).''
** Especially seen with actors who appeared on ''Franchise/StarTrek''. Many of them wound up becoming directors like Jonathan Frakes, Roxanne Dawson or [=LeVar=] Burton (each of whom directed episodes of ''Star Trek''). Frakes frequently casts ''Star Trek'' alums in his projects, like ''{{Series/Leverage}}''. (Does this count as an improvement?) And it's doubly bad if you're an ''actress'' known for a role on Trek.
-->'''[[http://www.startrek.com/article/ds9s-major-kira-nerys-nana-visitor-part-2 Nana Visitor]]:''' I was in my 40’s, being put out in the world. And if you think about it, I was a Star Trek actor, in my 40’s, female, and it was hard not to think, 'This is '''not''' going to be good.'
** Creator/PatrickStewart has been able to avoid the Trek curse; sure, his other major mainstream role is Professor X in the ''Film/{{X-Men}}'' film continuity, but outside of film, he is a very, ''very'' respected Shakespearean actor, one of the finest of his generation. On the other hand, Sir Pat has faced typecasting in another way: He's stuck playing slogan-spewing, patriarchal old men, something his contemporaries (like Malcolm [=McDowell=]) enjoy ribbing him about.
** [[Creator/WilliamShatner Shatner]] isn't so much typecast in SciFi so much as he is typecast as [[LargeHam him]][[ChewingTheScenery self]]. Doesn't seem to bother him though, and he does it well.
*** It wasn't until TheEighties with ''TJHooker'' that he had any success as a character actor outside of ''Franchise/StarTrek''. Nimoy gave up altogether, which some might consider a miscarriage of justice.
** Creator/JohnDeLancie as a field reporter in ''Without Warning: Fire From the Sky'' rather quickly shattered the effect they were going for (a spiritual homage to ''Radio/TheWarOfTheWorlds''). He did, however, play a poignant role on ''Breaking Bad'' as Krysten Ritter's grieving father.
** However, if you count voice acting as serious, a number of ''Next Generation'' actors found their way into ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}''. [=JDL=] also got to voice [[JonnyQuestTheNewAdventures Benton Quest]]. Uh-huh, a flat-out ''good'' guy.
** Creator/LeVarBurton has a few other well-known roles. He played Kunta Kinte in ''Series/{{Roots}}'', voiced Kwame in ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'', and was the host of ''Series/ReadingRainbow.''
** Poor DeForestKelley, on the other hand, jumped from one type of TypeCasting (villains in [[TheWestern Western]] movies and shows) to another (he would never do a well-known role again after being cast as Dr. [=McCoy=]). However, he was the only major ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}'' cast member who never bitched about it.
** Creator/MichelleForbes managed to avoid falling victim to this. After her recurring role as Ro Laren on [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration ST:TNG]] she went on to play Dr. Julianna Cox on ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'', Lynne Kresge on ''Series/TwentyFour'', Samantha Brinker on ''Series/PrisonBreak'', and Maryann Forrester on ''Series/TrueBlood'', to name just a handful.
** The main actors in the 2009 reboot have thus far avoided the problem because they were already well known for other roles, and/or very quickly after the movies release had other projects playing very different roles.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' tends to have permanent effects on anyone who played the Doctor. Traditionally, the show has had a "Three-Year Rule" of actors exiting the lead role to avoid being typecast in the future. This tradition began with Creator/PatrickTroughton (in 1969!), who eventually gave up and realized that ''he would always be'' The Doctor. Quite literally, as he died in-costume.
** Creator/TomBaker, the longest-serving and most iconic Doctor, struggled with this severely after leaving the role. The first thing he did to break out of the role was to alter his appearance by cutting his [[MemeticHair iconic curls]] off, reacting with exaggerated CreatorBacklash to his role, and swearing a lot on television, but it didn't work. Most of his later roles have been things that have related in some way to the Doctor, such as playing Oscar Wilde and Sherlock Holmes (his Doctor was based somewhat on Wilde, and he even did a Holmes-pastiche episode), although he gets decent work as a voiceover artist on adverts and so on thanks to his famously pleasant voice. On the bright side, he loved being the Doctor, has said that the role 'saved' him, and mentioned in his 80th birthday interview that [[IAmNotLeonardNimoy everyone in his village calls him "Doctor", which he enjoys]].
** In a rumour perhaps inspired by the sad tale of Tom Baker, Creator/ChristopherEccleston was announced to have left after only one season to avoid this, though he later revealed he'd left because he'd witnessed directors bullying crew-members and overworking his costar Creator/BilliePiper, and he felt that staying in the role could not be morally justified. That, and few people believed the revival would last past one season.
** This is one reason why the BigFinish audios are so beneficial: It's a quick paycheck for people who contributed a lot to the classic series, something which doesn't involve milling about conventions like pandas at a zoo.
* The main characters of ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberiumWars'' are typecast since their previous roles, as pointed out in a ''CtrlAltDel'' comic.
* Creator/QuintonFlynn seems to voice three kinds of characters: [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid Badasses]], [[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren comedic villains]], or just plain Ax Crazy [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII pyromaniacs]].
* Like above with Creator/MarleeMatlin, if you have any disability whatsoever, your character is usually tied to that disability, and is the focus of the episode if you're a guest star. See DisabledCharacterDisabledActor for more of these.
* After starring in ''Film/AHardDaysNight'', Music/TheBeatles couldn't avoid getting written as [[RealLifeWritesThePlot slightly exaggerated versions of their real-life personalities]] in subsequent movies. Music/RingoStarr, who went on to have a fairly successful acting career, used to say that he'd like to [[PlayingAgainstType play a villain just to shake things up]] (when the band were still making movies together, he even suggested that he and Paul, commonly considered the sweetest Beatles, play ThoseTwoBadGuys).
* ''Website/{{Cracked}}'''s [[http://www.cracked.com/article_20208_6-actors-who-play-exact-same-role-in-multiple-movies.html 6 Actors Who Play the Exact Same Role in Multiple Movies]] mentions similarities among multiple roles of Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, James Earl Jones, and more.
----

!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Actors]]
* [[AbbottAndCostello William Bud Abbott and Lou Costello]]
* Even before [[Series/{{Supernatural}} Dean Winchester]] (who is the ultimate of this character type), JensenAckles always seemed to play [[DeadpanSnarker snarky]], [[{{Badass}} slightly dangerous]] [[TheWoobie woobies]] with massive family issues. See ''{{Smallville}}'' one year earlier, and ''DarkAngel'' before that.
* Creator/WoodyAllen as a neurotic, aging womanizer. This is [[NeverLiveItDown mostly self-inflicted]].
* Have a foreign guy in the script? Armand Assante is your man. No matter which country the character is from, Assante will bring foreignness to the role. He's played his share of red-meat eating, quick-fisted New York tough guys, but such roles have either been forgotten (Literature/MikeHammer in ''I, The Jury'') or execrable (Rico in ''Film/JudgeDredd'').
* Starting with ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}'' and ''Film/DieHard'', William Atherton always seems to play [[HateSink jerks who audiences love to hate]] -- not quite villains, but frequent pains in the ass who get in the heroes' way and make their jobs harder, most often some form of ObstructiveBureaucrat.
* Adam Baldwin is the Don Draper of the nineties: the scowling, growling ass-kicking man's man. Also TheBigGuy (6'4" 240lbs.) He's overwhelmingly some military man; or if ex-military, is a merc or a cop. Usually a cold-blooded killer. Oftentimes TheMole, and almost always a DeadpanSnarker with a DeathGlare of his own. If his characters political beliefs are important, they are overwhelmingly Republican (a detail he often insists on, as he is proudly and loudly Republican in RealLife). Notable roles include ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', ''Film/{{Serenity}}'', ''Series/{{Angel}}'', ''Series/{{Chuck}}'', ''Film/FullMetalJacket'', ''Film/IndependenceDay'' and ''Film/TheLastShip''.
* Tobin Bell is becoming a career villain very quickly, and is now almost universally known [[Franchise/{{Saw}} as Jigsaw]]. Even in a ''bit part on an episode of Series/{{Seinfeld}},'' he manages to be some sort of antagonist.
* Christian Berkel seems to be in a similar predicament as fellow German actor Creator/ThomasKretschmann, though to a lesser extent. He's played a German officer (alternating between Nazis and sympathetic Germans) in ''Film/{{Downfall}}'', ''Film/{{Valkyrie}}'', ''Film/{{Zwartboek}}'', ''Miracle At St. Anna'', and ''Leningrad''. He also made an appearance in ''Film/InglouriousBasterds'', although there he's just a French bartender catering to Germans.
* Ralph Bellamy was often stuck playing [[RomanticRunnerUp dull nice guys]].
* Michael Biehn gets a lot of roles as intense military types -- a cadet in ''The Lords of Discipline'', a resistance fighter in ''Film/TheTerminator'', a Colonial Marine in ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', the player avatar in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSun'', and a Navy SEAL in no less than 3 films -- ''Navy SEALS'', ''Film/TheAbyss'' and ''Film/TheRock''.
* Creator/JackBlack's been known for playing either a hyperactive maniac LargeHam role or a slob. Except in ''The Holiday''.
* {{BRIAN BLESSED}} is always cast is big, boisterous characters who shout a lot. [[BlatantLies NOBODY REALLY KNOWS WHY!]]
* Has anyone noticed how most of Orlando Bloom's major roles have been in historical/fantasy action/swashbuckling movies? ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'', ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'', ''Film/{{Troy}}'', ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven'', and now ''Film/TheHobbit'' and ''Film/{{The Three Musketeers|2011}}''.
* Creator/SeanBean got famed plying there's the ''Series/{{Sharpe}}'' series, where he's practically a Napoleonic War's Franchise/JamesBond. He often plays characters that get killed or never get what they want. Most enter villain or TokenEvilTeammate territory. Except ''Film/{{Flightplan}}'', where he's just a pilot, and ''Film/{{Troy}}'', in which he plays [[Literature/TheIliad Odys]][[Literature/TheOdyssey seus]]. Since ''TheLordOfTheRings'' he's played many a role very reminiscent of Boromir. Examples include ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'', ''Film/BlackDeath'', and ''Series/GameOfThrones''. The general rule of thumb is that if the film is in a historical, medieval or fantasy setting, he'll play one of the good guys... who dies. If it's set in modern times, he'll generally play one of the bad guys... and usually die.
* Karan Brar (who, granted, isn't in that much yet) will typically play the Indian FunnyForeigner child.
* David Bradley ([[Film/HarryPotter Argus Filch]], [[Series/GameOfThrones Walder Frey]]) seems to be the UK's go-to actor for unpleasant old men.
* Creator/CharlesBronson was the ultimate badass. Apparently, this extended to his offscreen life, too: he was a coal miner at the age of 10. In ''Film/TheMagnificentSeven'', Bronson splits wood onscreen, with an axe and everything, like his character's ''SevenSamurai'' counterpart Heihachi. Not only is this physically demanding, requiring good coordination, it's so dangerous that no insurance company is likely to ever let a name star do that again.
* Before being cast as Bond, PierceBrosnan was typecast as the RomanticFalseLead, a handsome cad whom the other male loves to hate. (Robin Williams [[Film/MrsDoubtfire nearly murdered him]].)
* Creator/SteveBuscemi playing the paranoid, fast-talking, nervy rodenty guy who is either a snarky, JerkAss, loserish protagonist or a sympathetic, loserish scumbag of a villain / AntiVillain. Sometimes voice-acts actual rodents. Due to this characterization, he has a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMS4rqqiN20 low chance of surviving until the end of a movie]].
* Gary Busey has made a career out of playing bad guys with various levels of mental derangement - from mild sociopathy to full-on AxCrazy. Busey admits that some of this is due to [[TruthInTelevision how he would act when the cameras weren't rolling]].
* Gary Busey's son Jake Busey, who looks rather similar to his dad, gets his fair share of the kinds of roles his dad gets (for example, in ''Film/{{Contact}}'', ''Film/TheFrighteners'', and ''Tomcats''.)
* [[Creator/JamesCagney James "Jimmy" Cagney]], far down on the list, but among the first and most severe cases of typecasting in early Hollywood. Since smashing a grapefruit in Mae Clarke's face in ''Film/ThePublicEnemy'' (1931), he will be forever known as the hardass gangster, complete with his own BeamMeUpScotty, "You dirty rat..." Cagney started his career as a "hoofer" or dancer in stage musicals, was a teetotaler, spoke fluent yiddish (though a gentile), and was no slouch at judo (put to great use in ''Blood on the Sun'' (1945), with one of the most brutal fights ever filmed). Yet none of this erased the tough guy persona he was famous for, even after winning an Oscar for the musical ''Film/YankeeDoodleDandy'' (1942). Part of the problem was that Cagney couldn't flash a smile that [[SlasherSmile didn't imply Godless bloodlust]].
