You Look Familiar

Haven't we seen you somewhere before, Michael Sheard?^note Top row, from left: Rhos in "The Ark", Dr. Roland Summers in "The Mind of Evil", and Laurence in "Pyramids of Mars". Bottom row, from left: Lowe in "The Invisible Enemy", Mergrave in "Castrovalva", and the headmaster of Coal Hill School in "Remembrance of the Daleks".

Aunt Fritzi: Why are you booing Santa Claus?

Nancy: In a show last week, he played a bank robber.

—Nancy

A guest actor who returns to play more than one character in the same continuity.

The use of the same actor for different characters is typically intended to go unnoticed or at least unremarked. Ed Wasser played Shadow minion Morden in Babylon 5 but also appeared in the series pilot as a character credited as Guerra. Since that series was so intricately plotted, fans wondered if the Shadows were influencing events as far back as the pilot. No, said series creator J. Michael Straczynski, they just liked the actor's work in the pilot and cast him in a recurring role.

This is such a common occurrence amongst the various incarnations of Law & Order, that fans of that show have come to call those who look familiar "Repeat Offenders".

When it is done for a purpose, you have an Identical Stranger, an Identical Grandson, or an Uncanny Family Resemblance. When it isn't done for such a purpose, sharp-eyed fans will assume so anyway. This last effect may be leading to this becoming a Discredited Trope, as Season Fluidity becomes more pronounced and fans complain that seeing the same actor in two different roles breaks the story immersion.

For the specific version where an actor appears in a one-off role before returning as a regular character, see Recast as a Regular.

Compare Celebrity Paradox, You Might Remember Me from... and Voice-Only Cameo. Contrast with The Other Darrin. Can be Handwaved via Direct Line to the Author.

You ALL Look Familiar is not related unless character sprites and models can be considered "guest actors". Acting for Two is similar, but (usually) involves stars rather than B- or C-listers, is a good deal more blatant, and occurs within the same film or episode.

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Examples:

• Live-Action TV
• Franchises with their own pages:
  • Doctor Who
  • Fire Emblem
  • Power Rangers
  • Pretty Cure
  • Star Trek
  • Star Wars
  • Toei Tokusatsu
    • Kamen Rider
    • Super Sentai
    • Metal Heroes

Anime

• Simon in the epilogue of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, who in both the original and the dub had the same voice actor as the narrator, or possibly was the narrator.
• The dub of Naruto does this a lot: the voice actor for Zabuza, the villain from the first story arc, later voiced Orochimaru, the main villain for most of the series. Deidara's voice actor is the one that voiced two filler character (Idate and Raiga) and Tsunade's dead boyfriend Dan, the voice actors for Sasori's two forms previously voiced Pakkun and borderline background character Genma Shiranui, and Itachi's voice actor (after his short first appearance) was previously Ebisu's. This is probably because the show's cast is so huge nearly every voice actor who would ever work on it has done at least one role by now.
• The original Japanese versions of both Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z did this several times, as a seiyuu would voice a minor character character and then return several episodes later now voicing a major role. Notable cases include Toshio Furukawa voicing General Blue and later Piccolo, Takeshi Aono voicing Murasaki and later both Demon King Piccolo and Kami, Ryūsei Nakao voicing Tamborine and later Freeza, Ryō Horikawa reprising one of his roles from Doctor Slump and then going onto voice Vegeta, and Takeshi Kusao voicing Pigero and then later voicing Trunks.
  • The English dub also does this: Dameon Clarke, the voice of Cell, also provided the voice of the Gohan from Future Trunks's timeline in Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks. Kyle Hebert provided various voices in the original Dragon Ball, including the Ox-King and General White, before voicing Gohan starting with the Majin Saga (as well as taking over as narrator and Darrining for Future Gohan in video games). Laura Bailey, similarly, was cast as the kid version of present-day Trunks before being cast as the younger version of Chi-Chi and others in the original Dragon Ball. Greg Ayres began voicing Ginyu Force member Guldo before being cast as Frost in Dragon Ball Super
• Kōichi Yamadera has appeared in every single Pokémon movie, each time in a different role (except the 22nd movie, which was a CGI remake of the first movie and he reprised his role as Mew).
• In Case Closed Ryō Horikawa had a role in an early episode as a Victim of the Week before going on to voice fellow teen detective Heiji Hattori nearly fifty episodes later.
• Quite a few if not all voice actors in the Lupin III franchise had voiced some characters from time to time. Here's an example:
  • Atsuko Tanaka has voiced several unrelated characters across the franchise. She was Karen Korosky in the Voyage to Danger special, Kaoru in Angel Tactics, Cicciolina in The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, and Elena Gotti in Blue Jacket.
  • Chikao Ohtsuka had voiced some but not all characters in between the anime and films. He was Zenigata in the pilot film, Goemon in Part 1, and Kowalski in Legend of the Gold of Babylon.
  • Chikao's son Akio Ōtsuka had previously played inconsequential roles in the series prior to succeeding Kiyoshi Kobayashi as Daisuke Jigen in Part 6 onwards including Andy in the Alcatraz Connection TV special and Chris in the Farewell to Nostradamus feature film.
  • Tarō Ishida voiced Count Cagliostro in The Castle of Cagliostro and Terry Crown in Alcatraz Connection.
• The Faraway Paladin: In the English dub, Veronica Taylor voices both Will's surrogate mother Mary, and his Patron Goddess Gracefeel.

