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Animated Film Directors, Animators & Voice Actors
- Walt Disney was greatly influenced by Charlie Chaplin and always considered Mickey Mouse an equivalent of the star. In his youth, he also enjoyed reading newspaper comic strips, fairy tales, and novels.
- Bob Clampett was so impressed by Salvador Dalí that his cartoon Porky in Wackyland was a direct homage to Dali's paintings. He also loved comic books, which can be seen in many of his cartoons, particularly The Great Piggybank Robbery.
- Chuck Jones was a big Mark Twain fan and book worm. He was also very much influenced by Walt Disney, more than any other animator of the Looney Tunes staff. He also considered Tex Avery a genius comparable to Michelangelo Buonarroti.
- Stage actress and sometime Disney Princess Lea Salonga is apparently very much into video games
. She makes no secret about her love for the Assassin's Creed series, for one.
- Shane Acker, director of the Academy Award-nominated short 9 as well as the feature film based on it, appears to be a bit of an anime fan as he stated during a talked with Elijah Wood on Currrent that he liked films such as Akira and Princess Mononoke
.
- Hayao Miyazaki has admired Walt Disney ever since his youth.
- Osamu Tezuka too.
- No matter how big of an anime, manga, video game and visual novel nerd you think you are, Tomokazu Sugita will always be a bigger nerd than you.
- Yūichi Nakamura is almost as big a nerd as Suigita. They host the Let's Play show Tokyo Encounter together and Nakamura is a decidedly better player than Suigita.
- Kana Ueda, as shown by her 3rd place finish in EVO 2016's Gundam Extreme Vs. Full Boost tournament, is definitely a huge video game nerd as well. Her Twitter tirades upon getting horrible rolls in Fate/Grand Order are hilarious.
- Ralph Bakshi's love for J. R. R. Tolkien is well known. He directed the first movie adaptation of Lord of the Rings, but was unable to make more than one movie. He is also a hardcore fan of Charles Bukowski's novels.
- The career of voice actor Ray Porter went under the radar for three decades despite being prolific... until it was revealed that he was cast as Darkseid in Zack Snyder's Justice League. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, he has showed up on a number of Zoom streams by fans who fought to get the film released, and has admitted loving to attend fan conventions. He has said to once dream of having action figures themed after a character played by him... which happened with Darkseid, eventually.
- Disney animator Ward Kimball was a fan of Yellow Submarine, Fritz the Cat, and The Simpsons, he loved the last one in particular because Bart reminded him of himself as a child.
- Even before Cedric L. Williams became the new voice actor for Face, he was already a big fan of all things Nickelodeon. In interviews, he has stated that he would love to voice as characters in classic Nicktoons, especially SpongeBob SquarePants.
Comedy actors and directors note
- Woody Allen is a geeky intellectual who enjoys referencing culture and philosophy in his work, yet he also enjoys watching baseball. He admires The Marx Brothers, Ingmar Bergman, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Peter Sellers and is a fan of Jazz and Captain Beefheart. He still plays clarinet in his jazz club every Monday evening. His biggest musical influence is Sidney Bechet.
- John Belushi was supposedly such a big Marvel Comics fan that when he visited their offices one day, he was able to give short but accurate summaries of their comics based on covers alone.
- His younger brother James Belushi really loves anime. He frequently asks his social media followers for recommendations.
- Mel Brooks has a genuine passion for old 1930s and 1940s Hollywood movies, self-evident in each of his own spoofs. He admires The Marx Brothers, The Ritz Brothers, Sid Caesar and Woody Allen, but also adores Hollywood musicals.
- He considers Wreck-It Ralph to be the best comedy film of 2012.
- Jim Carrey is a huge fan of classic cartoons like Tex Avery and Looney Tunes. He considers Peter Sellers one of his favorites and said that John Cleese's crazy cook performance in the Monty Python's Flying Circus sketch "Dirty Fork" was a huge influence on his comedy acting style.
- He's also expressed interest in Heavy Metal music, even imitating Napalm Death during an early 90s interview.
- Charlie Chaplin was a fan of Benny Hill, which flattered Hill too as the opposite was true as well. Hill discovered that Chaplin owned a large collection of Hill video's in his house when he visited the place. Chaplin also allowed Buster Keaton to play a cameo in his movie Limelight, an honor no other comedian who rivaled him was ever given. Chaplin also got along well with Groucho Marx.
- Danny Devito loves comics particularly DC, playing The Penguin from Batman Returns was a huge honor for him, and he’s writing a Penguin comic for the company.
- Whoopi Goldberg is a huge Star Trek fan ever since she saw Nichelle Nichols play Uhura as a child and was startled to see a black actress who "wasn't a maid". She asked to be cast on Star Trek: The Next Generation in literally whatever part they could think up for her, no matter how minor it was—making it extra sweet when she was cast in the major role of Guinan. Her sci-fi fandom goes further: she also hosted the Battlestar Galactica finale panel at the UN for the show's fans.