* Creator/BruceWillis tends to play [[BruiserWithASoftCenter soft-spoken tough guys]] - usually some sort of law enforcement, government agent, soldier or a hitman. This is due to the influence of ''Film/DieHard''. Before that film, Willis was strictly a comedic actor. Apart from that he is always the BadAss [[BadassNormal everyman]], and is known for being the king of the heroic comeback, getting [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beaten to shit]] by the bad guys and then coming back to win out. Unless we are talking about ''Film/TheSixthSense.'' Or ''Film/TheSiege'' where he plays a rare villainous part. Or ''In Country'' (embittered Vietnam veteran), or ''Film/DeathBecomesHer'' (a nebbishy doctor), or ''Mortal Thoughts'', or ''Film/{{Unbreakable}}'', or...
** ''Film/SinCity'' put on a small spin: [[spoiler:he killed himself]], despite winning in the end.
* Creator/BruceCampbell has played so many jerks spouting one-liners that most fans don't know what to think when he tries something new.
* [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3085284/ Jay Jackson]] is an American actor who only ever plays the role of a News Anchor or Newscaster. He has done so on ''Series/{{Dexter}}'', ''Series/TheCloser'', ''Series/TheMentalist'', ''Series/{{Scandal}}'', ''Series/BodyOfProof'', Fred: The Show and ''Series/ParksAndRecreation''.
** [[http://www.ew.com/article/2014/05/12/jay-jackson-parks-and-rec-revenge According to Jackson]], this is self-imposed; he's a semi-retired news anchor with no background in acting, and his first "acting" role was largely gained through a fluke. Even today, he doesn't think of himself as an actor; his ''real'' passion is jazz music.
* Creator/JohnCandy always tended to play well-meaning but bumbling types. The BumblingDad, the CoolUncle, the semi-ineffectual cop with a heart of gold. Interesting enough, the role most people say was his best was a corrupt, and utterly unpleasant and unlikeably, southern lawyer in ''JFK''.
* Since becoming an A-list actor, only three movies JimCarrey has starred in aren't comedies in some way: ''Film/TheMajestic'', ''Film/EternalSunshineOfTheSpotlessMind'' and ''Film/TheNumber23''. (''Film/TheTrumanShow'' is a dark satire, his role in ''Film/BatmanForever'' is comedic, and ''Film/ManOnTheMoon'' is a {{Biopic}} of Creator/AndyKaufman, so all of them have a comic element.)
* Can you say ''Creator/MichaelCera''? Ever since ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' ended, he's been typecast as [[http://www.cracked.com/funny-3759-michael-cera/ the skinny, awkwardly sweet kid that falls in love with a quirky girl]] in all his films. Though he seems to be playing against type in ''Youth in Revolt''[[note]]Skinny, awkwardly sweet kid, with a skinny TOTAL MENACE alter ego[[/note]] and ''ScottPilgrim vs. the World''... Sorta.
* A large number of Creator/GaryChalk's live action roles has him working for the government. These includes jobs in politics, [[MarvelComics S.H.I.E.L.D.]], military and most frequently, a police officer.
* Creator/JackieChan was typecast as a "nice guy" for decades, partly because Jackie aspired to be a positive role model for children. Until 2006's "Rob B Hood", Jackie hadn't played a negative character in over 30 years.
* Roy Cheung plays a lot of psychotic Triad gangsters and other villains in Hong Kong movies, to the point that when he played a Shaolin monk in ''Film/InfernalAffairs'', it was seen as PlayingAgainstType.
* Creator/JohnCleese is......... well, John Cleese in pretty much every movie he's in. He often says "Jolly good" or "Marvelous".
* Creator/KimCoates as the unsettling/creepy/psychotic/pervy villain. It's a reasonable bet that even if his character isn't obviously evil straightaway, his villainy will be revealed before very long.
* Gary Coleman as the wisecracking black kid. See also AdamWesting.
* Creator/JeffreyCombs has made a career out of playing psychopaths and ''Star Trek'' characters. Creator/PeterJackson specifically sought him out for ''Film/TheFrighteners'' because of his role in the ''Film/ReAnimator'' series.
* Every role Bradley Cooper has done post-''Series/{{Alias}}'' has been a JerkAss or ChivalrousPervert (or combination of the two) who always has an occasion to [[ShirtlessScene remove his shirt]]. Averted from ''Film/SilverLiningsPlaybook'' on, in which he managed to break out of his type and get nominated for an Oscar.
* The popularity of ''SteptoeAndSon'' ruined the careers of its stars, Harry H. Corbett and Wilfrid Brambell. Corbett in particular suffered, having achieved acclaim as a [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespearean]] actor before accepting his role in the show, and frequently being described as "Britain's MarlonBrando" early in his career.
* Creator/PeterCoyote is habitually an asshole authority figure, but with a certain grace and style. Even when the role offers him little to do but whinge about protocol, you can keenly understand why ''he's'' in command.
* Creator/TomCruise always seems to play a JerkWithAHeartOfGold who learns how to truly love. His typical role is summed up by Rich Hall in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vmg9e785lo this video]].
* Even stage actors aren't immune to this. Look at John Cullum, playing a cynical, worldwise, southerner and/or father, in ''Shenandoah'' (original cast and revival), ''[[SeventeenSeventySix 1776]]'' (movie), ''{{Urinetown}}'', and ''Theatre/OneTenInTheShade''. Ironically, he initially turned down the role of Rutledge because he did not want to play a southerner.
* Creator/TimCurry almost always plays sly villains, to his chagrin. He's stated multiple times that ''Rocky Horror'' pretty much killed his career.
* Andy Dick tends to often play a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} and/or TheFool and/or a WackyGuy.
* Vincent D'Onofrio, after ''Film/FullMetalJacket'', generally plays a big, scary guy. In ''Film/MenInBlack'', he plays a perfectly sane (wife-beating redneck) farmer who gets eaten and his skin worn by a creepy bug alien about sixty seconds into his first scene. Even on ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'', Bobby Goren is impliedly a little ''off''.
* Creator/WillemDafoe always plays more subtle psychos who are the EvilChancellor or CorruptCorporateExecutive with a [[SplitPersonality hidden side]]. Less passive-agression, more grinning!
** When he's a good guy he tends to be a ReasonableAuthorityFigure, such as his breakout role as [[Film/{{Platoon}} Sgt. Elias]]. Examples include [[Film/MississippiBurning an FBI agent]], [[Film/ClearAndPresentDanger a CIA agent]] and [[Film/InsideMan a NYPD cop]].
** Exceptions include ''Film/TheLastTemptationOfChrist'' and ''Film/{{Antichrist}}''.
* New Zealander Alan Dale keeps turning up as evil American businessmen or politicians.
** Or a [[http://www.memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Hiren Romulan]]...
* Creator/MattDamon is often a DesignatedMonkey PlayedForDrama with attributes similar to a typical Tom Cruise role.
* Creator/RodneyDangerfield had played the same act in most movies he did the past couple of decades, with the possible darker exception of ''Film/NaturalBornKillers''.
* Anthony [=DeLongis=] provides the voice for several JerkAss video game villains, including Mick Cutler in ''VideoGame/{{Resistance 3}}'' and General Sarrano in ''VideoGame/{{Bulletstorm}}''.
* Creator/RobertDeNiro almost always plays tough, confident and aggressive types with a blue collar or lower-class background. In the last decade, he's become more and more prone to AdamWesting his badass image than playing straight examples.
* Creator/DannyDeVito is the sleazy scumbag character, sometimes [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold with a Heart of Gold]].
* The only constant between Creator/JohnnyDepp's roles is that, with the exception of ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' (being a sequel), he hasn't done the same kind of character twice. And in that strange way, audiences have come to expect him to just be that kind of quirky, offbeat character.
** Frequently pairing up with Creator/TimBurton tends to do that.
** He specifically avoided being typecast as a TeenIdol after ''Series/TwentyOneJumpStreet''.
** He's done plenty of quirky man-child characters, though the quirks tend to shift quite a bit from movie to movie.
* Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio is an interesting example. After his StarMakingRole in ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'', media pundits almost unanimously predicted that Leo would be another flash-in-the pan celebrity, typecast as a {{Bishonen}} [[TeenIdol teenage heart-throb]] before forever vanishing from the limelight after hitting 35. Unusually, he was GenreSavvy enough to move away from pretty boy roles into [[DarkerAndEdgier something grittier]] and started a very fruitful creative partnership with Creator/MartinScorsese. Ironically, this led [=DiCaprio=] to being typecast in crime and/or business dramas, Scorsese's signature genre, where he usually plays intense, morally ambiguous types. Leo's lead role as Dominic Cobb in ''Film/{{Inception}}'' was seen as an attempt at broadening his acting range... right until it turned out he was playing an intense, morally ambiguous mind thief.
* Creator/VinDiesel is the tough action hero who, appropriately, has something to do with big hulking machines.
* In the 1960s and 70s there was the great Anton Diffring, who became ''the'' archetypal sinister German officer. For a period during the 1960s no self-respecting WWII film was complete without an icy glare or cold and calculating remark courtesy of Herr Diffring (''Operation Crossbow'' and ''Film/WhereEaglesDare'' being two notable examples). He even played bigwigs like Reinhard Heydrich in ''Operation Daybreak'' and Joachim Von Ribbentrop in ''The Winds of War''.
* A truly extreme and bizarre example is East German actor Fritz Diez (1901 -1979). He played the ''same character'' over and over in about ''two dozen'' films, TV features, and stage plays. And the character was... UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler.
* Similarly, French actor Adrien Cayla-Legrand made a mini-career portraying UsefulNotes/CharlesDeGaulle, notably in ''Film/ArmyOfShadows'' and ''Film/TheDayOfTheJackal''. Unlike Diez he did play other roles occasionally.
* Otto Gebuhr played UsefulNotes/FrederickTheGreat in twelve separate films between 1921 and 1942.
* Wolfgang Preiss bests even Diffring. Name a WWII movie from the '60s and '70s and he's probably in it: ''Film/TheLongestDay'', ''Film/TheTrain'', ''Film/IsParisBurning'', ''Film/VonRyansExpress'', ''Film/ABridgeTooFar'', even ''Literature/TheBoysFromBrazil''. Preiss portrayed a staggering '''five''' German field marshals: UsefulNotes/ErwinRommel, Albert Kesselring, Alfred Jodl, Gerd Von Rundstedt and Walter von Brauchtisch. When Preiss wasn't a Nazi, he was [[Film/Die1000AugenDesDrMabuse Dr. Mabuse]].
** Ironically, Preiss made his breakthrough playing Claus Von Stauffenberg in the German film ''Der 20 Juli'' - a heroic variant on his later typecasting.
* Jason Dolley, a member of the DisneyChannel repertory, is typecast as ''two'' different types of characters: Either an unlucky, unappreciated loser who gets the girl in the end (in his three Disney Channel original movies: ''Read It and Weep'', {{Minutemen}}, and ''Hatching Pete''): or a moronic, slacker musician (in his two Disney Channel sitcoms, ''Series/CoryInTheHouse'' and ''Film/GoodLuckCharlie'').
** He's finally due to play a moronic, slacker musician in a DCOM for a change, when the ''GoodLuckCharlie'' movie is released.
* Creator/BradDourif. You've never heard his name, but if you've ever watched a [[ScienceFiction sci-fi]] show or {{horror}} movie with [[ParanoiaFuel a creepy-looking dude]] with scary, intense, and [[TheWoobie oddly woobieish]] eyes, you know who he is. If you have ever seen ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers]]'' and been oddly compelled to hug the traitorous [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Grí­ma Wormtongue]], you know who he is. If you have ever played ''Myst III: Exile'' and [[TearJerker sobbed your damn heart out over Saavedro's plight]], then you ''definitely'' know who he is.
** And his voice has likely ''[[Film/ChildsPlay haunted your nightmares]]'' from childhood.
** He escape his typecasting in ''{{Series/Deadwood}}'', where he played the town's [[DrJerk jerkish]] FrontierDoctor who cares deeply about [[GoodIsNotNice helping the people]].
--> (Local prostitutes are giggling while being "examined" by the doctor.)
--> '''Doc Cochran''': When you laugh, you leak piss.
