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1When someone plays himself in a {{Docudrama}}, {{Biopic}}, or other {{dramatization}} [[BasedOnATrueStory of a true story]].
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3This is '''not''' a celebrity or public figure appearing "as himself" in an entirely fictional work. Those examples should go under AsHimself. This is when events are being re-enacted by the person who enacted them in the first place.
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5If a starring role, may overlap with NonActorVehicle. Compare RealPersonCameo. Contrast CharacterAsHimself, in which a fictional character is given a real-world screen credit. Also contrast AdamWesting, where an actor plays his public persona.
6----
7!Examples:
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9[[foldercontrol]]
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11!!RealLife examples:
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13[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
14* Frank Wills, the security guard who first discovered the Watergate burglary, in both ''Film/AllThePresidentsMen'' and ''Film/ForrestGump''.
15* ''Film/AlicesRestaurant'' recounts a true but comically exaggerated Thanksgiving adventure. Arlo Guthrie played himself and Stockbridge police chief William Obanhein ("Officer Obie") played himself in the film version, explaining to ''Newsweek'' magazine that making himself look like a fool was preferable to having somebody else make him look like a fool. Singer Pete Seeger also played himself.
16* Ann Jillian played herself in the 1988 MadeForTVMovie ''The Ann Jillian Story'', about her struggle with breast cancer.
17* The Iranian film ''Film/CloseUp'' has this for essentially all of the people who were involved.
18* ''Film/BeyondTheLineOfDuty'' is a 1942 short film meant to boost American morale during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. It starts Capt. Hewitt Wheless as himself, recreating his courageous bombing run on a Japanese troop transport in December 1941.
19* ''Film/CoalMinersDaughter'': Country music stars Roy Acuff and Ernest Tubb and country comedienne Minnie Pearl appear as themselves, after Music/LorettaLynn (played by Creator/SissySpacek) hits the big time.
20* ''Dolphin Tale'' has Winter (the dolphin whose story the film is based on) playing herself.
21* Music/{{Eminem}} in ''Film/EightMile'', where the story was basically his life [[RomanAClef with the names slightly changed]].
22* ''An Englishman Abroad'': Coral Browne played herself, about her encounter with exiled spy Guy Burgess.
23* ''Film/The1517ToParis'': Spencer Stone, Anthony Sadler and Alek Skarlatos, the three American soldiers who foiled a terrorist attack on a train to Paris, play themselves.
24* ''Film/{{Goodfellas}}'': Comedian Henny Youngman, singer Jerry Vale, and FBI agent Edward [=McDonald=] play themselves, as the film is a {{biopic}} about New York City gangster Henry Hill.
25* Various police officers, bank employees and bystanders in ''The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery''.
26* Jackie Robinson in ''The Jackie Robinson Story''.
27* UsefulNotes/MuhammadAli starred in ''The Greatest'', a biopic about himself.
28* ''Film/TheGreatZiegfeld'': Ray Bolger, Harriet Hoctor, and Fanny Brice, all veterans of the Ziegfeld Follies, play themselves in this biopic about them.
29* ''Film/HeavenKnowsWhat'': The film is based on the memoir of Arielle Holmes, a former street junkie from New York City. Holmes plays the lead character, Harley Boggs, who represents herself.
30* Creator/AudieMurphy and also UsefulNotes/DwightEisenhower in ''To Hell and Back''. The film was based on his autobiographical account of the UsefulNotes/{{Europe}}an theater of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
31* ''Iron & Silk'' is a drama that tells the story of an American teacher who traveled to China to learn from a kung-fu master. Both lead roles are played by the actual individuals.
32* ''Film/KnuteRockneAllAmerican'': RealLife college football coaches Glenn "Pop" Warner, Amos Alonzo Stagg, Howard Jones, and Bill Spaulding appear as themselves in a scene where they join up with Rockne to defend college football from a Congressional inquiry.
33* Creator/HowardStern played himself in the film version of ''Private Parts''.
34* Wrestling/JerryLawler, Creator/DavidLetterman, Creator/LorneMichaels, and most of the cast of ''Series/{{Taxi}}'' played themselves in ''Film/ManOnTheMoon'' (a {{Biopic}} of Creator/AndyKaufman). Though Creator/DannyDeVito
35* Fantasia Barrino of ''Series/AmericanIdol'' played herself in the MadeForTVMovie ''Life Is Not a Fairytale'', based on her memoir.
36* ''Marie'': Attorney/politician Fred Thompson started a side career as an actor playing himself.
37* ''Film/{{No}}'': Several members of the "No" campaign to unseat UsefulNotes/AugustoPinochet appear as themselves, including Patricio Aylwin, who succeeded Pinochet as president of Chile.
38* Creator/ShirleyMaclaine in ''Out On A Limb'', the movie.
39* ''Film/ThePrideOfTheYankees'': Creator/BabeRuth played himself in the Lou Gehrig biopic , as did Bill Dickey, Mark Koenig, Robert Meusel, and sportscaster Bill Stern.
40* While ''Film/PurpleRain'' may not exactly have been The Real True Music/{{Prince}} Story, it did touch on elements of his life, feature him playing with his band, and film on location in his hometown.
41* ''Ride Like a Girl'': Michelle Payne's brother Stevie played himself.
42* ''Film/SpaceJam'' stars UsefulNotes/MichaelJordan as himself, and covers his brief retirement from basketball, failed attempt at a baseball career, and return to basketball only a short time later. Of course, the bulk of the film is spent on a [[SarcasmMode minor]] bit of creative liberty suggesting he regained his passion for basketball by player-coaching the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes to victory in a high-stakes match against alien slavers, but the parts that focus solely on Jordan play the trope quite straight. For an extra bit of RealitySubtext, the practice he got during the making of the film helped sharpen his skills for the real unretirement depicted in the film's final moments.