- Apart from that Goldberg is also a huge cartoons fan, particularly Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry. She contributed to the documentary "Extremes & In-Betweens: A Life in Pictures" (2000) about Chuck Jones and also provided the introduction to some of the more controversial racially insensitive cartoons of the 1940s to defend why they were kept unaltered and available on the DVDs, stating that ommitting the racist content would fail to acknowledge that such callous treatment of other ethnic groups existed at the time.
- She is also a huge The Three Stooges fan since childhood.
- She also appeared in documentaries about Afro-American comedian Moms Mabley, Richard Pryor, I Love Lucy, Jackie Chan, Bob Hope, Mary Pickford, Elizabeth Taylor, The Rolling Stones, Ray Charles, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tom and Jerry
- When Diablo IV was released, she bought it and complainted on social media that her favorite video game wasn't on Mac!
- Buster Keaton: Keaton admired and respected Charlie Chaplin, despite being his main rival throughout the 1920s. He also played a role alongside Chaplin in his film Limelight. Keaton also admired Jacques Tati and said that he was the only comedian who carried on the Slapstick tradition he and his fellow comedians pioneered.
- Jerry Lewis is a huge Laurel and Hardy fan, so much that he felt that Stan Laurel was the only person who should have been made immortal so we could still have him around today.
- Steve Martin:
- He only agreed to do Looney Tunes: Back in Action if a Dalek was one of the aliens chasing Bugs and Daffy during the Area 52 scene. He got it.
- Then there's the story of him approaching Olivia Hussey on the set of Roxanne and telling her "You were in one of my favorite movies of all time!" "Oh, Romeo and Juliet?" "No, Black Christmas! I love it, I've seen it 27 times!"
- He's also a skilled banjo player (not exactly a mainstream instrument), has a degree in philosophy, and is a modern art geek, having amassed one of southern California's finest private collections of modern art. In particular, he's a fan of Canadian artist Lawren Harris
, even going so far as to co-curate an exhibit for the Art Gallery of Ontario.
- Groucho Marx was an avid reader. He was a close friend of T. S. Eliot and corresponded with him by letter.
- Adam Sandler is a fan of and has been referred to as an expert on Shadow of the Colossus. Playing the main character in the film Reign Over Me, his lines detailing the game's controls were improvised by himself.
- Peter Sellers: He was an amateur photographer and enjoyed shooting photos and films in his private life. Sellers was also very impressed by Mel Brooks' The Producers. One day after having watched a private screening he took out two full-page newspaper ads at his own expense proclaiming that it was one of the greatest comedies he had ever seen. This exposure gave the film more publicity than it would have in other circumstances. Other comedians he admired were Steve Martin and Robin Williams. Sellers also got along well with The Beatles and, as a special treat, received a tape of rough mixes from The White Album by them. After his death, this tape was auctioned.
- Jacques Tati admired many old time comedians like Max Linder, Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin and particularly Buster Keaton and Laurel and Hardy. When he visited the USA in the early 1960s he was particularly thrilled to meet Mack Sennett, who directed many of the Keystone Cops movies in the 1910s and who was almost forgotten at that point. Tati also met Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton at that occasion, who lent him a great compliment by saying that "Tati carries on from the point where we left off some forty years ago."
- Robin Williams, believe it or not.
- In interviews he confessed to an addiction to the internet
, being an anime fan
, and even referenced Doctor Who in an interview
. Really, if you think about it, it's not all that surprising, considering his first television role was an alien in rainbow suspenders. He actually named his child after Princess Zelda. And, according to the Dork Tower webcomic arc that provided the page image, he's a Warhammer player. He was also an active online gamer. Ever been sniped during a round of Call of Duty? It might have been him...
- It's even better than that for being an anime fan. In One Hour Photo, the Neon Genesis Evangelion toy he gives to the little boy is his, and that line about "It being one of the good guys..." was a little stealth joke by him (apparently he must hate Asuka). He also intentionally mispronounced the word "Evangelion" just to troll fans of the anime. He also auditioned for the role of Gendo in Rebuild. What Could Have Been indeed.
- He would have probably been offered a cameo as the chairman of SEELE in the trilogy.
- It's also been heavily implied that he was a goon. At least, he correctly answered the "stairs" question.
- He also went on record saying that if they ever made a Live-Action Adaptation of Pokémon, he wanted to play Professor Oak.
- And he expressed interest in playing The Joker for both the Burton film AND the Nolan film!
- In an interview he said he wanted to be Riddler and if he can't be Riddler he at least wants to be a random loony in Arkham Asylum. The guy desperately wanted to be in a Batman movie in any role possible (don't we all?).
- Williams was also a huge fan of classic cartoons, especially the works of Chuck Jones. He wrote a foreword to Jones' autobiography, "Chuck Amuck", presented him with an honorary Lifetime Achievement Oscar, and hired him to produce some animated footage that was used in the movie Mrs. Doubtfire. He also appeared in the documentary The Life of Chuck Jones: Extremes & In-Betweens: A Life in Pictures (2000).
- Another cartoon he adored was Popeye, even playing the character in the 1980 film Popeye.