** His typecasting is {{Lampshaded}} in ''Film/UrbanLegend'', where he plays a scary, stuttering gas station attendant. He runs up to a girl getting gas trying to yell something, but he CantSpitItOut. She shakes him off and drives away in her car, assuming he was trying to attack and/or rape her. After she's out of earshot, he finally manages to shout "SOMEONE'S IN THE BACK SEAT!" Much later in the movie, he's mentioned on the news as a suspect in the murders.
* Creator/RobertDowneyJr has managed a significant career comeback by playing brilliant substance abusers: ''Film/IronMan'', ''Film/{{Zodiac}}'', and ''Film/SherlockHolmes''.
* Creator/ClintEastwood was known for tough cowboy or cop roles.
** [[Film/DirtyHarry Harry Callahan]] grew old and changed his name to [[Film/GranTorino Walter Kowalski.]] He directed that movie. He actually typecast himself.
** He also cast himself in ''Film/{{Unforgiven}}'', where he plays an ''older'' version of his tough cowboy character. Clint likes to do this - and he knows what he's doing.
** Now he's just known for playing "the character with the gravely voice".
** Possibly the only exception is ''Every Which Way But Loose'' and its sequel ''Any Which Way You Can'', which were off-beat comedies. Though even then his character was tough guy trucker who dabbles in bare-knuckle fighting.
* Creator/ChristopherEccleston did get somewhat typecast over the years: either as a troubled, working-class, underdog everyman with some tragic story (''Jude'', ''Let Him Have It'', ''Flesh and Blood'', ''Strumpet'', ''Revengers Tragedy'', ''Hillsborough'', ''The Second Coming'', ''Heroes''... even the [[Series/DoctorWho Ninth Doctor]] fits this, at least stylistically), or as a mostly blockbuster-style villain (''Gone in 60 Seconds'', ''G.I. Joe'', ''The Seeker'', ''Elizabeth''). The former because of activism and conviction; the latter to [[MoneyDearBoy be able to take a badly paying theatre role once in a while]]. Still, when Website/TheAgonyBooth wrote about his role in the admittedly awful ''Film/TheSeeker'' "You're Christopher Eccleston. You're practically synonymous with having a charming and likeable screen presence. There is absolutely nothing scary about you.", the reviewer clearly had never seen ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater'', ''Shallow Grave'' [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmYNwvxzSb0 or his Jago]] in ''Othello''.
* Sam Elliott, please pick up the white courtesy phone. A movie needs a wise, grizzled cowboy. [[AdamWesting Parodied]] with his role in ''Film/TheBigLebowski''.
* Michael Emerson has made a career out of playing villains -- to the point where he had to insist that his next role after ''Series/{{Lost}}'' will be something other than a villain, preferably a comedy protagonist -- but at least he varies it a little. First he was AxCrazy SerialKiller William Hinks on ''Series/ThePractice'', then he was IneffectualSympatheticVillain and [[ArcWords "The Mozart of telekinesis"]] Oliver Martin in ''Series/TheXFiles'' episode "Sunshine Days", then he was MagnificentBastard Ben Linus on ''Series/{{Lost}}''. Then Ben suffered massive VillainDecay and became TheWoobie in the last season. (He's not playing a villain on ''Series/PersonOfInterest''.)
* When he's not lending [[HeyItsThatVoice his voice]] to video game characters, GideonEmery tends to be cast as criminals or other seedy people- who usually [[ChronicallyKilledActor end up dying]].
* Creator/RLeeErmey's ''entire career'' is being DrillSergeantNasty. Even in documentary shows he still plays [[Film/FullMetalJacket Gunnery Sgt. Hartman.]]
** In ''Willard'', Ermey broke ranks to play a CorruptCorporateExecutive instead... but he ''still'' acted like DrillSergeantNasty in the role.
** Ermey himself seems to recognize this to the point where he spoofed his own ''Film/FullMetalJacket'' role in ''Film/TheFrighteners''
*** Ermey plays a very racist police officer in the movie ''Life''.
*** R. Lee Ermey ''was'' a DrillSergeantNasty during the Vietnam war. Gunnery Sergeant Hartman is only a ''slight'' exaggeration of the way he, and most other drill sergeants, actually behaved at that time. Modern drill instructors are much less over-the-top than back then.
** Ermey has played an evangelist at least twice: once in ''Fletch Lives'', and again in an episode of ''Series/TheXFiles''.
* Name a Dennis Farina role that wasn't a cop or a mobster. We're waiting. (Justified in that, as an 18-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department, Farina knows what he's doing in those roles.)
** He played a soldier in Film/SavingPrivateRyan. Granted, it was a very brief role, and wasn't particularly different from his cop roles.
** He played a stock trader in ''Film/WhatHappensInVegas''. But he's still a hard-ass.
** He played the hard-ass Cousin Avi (as well as unashamedly [[{{Eagleland}} American]]) in ''Film/{{Snatch}}''. Though, as Avi's business isn't completely legit, this arguably falls under his mobster roles.
* Chris Farley was known for playing clumsy fat guy roles.
** His one-time partner in comedy David Spade is known for playing a JerkAss DeadpanSnarker.
* Tom Felton may get this way seeing as his character in Rise of the Apes is Draco Malfoy without magic
* Creator/WillFerrell is becoming increasingly typecast as two different characters: The Idiotic Manchild and The Arrogant Buffoon.
** Not if you count ''Film/StrangerThanFiction''.
** ''Kicking And Screaming'' also doesn't quite count. He was a meek but otherwise well-adjusted man with father issues. Of course, those father issues caused him to go both "Idiotic Manchild" and "Arrogant Buffoon" over the course of the movie, getting way too invested in peewee soccer for the sake of one-upping his old man.
** And then there's ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie'', where he's an ArchnemesisDad and ControlFreak. The Man Upstairs is a more subtle version.
* If your film needs a JerkAss villain, Creator/RalphFiennes is your man. He's either that or an introverted, brooding hero. Or an introverted, brooding villain, like he was in ''Film/RedDragon''.
* Before his recent Oscar [[Film/ASingleMan nominated]] [[Film/TheKingsSpeech roles]] Creator/ColinFirth every role the poor guy got since PrideAndPrejudice has just been a role saying "hey look, this guy was Mr Darcy! Look at him be Mr. Darcy!" Literature/BridgetJones turned this up to eleven, by actually basing his character on Mr. Darcy. In universe, Literature/BridgetJones is a fan of Colin Firth and of his portrayal of Mr Darcy.
* Creator/HarrisonFord is the BadAss everyman. As he's gotten older, more and more PapaWolf has slipped into his roles.
** A cartoon titled "Rare Movies Festival" had on its programming for one of the days: "Harrison Ford movies where he doesn't run".
** And if you're one of his co-stars, there's a good chance [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4Rqx9TvtlM he's going to be angrily pointing at you]].
* Creator/DwightFrye, the man that played the first Igor-like character Fritz in ''Film/{{Frankenstein 1931}}'' was well as doing a very good Renfield in ''Film/{{Dracula 1931}}'' ended up hating the fact he always ended up playing as ''"...idiots, half-wits and lunatics on the talking screen!"''
** He did play a different personality in ''Film/DownPeriscope'', Captain Dodge being a boisterous rebel.
* Guillermo Francella always does comedies, and he's always either the goofy lovable horndog, the irresponsible parent who has a change of heart at the end of the movie, or both.
** He has done a couple more serious roles lately (even losing his signature mustache), but even then his characters are always fans of Racing Club of Avellaneda, just like he is in real life.
* Dennis Franz is a cop who gets naked.
* Has Martin Freeman ever played a major role in which he ''isn't'' playing a slightly grumpy, plain, occasionally humorous everyman character? It's all he ever seems to be cast as.
** In Film/WildTarget he played a suave assassin with frighteningly white teeth. Bit of a break from tradition.
** ''Film/TheHobbit'' may or may not change this. The above character traits kind of fit Bilbo as well, though.
** Between [[Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy Arthur Dent]], [[Film/SherlockHolmes John Watson]], and [[Film/TheHobbit Bilbo Baggins]], he's apparently cornered the market on quintessentially British [[TheEveryman everyman]] characters from books who serve as [[TheFoil foils]] for more colorful, eccentric characters, [[TheWatson ask questions so the audience has some idea what's going on]], and [[ActionSurvivor didn't expect to get dragged into an adventure]]. So basically Arthur Dent is just a taller Bilbo, and John Watson is just a tougher Arthur Dent, and you just didn't realize it until they were all Martin Freeman.
** Subverted by his turn in {{Fargo}}; he plays an American doormatish everyman character, who turns out to be not so nice.
* StephenFry is often described to have been typecast as [[ShapedLikeItself Stephen Fry]], the charmingly quintessential Englishman who is probably smarter than you but too polite to say so.
* French actor Jean Gabin was famous for playing all roles alike, be it as a policeman, gangster, scientist or anything else : the old-school, patronizing and somewhat short-tempered [[ThePatriarch patriarch]] - to the point that his roles hardly needed to be given names, since people would refer to them as [[ActorRoleConfusion "Chief Gabin" or "Professor Gabin"]].
* Zach Galifianakis always tends to play the PsychopathicManchild/creepy weirdo, more often or not with a large beard.
** He somewhat breaks this type in his role as Ray on ''Series/BoredToDeath'', as he often plays the [[DeadpanSnarker snarky voice of reason]] to the bumbling main character. He does occasionally show poor judgement and a bit of emotional immaturity though, leaning back into his wheelhouse a little and handing off the SanityBall to Jonathan.
* Best known for playing James in Film/{{Twilight}}, Cam Gigandet has also played villains in ''Film/NeverBackDown'' and ''Series/TheOC''.
* Since playing Seth Brundle in ''Film/TheFly1986'', Creator/JeffGoldblum has tended to play [[TheWormGuy twitchy geniuses]].
** Oddly enough, he made his [[Film/DeathWish film debut]] playing a rapist.
** "[[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick Okay, Jeff Goldblum was pretty hot back in the day. Dude can't help it if he's always playing Woody Allen action hero.]]"
* John Goodman is always the big manly bear with NoIndoorVoice.
* Creator/GilbertGottfried is always the loud, obnoxious guy who squints, complains and screams a lot. Then again, it is part of his act, and he initially squinted to cope with stage fright.
* Creator/KelseyGrammer has played refined intellectual [[Series/{{Frasier}} Frasier Crane]], refined intellectual villain [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Sideshow Bob]] and refined intellectual hero [[Film/XMenTheLastStand Hank McCoy]].
-->'''''Website/{{Cracked}}''''': Grammer holds the distinction of being the only actor ever to win three Golden Globes for the same role. Sounds great, until you realize he has three statues at home reminding him every day that, as they lower him into the ground, there's a good chance the priest will accidentally refer to him as "the departed [[IAmNotSpock Dr. Crane]]."
* Creator/HughGrant is the dorky-yet-lovable Brit. As he's getting older, that role is often passed to MartinFreeman.
** His p-p-p-p-persistent nervous s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-studder.
* Lorne Greene as a wise and understanding patriarchal figure whose family works with him under his command on a professional basis in ''{{Series/Bonanza}}'', ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|1978}}'' and ''CodeRed''.
* After his debut role as Hives in ''Theatre/AnimalCrackers'' (1930), Robert Grieg played the Loyal Butler in something like thirty films. He was also in ''Film/TroubleInParadise''.
* Noel Gugliemi, you probably don't know who that is, but any movie that needs a stereotypical latino gangbanger he is sure to be cast and he'll always say something like "What you say, homes?"
* Creator/JakeGyllenhaal usaully plays socially awkward or mentally unstable characters (or sometimes, both), his roles in ''Film/DonnieDarko'', Zodiac and Nightcrawler are good examples.
* Sid Haig is a gore porn psychopath.
* [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0355062/ Jerry Haleva]] is an extreme example. His every credited acting role has been as Saddam Hussein. Though anecdotes seem to suggest he could also have played Stalin.
* JackieEarleHaley. As Website/{{Cracked}} [[http://www.cracked.com/article_17055_7-celebrity-careers-that-launched-by-accident_p2.html put it]]: "Creator/JohnnyDepp nailed the ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet1984'' audition and went on to become an iconic movie actor, while his friend was doomed to roles as [[Film/SemiPro smelly hippies]], [[Film/LittleChildren smelly perverts]] and [[Film/{{Watchmen}} smelly psychopaths]]."
** Then [[JackieEarleHaley Haley]] nailed an ''[[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet2010 Elm Street]]'' audition of his own years later... which resulted in him playing another (presumably) smelly psychopath.