Films — Animation

• Despicable Me cast Kristen Wiig as Miss Hattie, then as Lucy Wilde in the sequels.
• The LEGO Movie cast Dave Franco as one of the construction workers, Wally. Later, the Spin-Off The LEGO Ninjago Movie featured Franco as Lloyd the Green Ninja.
• The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water has Bubbles The Dolphin voiced by Matt Berry. In The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, he voices King Poseidon.
• Monsters, Inc. featured Bonnie Hunt as Ms. Flint, an employee of the titular corporation. In the prequel Monsters University, she plays Mrs. Graves, young Mike Wazowski's schoolteacher. (She returned to the former role in Disney+' Monsters at Work series.)
• Bolt: Lampshaded In-Universe when the New York City pigeons try to figure out where they've seen Bolt before. It turns out they're extremely bad at picking up clues. Two buses with his likeness stop to their left and they still haven't figured it out! And we last see the birds, they continue trying to figure out where they've seen Bolt before while perched on a huge billboard with his picture on it, still completely unaware it's him!

Films — Live-Action

• Mercedes McNab, who portrayed the girl scout in The Addams Family, returned to play Wednesday's rival Amanda Buckman in the sequel Addams Family Values. But since the girl scout isn't named and possesses a similar personality as Amanda, it wouldn't be a stretch to conclude that they are the same character.
• In the Ugandan low-budget action flick Bad Black, the actor who played the late protagonist of Who Killed Captain Alex? also plays a cop who is killed by the bank robber "Swaaz" (short for Schwarzenegger) in a shootout. Lampshaded by narrator/color commentator VJ Emmie:
  "He's alive! Captain Alex is alive!" *BANG* "...he's dead. He is s-o-o dead."
  "Who killed Captain Alex? Schwarzenegger."
• DC Extended Universe:
  • Samantha Win portrayed Car-Vex, one of General Zod's followers in Man of Steel, and the Amazon Euboa in Wonder Woman and Justice League.
  • Though he doesn't appear in person, the US President in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is voiced by Patrick Wilson, who later played King Orm in Aquaman (2018).
  • The female art thief Wonder Woman nabbed at the end of Justice League (theatrical version only) was played by Caitlin Burles, who previously portrayed an Amazonian guard in Wonder Woman.
  • Mayling Ng played an Amazon in Wonder Woman, and then Mongal in The Suicide Squad.
• Joseph Pilato's first feature film role was an unnamed police officer in Dawn of the Dead, seven years before playing Captain Rhodes in Day of the Dead.
• Diana James appeared in the first three films of the Die Hard franchise, each time playing a different character. In Die Hard, she played the dispatch supervisor. In Die Hard 2, she played one of the stewardesses aboard Holly's flight. Finally, in Die Hard with a Vengeance, she played a subway booth worker.
• Albert Popwell, who played the unnamed bank robber for the iconic "Do you feel lucky?" monologue from Dirty Harry, would go on to play a different character in 3 out of the 4 sequels: murderous pimp J.J. Wilson in Magnum Force, black militant Big Ed Mustapha in The Enforcer and Harry's detective colleague Horace King in Sudden Impact. He was offered a role in The Dead Pool, but had to turn it down for scheduling conflicts.
• Disenchanted (2022): Rachel Covey, who played Morgan Philip in the first film, Enchanted, has a cameo as a Monrolasia native who reminds Giselle about the festival.
• Doctor... Series:
  • James Robertson Justice played Sir Lancelot Spratt in all seven films, with the exception of Doctor at Sea, where he was Captain Hogg.
  • Leslie Phillips played Dr. Burke in Doctor in Love, Dr. Grimsdyke in Doctor in Clover, and then Dr. Burke again in Doctor in Trouble.
  • Other actors appearing in many roles include Joan Sims (five roles), Ronnie Stevens (four roles), Fenella Fielding and Noel Purcell (three roles), and Shirley Eaton, Donald Houston, Michael Medwin, and Irene Handl (two roles).
• Dollars Trilogy: In the Spaghetti Western For a Few Dollars More, Lee Van Cleef played the Bounty Hunter Colonel Douglas Mortimer, who worked as the protagonist's ally. In the prequel/sequel, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, he played the villain Angel Eyes Sentenza. (The director originally wanted to use another actor - possibly Charles Bronson - for the latter but was turned down. He then reportedly decided it would be fun to cast Van Cleef as a Smug Snake since he'd already used him as a heroic character.) Of course, whether those movies are even in the same continuity remains ambiguous at best.
• In the Dr. Kildare film series, Ava Gardner had a bit part as a finishing school student in Calling Dr. Gillespie before starring as a different character in Three Men in White.
• From Dusk Till Dawn: Cheech Marin plays three different minor characters in the same movie.
• Writer-director John Alan Schwartz played various different roles throughout the Faces of Death series, usually some kind of criminal. In the first film, he played the leader of a flesh-eating cult, then a would-be convenience store robber in the second, followed by a serial killer on trial during the third film. For the fourth film, he decided to play one of the good guys for a change and cast himself as an ambulance driver.
• A rare in-universe example in Galaxy Quest. Guy Fleegman once had a walk-on role on one episode of the TV series Galaxy Quest as a Red Shirt who got killed by a lava monster in the first act. He becomes a member of the main cast of the Sequel Series Galaxy Quest: The Journey Continues after he helps the Thermians and the crew of the Protector defeat Sarris.
• In Gettysburg, Stephen Lang plays Major General George Pickett. In the prequel Gods and Generals, he plays Lieutenant General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.
• Help!: Victor Spinetti and John Bluthal also appeared in A Hard Day's Night.
• Indiana Jones:
  • Actor Paul Freeman, who starred in Raiders of the Lost Ark as René Belloq, latered guest starred in two episodes of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles as adventurer Frederick Selous.