- His main influences were Jonathan Winters, Peter Sellers, Nichols & May, Lenny Bruce, Jay Leno, Sid Caesar, Dudley Moore, and Peter Cook. Naturally, Williams also loved Laurel and Hardy and The Marx Brothers. He also appeared in documentaries about Richard Pryor, Andy Kaufman, Sam Kinison, and Monty Python, where he claimed that he found Terry Jones' performances in drag rather touching and homely.
- Robin and his daughter Zelda starred in a commercial
for the 3DS remake of Ocarina of Time.
- Zelda herself is a fan
of Majora's Mask and Super Smash Bros. Melee and now lurks /v/.
- Zelda also enjoys Halo.
- She also enjoys Game Grumps and Starbomb.
- Zelda herself is a fan
- Robin also stated he played Battlefield 2 as a sniper, and the 2 stands for "2 in the morning".
- Williams was also a huge fan of Wizardry back in the day. Considering the difficulty of that series, one can only imagine the hysterical outbursts he would have when his party was wiped out.
- He was also a big fan of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and helped familiarize Judith Hoag (who played April in the first TMNT movie) with the property.
- In interviews he confessed to an addiction to the internet
- Will Ferrell is a longtime fan of the Eurovision Song Contest, partially owed to the fact that his wife is Swedish. He's followed the contest since 1999, and in 2020 he appeared in Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, in which he and Rachel McAdams play Icelandic Eurovision hopefuls. Connecting to this, he also showed up in a special show Iceland put on in the wake of the 2020 contest's cancellation to announce who Iceland's voters had voted for as their favorite act of the year (apparently, it was Italy).
- Patton Oswalt is a massive fan of avant-garde cinema, as shown in his series detailing his favourite films on the Criterion Channel. He's also a fan of RedLetterMedia, even guest starring on an episode of Best Of The Worst.
- Brazilian actor Kevin Vechiatto is a huge fan of One Piece, even cosplaying as Luffy
after the announcement that a Live-Action Adaptation was coming to Netflix. On his Twitter, he has stated that he would love to play the character in live action.
Straight actors
- Abigail Breslin is a huge fan of the American Girl dolls, reportedly having the complete historical doll line including the character she played a role in.
- Aileen Quinn of Annie fame enjoyed Pitfall! and Centipede on the Atari 2600, expressing her enthusiasm in a letter to the editor for a 1983 issue
of Electronic Fun.
- Alec Baldwin was perhaps the only non-musician (and one of a precious few non-Canadians) to appear in the Gordon Lightfoot documentary If You Could Read My Mind
- Alec Guinness mentioned being a fan ofThe Simpsons in his autobiography A Positively Final Appearance.
- Alfred Molina is a big fan of Marvel Comics. Naturally playing Doctor Octopus appealed to him.
- Alicia Witt has an IQ of 180, and apparently auditioned for the part of Mary Jane Watson in Spider-Man. One of her first big screen roles was as Alia Atreides in the David Lynch's Dune (1984). Must've been one hell of a start.
- Andrew Garfield is a huge Spider-Man fan. One could tell by this bit at SDCC
where he took to the Q&A mic in a fan-made Spider-Man costume, gushing about how excited he was to be at his first Comic-Con and how inspirational Spider-Man was to him growing up. Not to mention he actually shed tears when donning the movie Spider-Man suit for the first time. Doubles as Promoted Fanboy.
- Andy Mientus: musical theatre and TV actor, Slytherin, and gaming nerd. He got featured on a Pokémon video!
- Anthony Hopkins is a huge fan of Breaking Bad, going so far as to call it a confidence-restoring work of art. In fact, he even wrote a fan letter to lead actor Bryan Cranston, calling his performance the best he's ever seen. This is from a Shakespearian trained actor, and a knighted one, no less.
- Asa Butterfield, as revealed by this ANN report
, is a fan of Anime, particularly Neon Genesis Evangelion. He even compares Ender Wiggin to Shinji Ikari.
- He also plays Super Smash Bros. at a decent enough level to get him signed up to e-sports team Panda Global
.
- He also plays Super Smash Bros. at a decent enough level to get him signed up to e-sports team Panda Global
- Ben Affleck played DnD as a kid with his best friend Matt Damon. He's also a major comic book fan, especially of Daredevil, so much so that he jumped at a chance to play the character in the movie adaption. It later became the one movie he regretted, because he felt it was such a poor treatment of the character. Apparently, Affleck is also a big Duke Nukem fan, and there was a rumor at one point he was gonna play him in a movie. A rumor, mind you.
- And now he's Batman.
- It's fair to say that being friends with Kevin Smith automatically qualifies you for this page.
- Benedict Cumberbatch is a huge fan of Robert Downey Jr.. During an interview
he said that his residence in America is actually right near his office, and one day he should "throw eggs or do something" to get his attention. If they do actually meet, heads are bound to explode.note
- As of Avengers Infinity War, He has become a Promoted Fanboy because he got to work with Robert Downey Jr.
- During the premiere of Men in Black 3 he cosplayed
◊ as an MiB agent. He seems to enjoy
dressing
up
a lot, actually.
- Just take a look at these incredibly nerdy pictures
of he and Steven Moffat at Marvel Studios. And he's now playing Doctor Strange (2016).