** With his recent Charlie Chaplin-esque turn in the film ''Louis'', don't count Haley out just yet.
* MarkHamill may have had the image of [[StarWars Luke Skywalker]] dogging his live-action career, but he's typecast as a voice for cackling villains in animation, such as [[EvilOverlord Fire Lord Ozai]] in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', the Hobgoblin in ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManAndHisAmazingFriends'' and most famously SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker in the {{Diniverse}} franchise and the video game ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum''. (Oh the irony: TimCurry was originally pegged to voice the Joker.)
** The [[StarWars Luke Skywalker]] image probably wasn't lessened by him effectively playing an older version of the character in ''Videogame/WingCommander III'' and ''IV'', as [[ColonelBadass Colonel]] Christopher Blair. Particularly not when you consider how to win ''[=WC3=]''.
* Jon Heder. Need the tall, gangly nerd who talk with a strange speech pattern to rival Shatner? Look no further. To the point that every role he's ever played is just Film/NapoleonDynamite to some degree.
* Freddie Highmore is always the good natured kid in fantasy film.
** ... And now he's [[Series/BatesMotel Norman Bates]]. Quite the play against type.
* Take the Italian duo of actors, better known with the StageNames of Creator/TerenceHill and Creator/BudSpencer, made famous by spaghetti-westerns and BashBrothers movies. While the former has found some variation in his career, like playing a live-action ComicBook/LuckyLuke and, currently, a detective priest in a Italian TV Series, the latter (recently turned 80) is stll anchored to the characters he did in his movies -- see [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw3aeCr5AFo this commercial]].
* James Hong, professional cranky old Asian guy. He's played the same role for over three decades, and it seems like he was never actually young.
* Creator/ClintHoward is (except on the roles brother Creator/RonHoward gives to him) always a weirdo with a peculiar face, or as AdamWesting to his role in ''Film/{{Apollo 13}}'' (one of Ron's movies) a NASA MissionControl operative.
* Michael Imperioli also came to fame playing gangsters, particularly [[Series/TheSopranos Christopher Moltisanti]]. Which is funny, considering that most of his roles since have been police detectives.
* Creator/MichaelIronside as either a BadAss (who may or may not be an amputee and is increasingly likely to be an OldMaster) or as a [[DeadpanSnarker snarky]] BigBad who either has superpowers or is trying to kill an orca. In recent movies (''Film/TerminatorSalvation'', ''Film/XMenFirstClass''), he's played [[NonActionGuy non-action]] naval commanders.
* Creator/SamuelLJackson nearly always plays [[ClusterFBomb foul-mouthed]] {{badass}}es. Given his record in the ''StarWars'' prequel trilogy, Mace Windu wouldn't be nearly as badass in the EU had Jackson not been playing him.
** Incidentally, Samuel L. Jackson apparently had trouble not cursing for one movie who was trying to keep a PG-13 rating. They were talking about it in the extras on the DVD.
*** Far more than the swearing alone, Samuel L. Jackson has simply been typecast ever since ''Film/PulpFiction'' as a BadAss Motherfucker. Before that movie, he played a variety of small roles. Variety as in actually varied.
** Samuel L. Jackson is so considered a BadAss that when it came time to give the UltimateUniverse version of ComicBook/NickFury (the most BadAss secret agent this side of Film/JamesBond) a new look, he was made to look like... Samuel L. Jackson. Jackson agreed to let them use his likeness on condition of getting to play Fury in the movies.
* Ken Jeong as the "obnoxious Asian dude who thinks he's a badass".
* Although he's played several other occupations (he mainly has a background in sketch comedy), [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0426678/ Jay Johnston]] frequently gets cast as police officers, most notably as [[TheDanza Officer Jay]] on ''Series/TheSarahSilvermanProgram'' but also in a few episodes of ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'', [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0923770 a Comedy Central special]], a ''Series/MrShow'' sketch, an episode of ''Series/{{Community}}'', in ''WesternAnimation/HighSchoolUSA'' and one of his many characters in ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel''.
* Eldest [[TheJonasBrothers Jonas Brother]] Kevin Jonas has been stuck in every major role the group has [[CampRock appeared]] [[{{Jonas}} in]] as the CloudCuckooLander.
* Doug Jones is usually cast as Man in a Really Good Monster Costume With All His Lines Dubbed Over.
** Although when he reprised the role of Abe Sapien in ''Film/{{Hellboy}} II'' he got to perform the dialogue as well as wear the suit.
** Paul Casey does this in ''Series/DoctorWho'' and ''Series/{{Torchwood}}''. Jimmy Vee often takes on shorter roles in this case, such as the Moxx of Balhoon or Bannakaffalatta.
* TommyLeeJones is the grumpy, {{badass}} authority figure. See: ''Film/TheFugitive'', ''NoCountryForOldMen'', ''Film/MenInBlack'', ''Film/USMarshals'', ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger''.
* Peter Keleghan is the doofus on Canadian television. (''Series/TheRedGreenShow'', ''Series/MadeInCanada'', ''The Newsroom'')
* German actor Creator/ThomasKretschmann seems to be hopelessly typecast in [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazi]] roles. He has played a German officer or soldier in 11 unrelated works so far: ''Film/ThePianist'', ''Film/{{Valkyrie}}'', ''Film/{{Downfall}}'', ''Eichmann'', the 1993 German film ''Film/{{Stalingrad|1993}}'', ''Film/{{U 571}}'', the Norwegian film ''Warrior's Heart'', ''Head in the Clouds'', ''In Enemy Hands'', the ''Sinking of the Laconia'', and the Russian 2013 film ''Film/{{Stalingrad|2013}}'', and he's been cast as Baron Wolfgang von Strucker in ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron''. On the plus side, he's usually a sympathetic Nazi. On the ''Jimmy Kimmel Show'' he stated he's been typecast more as a Captain than a Nazi (though this is probably due to him playing quite a number of Nazi Captains).
** This is further added by the fact that after being known for playing the role of Hermann Fegelein in ''[[Film/{{Downfall}} Der Untergang]]'', Website/YouTube users would sometimes make references to his character ("[[WebVideo/HitlerRants FEGELEIN FEGELEIN FEGELEIN!!!]]") on almost every video that he appeared on.
* It seems as though Kevin James is turning to filling the "sweet natured, but slightly clumsy obese guy" void left by Chris Farley.
* Creator/AshtonKutcher, barring ''Film/TheGuardian'' and ''Film/TheButterflyEffect'', has essentially been playing [[Series/That70sShow Michael Kelso]] for the last decade and a half.
* ShiaLaBeouf is the young every-dude in sci-fi/action films produced by Steven Spielberg.
* Bert Lahr, who played The Cowardly Lion in ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', later complained that he was typecast as a lion: "There just aren't all that many parts for lions."
* Subverted by Creator/HeathLedger. After ''Film/TenThingsIHateAboutYou'' came out, Ledger dropped off the Hollywood radar for a year, because he didn't want to be cast as the highschool heartthrob for the rest of his career. Afterwards he appeared in ''Film/ThePatriot'', ''Monster's Ball'', ''Film/AKnightsTale'', and others before breaking out in ''BrokebackMountain'' and finally as the Joker in ''Film/TheDarkKnight''. His final role was Tony in ''The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus''.
* Creator/BruceLee as the Asian version of JohnWayne.
* Creator/ChristopherLee's sepulchral tones had made him a career out of playing villains. Though to be fair, he's well-suited for it, with his razor-thin build, dark eyes, towering height, and [[EvilSoundsDeep powerful deep voice]].
** Somewhat going against type, he plays [[AC: Death]] in the TV adaptation of the first two ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novels.
** He also plays Ansem the Wise in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', whose point on the [[WellIntentionedExtremist villain]] / {{Antihero}} line is inversely proportional to [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation where the Nobodies fall on said line for you]].
* Jay Leno played thug type roles in sitcoms like ''Alice'' and ''LaverneAndShirley'' before becoming the host of ''TheTonightShow''.
* Jared Leto, as the guy who gets the shit kicked out of him.
** He's usually some variation of the Universe's resident [[TheChewToy Chew Toy]], [[TheWoobie Woobie]], or, more routinely, an example of BreakTheCutie simply because his characters ''survive'' the amount of crap they're put through (most of the time...). Film/RequiemForADream anyone? Oh wait, how about ''Film/LordOfWar''?
*** The scene where EdNorton beats him to within an inch of his life in ''Film/FightClub'' is called something like "[[BreakTheCutie Killing the Angel]]."
* Creator/RayLiotta found himself seriously pigeonholed by ''Film/{{Goodfellas}}''. Even in sci-fi thrillers (''No Escape''), he's still playing an ex-con of some sort. Interestingly, he played a cop in ''{{Film/Narc}}'', and his performance was much-acclaimed.
* Creator/JohnLithgow went through a period in the 1980s where he played a scientist in several movies. If it's 1985, and your movie needs a physicist who does ''not'' act like a MadScientist (with [[Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossThe8thDimension an exception]]), then John Lithgow is your man. He plays a computer scientist in 1983's ''Film/TwilightZoneTheMovie'', a University of Kansas science professor in 1983's ''Film/TheDayAfter'', physicists in 1986's ''Film/TheManhattanProject'' and 1984's ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossThe8thDimension'', and an engineer who designs interplanetary spacecraft in 1984's ''[[Film/TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact 2010]]''
* This trope was the bane of Creator/BelaLugosi's life, [[IAmNotSpock poor guy.]] Most of his roles were somewhat [[Film/{{Dracula 1931}} Dracula]]-like villains, even when a film wasn't supernatural. This was so much the case that [[PlayingAgainstType his few good guy roles]] seem to have been intended in part to surprise the viewers in movies such as ''Film/TheBlackCat'' (1934). His favorite role was in ''Ninotchka'', where he finally had a romantic role.
* Creator/PeterLorre, who after his StarMakingRole in ''Film/{{M}}'' quickly became typecast as either creepy villains or varying shades of {{Woobie}} (see ''Film/TheMalteseFalcon'', ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'', etc.). Lorre tried hard to buck this, appearing in comedies (''ArsenicAndOldLace''), action films (''Film/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'') and even occasional romantic roles (''Three Strangers''), but never shook off the bad guy image.
* Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje is typecast as an African. He has a British accent, but he ''always'' performs with a Nigerian accent, apparently off of the success of his breakout role as Adebisi in Series/{{Oz}}''
* Creator/MichaelMadsen (aka [[Film/ReservoirDogs Mr. Blonde]]) as the ultimate gangster/psycho/both (well, except in ''Film/FreeWilly''...). Interestingly this is used by filmmakers either to create a certain feeling (in ''Film/DonnieBrasco'', I'm not sure we'd be so reluctant to trust Sonny Black in the first half of the movie if he was played by someone else) or to confound our expectations (in ''Film/KillBill'', the assassin played by Michael Madsen actually turns out to be a repentant, down-and-out PunchClockVillain who gets {{Eviler Than Thou}}ed by Elle Driver.
** Actually used amusingly in the ''War of the Worlds'' parody bits of the ''ScaryMovie'' franchise. When the guy offering the heroines shelter pulls down his hood and reveals his face, you know he's a nutcase before he's done anything because it's Michael Madsen.
** In recent years, he's been playing American generals and agents in crappy Russian action movies. [[MoneyDearBoy Why, would you ask]]?
* Creator/JohnMalkovich, Creator/GaryOldman and ChristopherWalken are prone to being the inscrutable villain (sometimes AntiVillain, [[Film/InTheLineOfFire but]] [[Film/TheProfessional mostly]] [[Film/BatmanReturns not]]) and/or off-kilter insane. (exceptions: [[BeingJohnMalkovich ...himself]], [[Film/TheManInTheIronMask Athos]] and that guy from ''EmpireOfTheSun''; [[Film/TheDarkKnightSaga Jim Gordon]], [[Film/HarryPotter Sirius Black]] and Beethoven; ...you got me now. Arguably ''Film/TheDeerHunter'')
** ...Who are {{Deadpan Snarker}}s with a CreepyMonotone and weird {{Verbal Tic}}s. Can anyone think of exceptions to ''that?''
*** Exception for ChristopherWalken: Tracey's dad in ''{{Hairspray}}''. [[strike:Ha!]] '''Yaoww... [[VerbalTic WoAAAoow!]]'''
*** Walken's gone on record of [[MoneyDearBoy never turning down a role]], mostly because he wants to try anything. While the roles offered tend to be a bit more odd, it did land him his revival from Fatboy Slim's [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ7z57qrZU8 ''Weapon of Choice'']].