  • Wrestler turned actor Pat Roach played no less than three different strongmen that tussled with Indy - a Sherpa whom Indy fought in Marion's bar and the Luftwaffe mechanic who dies via propeller arc, both in Raiders of the Lost Ark, as well as the Thugee overseer killed when his clothing gets caught in a rock crusher in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
• The James Bond films:
  • Martine Beswick played Zora, the Romani woman who gets into a fight, in From Russia with Love and Paula Caplin, the CIA agent who takes a Cyanide Pill when captured, in Thunderball. This gets lampshaded in the Irregular Webcomic! parody of From Russia with Love.
  • Charles Gray played British agent Dikko Henderson in You Only Live Twice before returning as the arch-villain Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever.
  • Shane Rimmer played the Hawaii radar operator in You Only Live Twice, the person in charge of Willard Whyte's laboratory in Diamonds Are Forever and a U.S. nuclear submarine captain in The Spy Who Loved Me.
  • Walter Gotell played SPECTRE agent trainer Morzeny in From Russia with Love before he played General Anatol Gogol starting in The Spy Who Loved Me and ending at The Living Daylights.
  • Robert Brown played Admiral Hargreaves in The Spy Who Loved Me, and later took over the role of M starting in Octopussy, after Bernard Lee passed away during the filming of For Your Eyes Only. It is not known if Hargreaves and Brown's M are the same character, though it's very plausible.
  • Maud Adams appearing as Bond Girl Andrea Anders in The Man with the Golden Gun before returning as the titular Octopussy.
  • Mary Stävin appeared in Octopussy as one of Octopussy's girls and also in A View to a Kill as Kimberley Jones, a MI6 agent.
  • Joe Don Baker played villain Brad Whitaker in The Living Daylights before returning as CIA agent Jack Wade in GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies.
• Jew Suss: Rise and Fall: In-Universe. Actor Werner Krauss says that, rather than settle for a small part in Jew Suss, he got Joseph Goebbels to let him play all of the minor Jewish roles. (And in fact Krauss did play at least four parts in that notorious anti-Semitic propaganda film.)
• The View Askewniverse films of Kevin Smith often feature this trope due to Smith's working with many of the same actors in his films:
  • Jason Lee is quite possibly the poster child when it comes to Smith's work, appearing as Brodie Bruce in Mallrats, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, Banky Edwards in Chasing Amy and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, the demon Azrael in Dogma, and Lance Dowds in Clerks II.
  • Ben Affleck as Shannon Hamilton in Mallrats, Holden McNeil in Chasing Amy, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, the angel Bartleby in Dogma, and as himself in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
  • Matt Damon as the angel Loki in Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, as himself in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and as a cartoon studio executive in Chasing Amy.
  • Brian O'Halloran as Dante Hicks in Clerks, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks II and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, Gill Hicks in Mallrats, and Grant Hicks in Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, all three characters confirmed by Word of Silent Bob to be cousins. Like Affleck and Damon before him in Strike Back, O'Halloran also appears in Reboot as himself, and he appeared alongside Damon as a cartoon studio executive in Chasing Amy.
  • Joey Lauren Adams as Gwen Turner in Mallrats, and Alyssa Jones in Chasing Amy, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.
  • Smith's wife Jennifer Schwalbach Smith as Missy in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Emma Bunting in Clerks II, and Miss McKenzie in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.
  • Jay and Silent Bob Reboot confirms that Zack and Miri Make a Porno is set in this universe, making this trope the case with Jeff Anderson's Randal Graves from Clerks, Clerks II and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and his character of Deacon from Zack and Miri.
  • Chris Rock as Rufus in Dogma and as Chaka Luther King in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
  • Dwight Ewell as Hooper X in Chasing Amy and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and as Kane in Dogma.
  • Smith's longtime producer and friend Scott Mosier, and his friends Walt Flanagan and Bryan Johnson, all play multiple small characters across Smith's films.
  • Additionally, actors who have appeared as larger characters in one film, such as Rosario Dawson, George Carlin, and Craig Robinson, have made cameos as different characters in later films.
• Noah Segan appeared in Knives Out as Trooper Wagner and in its follow-up Glass Onion as Derol.
• All three The Lord of the Rings movies have a cameo of Peter Jackson, as a human inhabitant of Bree in The Fellowship of the Ring, a Rohirric defender of Hornburg in The Two Towers, and a pirate in The Return of the King.
• Mad Max:
  • Immortan Joe, the Big Bad of Mad Max: Fury Road, is played by Hugh Keays-Byrne, who also played Toecutter, the Big Bad of the first Mad Max movie, 36 years before Fury Road.
  • Bruce Spence first played the Gyro Captain in Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, and then Jedidiah, a near-exactly identical character, in the follow-up film Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • Of course, we have all the Stan Lee cameos.
  • Enver Gjokaj portrayed a cop in The Avengers and then portrayed Daniel Sousa in Agent Carter and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. The producers joked that Sousa is the cop's grandfather, while fans speculated that Sousa would use time-traveling shenanigans from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to end up in The Avengers.
  • Alfre Woodard portrayed Miriam Sharpe in Captain America: Civil War and Mariah Dillard in Luke Cage.
  • Laura Haddock portrayed Star-Lord's mother Meredith in Guardians of the Galaxy and its sequel, as well as an autograph-seeker during the "Star Spangled Man With a Plan" montage in Captain America: The First Avenger. Director James Gunn has joked that the autograph-seeker was Meredith's mom.