- Brad Dourif, the actor who played Saavedro in Myst III: Exile, took the job because he was a diehard Myst fan.
- Cate Blanchett is a self-confessed cinephile. She impressed Peter Travers when she listed off films in 2015 (even ones she hadn't appeared in) like a qualified critic, joking that she should have been hired instead of him.
- Channing Tatum is a big fan of Gambit and has been campaigning to play him in a film for years. He was also a big fan of the original G.I. Joe cartoons, to the point that G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is a major Old Shame for him - he really wanted to play Snake Eyes but he was forced by contract to play Duke. He also admits to getting obsessed with video games and identifies as a Game of Thrones fan.
- Charlize Theron is apparently a huge Game of Thrones geek.
- Chloë Grace Moretz of Kick-Ass fame is implied to be a fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender. This stems from when she was rumored to play Toph in the sequel to The Last Airbender, and while denied, she expressed delight at portraying the Blind Bandit. She loves videogames and said that she is addicted to Call of Duty. And she is also the only actress who can claim to have played a Super hero, a vampire a werewolf, a psychic and will play a zombie in Maggie. Not to mention Emily the Strange.
- Chris Hemsworth, a self-confessed fantasy/sci-fi fan, lists Labyrinth, The Princess Bride, and The Neverending Story as his favourite films, and read The Hobbit to his unborn daughter — and that's not to mention watching Game of Thrones.
- If there's anyone that could be described as a full-fledged nerd, it's Christian Bale. He's got everything in him to be a troper: he is an avid reader of Batman comics, plays games (especially Super Mario Bros.), watches Anime and dubbed an Oscar-nominated one at that... Oh, and he goes to the Internet (Specifically YouTube among other places) to watch people talk about him. It's both ironic and funny when you think about his role in Terminator Salvation. Because as we all know, John Connor was quite a geek in his teenage day too (from what we can see in the second film at least). Another nod to his geekdom: he seems to be pumped up about being able to play Solid Snake in a Metal Gear Solid film.
- Christopher Lee:
- Would re-read The Lord of the Rings once a year - for at least fifty years, as of the DVD extras interviews. Peter Jackson would regularly consult with him on set about the source material when making the iconic trilogy. Was also the only member of the cast and crew to have met J. R. R. Tolkien, and said of the experience "I almost knelt."
- There is a YouTube video where he reveals himself to be a metalhead, and says "Heavy Metal Will Never Die." He also worked with the band Rhapsody of Fire, and Vincent Price used to sometimes bring him as a guest to Alice Cooper concerts.
- Awesome when you consider that he was the only cast member who actually met Tolkien in real life. And the only cast member of The BBC adaptation of Gormenghast who'd met Mervyn Peake. He was also a cousin of Ian Fleming and played Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun.
- He was a fan of Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn. When he played the voice of King Haggard in the animated movie, he brought a paperback copy of the novel with him to the story meetings, and used a highlighter pen on several passages of dialogue that he felt were mandatory for the storyline.
- Was one of the people working on an album featuring poems (both read and sung as songs) and songs inspired by short stories of Edgar Allan Poe - he sang the song "Elanore" and read out "The Raven". (sadly the album was only published in Germany)
- Has displayed a liking of Manowar. That's right, folks, THE Rated M for Manly band. He has also narrated 'Battle Hymns MMXI', Manowar's reissued album.
- He recorded a metal album about Charlemagne: Charlemagne.
- He and Peter Cushing were both fans of the Looney Tunes and liked to watch shorts together at the movies. They even got kicked out once for disruptively loud laughing during the showing of a Bugs Bunny cartoon!
- Canadian-American Bollywood (and sometimes pornographic) actress Sunny Leone cites her favorite downtime activities as playing World of Warcraft and watching The Simpsons and the Discovery Channel. Oh, and she enjoys art history, especially abstract art.
- In William Shatner's Star Trek documentary The Captains, Christopher Plummer admits to having been a lifelong Trekkie before he got to play General Chang in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
- Daniel Craig. Yep, James friggin' Bond
. In the section right above that, the article mentions his love of Star Trek. He is also into Firefly, Halo, Guitar Hero and Doctor Who.
- Daniel Radcliffe:
- He can sing Tom Lehrer's "The Elements" from memory. Behold
. Bonus points for making the audience stop clapping so he could concentrate!
- He also knows the notoriously confusing rap.song Alphabet Aerobics by Blackalicious by heart, something he claimed to have learned as hobby while in school.
- A fan of Hunter S. Thompson.
- An admitted geek for cartoons, including Spongebob Squarepants and Avatar: The Last Airbender.
- Disguised himself as Spider-Man to mingle with Comic-Con attendees without his stardom getting in the way of interacting with fellow nerds.
- He was photographed in Boba Fett costume, posing with a girl at an unspecified convention.
- He can sing Tom Lehrer's "The Elements" from memory. Behold
- Dante Basco is currently live blogging Homestuck. While he was pretty confused at first, he's clearly come to quite enjoy it. This is even more interesting because one of the characters he's played, Rufio from Hook, actually has a small role in Homestuck. Especially since that role involves, at one point, Rufio's dead body being kissed by Andrew Hussie. (Makes Just as Much Sense in Context.) He was rather bemused at Rufio's first appearance. He later decided to voice the character of Rufioh Nitram (based both on Rufio and Dante himself) in the Let's Read Homestuck web series, much to the fans' delight.