43* ''Film/{{Sully}}'': The search and rescue team on the helicopter and the ferry workers that come to the plane passengers' aid are played by themselves.
44* ''Film/United93'': several of those involved in the events surrounding the hijacking played themselves, most notably [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Sliney Ben Sliney]].
45* ''Warning: Parental Advisory'': a particularly shameless MadeForTVMovie about how [[Music/TwistedSister Dee Snider]] stuck it to the PMRC with him playing himself.
46* Silent-era actress and UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic survivor Dorothy Gibson starred as herself in the now [[MissingEpisode lost]] film ''Saved from the Titanic'', which also happened to be the first dramatization of the disaster, released shortly after the sinking. While the film's producers did go through the effort of ensuring authenticity, going so far as to incorporating stock footage of Captain Edward Smith and the ''Titanic'' herself, as well as Dorothy even wearing the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dorothy_Gibson_-_Titanic.jpg actual clothes]] she wore during the sinking, it came at great personal cost to Gibson who was deeply affected by PTSD; the trauma she had both from the tragedy and the film's production (not helping matters was the fact that she was roped into starring in the film so that the producers would cash in on the then-recent disaster) would force her to retire prematurely from acting.
47* ''Con Man'': The 2018 movie about the life of ZZZZ Best founder Barry Minkow had Minkow play an older version of himself[[note]]the younger version of Minkow was played by a then-unknown Creator/JustinBaldoni[[/note]] in what was intended as a RedemptionQuest story about how Minkow used the carpet-cleaning company he started while in high school as a Ponzi scheme, only to go to prison; supposedly repenting of his past deeds and working as a pastor in San Diego and founder of a fraud-busting firm called [[FunWithAcronyms Fraud Discovery Institute]]. Notably, Minkow's own actions ended up undermining the film's original premise[[note]]the film began production in 2011 under the name ''Minkow''; but by that time Minkow had pleaded guilty to a single count of insider trading following a 2009 attempt to short the stock of Lennar Corporation following his FDI issuing a report claiming Lennar was engaged in significant fraud. More significantly; in 2014 Minkow pleaded guilty to a separate charge of church fraud after members of the church he pastored from 1997 until his resignation following his 2011 insider trading guilty plea accused him of swindling over $3 million, including one woman accusing him of defrauding her out of $300,000 that was used in part to fund the movie[[/note]]
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50[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
51* Rudy Reyes plays himself in ''Series/GenerationKill'', because creators David Simon and Ed Burns [[http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/index.ssf/2008/07/sepinwall_on_tv_generation_kil.html couldn't find an actor who was both beautiful enough and hippie-ish enough]] to handle the mythical creature (David Simon: [[http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/2008/07/generation-kill-get-some-po-lice-that.html "He's like a unicorn!"]]) that is Fruity Rudy.
52* While parts of ''Series/{{Titus}}'' are fictionalized for the sake of comedy, the show's overall story is overtly based on Creator/ChristopherTitus's real life, and he plays himself, while his friends and family are played by other actors.
53* In ''Creator/SophiaLoren: Her Own Story'', Miss Loren not only plays herself but also [[ActingForTwo her own mother]].
54* Many extras in ''Series/LondonsBurning'' were actual London Fire Brigade personnel; some of the more elaborate rescues in the show doubled as training exercises.
55* A number of actors and performers whose lives were featured in the Philippine drama anthology ''Series/MaalaalaMoKaya'' and its rival ''Series/{{Magpakailanman}}'' played themselves, an example being Creator/RyzzaMaeDizon whose life story as a wildcard winner in the ''Series/EatBulaga'' child pageant segment "Little Miss Philippines" was covered. The half black, half Filipino apl.de.ap of Music/TheBlackEyedPeas also got his own episode where he played himself as an adult.
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60!!InUniverse examples:
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62[[folder:Anime & Manga ]]
63* PlayedForLaughs towards the end of ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', as Great Saiyaman accidentally crashes a set for a movie being made about him. He's called to act a few scenes as a stunt double and acts how he normally does in that persona, but the directors scolded him for being [[YourCostumeNeedsWork too unrealistic]]. They realize their mistake when he finds himself having to fly away.
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66[[folder:Comic Strips]]
67* In the newspaper version of ''ComicStrip/SpiderMan,'' Spidey hears they're making a movie about him and auditions for the lead role. He is initially snubbed because he's [[ExpectingSomeoneTaller too short]], but gets the role after doing some webswinging to prove he's the real deal.
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70[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
71* ''Film/AndStarringPanchoVillaAsHimself'' is in fact about a film being made about the Mexican revolutionary who sold the rights to film one of his battles which resulted in ''The Life Of General Villa,'' which did indeed star Pancho Villa portraying himself.
72* In ''Film/InglouriousBasterds'', Fredrick Zoller (Creator/DanielBruhl) plays himself in the propaganda film ''Film/StolzDerNation'', which chronicles his exploits fighting on the front in Italy.
73* ''Film/ThreeSeatsForThe26th'' offers an unusual example that is both InUniverse ''and'' RealLife. Creator/YvesMontand plays Yves Montand, who has come back to his hometown of Marseilles to star in "Montand Remembers", a musical show about his own life. While the movie is fictional, the musical ShowWithinAShow does in fact portray the real Montand's real life, including how he worked as a riveter in the Marseilles shipyard as a young man and how Music/EdithPiaf gave him his big break.
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76[[folder:Western Animation]]
77* ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse'': In "A Loo to a Kill", DM is playing himself in a film. Penfold gets {{Gender Flip}}ped and is played by Scarlett Johamster.
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