  • Damion Poitier cameoed as Thanos in The Avengers (before Josh Brolin was recast as the characters for future films) and one of Crossbones' henchmen in Captain America: Civil War.
  • Kenneth Choi portrayed Private Jim Morita in Captain America: The First Avenger, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.^note In a flashback and Agent Carter, and Principal Morita in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Justified as the latter one is the former's grandson.
  • Martin Starr portrayed a pizza-loving computer geek in The Incredible Hulk and Peter's teacher Mr. Harrington in Spider-Man: Homecoming, plus its sequels. Kevin Feige later said he considers both characters to be the same person.
  • J.B. Smoove portrayed the driving instructor in the Spider-Man: Homecoming Audi commercial, and returned in Spider-Man: Far From Home as Mr. Dell. This isn't a coincidence, as the people working on Far From Home enjoyed his performance enough that they wanted to work Smoove into a proper movie role and wrote Dell with Smoove in mind.
  • Matt Gerald portrayed White Power Dave in All Hail the King and Melvin Potter in Daredevil.
  • Tony Curran portrayed Thor's grandfather Bor in the prologue of Thor: The Dark World. He later appeared as Finn Cooley in season 2 of Daredevil, then as Derrik in Secret Invasion.
  • Clancy Brown played Colonel Schoonover a.k.a. The Blacksmith in Season 2 of Daredevil and the first season of The Punisher, and also did the voice work for Surtur in Thor: Ragnarok.
  • Tim Guinee played a bit part in Iron Man and Iron Man 2 as U.S. Air Force Major Allen, before appearing in the first season of The Punisher as Clay Wilson.
  • Mahershala Ali, who played Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes in Season 1 of Luke Cage, will also be playing the titular character in the upcoming Blade reboot.
  • Peter Mensah, who had a minor role as General Joe Greller in The Incredible Hulk, later appeared in a recurring capacity as the alien Qovas in Season 5 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..
  • Gemma Chan played Minn-Erva in Captain Marvel before going on to the much larger role of Sersi in Eternals.
  • Patrick Brennan played Blackout in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and a bartender in Captain Marvel.
  • Michelle Yeoh cameoed in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 as Aleta Ogord before going on to play a more substantial role as Jiang Nan in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
  • Tsai Chin appeared as Melinda May's mother Lian in an episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., before appearing in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings as Katy's grandmother Waipo.
  • Imelda Corcoran, who played a scientist in an episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., also played Selby, an associate of the Power Broker, in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
  • Patton Oswalt appeared as the Koenigs throughout Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and as Pip the Troll in the post-credits scene of Eternals.
  • Lake Bell voiced Black Widow in What If…? (2021) and portrayed Dr. Graham, the CIA scientist that gets killed by Namor in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
  • Katy O'Brian appeared as a minor villain in the final season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. before going on to play the freedom fighter Jentorra in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
  • Mikaela Hoover plays Nova Prime's assistant in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and does the voice/motion capture for Floor in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
  • Linda Cardellini plays Laura Barton starting in Avengers: Age of Ultron and does the voice/motion capture for Lylla in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
  • Judy Greer played Maggie Lang in Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp, then later voiced War Pig in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
  • Miriam Shor played Alisa Jones in a Season 1 episode of Jessica Jones (2015) (before the character was recast with Janet McTeer for Season 2), and played Vim in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
  • Tara Strong voiced Miss Minutes in Loki and also voiced Mainframe in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, replacing Miley Cyrus as the latter from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
  • Nathan Fillion voiced an alien prisoner in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), before appearing as Master Karja in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. ^note He was also set to appear as Wonder Man in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but his role was cut and later recast for the Disney+ series with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.
  • Randall P. Havens played a driving instructor in episode 1 of Ms. Marvel (2022) and Till, an inhabitant of Counter-Earth in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
  • According to Mario Castañeda (the Hulk's Mexican Spanish voice actor), Disney has a strict policy of not reusing the foreign voice actors of any of the main characters. This hasn't stopped Netflix from giving Iron Man's European French voice actor (Bernard Gabay) to Daredevil, and Castañeda himself voices Agent Coulson on the Sony Channel's version of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. This is because those dubs aren't under Disney's control.
  • Related to the above, before Disney overtook the Brazilian dubbing, there were plenty of cases, originating from respecting who typically voices certain actors (the late Júlio Chaves with Jeff Bridges, Tommy Lee Jones, and David Hasselhoff - and to avoid the issue that Jorge Lucas is both Don Cheadle and Mark Ruffalo, the latter was recast starting with Iron Man 3), because it seemed fair game after roles that only lasted one movie (Mauro Ramos was Yinsen in Iron Man before becoming Drax), or how the cosmic and Earth casts rarely got together (which is why Luisa Palomanes is both Darcy Lewis and Mantis - though it caused a problem in an What If...? episode with both Maria Hill and Frigga, forcing the former to get a new voice). And the Netflix side also has overlap - hence Spider-Man: No Way Home starts with Mysterio's archive footage from the previous movie, and then the villain's voice is heard again when Matt Murdock appears.