- Daphne Ashbrook has a tumblr
devoted entirely to saying how much she loves the fans, loves Doctor Who and loved being a companion.
- After reading The Hunger Games, Donald Sutherland sent an e-mail to Gary Ross (who directed the movie) campaigning to get the role of President Snow. In his e-mail, he gave an in-depth analysis on who Snow really is, what makes him tick, how he views power and his relationship with Katniss. Not only did he get the part, but Ross also wrote two additional scenes for him based on the contents of the e-mail.
- Since he transitioned from wrestling to acting, all of Dave Bautista's roles have been geek-related. He auditioned hard for Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) because he desperately wanted to be in a superhero film. Same with James Bond with his role in Spectre. He also collects vintage lunchboxes, showing off his Goldfinger lunchbox after he got cast. He says the greatest gift he got from filming Guardians was a custom Drax lunchbox to add to his collection.
- David Dastmalchian. Let us count the ways...
- He grew up collecting Marvel and DC Comics and, as a kid, even tried to come up with his own stories based on the characters in the comics.
- He's a huge fan of classic horror films, citing Lon Chaney and Christopher Lee as some of his biggest inspirations.
- He has talked extensively about how much he loves The Muppets, saying that The Muppet Movie is one of his favorite movies, and that when he was a young child, there was nothing he loved to do more than watch The Muppet Show when it aired on TV.
- He was thrilled to be cast in Denis Villeneuve's film adaptation of Dune, since he was a fan of the book.
- He's a huge fan of Star Wars and Batman: The Animated Series and was thus ecstatic to work with Mark Hamill in the 2011 movie Sushi Girl, and the two became fast friends afterward. Awww...
- Overall, his geekiness is best summed up with his top 3 career goals he's had since he moved to Los Angeles—in his words
, "work with The Muppets, play a James Bond villain, and work with David Lynch"note .
- Hayden Christensen is such a gamer that when he did the motion capture for the Revenge of the Sith tie-in video game, he specified to the designers what controls he wanted to activate particular moves.
- Elijah Wood and Dominic Monaghan of The Lord of the Rings fame:
- According to the interviews, they are such big Star Wars fans they are currently making a Millennium Falcon together. The two - along with co-stars Billy Boyd, Sean Astin, and Orlando Bloom - even visited the set of Star Wars: Episode II.
- On a related note, Dom is revealed to be a World of Warcraft gamer, much to Elijah's chagrin. In fact, they debated and had a boxing match over it. Seriously, look at the video.
- According to some interviews, Elijah's also the fan of Game of Thrones. There are even a couple of pics of him sitting on the iron
throne
◊.
- Elijah is also a fan of Red vs. Blue, and took some time to play the role of Sigma in Season 10.
- Elijah Wood also likes adventure games. He tweeted that he was looking forward to play Broken Age. This lead to him being cast as one of the main characters, Shay.
- It's pretty safe to say all four of the Hobbit actors are such big fans of The Beatles that they even imitated the fab four for a perfect birthday card to give Peter Jackson, who is a big fan himself.
- Sean Astin is a fan of video games to the point of appearing in a video review
of the Return of the King game. Said review also references an unlockable interview in the game with the actors discussing their interest in gaming.
- Freddie Prinze Jr. of I Know What You Did Last Summer and the television series 24 said in a Game Trailers interview about his character in Mass Effect 3 mentioned that he is a big sci-fi and video game nerd, being a fan of the first two Mass Effect games. Makes sense, considering he's married to Buffy the Vampire Slayer actress Gellar. He's also a huge pro wrestling fan and appeared at WWE events numerous times before officially being brought in as a writer for the Smackdown brand. He parted ways with the WWE in 2009 but around a year later came back as a producer and director.
- Gabourey Sidibe, star of Precious, described herself as being a "creepy fangirl" of the original novel and therefore highly interested in getting the film version right. One of the many things that makes her awesome.
- The Gyllenhaals (Maggie and Jake), both colossal nerds. There was an interview where Reese Witherspoon mentioned that Jake won over her son, a big Batman fan, by giving him toys and such Maggie had gotten from The Dark Knight set. And while filming Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Jake played through the game a few times, to get the feel of the Prince's movements, and occasionally asked filmmakers if they could get a specific move in.
- Hailee Steinfeld unironically admitted to being hooked on 90 Day Fiancé. It's even gotten to the point that she's memorized the commercials from how frequently they come on.
- Prior to being cast in Hawkeye (2021), she said that playing a superhero was on her bucket list. Since then, she's said Avengers: Endgame is her favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe movie.
- One of her favorite movies is 13 Going on 30. Also one of her vocal warmups is mimicking a scene from Singin' in the Rain. As for some other favorites, she also loves Step Brothers, The Big Lebowski, and Paper Moon. The latter inspired her to pursue an acting career.