** ''Huge'' exception for GaryOldman: the adorably clueless Rosencrantz in ''RosencrantzAndGuildensternAreDead''. Considering the fact that both lead actors tend to be typecast as creepy villains, the following exchange from said movie becomes particularly awesome:
--->'''Rosencrantz (Gary Oldman):''' I want to go home now.
--->'''Guildenstern (TimRoth):''' Don't let them confuse you...
*** Oldman also has a different category of TypeCasting as a ReasonableAuthorityFigure. Aside from the already mentioned Commissioner Gordon, there is ''TinkerTailorSoldierSpy'', ''Film/RoboCop2014'' and ([[WellIntentionedExtremist extremism aside]]) ''Film/DawnOfThePlanetOfTheApes''.
* James Marsden had the misfortune of being typecast as the RomanticRunnerUp, the DoggedNiceGuy, or a RomanticFalseLead in most of his roles from the ''Film/{{X-Men}}'' trilogy onward (''Film/SupermanReturns'', ''{{Enchanted}}'', ''The Notebook'') until he did ''[[TwentySevenDresses 27 Dresses]]'', in which his character finally ended up with the female protagonist.
* Creator/JamesMarsters is almost always a MagnificentBastard of a villain (even if LoveRedeems him later on), probably because his incredibly high cheekbones scream "Did I happen to mention I'm the (sexy) villain?"
* Creator/JamesMcAvoy is often cast as a WideEyedIdealist or an intellectual (or both--[[Film/XMenFirstClass Professor X]] is the prime example). He has also acknowledged that he is [[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1239690/James-McAvoy-How-I-feel-typecast.html offered many period roles]] because of his skinny build.
-->"It may sound strange, but I think it's because I'm pale and thin. [...] Me, I look like a malnourished urchin, and there aren't too many of us around. I'm healthy, but I've never been a big guy, which is unusual for a Scottish actor [...]. I'm just a little, skinny, weak guy, and always have been."
* Creator/MalcolmMcDowell has been cast in roles that weren't a villainous or otherwise evil character, but most of them are overshadowed by his roles as a bad guy of some flavor (''Film/AClockworkOrange'', ''Film/BlueThunder'', ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'' and ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', among others).
** When he's not outright evil, he still tends to be a BunnyEarsLawyer, with having a arrogant jerkass attitude being the Bunny Ears.
* Ian [=McNeice=] always plays the FatBastard.
* Creator/RickMoranis has been known for being cast as hyperactive fast-talkers, DeadpanSnarker types, and dweeby guys. According to some sources, he got tired of being typecast as the last of these, which is why he's been on hiatus since 1997 (his primary reason was because he needed to raise his kids).
* Jeffrey Dean Morgan always plays the dead guy.
* Look at Glenn Morshower's filmography. Almost all of his characters have a military rank.
* John Moschitta Jr, the world's fastest talker was always typecast as men who can talk very fast. Probably the reason we haven't seen him in anything lately.
* Creator/CillianMurphy, known for his unbelievably creepy performances in ''Film/BatmanBegins'' and ''Film/RedEye'', has vowed never to play a villain again in order to avert becoming typecast (reprising his role in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' and ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' doesn't count, as he was under contract). Meanwhile jury's still out on whether his character from ''Film/TronLegacy'' will be a bad guy or not.
** Meanwhile, in his Irish movies, he'll tend to be the everyman protagonist caught up in a [[TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive situation he is reluctant to be in]].
* Creator/BillMurray plays mostly DeadpanSnarker roles. Ditto for ChevyChase.
** Mostly because that's how they are. Both are known for their huge amounts of Improv and most of their roles are just a long ThrowItIn.
* Creator/LiamNeeson plays the aged badass with a haunted face and a certain chance of getting killed in his movies. If he doesn't die, he makes other people die in his place. (The last bit can either be about ''Film/{{Darkman}}'' or ''Film/BatmanBegins'')
* JackNicholson usually plays quirky characters with a deep dark secret like in ''Film/TheShining'', and often he's the LargeHam. Except in some of his more sentimental roles.
* Leslie Nielsen is an interesting case in that his style never changed, but his image did a 180 degree turn: Pre-''Film/{{Airplane}}'' he was the stern authority figure, but [[LeslieNielsenSyndrome post-]]''Film/{{Airplane}}'': bumbling slapstick idiot. This because the latter always hinged on him delivering completely, outrageously absurd dialogue [[TheComicallySerious with a perfectly straight face.]] Subverted with ''Film/{{Creepshow}}'', where he just plays an evil bastard... although it is over the top.
* The last guy that tried to type cast Creator/ChuckNorris- oh, well, never mind.
** Creator/ChuckNorris simply plays himself [[InvertedTrope Dialed Down]] [[UpToEleven To Eleven]].
* Creator/AlPacino, like [=DeNiro=], is always either a mobster or a cop.
** To put a little spin on his typecast roles, ''Film/ScentOfAWoman'' has him played a blind retired war veteran.
* Christopher [=McDonald=] playing a smarmy Jerkass character.
* Bill Paxton has played a lot of overconfident, enthusiastic guys who get taken down a peg, [[ChronicallyKilledActor sometimes fatally]], [[AvertedTrope sometimes not.]]
* When Josh Peck was still fat, he was known for playing the nerdy, socially akward goofball kid role.
* Creator/RonPerlman is usually cast as Man in a Really Good Monster Costume With None of His Lines Dubbed Over.
** Which is a damned shame as his role as [[Series/BeautyAndTheBeast Vincent]] demonstrated that he is more than capable of expressing subtle emotions and doesn't need to always be TheHeavy.
*** Even as the Heavy, his performance as [[Film/TheCityOfLostChildren One]] showed subtle emotions with no monster costume and none of his lines dubbed over even though he doesn't speak French.
** It wasn't until ''Film/{{Hellboy}}'' that he was able to play a lead character in a major movie, usually he is a smaller character and under so much makeup you almost can't recognize him. He's one of those actors that everyone respects, at least those who have heard of him.
* Creator/JoePesci. Loud, angry, streetwise gangster-type from [[BrooklynRage New York]] with a HairTriggerTemper who may or may not be an AxCrazy psychopath. He's currently retired from acting, perhaps to avoid doing such roles forever. Although he averted this in ''With Honors'' as the still crazy, but charismatic and educated bum Simon B. Wilder. His performance as Vinny in ''Film/MyCousinVinny'' where he was he wasn't crazy. Though he was still a snarky smart ass in both films.
* Jeremy Piven is always the talkative jerk/drunk who spouts off asshole lines for no good reason.
* Jorge Porcel and Alberto Olmedo as the Argentinian AbbottAndCostello.
* Favio Posca as "the family-friendly version of Fernando Peña."
* Creator/OttoPreminger preferred directing to acting, especially after going bald at an early age. He did appear in several productions, almost always in the role of a Nazi. It's ironic that this helped restart his career during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, given that he was an Austrian Jew.
* When ElvisPresley appeared in movies throughout the 50's and 60's most of them were as the happy-go-lucky guy in musical comedies such as ''Live A Little, Love A Little'' ''Kissin' Cousins'' and ''Stay Away Joe''. Although he did play against type in a Creator/ClintEastwood-style western called ''Charro!''.
* VincentPrice, as 'the really creepy scary movie actor'.
* Jonathan Pryce is prone to playing authority figures. Among his most high-profile roles of this type are [[{{Evita}} Juan Perón]], [[PiratesOfTheCaribbean Governor Swann]], and ultimately the [[Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra U.S. President]]. Before that, he was being [[Film/{{Brazil}} pursued by authority figures]]...
* Creator/JeremyRenner tends to play [[AntiHero badass loose-cannon]] types. See ''Film/{{SWAT}}'' and ''Film/TheHurtLocker'' for two prime examples.
* George Reeves, famous for his role of Superman in [[Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperman the 1950s live-action television show]], couldn't get himself any serious work, despite many attempts to break that mold. His dead-end career has been one of many theories as to why he [[spoiler:[[DrivenToSuicide shot himself in the head]]]].
** According to rumor, he gained a role in the 1953 film ''From Here To Eternity'' but his part was cut back when audiences, associating him with Superman, chuckled whenever he appeared on-screen. However Fred Zinnemann, the director, insists that this is not true.
* Creator/KeanuReeves is the embodiment of spaced-out characters. See ''Film/TheMatrix'', ''Film/BillAndTedsExcellentAdventure'', and ''Film/AScannerDarkly''. There is some debate over [[DullSurprise how intentional this is]].
** It's a pity that so few people have seen the movies in which he plays TheHeavy: in ''Film/TheGift2000'', he plays a violent, wife-beating redneck, and in ''Film/TheWatcher'', he plays a SerialKiller. As an ActionHero? Not so much.
* To younger American audiences,it would probably be weird to see Creator/AlanRickman as anything but the creepy bad guy with the sexy voice thanks to ''Film/DieHard'', ''Film/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'' and ''Film/HarryPotter'' (though he's [[spoiler:just a red herring bad guy]]), even though his career has seen him in a very wide variety of roles. (''Film/SenseAndSensibility'', ''Film/LoveActually'', ''Film/GalaxyQuest'', ''Film/{{Dogma}}'')
** In his own words: "I don't play villains. I play very interesting people."
* Creator/EricRoberts really lends himself well to playing SmugSnake villains (quite literally in ''Series/DoctorWho''). His career started out promising enough, described by one magazine as having a profile so handsome "it could be struck on a Roman coin." But his serious roles went unregarded, so he willingly became typecast to keep working.
-->''"I’ll do anything as long as there’s one good thing about it. It can be a good co-star, a good director, a really great wardrobe. [[AwesomeDearBoy As long as it’s fun]], I'll do it."''
** [[Creator/JuliaRoberts His sister's]] shadow still looms large (and [[Creator/EmmaRoberts his daughter]] is quickly catching up), but as a positive, he's proven an [[NarmCharm acquired taste]] among critics who grew up watching his schlock. Where once casting Eric Roberts was a sign of full-tilt laziness, the irony meter has gone full circle to where letting Roberts run wild will produce the best scenes in the film.
* Andrew J. Robinson made his film debut as the baby-faced serial killer Scorpio in ''Film/DirtyHarry''. He was so associated with the role that, despite winning an Emmy as the lead on ''Series/RyansHope'', he was recast after 2 seasons because they didn't want someone noted for playing a serial killer as a sympathetic lead. He went on to play a whole string of psychotic killers in films like ''Film/{{Hellraiser}}'' and ''Film/ChildsPlay3'', until he finally got to play one of the good guys: former assassin and torturer Elim Garak in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''.
* Edward G. Robinson, before he was known as the vocal inspiration for ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' character Chief Wiggum, was famous for playing gangster Rico in the unflinchingly violent ''Film/LittleCaesar'' (1931). In his private life, Robinson was an enthusiastic art collector who hated guns -- in fact, when firing blanks on the movie set, he had to tape his eyes open to keep from blinking in horror.
* Creator/JulianSands is...Julian Sands. No other way to put it, really. He was typecast as a ''good guy'', before ''{{Film/Warlock}}'', when he auditioned for the heroic Ferne. After that, it was all comic book villainy for JS.
** He did play Superman's father, Jor-El, in the ''{{Series/Smallville}}'' continuity. (You may have noticed Hollywood 'bad guys' tend to play Jor-El on television: Terrence Stamp, David Warner, Christoper Mcdonald.)
* Creator/AndySerkis is the go to guy for MotionCapture performances. However this enables to play many different roles. Since playing Gollum in ''Lord of the Rings'', he's played King Kong, Caesar in the ''Planet of the Apes'' reboot franchise, and Captain Haddock in ''Tintin''. His role in the upcoming ''Star Wars Episode VII'' film is also a motion capture performance. That said he does have roles outside MotionCapture such as Nikola Tesla's assistant in ''The Prestige'', and Albert Einstein in ''Einstein and Eddington'', but it's his motion capture roles that get the most attention. Like many a British actor he also plays villains like Rigaud in the BBC's 2008 adaption of Charles Dickens' ''Little Dorrit'' and was the voice of Screwtape in Focus on the Family's radio play of C.S. Lewis' ''The Screwtape Letters''.
* Creator/TimRoth usually plays thugs/murderers/convicts/all of the above at the same time. And he tends to die violent deaths.
** He's playing a rare good guy (and television role) in ''Series/LieToMe''.
* Mickey Rourke plays criminals. Thuggish criminals, insane criminals, diabolical criminal masterminds; In the twilight of his career, he's defied convention by appearing as...[[RetiredOutlaw retired criminals]]. No wonder he briefly retired to take up boxing.