  • In the Latin American Spanish dub of Ant-Man, Hank Pym is voiced by José Luis Orozco, who dubbed Obadiah Stane back in Iron Man. The European French dub coincidentally did something similar by having the late Patrick Floersheim as both characters.
  • Spider-Man: No Way Home: There are many examples of this in the Latin American Spanish dub:
    • Víctor Ugarte, the voice of Peter-2, had previously voiced Kurt in the Ant-Man films.
    • Javier Olguín, the voice of Peter-3, was also the voice of Baron Zemo in Captain America: Civil War and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
    • Jesse Conde, who has voiced Stan Lee in all of his MCU cameos, also reprises his role as Norman Osborn / The Green Goblin.
    • Gabriel Pingarrón, who voiced Odin in all of his appearances, also reprised his role as Doctor Octopus.
    • Raúl Anaya, who voiced the older Howard Stark, returned to his role as Flint Marko / Sandman.
    • Salvador Delgado, who voiced Dr. Erik Selvig in Thor and The Avengers (2012), also came back as Electro.
• David Cross played the morgue attendant in Men in Black, then came back to play Newton the video store owner in Men in Black II.
• Keith Cooke played Reptile in Mortal Kombat: The Movie and the younger Sub-Zero in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation.
• On the Buses films:
  • Pat Ashton played Sally in On the Buses and Nymphy Norah in Mutiny on the Buses.
  • Eunice Black played Ada in On the Buses and Mrs. Hudson in Holiday on the Buses
• The Pink Panther:
  • Graham Stark shares with Herbert Lom and Bert Kwouk the distinction of having appeared in more films in the franchise than Peter Sellers, and unlike them played a different character in almost every film (except Trail of the Pink Panther and Son of the Pink Panther, where he reprised the roles of Hercule Lajoy from A Shot in the Dark and Auguste Balls from Revenge of the Pink Panther, respectively).
  • Claudia Cardinale who Other Darrins the role of Maria Gambrelli in Son of the Pink Panther had previously played the Princess in The Pink Panther (1963).
• Ty Olsson played two separate characters in the Planet of the Apes reboot series. Chief Hamil in Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Red in War for the Planet of the Apes.
• In Problem Child, John Ritter's real-life wife Amy Yasbeck played his character's wife Flo Healy. In Problem Child 2, she played his new love interest Annie.
• Rocky:
  • In Rocky Balboa, James Binns, who plays a boxing commissioner in this film, previously played Rocky's attorney in Rocky V.
  • In the Latin American Spanish dubs, due to the many different dubs of the first five movies, some actors ended up recast in different roles:
    • Blas García voiced Apollo Creed in the original dub of Rocky II and would end up voicing the title character himself from Rocky Balboa onwards.
    • Arturo Mercado played a minor role as Mike (the gym employee who tells Rocky his locker is Dippers' now) in the first movie, then he voiced Rocky in the original dub of Rocky II, and ended up voicing Paulie in the Blu-Ray dub of all the movies up to Rocky V.
    • Salvador Delgado voiced Rocky in the original dub of Rocky V and the DVD dubs of the first and third movie before voicing Apollo in the Blu-Ray redubs.
    • Araceli de León voiced Diana Lewis in the original dub of Rocky and would later voice Adrian in Rocky II, Rocky V, and the DVD dubs of the first and third movies.
    • César Arias, who voiced Paulie in Rocky V and the DVD dubs of the first and third movies, voiced Larry Merchant in Rocky Balboa.
    • José Luis Orozco voiced Tony Duke in Rocky V and the referee in the DVD edition of the first movie.
    • Arturo Casanova voiced Rocky in the fourth movie and then George Washington Duke in the fifth.
    • Esteban Siller voiced Paulie in the original dub of the first movie, and then Mickey in the second one.
    • Miguel Angel Sanromán voiced the rabbi at Mickey's funeral in Rocky III, before voicing Mickey himself in the DVD dub of the same movie.
• Peter Boyle played Scott Calvin's boss in the first film of The Santa Clause trilogy and then appeared as Father Time in the second and third films.
• Scary Movie:
  • Carmen Electra appeared in the first movie as Drew Decker, while Chris Elliot appeared in the second movie as Hanson. Both of them appeared in the fourth movie, playing the roles of Holly and Ezekiel respectively.
  • Simon Rex, Charlie Sheen, Darrell Hammond, and Molly Shannon all appeared in the fifth movie but did not reprise their roles from the previous movies (George Logan, Tom Logan, Father Muldoon, and Marilyn respectively). In 5, they instead played the roles of Dan Sanders, Charlie Sheen, Dr. Hall, and Heather Darcy, again respectively.
• Transformers Film Series:
  • Reno Wilson voiced separate characters in each of the movies—Frenzy in Transformers, Mudflap in Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen, Brains in Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Transformers: Age of Extinction, and Sqweeks and Mohawk in Transformers: The Last Knight.
  • Stanley Tucci portrayed Joshua Joyce in Transformers: Age of Extinction and returned in Transformers: The Last Knight as Merlin.
  • Mark Ryan voiced Bumblebee in the first film, Jetfire in ROTF, Lockdown in AOE, and Bulldog in TLK, as well as portraying a drone operator in DOTM.
• West Side Story: George Chakiris, who plays Sharks leader Bernardo in the film, originally played Jets leader Riff in the 1958 West End production of the musical.
• West Side Story (2021): Rita Moreno, who played Anita in the 1961 film, comes back to play a new character, Valentina, who replaces character of Doc (the latter being mentioned as her deceased husband).
• Yoga Hosers:
  • Justin Long played the main character Wallace Bryton in the previous True North film, Tusk. Here he's Yogi Bayer, teaching the Colleens yoga.
  • Genesis Rodriguez played Ally Leon in Tusk. Here she plays another character, Ms. Wicklund.