- Her favorite cartoon is SpongeBob SquarePants, with The Powerpuff Girls (1998) also being a favorite. She's also a longtime Disney fan, stating Snow White and Cinderella are her favorite princesses, and visits Disneyland semi-frequently.
- Speaking of Disney, Hailee said she loved just about all of Disney Channel's shows and movies in her childhood. In particular she loved Demi Lovato in Camp Rock so much, that she had her hair redone with bangs to emulate her...It didn't turn out how she wanted.
- Henry Cavill is an avid gamer and comic book fan, and particularly a Superman fan, so playing the Big Blue Boy-scout on the big screen is a huge dream come true for him. Among the games he has listed as his favorites are Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age II, World of Warcraft, Borderlands 2, and The Witcher series. Speaking of World of Warcraft, Cavill related during promotion for Man of Steel that he nearly missed the call telling him he'd won the role because he was in the middle of a raid. When Netflix began casting a new Witcher live-action series, he specifically reached out to them and won the part of the White Wolf himself. He's also shown himself to be a fan of Games Workshop's Warhammer (both the original fantasy game and 40.000), admitting in an interview that he plays Total War: Warhammer, and posted on his social media pages an image of him painting 40k miniatures. After quitting The Witcher, he even announced producing and starring in a Live-Action Adaptation by Amazon. He also built his own custom gaming PC
, which caused a frenzy when he published it on social media with Barry White music.
- Humphrey Bogart was an excellent Chess player, almost of master strength. Before he made any money from acting, he would hustle players for dimes and quarters, playing in New York parks and at Coney Island.
- Jack Black is also known to be a big video game fan. One of the reasons that he got involved in Brütal Legend was that he liked Psychonauts. He even became a Promoted Fanboy when he became the voice of PSI-King in Psychonauts 2. He would later go on to voice Bowser in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which he claims is a "childhood dream".
- Actress and model Jaime King told Jimmy Kimmel she loved science fiction. She also displayed greater-than-usual knowledge of Star Wars, and she's married to the director of Fanboys. And now that she does the voice of Aurra Sing on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, she counts as a Promoted Fangirl.
- James McAvoy is an avid sci-fi/fantasy geek.
- He was a huge fan of the Dune novels prior to starring as Leto Atreides II in the Children of Dune miniseries.
- He also adored The Chronicles of Narnia, and considers it an honor to have been able to play Mr. Tumnus, who was his second favorite character in the books (Aslan being his ultimate favorite).
- He loved The X-Files as a teen and fancied Agent Dana Scully, so he found it intimidating to work with Gillian Anderson, whom he kissed in The Last King of Scotland.
- He had stated that one of the reasons he wanted to play Professor Charles Xavier was so that he can embody a young Captain Picard. He frequently expressed to interviewers how much it delighted him to share a scene with Patrick Stewart in X-Men: Days of Future Past, and the standard Blu-Ray release includes a featurette called "Double Take: Xavier & Magneto" where McAvoy can't stop fanboying over his idol. He was also fond of X-Men: The Animated Series when he was younger, and can hum the theme song
from memory.
- Cited Captain Kirk from Star Trek: The Original Series as the hero he'd most like to meet.
- Has been seen in a Cheetara T-shirt several times.
- James Marsters is a self-proclaimed Dragon Ball Z fan. He has also stated it's the only reason Piccolo still looks right in Dragonball Evolution since he fought to keep him green with antennae. He later went on to get a role in the English dub of Dragon Ball Super, as the voice of Zamasu.
- James Woods is an avid video gamer, as he noted during a press interview for Kingdom Hearts II. He attended MIT, although he dropped out shortly before graduation to pursue an acting career. He is also a gadget nut; he appeared on an episode of Conan O'Brien with a digital camera to post pictures on his blog - back in 2001, before every celebrity and their mother had a blog and/or Twitter account. He has also said that out of any film role he's had, Hades is his favorite to the point where he loves it so much he'll gladly play him in capacity needed until the day he dies.
- Jamie Lee Curtis regularly plays Street Fighter as admitted in an interview
on Washington DC's local FOX station and actually attended EVO 2015 cosplaying as Vega for anonymity. She did the same with Blizzcon 2015, wearing a Forsaken mask
this time. She's also a fan of One Piece, citing Chopper as her favourite character and Robin as the character she'd love to play someday, was excited to go see the dub of One Piece Film: Gold, and is seriously lobbying to play the part of Dr. Kureha in the upcoming live action adaptation (only because, in her words, she's "a bit too old" for Robin).
- Jennifer Lawrence is a massive Harry Potter fan. “Pencils were wands. I was going to Hogwarts. The whole thing,” she said in an interview.
- Jessica Alba plays MMORPGs. She even responded to a random blinking challenge video in some site. Imagine, staring at that beauty for several minutes. She's on a website called beatmyrecord, and as of late, nobody has yet to beat her staring challenge of 1 minute 32 seconds.
- Joan Collins has said she is a big fan of Scrabble.
- Jodelle Ferland is a huge Harry Potter, Doctor Who and Studio Ghibli fan, as her Instagram account
shows.