* Creator/AdamSandler frequently plays the JerkWithAHeartOfGold, is Jewish, just like him. He rarely even changes his hair. He also likes to have weird vocal quirks and act like a social retard, yet somehow get the hot female lead.
* Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger, in any action movie he stars in, plays unstoppable badasses. Once he is committed to a given task, ''[[{{Determinator}} nothing]]'' (including [[Film/{{Predator}} an invisible alien]], [[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay shape-shifting]] [[Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines robots]] or [[Film/EndOfDays Satan]]) [[{{Determinator}} is going to sway him or stand in his way]]... no, actually, except for [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} Sarah Connor]] and [[Film/BatmanAndRobin Batman]]. And if he is playing a father or is otherwise in charge of kids, ''[[PapaWolf do not mess with them if you value your life]]''.
* Sadly, Creator/JerrySeinfeld will never, ever, ''ever'' be able to act in any live-action role whatsoever. At least, not until he is past the age of 70. Fortunately, the fact that he is one of the greatest comedy icons of TheNineties doesn't seem to have penetrated his mind, so for ten years he was happy just being a stand-up comedian, as he was before (and ''within'') [[Series/{{Seinfeld}} his prime-time reign]].
* Creator/TomSelleck has been typecast as cops or soldiers, particularly in ''Series/MagnumPI'' and ''Series/BlueBloods''. Selleck himself, however, claims that [[AmericanGunPolitics his support for the NRA]] has hurt his career.
* Creator/MichaelShannon seems to always play robotic men who are one stubbed toe away from a psychotic break.
* Creator/JKSimmons has a tendency to play hardened killers and, in more recent years, blustery boss characters: J.J. Jameson in Sam Raimi's ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'', Cave "We're Done here" Johnson in ''Videogame/{{Portal 2}}'', and Chief Will Pope on ''Series/TheCloser.'' (Cave is arguably a blend of the two.)
* Creator/JohnSimm is the man to go to when you want angst. Up until his late thirties, practically all the roles he played were those of cocky, broody, bratty young men (''The Lakes'', ''Human Traffic'', ''Cracker''). When he isn't playing angsty Northeners (most notably in ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}''), he's playing angsty 17th century mercenaries (''The Devil's Whore'') or angsty 19th century Russian axe mudrerers (''Crime and Punishment'') or angsty Danish princes (''Hamlet'') or angsty reporters (''Series/StateOfPlay'', ''Series/SexTraffic''). He only breaks out of the angst if he gets to play an over-the-top villain (Caligula, [[Series/DoctorWho The Master]]). Fitting for a guy who's frighteningly convincing when he cries.
* Edward Van Sloan plays the same vaguely Germanic, gentlemanly, all-knowing doctor who is willing to take on the supernatural in ''[[Film/{{Dracula 1931}} Dracula]]'' (1931, as Dr. Van Helsing), ''Film/{{Frankenstein|1931}}'' (1931, as Dr. Waldman), and ''[[Film/TheMummy1932 The Mummy]]'' (1932, as Dr. Müller).
* Creator/WillSmith always plays the charming, witty leading man/action hero.
** Except in ''Film/{{Hancock}}'', in which he plays a drunk loser despite the superpower he has.
** Or ''Film/ThePursuitOfHappyness''.
* James Spader's still playing a marble-mouthed sex freak, twenty years after ''Film/SexLiesAndVideotape''.
** Since ''Series/BostonLegal'' wrapped up in 2008, he has diversified somewhat by continuing to play Alan Shore. (On ''Series/TheOfficeUS'' and in David Mamet's ''Race''.)
* You've got a fantasy or horror setting, and your EvilOverlord needs a [[CowardlySidekick comically incompetent]] but [[TheRenfield very loyal]] henchman? Creator/TimothySpall is your man, as evidenced by ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'' (and subsequent Potter films), ''Film/{{Enchanted}}'', and ''Film/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet''. He's recently tried to break out by playing the goddamn WinstonChurchill in ''Film/TheKingsSpeech''.
* Creator/JasonStatham, who is always a bald badass (except for a minor role in ''ThePinkPanther'' remake... and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnomeo_and_Juliet this upcoming movie]]).
* Creator/RayStevenson seems to be starting to get stuck in a typecast as a hedonistic, laid-back, but still formidable warrior type; In ''Series/{{Rome}}'' he was Titus Pullo, in ''Film/{{Thor}}'' he portrayed Volstagg, and in ''Film/{{The Three Musketeers|2011}}'', he's the type-codifying Porthos.
* Creator/PatrickStewart, at least in movies and on TV, he seems to be typecast for the "good, wise non-action leader" role, especially "good king" - which makes it either very funny when he plays against type (see ''Film/{{Jeffrey}}'' - snarky, somewhat CampGay interior designer and Pink Panther activist - and ''Film/ConspiracyTheory'' - "''evil'', wise non-action leader") or rather unsettling (''Theatre/TheLionInWinter'' - still superficially the affable "good king", but the dialogue establishes really quickly that he's actually a selfish, scheming jerk who has [[WifeHusbandry taken someone raised almost as an adoptive daughter as his mistress]])
* Creator/MarkStrong, as a [[BaldOfEvil bald villain]] with [[EvilBrit an English accent]].
* Creator/PeterStormare, professional sleazy, violent, Eastern European thug. Or a kooky, over-the-top, scenery-chewing character of pretty much any nationality.
* Pity the fool who messes with Creator/MrT.
* Terry-Thomas always played an upright QuintessentialBritishGentleman, although sometimes the "upright" only applied to his posture, and not his morals.
* Billy Bob Thornton was briefly typecast as {{Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist}}s after ''Film/BadSanta'' became a box office hit.
* Film/TheThreeStooges.
* One could summarize Danny Trejo's start in acting thusly: He was training another actor how to fight after having networked his way onto the film in prison, when someone says, "You look like an ex-con! Come over here and play and ex-con." And now, he gets a [[Film/{{Machete}} film]] showcasing his [[{{Badass}} talents]].
* It looks like Michael Trucco is being typecast as "the other side of the love triangle". He played that role to [[spoiler:Starbuck and Apollo (sort of; their relationship is more complicated)]], to [[Series/TheBigBangTheory Leonard and Penny]] ([[spoiler:contributing in their getting together]]), to [[Series/{{Castle}} Beckett and Castle]], and, briefly to [[Series/HowIMetYourMother Barney and Robin]].
* Chris Tucker as the effeminate comedy relief.
* Creator/EricVale [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] that he's often cast as a douchebag.
* Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme and Creator/StevenSeagal as an overweight, washed-up action heroes in [[DirectToVideo direct-to-DVD movies]].
** ... which Jean spoofed in the film ''Film/{{JCVD}}''. Seagal has yet to show his sense of humor...
*** He pretty much does this in ''Film/{{Machete}}''.
*** Seagal appeared as a parody of his usual roles in ''Film/TheOnionMovie'', as the Cock Puncher.
** Seagal always plays himself in every role. Always a ex-SEAL/military/CIA/cop agent who unreluctantly finds himself back on the job without. He is also without emotion, merciless and invincible.
* Do you need a [[DeadpanSnarker snarky]], [[SmugSnake smug]], [[EvilBrit British]], [[JerkAss bad guy]] who loves to [[ChewingTheScenery get into his work]]? Then you want MarkSheppard. Seriously, the entries in his resume where he isn't playing a villain are the ones who stand out. Most prominently known as Badger from ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', [[TheDevil Crowley]] from ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', Canton Everett Deleware from ''Series/DoctorWho'' (one of his few non-villain roles), and Nate Ford's EvilCounterpart Jim Sterling in ''Series/{{Leverage}}''. He also was the antagonist for the first half of season five of ''Series/TwentyFour'', The Ring Director in ''Series/{{Chuck}}'', and the first VillainOfTheWeek in ''Series/WhiteCollar'' he later returned in the show's fifth season as its main antagonist.
* If a movie script includes an Eastern European mobster, general, or scientist, chances are the character will be played by Rade Šerbedžija.
* Vince Vaughn as the awkward nice guy, whether he's the protagonist or the best friend of the protagonist. He also usually has a hot girlfriend.
** The remake of ''Film/{{Psycho|1998}}'' is an exception.
*** Speaking of ''Film/{{Psycho}}'', the original Norman Bates - Anthony Perkins - faced typecasting twice. Prior to ''Psycho,'' Perkins seemed to be making a career playing the tall-and-gangly, boyishly charming male ingenue-like characters. After ''Psycho,'' he ended up playing creepy weirdos/psychopaths a majority of the time.
* It wasn't particularly imaginative making Reginald [=VelJohnson's=] character in ''FamilyMatters'' a policeman, considering he had already played a cop in ''Film/DieHard'', ''Film/TurnerAndHooch'', ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}'', the TV movie ''One of Her Own''...
* After his BigBad role in ''Film/NochnoiDozor'', Russian actor Viktor Verzhbitskiy has played one villain after another, including at least three [[CorruptCorporateExecutive evil oligarchs]]. Thanks to his [[LargeHam larger-than-life acting style]], he is often the only reason to watch those movies.
* Whenever Music/TomWaits appears in a movie, he's usually crazy and/or magical. The crazy magical hobo schtick is actually a large part of his musical persona too.
** Music/DavidBowie is a similar case of musical and movie personas overlapping as he is usually cast in roles that take advantage of what the trailer for his movie ''Film/TheHunger'' (in which he played a vampire) called his "cruel elegance"; whether his character is good or evil, he usually has a mysterious, cool aura. This has served him well in a [[Film/TheManWhoFellToEarth colorful]] [[Film/MerryChristmasMrLawrence variety]] [[Film/{{Labyrinth}} of roles]] [[Film/TheLastTemptationOfChrist over]] [[Film/ThePrestige time]]. He also isn't afraid to play it for comedy or just play against type on occasion -- in the ShortFilm ''Jazzin' for Blue Jean'' he gets to do [[Main/ActingForTwo both]]!
* The late, great Eli Wallach always played villains of some sort, from conflicted BitchinSheepsClothing [[Film/TheMisfits Guido]] to goofy, likable AntiVillain [[TheGoodtheBadandtheUgly Tuco]]. In fact, after Tuco, Wallach was typecast a couple of times as the schlubby, off-the-wall bandito. In his old age, however, he played more mellow and kind-hearted roles such as in ''Film/TheHoliday''.
* Creator/PatrickWarburton is always cast as the big, dumb, lovable guy -- [[Disney/TheEmperorsNewGroove Kronk]], [[{{Seinfeld}} Puddy]], TheTick, and so on.
** Except in ''{{Hoodwinked}}'', where he somehow got to be the IntrepidReporter, and the big dumb guy role went to Jim Belushi.
* DenzelWashington as either a real life figure or a law enforcer.
* JohnWayne is John Wayne, ''pilgrim''.
** The Duke himself [[LampshadeHanging put it best when he said]], "I play John Wayne in every movie, regardless of the character."
* Creator/RobinWilliams did voices. And funny stuff. Not so much later, but he continued to entertain and touch hearts. Even in death.
** Creator/RogerEbert said of ''Film/PatchAdams'', "This is a role Robin Williams was born to play. In fact he ''was'' born playing it."
** He mixes in drama now and then, with ''Film/DeadPoetsSociety'' or ''Film/GoodWillHunting''. Granted, the funny will still sneak in for a small moment, but it tends to be much, ''much'' more subdued and realistic.
*** Then there's ''Film/MrsDoubtfire'', which couldn't make up its mind.
** Then there's ''Film/OneHourPhoto'', which [[AxCrazy could]]. And then there's ''Film/{{Insomnia}}''.
* Every role of Henry Winkler aka "[[Series/HappyDays Fonzie]] these days seems to be as an outrageously incompetent lawyer in various sitcoms and movies.
* All through TheEighties, Michael Winslow tended to be The Guy Who Makes Noises. In fact, his entire career is built on being The Guy Who Makes Noises. He even admits this.
** That's who he is in real life. Though he was a voice in ''Film/{{Gremlins}}''.
* Ray Winstone is invariably some kind of East End thug. Unless he's [[Film/{{Beowulf}} a boastful Anglo-Saxon thug]].
* Creator/ElijahWood is usually typecast as the wide-eyed innocent charming boy, ten years before playing Frodo from ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings''. But since ''LOTR'' he's been desperately trying to avoid typecasting as, well, Frodo (wide-eyed innocent + MessianicArchetype). In fact, he was cast as a tough vandal in ''Green Street'' (also known as ''Hooligans'') because he represented corrupted innocence.