Music

• In-Universe example in "Cool for Cats" by Squeeze. The singer is watching The Sweeney, and when they get to the criminal's house comments "It's funny how the missus always looks the bleeding same."

Professional Wrestling

• Before the rise of cable and the fall of the territorial system, it was easy to trade unpopular wrestlers to another territory with a slight gimmick tweak to keep too many people from catching on. It did not stop even after the National Wrestling Alliance brought some semblance of unity to things.
• In Ring of Honor the commentators actually recognized CM Punk's girlfriend as "Daffney, from WCW" and had to correct themselves when he introduced her as "Lucy". Other cases include Jerk Jackson to Bobby Fish (he was renamed in Pro Wrestling NOAH) and Handsome Johnny to Tod Hanson.
• WSU...possibly, probably, definitely engaged in this with a series of "mystery" women, who were all of similar build and wrestling style: Saturyne, Jania, and Hania. Incidentally, the "former" also played a critical role in kicking off Niya's Charlie Brown from Outta Town gimmick.

Video Games

• The MMO The Matrix Online had an example that was both this and The Other Darrin. As the game was an official continuation of the Matrix films, several characters from the movies made appearances in expository cutscenes, and the producers managed to get several actors from the cast of the movies to reprise their roles. Jada Pinkett Smith wasn't one of them, so Niobe ended up being voiced by Gina Torres, who had previously played Dozer's widow Cas in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.
• Star Trek Online:
  • Jon St. John voices both Chancellor J'mpok and Ambassador B'vat.
  • Marc Biagi voices K'valk and Alexander Rozhenko.
  • Funny one: Dave Rivas voices Va'Kel Shon and Hakeev. That's right: a Torture Technician, Brainwasher, and war criminal extraordinaire has the same voice actor as the Captain of the Starship Enterprise. Seasons 8.5 and 9 added Eric Cooper to Rivas' credits.
  • Denise Crosby reprises both roles she played in Star Trek: The Next Generation: Natasha Yar and Sela.
  • Lani Minella voices Admiral T'nae and, following Majel Barrett's death, the Federation Computer Voice.
• Command & Conquer: Athena Massey, who plays the Allied Mission Control Lt. Eva in Red Alert 2, previously appeared in Tiberian Sun as Brink, a Bridge Bunny who pilots GDI's Kodiak ship.
• Star Wars video games are almost as bad as Law & Order when it comes to actors making several appearances in the same franchise.
  • Brianna the Handmaiden from Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords is the same voice actress as the female Bounty Hunter in Star Wars: The Old Republic, Grey DeLisle.
  • The same actor who voices Scorch in Republic Commando is the same fellow one voicing Carth Onasi in Knights of the Old Republic''.
  • Cat Taber voices Mission Vao in Knights of the Old Republic, and plays an outright Expy of the same character as Vette in Star Wars: The Old Republic Taber also voices Leia in The Force Unleashed.
  • Within the same game, Troy Baker voices Consular companion Zenith and expansion companion Theron Shan ^note  Which may be why the Consular is way behind other classes in getting their companions back
  • Consular companion (of sorts) Holiday and Smuggler companion Risha? Tara Strong. Strong also voices several quest givers (the Republic ambassador to the Gree is the same voice she uses for Twilight Sparkle)
• Keith David voices Julius Little in the original Saints Row and Saints Row 2, then plays As Himself in Saints Row IV, which includes a simulated version of Julius. A lot of Lampshade Hanging is done on how similar Keith David and Julius Little are.
• Kingdom Hearts:
  • Notably averted with Mandy Moore, who plays Aerith, but she does not return as Rapunzel for her debut in Kingdom Hearts III.
  • Referenced with Ray Chase, the voice of Noctis, who voices the Master of Masters. Though Noctis has yet to appear in the series yet was popularly demanded to appear in Kingdom Hearts III, an in-universe fictional expy of him does and may have a connection to the Master of Masters.
• Halo:
  • In Halo 3, Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, and Alan Tudyk all provide their voices for generic Marines. In Halo 3: ODST, the three actors all return, this time playing Buck, Dutch, and Mickey respectively.