- John August started a post on his blog
by casually mentioning he had just been playing Battle for Wesnoth. He went on to say that while reading up on the scenario he had just finished, he found his way to our page for All of the Other Reindeer...and so he titled his post after it. He wrote, "If you haven’t spent an afternoon clicking through TV Tropes, it’s well worth the time suck." So double points (this and TV Tropes Trollers) for Mr. August!
- John Boyega loves anime. Among his favorite series are Attack on Titan, Naruto, The Seven Deadly Sins, Hunter × Hunter, and Bleach. Later, when fancasting him as John Stewart gained steam, Boyega objected...because he would rather play Red Hood.
- Iconic Western actor John Wayne played Chess frequently on movie sets.
- Jon Favreau, director of Iron Man, has admitted that he derived the film's half-scripted, half-improvised structure from his days of running Dungeons & Dragons.
- Jude Law has a tattoo of Rorschach.
- Dame Judi Dench DMs D&D campaigns with her grandchildren. And seriously, how awesome would a game session narrated by her be? No wonder Vin wanted her in on it.
- Contrary to popular myth, Vin Diesel did not "teach her how to play" while they were filming together. She already knew how. According to several accounts, in fact, she agreed to star in The Chronicles of Riddick after bonding with him over their shared love of D&D.
- Karl Urban is into Star Wars, Star Trek, Judge Dredd, Doctor Who and Dungeons & Dragons. He even named his child after Indiana Jones. He became a Promoted Fanboy upon taking the role of McCoy in the 2009 reboot of Star Trek, as well as the title role in Dredd.
- Katie Leung is a fan of Kick-Ass, Russian constructivist art, and photography.
- Kat Dennings is apparently
a big fan
of Hack/Slash.
- Keanu Reeves likes Cowboy Bebop, and was rumored be playing Spike Spiegel in the Live-Action Adaptation. Of course, given how extremely emotional Spike is constantly, this was expected to be a tragedy. Take this as you will, but Reeves is the single-biggest reason that a Cowboy Bebop movie was even greenlit. He traveled to Japan many times to pitch the concept and eventually it was accepted. So you have Reeves to thank for an adaptation even being made.
- Kevin Grevioux, best known for playing the lycan Raze in the Underworld films, is the one who originally came up with the setting and co-wrote, has a degree in microbiology and was studying for his master's in genetic engineering, writes comic books and founded two comic studios, and still looks and sounds like he could kick your ass.
- Kirsten Dunst at the very least has a fondness for anime. She dressed as a Magical Girl and with Blue Hair, went to Akihabara (the Mecca of otaku), and did a music video
about Turning Japanese.
- Kristen Bell may fall into this trope; she does enjoy Comic Con and other displays of nerdiness. She was also very excited to be involved in the Assassin's Creed series, being a gamer herself.
- She skipped after-parties of the 2017 Golden Globe Awards to play Settlers of Catan with husband Dax Shepard
- Leonardo DiCaprio likes Code Geass.
- Priest star Lily Collins is an avid Harry Potter fan.
- Madhuri Dixit studied microbiology at Mumbai University before she became famous.
- Mark Hamill:
- Was originally Tiger Beat material. You wouldn't think one saving throw by Fox Studios to hire an indie film maker would make its main star more known for voicing video games. He's also written graphic novels. And of course, it's never "How was Corvette Summer?" or "I loved you in The Big Red One." It always goes back to that one farm boy. That, or The Joker.
- A possibly apocryphal story that turned up in Starlog a while back described security briefly losing Mark Hamill at a press junket where they were promoting the first Star Wars film prior to its release. Why? He had heard that one of his favorite writers for Cinefantastique was a guest and rushed down to meet them.
- On The G4 show Players at Midtown Comics in New York City He said that 'you have to put blinders on and focus on what you really want to buy or you could go broke'
- Upon hearing that an animated series based on Batman was looking for voice actors, Hamill eagerly auditioned for any part. He didn't get it, but his almost manic enthusiasm won him the part of Joker.
- His famous Joker Laugh was a reuse of his laugh as Mozart in a stage production of Peter Shaffer's Amadeus.
- He's a huge fan of The Beatles. He was thrilled when he got to meet George Harrison in the late 70s.
- Mara Wilson of Matilda fame claims to be a fan of such RPGs as Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VII on her Twitter. Also, being friends with the Channel Awesome crew sort of helps.
- She is also a science fan and has expressed her admiration for Carl Sagan and his Cosmos successor, Neil deGrasse Tyson.
- On a more personal level, Matilda was a favorite childhood book, and getting the title role in the 1996 movie version was an honor for her, and something she truly wanted to do justice to.
- She has expressed admiration for Russian history and culture (and an interest in the Cold War in general) on her Twitter account, and screenshots and gifs of the animated Cheburashka films can often be seen in her Twitter feed.
- The Americans, The Great British Bake Off (the BBC version) and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend are favorites of hers, along with Broad City, which led to her making a cameo in a Mrs. Doubtfire-themed episode as a waitress.