** He then completely reverses the ship by playing twisted serial killer Kevin in ''Film/SinCity''.
*** His last role before ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' was a hitman. A 17 year old hitman in [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_of_Fools_(film) a brilliant comedy.]] He was the best part of it.
* A truly bizarre spin on the trope: judging by his most high-profile roles, Creator/SamWorthington has been typecast as... a HalfHumanHybrid (''Film/TerminatorSalvation'', ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', ''ClashOfTheTitans'').
** ... A Half-Human Hybrid created by the villains to join up with the heroes and bring them down from within, but eventually changes sides through ThePowerOfLove and plays a pivotal role in defeating his creators.
* Chow Yun-Fat is good at playing tragic heroes in Hong Kong action movies. Since his work with JohnWoo, nearly every gunplay role he plays has him using [[GunsAkimbo two guns]] at least once in the movie.
** ... and [[VideoGame/{{Stranglehold}} game]].
* Joe Pantoliano is usually typecast as villains or moles for villains. These include such roles as Ralph Cifaretto on ''Series/TheSopranos'' and Cypher in ''Film/TheMatrix''. The only possible exception would be his time as US Marshal Samuel Gerard's second-in-command Cosmo Renfro in ''Film/TheFugitive'' and ''Film/USMarshals''.
* Broadway actor Patrick Page is known for playing a wide array of villain roles on the stage. His past roles include Iago in ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'', the Green Goblin in ''Theatre/SpiderManTurnOffTheDark'', TheGrinch in the musical adaptation of ''Literature/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas'', and Claude Frollo in ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' musical.
* Creator/DeanNorris has been typecast as a cop or soldier for most of his career, Hank Schrader in ''Series/BreakingBad'' being the most notable of these.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Actresses]]
* Actresses who star in {{horror}} movies tend to pick up reputations as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scream_queen "scream queens."]] Some actresses (such as Debbie Rochon and Creator/JamieLeeCurtis) have embraced the title, while others resent it ([[Film/KingKong1933 Fay Wray]] wound up taking her career to England because of it). A full list can be found on TheOtherWiki.
* Overweight black actresses (such as Mo'Nique and Music/QueenLatifah) are often typecast as the SassyBlackWoman, or as a [[EthnicMenialLabor Mammy]] type back in the day. Such actresses are often criticized for only choosing stereotypical roles, despite the fact that these roles are often the only ones they can get.
** Mo'Nique completely averts this in ''[[Literature/{{Push}} [=Precious=]]]'', and it could very well launch her career into new heights.
** Hattie [=McDaniel=] might as well have made {{Mammy}} her StageName; her screen contract forbade her from losing weight. Criticized by other African-Americans for playing these roles, she said, "I'd rather [[MoneyDearBoy play a maid and make $700 a week]], than be a maid for $7."
* Characters played by British actresses Imelda Staunton and Pam Ferris are often of the JerkAss and/or SadistTeacher variety. See ''Film/HarryPotter'' and ''Film/{{Matilda}}'' for examples.
* And now we move onto the Deadpan Snarker Section:
** Rose McGowan is always the deadpan snarker, because that's who she is in real life.
** Emma Stone is always the deadpan snarker in teen comedies or rom-coms who often squints her eyes and mouths her words.
** Mila Kunis is always the deadpan snarker in comedies (though not always the same ''type''). Averted with ''Film/OzTheGreatAndPowerful'' and ''Film/MaxPayne''.
* Blondes carry their own stigma: they can either play [[ReallyGetsAround the Jezebel]], the [[AlphaBitch mean girl]], [[DumbBlonde the bimbo]], or some combination thereof.
* Creator/JenniferAniston. Plays the girl next door and... the girl next door. Most of her post-''Film/{{Leprechaun}}'' movies are {{Rom Com}}s, except ''Derailed'' (where she has an affair and [[RapeAsDrama is raped]] and {{blackmail}}ed). Other exceptions: ''The Good Girl'', ''MarleyAndMe'' and ''Film/HorribleBosses''.
* Devon Aoki is the badass Asian girl.
** Also, she doesn't talk as much as she acts.
* Amy Acker tends to play scientists whenever Joss Whedon casts her - ''Series/{{Angel}}'', ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'', ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods''.
* When Creator/BeaArthur was cast as Dorothy Zbornak in ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'', the similarities to ''Series/{{Maude}}'' were noticed immediately and she was asked if she was worried about being typcast. She responded that life was too short to worry about that.
** Although, ''The Golden Girls'' almost had this happen three times over. Originally the other two parts were reversed, Betty White was to play the bitchy man-eater Blanche and Rue [=McClanahan=] was to play to cheerful airhead Rose. These lined up pretty well with the actresses previous roles, White's Sue Ann Nivens on ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' and Vivian Harmon of ''Maude.'' When the show was cast this way, Arthur declined, saying she didn't want to do "Maude and Vivian meet Sue Ann." It was only after the parts were switched that she agreed.
* Angela Bettis' characters are either socially outcast and {{strange|Girl}} (''Film/{{May}}'', the 2002 remake of ''Film/{{Carrie|2002}}'') or mentally unhinged (''Film/{{May}}'' again, ''Film/GirlInterrupted'')
* Jessica Biel was worried enough about her typecasting as the "[[GirlNextDoor good girl]]" from ''[[SeventhHeaven 7th Heaven]]'' (which had cost her the lead role in ''Film/AmericanBeauty'') that she [[PublicExposure posed half-naked]] for ''Gear'' magazine (when she [[JailBait was seventeen!]]) in order to shake off that image and get out of her contract on the show. It worked.
* Nikki Blonsky always seems to get typecast as a fat teenager who's around to prove a point. This may be the main reason why her career never took off despite a lot of hype for her in the beginning.
* Characters played by Mischa Barton usually tend to end up in relationships with other girls, at least briefly. The same is sometimes true for her [[Series/TheOC OC]] girlfriend Olivia Wilde.
* Creator/ClaudiaBlack seems to show up as capable, confident, and very [[DeadpanSnarker sarcastic]] characters, whether she is there in person or it is just her voice.
* Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter used to be TheIngenue. Since the late nineties, however, she's typically been a darkly funny nutcase, often with a dishevelled look (''Film/FightClub'', ''Film/HarryPotter'', ''Film/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'', ''Film/LesMiserables2012''), and when not, she is virtually ''always'' in a less-than-glamorous/villainous role (''Film/PlanetOfTheApes2001'', ''Film/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'', ''Film/AliceInWonderland'')
* Italian actress Margherita Buy is almost always typecast as neurotic, stressed, over-worked career women.
* Creator/CharismaCarpenter tends to be cast as the toothy and superficial airhead (with examples such as ''[[Series/BuffytheVampireSlayer Buffy]]'' and ''Series/VeronicaMars''), though after ''Series/{{Angel}}'' supplied the former with CharacterDevelopment she proved that she could do better. Alas.
* Courtney Cox has tended to play uber bitch characters, sometimes with a HiddenHeartOfGold, sometimes without. See: ''Franchise/{{Scream}}'', ''Dirt'', ''Cougar Town'', ''Tomboy'', and her role in ''{{Scrubs}}'' as examples. Her most [[{{Series/Friends}} famous role]] was even Flanderised into this.
* Joan Crawford had to suffer greatly in whatever film she starred in. Especially if it was made during the 1930s or 40s.
* FeliciaDay has made a living as the soft-spoken, slightly neurotic geek girl (WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog, TheGuild, her part on Series/{{Eureka}}). Many fans didn't even recognise her when she played a bitter ActionSurvivor in a couple of episode of ''{{Series/Dollhouse}}''
* Creator/ZooeyDeschanel seems to either play the DeadpanSnarker or the ManicPixieDreamGirl. Or both. (See ''Failure to Launch''; she stole the movie.) She's the LoveInterest a lot of the time, too.
* Loretta Devine is almost always cast as a doting mother/grandmother. And, she is rarely in starring roles.
** Except in ''Film/UrbanLegend'' and its sequel ''Film/UrbanLegendsFinalCut''.
* If you are looking for someone to play a beautiful woman that should not be trusted, look no further than Creator/NatalieDormer.
* Need a {{fragile flower}}? This was Lesley-Anne Down's stock and trade during the seventies, eighties, ''and'' nineties. She deserves some kind of lifetime achievement award for her facial tics, lip-bitings, and eye-flutterings. Oddly, she also has a history of playing mothers beginning way back in 1994 with ''Munchie Strikes Back'' and continuing through ''Series/SunsetBeach'' (got knocked up by her own daughter's boyfriend) and ''Series/TheBoldAndTheBeautiful'' (an extremely busy cougar).
-->'''[[http://dlisted.com/2009/08/03/hot-slut-of-the-week-lesley-anne-down/ Michael K.]]''': Lesley plays Jack Wagner’s mom on the show even though she’s only 5 years older than his ass! Most actresses would shank a bitch over that, but Lesley is a true professional and thespian! ...On today’s episode, Jackie got attacked by a cougar on a photo shoot! A real-life cougar, not the kind that slobbers over young peen.
* Creator/ElizaDushku is a sexy morally unclear tough cookie in practically everything. Even if she's not an ActionGirl, she'll still rise to occasion and beat somebody's ass. ''(Series/{{Dollhouse}}'' only [[StarDerailingRole sealed the deal]] further.) Harrier jets may be involved.
* Creator/AnnaFaris is ''not'' always TheBrainlessBeauty, but she clearly has no problem with it.
* For a girl who's still not out of her teens, Creator/JodelleFerland sure has played a lot of {{creepy child}}ren. See: Bree Tanner in ''[[Literature/{{Twilight}} The Twilight Saga: Eclipse]]'', Sharon/Alessa in ''Film/SilentHill'', Lilith in ''Film/{{Case 3}}9'', Jenny in ''Film/TheTallMan'', Patience Buckner in ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'', and a young Carrie White in the 2002 version of ''Film/{{Carrie|2002}}''.
-->"They like to cast me for scary roles. I think it`s because they want you to be scared, but also to like the little girl."
* After her roles in ''Series/ThirtyRock'' and ''Baby Mama'', Creator/TinaFey is practically angling to have herself typecast as neurotic career women with droll personalities. That, or as [[CelebrityResemblance Sarah Palin]].
* MeganFox prior to Transformers often played the AlphaBitch. She's ''slowly'' moving out of this, though.
* SummerGlau tends to be cast as [[{{Moe}} adorable]], [[AxCrazy slightly]] [[CloudCuckoolander unhinged]] [[TheOphelia characters]] who either [[WaifFu kick ass]] or [[TheWoobie induce powerful sympathy]] -- sometimes at the same time.
--> [[http://xkcd.com/579/ "I eat my body weight in food every 31 days. That's slightly faster than the human average."]]
* Characters played by Creator/HeatherGraham seem to tend to end up having a lot of sex for one reason or another.
** It's probably because [[BestKnownForTheFanservice she's willing to get naked on camera]]. [[MsFanservice Constantly]].
** Let's be honest though, this happens to most attractive young actresses who are both really talented ''and'' willing to get naked on camera. See also: Anne Hathaway, Kate Winslet, Jennifer Connelly, Eva Green, Salma Hayek. Heck, HelenMirren's career started this way, and some of her later roles [[LampshadeHanging lampshade it]] tongue in cheek.
* Creator/AlysonHannigan played the sweet, shy Willow before her role in ''Film/AmericanPie'' where she was the sweet, shy Michelle, who turned out to not only be a CovertPervert but a {{Dominatrix}} as well. These character traits would [[CharacterDevelopment cross over]] into Buffy and later on her role on ''Series/HowIMetYourMother''.
* Creator/KatherineHeigl usually plays a high maintenance woman who, while successful in her career, has a poor love life.
* Ever since ''Film/TheFifthElement'' and especially ''Film/ResidentEvil'', Creator/MillaJovovich has played her fair share of {{Action Girl}}s. If not an action girl, she often plays the seductress who gets naked a lot.
* Creator/DeborahKerr's career was mostly her playing the English Rose ProperLady in lavish costume dramas - something which ''From Here To Eternity'' [[note]] Where she played a FakeAmerican unhappy wife who cheats on her husband with a Pearl Harbour soldier [[/note]] was an attempt to break out of. She also played a lot of governesses - ''Theatre/TheKingAndI'', ''The Chalk Garden'', ''Film/TheInnocents''.
* Period Movie: A type of film which features Creator/KeiraKnightley wearing GorgeousPeriodDress and [[MsFanservice occasionally nude]]. She's the plucky main character and is most likely a little ahead of her time. She chose to tweak it slightly when ''{{Atonement}}'' came around as she was approached to play the adult Briony, but chose to play Cecilia instead as she'd "had enough of coming-of-age ladies".