  • Nolan North has voiced another generic marine in Halo 3, Sergeant Forge and Romeo.
  • John DiMaggio voiced the Brute Chieftains in Halo 3, Darrin'd Sesa 'Refumee in Halo 2: Anniversary, and portrays Atriox in Halo Wars 2.
  • Gideon Emery went from playing Jerome-092 in Halo Wars, to Governor Sloan in Halo 5: Guardians, to Captain James Cutter in Halo Wars 2 both in-game and in live action.
  • Ike Amadi voiced Spartan Jameson Locke in Halo 5: Guardians, then Darrin'd Atriox in Halo Infinite.
• It isn't uncommon for voice actors who played characters in the Trails Series to voice a different character in a later game:
  • In The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure, Hidehiko Kaneto, who voiced Kurt Nadin in the Trails in the Sky games, voiced Joachim Guenter in Zero. Likewise, Tetsu Inada, the voice of Zin Vathek in Sky, played Sigmund Orlando in Azure.
  • Hiromi Nishikawa, who played in Luciola in the Sky games, also voiced Scarlet in the first two Trails of Cold Steel games. Meanwhile, Takahiro Fujimoto, Naomi Shindo, and Daisuke Hirakawa, who voiced Ian, Sonya, and Cao in the Evolution ports of Zero and Azure, were cast as Vulcan, Angelica, and Rufus respectively.
  • With the Evolution ports of Sky games providing voices to characters who didn't have them before, Yasunori Masutani (Henry MacDowell in Zero Evolution) and Takahiro Fujimoto (the aforementioned Ian and Vulcan) were respectively cast as Klaus and Kyle.
  • As of Cold Steel III, the series generally has this trope overlap with Acting for Two; with characters from previous arcs coming back more frequently, it made sense to have some of the returning actors double-up on roles to save time and resources.
• Mortal Kombat:
  • Ed Boon has voiced Scorpion since the series' inception (though these days he mostly just provides the character's trademark "Get over here!"), but also did the vocal effects for Jax from Mortal Kombat II to Mortal Kombat 4.
  • In the early days of the franchise, the actors would often perform multiple characters. For instance, the male Palette Swapped ninjas (Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Reptile, etc.) were all performed by Daniel Pesina in the first two games and John Turk in the third, while the female ninjas (Kitana, Jade and Mileena) were portrayed by Katalin Zamiar in Mortal Kombat II and Becky Gable in 3. Pesina was also Johnny Cage until the character was recast in Mortal Kombat Trilogy.
  • Richard Divizio portrayed Kano in the first three games, as well as Baraka in II, Kabal and Noob Saibot in 3, and Quan Chi and Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero.
  • Steve Blum played Sub-Zero, Baraka, and Reptile in Mortal Kombat X, though the latter two characters were recast in subsequent installments.
  • Kelly Hu voiced D'Vorah, Sindel and Frost in Mortal Kombat X, though the latter two characters were recast in Mortal Kombat 11. She would later voice Li Mei in Mortal Kombat 1.
• Modern Warfare: Craig Fairbrass plays both Gaz in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Ghost in Modern Warfare 2. This casting choice was subsequently used as evidence to support the fan theory that the two of them are actually the same person.
• Persona:
  • Yuri Lowenthal voiced the Male Protagonist of Persona 3, and returned to voice Yosuke Hanamura in Persona 4.
  • Laura Bailey voiced Rise Kujikawa in Persona 4, before voicing the Female Protagonist in Persona 3 Portable.
  • Ashly Burch voiced Rei in Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth before taking over the role of Rise Kujikawa in Persona 4: Dancing All Night.
  • Matthew Mercer took over the role of Kanji Tatsumi in Persona 4: Arena Ultimax, and would go on to voice Yusuke Kitagawa in Persona 5.
• Watch_Dogs: Billy MacLellan portrays Tobias Frewer, a minor character in Watch_Dogs as well as supporting character in the DLC Bad Blood. In Watch_Dogs 2 He portrays Jimmy Siska, an actor whom Marcus is a fan of who is featured in two early operations. ^note While for most of his appearences MacLellan uses a more confident voice as Siska, this is particularly notable in the cut scene at the start of the final mission of the New Dawn operation, where Siska ends up sounding directly like Frewer.
  • Shawn Baichoo voices Raul Lionzo, a minor character who appears in mission one of Watch Dogs, before going on to play Wrench, one of the main characters of Watch Dogs 2, later reprising this role in Watch Dogs: Legion

Web Original

• In Dangeresque 1: Dangeresque, Too?, the subtitular character is played by Homestar Runner. In Decemberween Dangeresque, the French-Canadian villain Stingy Relenque is played by the very same.

Western Animation

• In Ben 10, Kari Wahlgren appeared in the What If? episode "Gwen 10" briefly as the voice of Gwen as Grey Matter before voicing Charmcaster. The same episode sees Vanessa Marshall as Gwen as Diamondhead and Four Arms and Grey DeLisle as Gwen as Heatbeast. The former would later appear as Tini in "The Galactic Enforcers", Gwen as Cannonbolt in "A Change of Face", and as Myaxx in Secret of the Omnitrix and the latter as Xylene in "The Visitor".
• DC Animated Universe:
  • Similar to the Futurama example above, the exact same character design was used for the villainous Weather Wizard in the Superman: The Animated Series crossover episode with the Flash and for the Inspector Javert-type Agent Bennett in the Batman Beyond backdoor pilot for The Zeta Project. As an in-joke to this, one of Bennett's subordinates in The Zeta Project, Agent West, shares a similar appearance, voice, mannerisms, and last name to the Flash (Wally West).
  • Justice League would see Phil Morris and Virginia Madsen, who later become the respective voice actors for Vandal Savage and Roulette, cast in the episode "The Brave and the Bold" as a gorilla general interrogating the League when they come to Gorilla City and a scientist helping Grodd respectively.
• Futurama would often intentionally (or lazily) reuse background character prototypes, giving the same design, voice, and attitude to them, in completely different roles and situations. The lazy fat-guy tattooed-art trucker, or the old lady stockholder who loved her cat, for example. One such background character, a bald man with a "9" on his shirt, became a major character in the fourth direct-to-DVD movie.
  • So much so, that they have their own names and backstories. The trucker is Sal and the old lady is Hattie.
• Scooby-Doo:
  • In Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, Kate Higgins plays One-Shot Character Principal Quinlan before later joining the cast in Season 2 as major character Mayor Nettles.
  • Gary Cole plays Major Jones in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated and later plays Rafe (the Monster of the Week) in the Scooby-Doo! Shaggy's Showdown movie.
  • Kimberly Brooks has been the voice of Luna ever since her debut in the Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost and later plays young Cassidy Williams in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated.
  • Similarly, Jennifer Hale has played fellow Hex Girls member Thorne in the franchise since Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost, but also played waitress Dottie in Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders.
  • Mark Hamill has had a history of playing various characters in the franchise over the years. In The New Scooby-Doo Movies he reprised his role as Corey Anders from the cartoon Jeannie. In Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island he was Snakebite Scruggs, in Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders he was Steve, in Scooby-Doo: Camp Scare he was Deacon aka Babyface Boretti, in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated he was Crybaby Clown, in Scooby-Doo! Moon Monster Madness he was Zip Elvin, and in Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? he reprises his role as The Joker and The Trickster, along with playing himself.
  • In a cross-medium example, Linda Cardellini plays Velma in the two live-action Scooby-Doo movies as well as Marcie (or Hot Dog Water) in Mystery Incorperated.
• In Skylanders Academy, Chris Cox, who voiced Glumshanks in the original games, is recast as Bomb Shell, while Glumshanks is instead voiced by Norm Macdonald.
• Star Wars animated series:
  • Star Wars: The Clone Wars:
    • Senator Mon Mothma and Senator Mina Bonteri are both close friends of Padmé and voiced by Kath Soucie (who had also played one of Cut Lawquane's children in one episode earlier). While they don't interact onscreen and Mothma only speaks for about three of her appearances while Bonteri is a One-Shot Character, the novel Queen's Shadow indicates that they're rivals (namely because Mothma believes in the Republic, while Bonteri does not and ultimately joins the Separatists), and Padmé thinks that the two women are similar.
    • Robin Atkin Downes plays Cham Syndulla and Senator Rush Clovis, both of whom were supposed to be one-shot characters, but Cham appeared in another episode and Clovis would return for three more episodes. Cham would later appear a couple of times in Rebels and The Bad Batch. The fact that Cham speaks in a Twi'lek accent helps disguise it.
  • Star Wars Rebels: Eric Lopez plays Cadet Oleg in a Season 1 episode before later playing Jonner Jin in a Season 3 episode.
• In Brazil and Italy, the dubbing directors of Total Drama almost never reuse the old contestants' voice actors. But when they do (Sadie/Ella and Shawn/Devin in Brazil; Amy/Jen, Samey/Ellody, Ella/Miles, and Sky/Tammy in Italy) it sticks out like a sore thumb.
  • Hebrew is the most painful example, apart from Poland and Hungary. For example in the later series: Lindsay became Dawn (later Sanders/Sky); Staci is Heather; Brody is Harold; Ryan and Pete were already Duncan, Chef Hatchet, Sam, and TDPI!Leonard; RR!Noah is Topher; Kitty and Emma are Amy and Samey ^note As a bonus, both actresses swapped roles, with Amy being really nice, whilst Samey is cold towards her sister.; Josee is Leshawna and Blaineley; Devin is Trent; Spud and Gerry are Alejandro, Brick and Max; and Lorenzo being Dave and Cody.
  • Hungary itself makes sure that no two contestants in the same season have the same voice actor, with Don notably stepping up from Justin. Other second comings include Eva (before her elimination) turning into Jo, Anne Maria into Sugar and Laurie, Dawn into Scarlett and Jen, Tyler into Shawn, Staci into Kelly, Courtney into Josee, Bridgette into Ellody, Lindsay into Stephanie, Scott into Rock, Samey into Carrie, Dave into Devin, Harold into Tom, Lightning into Spud, Izzy into Taylor, Sam into Pete, and Max replacing Leonard's unknown actor.
    • Poland disregarded this rule, with Leonard leading the way as Cody (later Scott and Max), Anne Maria becoming Samey and Amy; Dawn becoming Crimson and Laurie and Courtney becoming Mary and Stephanie. Other than that, Sierra becomes Dakota; Izzy was Staci; Zoey gets promoted to Scarlett and Miles; Mike steps up as Don; Brick becomes Jacques; Katie becomes Ella; Topher becoming Rock; Sugar becoming Jen; and Lindsay becoming Ellody.
  • The Romanian dub isn't any better, with Ridonculous Race being the only installment of the franchise which averts this trope. Owen becomes All-Stars Mike, Heather becomes Zoey for the first episodes of season 4 and is later replaced by Lindsay, Izzy becomes Anne-Maria, Alejandro becomes season 4 Mike, and Cody becomes Cameron (which becomes Hilarious in Hindsight in season 5). The most egregious example is Pahkitew Island, where nearly every character shares their voice actors with a previous character. Sky is Jo, Jasmine is All-Stars Gwen, Ella is All-Stars Courtney, Sugar and Scarlett are Izzy, Anne-Maria and All-Stars Sierra, Max is Scott and Leonard and Shawn are Owen and All-Stars Mike.
  • The Russian dub is not immune to this either. With Mike having save VA as Chris, Lightning sharing VA with Duncan, Cameron sharing his VA with Owen, Scott with Chef and Trent. In Pahkitew Island the director of dub became different, and such, Chris' new VA also voiced Owen in Ridonculous Race.
• In Darkwing Duck, Hamilton Camp reprised his role of Gizmoduck for a few episodes, but also voiced one-shot villain John Goodbody in the episode "You Sweat Your Life."

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