** Keira Knightley is giving Kate Winslet her a run for her money though "Princess of Thieves', "Pride and prejudice", "Pirates of the Caribbean", "Atonement", "King Arthur", "Silk", "The Duchess" "Anna Karenina" Corset Keira anyone?
** Keira's non-period movies typically have her as a brash BitchWithAHeartOfGold where her love interest is the one that discovers the heart of gold. ''BendItLikeBeckham'', ''Film/TheHole'', ''Domino'' and ''Film/TheJacket'' are examples.
* Creator/ChiakiKuriyama plays CuteAndPsycho (such as ''Film/KillBill'', ''Film/BattleRoyale'', or ''{{Film/Oyayubihime}}'') quite well and she's also a ChronicallyKilledActor (The first two films mentioned, ''Film/TheGreatYokaiWar'', among others). In her own words she is often seen as "the scary one".
* JenniferLawrence often plays a troubled protagonist who spends half the film having her personal problems haunt her.
* If Creator/BlakeLively is part of any circle of {{four|temperament ensemble}}, she will always be Sanguine.
* Myrna Loy was a classic example; she spent her early career stuck playing evil foreign [[TheVamp vamps]], and then when she [[Film/TheThinMan finally managed]] to get more high-profile parts, she became best known for playing wholesome mother-type roles.
* Remember how fiesty and colourful Amy Madigan was as the wife in ''Film/FieldOfDreams''? Well she's since become typecast as a joyless crone who's probably insane. The mind boggles.
** Because she [[Series/{{Carnivale}} does "batshit crazy"]] [[Series/CriminalMinds really well]].
* Mercedes Masohn is Swedish yet has played Latinas on ''Castle, TheFinder, Common Law,'' and ''NCISLosAngeles''.
* Whenever Creator/MarleeMatlin is on screen, the show centers around being deaf. Same goes for Shoshannah Stern.
** Marlee's role on ''TheWestWing'' was mostly unrelated to being deaf. Sometimes (see also her roles in ''Walker'' (ever wanted to know the sign language for "Go fuck a pig!"?), ''The Linguini Incident'' and ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'').
* Creator/SierraMcCormick is typically cast as one of various types of strange girl, most frequently the {{Cloudcuckoolander}} (''Series/ANTFarm'') and CreepyChild (''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', ''Series/{{Jessie}}'').
* Despite being Irish in real life KatieMcGrath usually plays flighty, occasionally evil [[FakeBrit British]] aristocratic beauties.
* Creator/ChloeMoretz is the precocious strange girl who is almost always WiseBeyondHerYears (''Film/FiveHundredDaysOfSummer'', ''Film/{{Hugo}}''), sometimes engages in TroublingUnchildhoodBehavior (''Film/KickAss'', ''Hick''), and is often somehow connected to the supernatural (''Film/LetMeIn'', ''Film/DarkShadows'', the 2013 ''Film/{{Carrie|2013}}'' and Emily the Strange adaptations).
* Cathy Moriarty was an unknown before her splash as [[Film/RagingBull Vicki LaMotta]], and looked to be Hollywood's newest sexpot. One nasty car wreck and [[GutturalGrowler 8 million cigarettes]] later, [[TheBaroness and, well...]] While by no means unattractive today, most of her credits have been black comedies or horror flicks.
* Actress Lupe Ontiveros estimates that she's played a maid between 150 and 300 times on screen.
* Creator/EllenPage is either The Troubled Teen or [[DeadpanSnarker The Smarty Teen]]. Or both. Not that there isn't a lot of range in [[HardCandy those]] [[{{Juno}} roles]]. With ''Film/{{Inception}}'', she breaks new ground playing the smarty college student which is just a bit older than a teenager. Her roles could also be a {{Tomboy}} in general.
* Sarah Jessica Parker tended to play [[BrainlessBeauty sexy airheads]] in her pre- ''SexAndTheCity'' days (''Film/LAStory'', ''Film/HocusPocus'', ''Film/MarsAttacks''). ''After'' she did ''SexAndTheCity'' she has mostly played brainy but uptight or neurotic romantic heroines (''Film/TheFamilyStone'', ''Smart People''.)
* Joan Plowright is the ultimate Sweet Old English Lady, except for ''Film/BringingDownTheHouse'' where she plays a racially-ignorant GrandeDame who gets stoned and becomes a CoolOldLady.
* Creator/CCHPounder usually plays some sort of AffablyEvil authority figure. This even extends to animated works: she was Amanda Waller on ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague''.
** Oddly averted in her breakout role, ''BagdadCafe'', where she is in charge of delivering the WhoopiEpiphanySpeech.
** Now subverted with ''Warehouse13'': Mrs. Frederic is definitely an authority figure, but rather than being AffablyEvil, she is a gruff, kind of creepy [[DaChief Chief]] who nevertheless ''not'' evil (so far).
* Keri Lynn Pratt can never be cast as anything but a variation of TheDitz, due to her comically squeaky voice. A ditzy intern on ''Series/BrothersAndSisters'', ditzy girlfriend Missy on ''Series/JackAndBobby'', then a ditzy sorority girl in ''Series/VeronicaMars'' [[spoiler:albeit a manipulative, lying, blackmailing one]]. With a voice like that, it seems like there's no way for anyone to take her seriously.
* Lucy Punch (real name) gets regular work as the boozing, superficial floozy. She's been trying to break into Hollywood of late, resulting in a few serious roles--or, at times, even sluttier ones (''Film/DinnerForSchmucks'').
* Catalina Saavedra originally refused (angrily) the role of Raquel in ''Film/TheMaid'' (2009 Chilean film) because she had already played too many maids.
* Luciana Salazar as "eye candy on rehashed sequel of an old comedy franchise/movie based on cartoon".
* Ever since ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody'', Creator/BrendaSong has been typecast as the AsianAirhead in Creator/{{Disney}} productions. Ironically, her first major role was in a Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} show, ''Series/OneHundredDeedsForEddieMcdowd'', as an ''[[AsianAndNerdy egghead]]'' -- a retroactive PlayingAgainstType. Outside of Disney, she still occasionally gets typecast as an AsianAirhead. It seems she's just good at ''really'' crazy comedy.
* Despite not even being 21 yet, Music/JennetteMccurdy of ''Series/ICarly'' fame has already been typecast to MeanCharacterNiceActor type roles, getting several AlphaBitch characters as well as the occasionally sociopathic Sam Puckett.
%% * If Creator/JordinSparks is part of a FiveManBand, she's TheBigGuy.
* TildaSwinton as the androgynous IceQueen. ''Film/TheCuriousCaseOfBenjaminButton'' completely turns it around with her as a ShrinkingViolet who is also a RomanticFalseLead.
* Although her most popular role was as Elliot's mom in ''[[Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial E.T.]]'', the rest of Dee Wallace's acting career seems to subsist of that of the victim in various horror films, with ''TheHowling'', ''TheHillsHaveEyes'', ''Film/{{Cujo}}'' and the remake of ''Film/{{Halloween 2007}}'' being amoung the most popular.
** Subverted in ''Film/TheFrighteners'', where she is portrayed as the victim only to [[spoiler: change gears halfway through the film to become the villain)]].
* Kelly Preston seems to usually play the doting mother in family films (e.g. ''Film/JackFrost1998'', ''What a Girl Wants'', ''Film/TheCatInTheHat'', ''Film/SkyHigh'', ''Old Dogs'', and ''The Last Song'').
* Creator/MichelleRodriguez is almost invariably a [[SpicyLatina sexy]], [[SleevesAreForWimps tank-top-wearing]] badass Latina ActionGirl who [[VasquezAlwaysDies dies a heroic death]]. [[http://www.cracked.com/funny-6301-michelle-rodriguez/ Cracked.com has the details]]. She's perfectly content with it by the way, as she prefers playing this type of character.
* And while we're at it, we also have Creator/AngelinaJolie as the other badass tough girl who doesn't die as often, though she did kill herself in ''Film/{{Wanted}}''.
* Need a runaway, drug addict, hooker, hellraiser, or [[BrokenBird otherwise troubled young woman?]] Creator/TarynManning’s your gal.
* A number of girls who have appeared in PlayBoy or other "adult" media found regular employment as a FanserviceExtra in sex comedies or horror films, especially in the 1980s and 1990s.
* Creator/StacieLeahRippy manages to avert this trope, although she ''is'' a character actor. However, she's mainly relegated to background work (sadly). [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff Especially given her British fandom]].
* Given the number of times Creator/HaydenPanettiere and Creator/ChristinaMilian have played TheCheerleader, Creator/TheCW missed a trick by not getting one or the other or both to make a guest appearance on ''Series/{{Hellcats}}''.
* Linnea Quigley was always the girl in horror movies who gets naked.
* Krysten Ritter usually plays bitchy characters with [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold a heart of gold]]. Or the Dark of LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine.
* Holland Taylor as the EvilMatriarch, usually a [[RichBitch rich]] and [[PlayedForLaughs comedic]] one.
* The example to beat for EvilBlonde would have to be Ally Walker and her giant hair. She played the nefarious DEA Agent June Stahl on ''SonsOfAnarchy'', a racist housewife on ''LawAndOrder'', a shrill fiancee in ''WhileYouWereSleeping'' ("You one-balled bastard!"), a {{gold digger}} on ''LALaw'', a {{mean boss}} on ''TalesFromTheCrypt'', and many others. Admittedly, her long filmography features a couple of benign characters, as well (e.g. ''Profiler'').
* Julie Walters is always the nanny or otherwise responsible for a [[Film/HarryPotter large group of kids]].
** Subverted in ''Film/MammaMia'', although it could be taken that in that film she is the nanny for the other two girls.
** If you ever saw ''Stepping Out.''
* Creator/BettyWhite tends to get typecast in a role and then subverts the typecasting in her next big role. Her role on the ''MaryTylerMooreShow'' was a subversion of her earlier typecasting as a sweet, motherly type. In order to avoid the resulting typecasting as a bitchy, man-hungry character she chose to play the Ditz Rose on ''GoldenGirls'' rather than the character of Blanche she was offered. She then subverts that typecasting by playing the character of Betty White on ''UglyBetty'' as a MagnificentBastard who gets the better of the show's antagonist.
* With regards to Creator/KateWinslet, she did so many roles in [[CostumeDrama Costume Dramas]] in the [[TheNineties 1990s]] that some people jokingly nicknamed her "Corset Kate". See ''Film/AKidInKingArthursCourt'', ''Film/SenseAndSensibility'', ''Jude'', ''Hamlet'', ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'', and ''Film/{{Quills}}''.
* When Zhang Ziyi appears on the screen, you start to count down to the beginning of some serious WaifFu.
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* RobinWilliams did voices. And funny stuff. Not so much later, but he continued to entertain and touch hearts. Even in death.
** Creator/RogerEbert said of ''PatchAdams'', "This is a role Robin Williams was born to play. In fact he ''was'' born playing it."

** Also his role in ''Film/{{Hellraiser}}''.

* Michael Biehn gets a lot of roles as intense military types -- a cadet in ''The Lords of Discipline'', a resistance fighter in ''Film/TheTerminator'', a Colonial Marine in ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', the player avatar in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer: Tiberian Sun'', and a Navy SEAL in no less than 3 films -- ''Navy SEALS'', ''Film/TheAbyss'' and ''Film/TheRock''.

* The main characters of ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer 3'' are typecast since their previous roles, as pointed out in a ''CtrlAltDel'' comic.

** Creator/LeVarBurton has a few other well-known roles. He played Kunta Kinte in ''{{Roots}}'', voiced Kwame in ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'', and was the host of ''ReadingRainbow.''

** Michelle Forbes managed to avoid falling victim to this. After her recurring role as Ro Laren on [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration ST:TNG]] she went on to play Dr. Julianna Cox on ''HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'', Lynne Kresge on ''[[Series/TwentyFour 24]]'', Samantha Brinker on ''PrisonBreak'', and Maryann Forrester on ''Series/TrueBlood'', to name just a handful.

* Actors with dwarfism like Warwick Davis, Kenny Baker, Verne Troyer, Tony Cox, Phil Fondacaro and others are always stuck doing fantasy films because that's the only roles they can get. David Rappaport most likely suffered from depression because of this, which probably lead him to be DrivenToSuicide. Ditto for Hervé Villechaize.
** Peter Dinklage has been breaking this trend, playing characters who merely happen to have dwarfism if the subject comes up at all instead of being a primary characteristic of their character. [[GameOfThrones Tyrion Lannister is one of the few exceptions.]]