- Mark Ruffalo was a huge fan of The Incredible Hulk before taking on the role of Bruce Banner in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has a tumblr
(which he mostly uses to promote environmental issues, clean energy, and other liberal causes), and went memetic upon fanboying Paul Rudd. Oh, and he's also a big fan of Science Brosnote , to the point where he told Robert Downey Jr. about it. (RDJ was equally enthused.)
- Mark Wahlberg was featured as a client on an episode of West Coast Customs, getting an SUV pimped out as a mobile office he could take on shoots. One of the main requirements? A built-in Xbox 360.
- Masi Oka. He's a fan of manga like Eyeshield 21, One Piece, and Pluto. His love of World of Warcraft and other MMOs inspired him to make a movie about teen gamers
. He admits playing Hiro is essentially being himself with a thick Japanese accent. Oh, and he does special effects and CGI work, with Industrial Light & Magic no less, on the side.
- Max Landis, son of famed director John Landis and scriptwriter for Chronicle, is at the very least aware of TV Tropes, as can be seen by him comment here
. He has also made a short film discussing The Death of Superman and written a fanfic about Spider-Man villain The Shocker. He's even written an SCP
for the SCP Foundation!
- Megan Fox:
- She's a big Star Wars and Lord of the Rings fan and loves comic books, especially Fathom, which she was attached to star in the film version (currently sitting in Development Hell). She also likes video games especially Halo if this
Facebook status update is to be believed. It's known her and her husband Brian Austin Green do own
a copy of Halo: Reach. Plus she wanted to play Rainmaker in a Gen¹³ movie.
- This was used in Friends with Kids. There was a scene where Fox's character was introducing her new boyfriend, played by Adam Scott, to video games. Fox is an experienced gamer and Scott was not. So they just set up a real game off camera and ad-libbed the scene.
- She's also an anime fan and says she got hooked after watching Cowboy Bebop and Inuyasha on [adult swim]. She also loves Sailor Moon and Mobile Suit Gundam Wing and has a desire to film live action versions of both.
- She's also a fan of the original ThunderCats and added that to her list of cartoons she wants to turn into movies.
- She's a big Star Wars and Lord of the Rings fan and loves comic books, especially Fathom, which she was attached to star in the film version (currently sitting in Development Hell). She also likes video games especially Halo if this
- Michele Boyd. Just read her resume
.
- Is there any wonder why Milla Jovovich did the Resident Evil Film Series? She did the film because her brother was a huge fan of the games. She actually wanted to play Jill Valentine. In the DVD commentary for the first film, she and Michelle Rodriguez talk about other video games besides Resident Evil.
- Mila Kunis loves World of Warcraft.
- Natalie Dormer, in addition to having several geek-cred roles, has the phrase "Fear is the mind-killer" tattooed on the inside of her left wrist. She also once showed up to a photo shoot wearing a She-Ra T-shirt.
- Neil Blomkamp, director of District 9, plays and makes video games.
- Nicolas Cage:
- Sold a truly gigantimous comic book collection during his marriage to Lisa Marie Presley. Named his kid Kal-El. Collects geodes. Has a tattoo of Ghost Rider. Might have played Superman, had Superman Lives not fallen through. Hell, he takes his screen name from Luke Cage, Power Man! It's a gag very close to the truth in comic-fan circles, that his role as Johnny "Help, my head's on fire!" Blaze was the result of auditioning for every comic book movie going until they gave him one.
- That last one has a partial aversion, though... he was offered the role of the Green Goblin in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man movie but turned it down, probably because he doesn't like to play bad guys.
- Apparently, playing Dr. Tenma in the CGI adaptation of Astro Boy was something he wanted to do for a very long time.
- According to David X. Cohen, Cage spends large sums of money collecting trilobites.
- Horror producer and director Oren Peli was a video game designer before becoming a director. In fact, his work as a video game designer basically paid for Paranormal Activity.
- Oshea Jackson Jr, best known for portraying his father in Straight Outta Compton, has a Twitter bio
that reads: "The Second of my name, 13th member of the Jedi Council, King of the seven Kingdoms and protector of the realm. currently training to beat Goku."
- Paul Giamatti is an avid collector of comics and rare books, particularly the works of H. P. Lovecraft.
- Apart from his obvious geek credentials, Sir Peter Cushing built model soldiers and wargamed with them
according to H. G. Wells's Little Wars rules.
- And Ian Mcdiarmid (Darth Sidious) has confessed to liking Batman.
- Actor Peter Falk, aka Columbo, was a chess aficionado and a spectator at the American Open in Santa Monica, California, in November 1972, and at the U.S. Open in Pasadena, California, in August 1983.
- Robert Downey Jr. has said himself that he has had nerdgasms. One suspects he would have had at least one when he was chosen to play Iron Man. (Terrence Howard, who played James Rhodes in the first movie only, was also a big fan of Iron Man, and Gwyneth Paltrow simply borrowed some of the comic collection that belongs to her husband, Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin).
- Robert Pattinson of Twilight (and Harry Potter!) fame is a Doctor Who fan who once asked Sylvester McCoy for his autograph. Which makes for a Hilarious in Hindsight when he co-starred with David Tennant in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire shortly before he replaced Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor.
- He's also an avid gamer and has said that Final Fantasy VII is his favorite of all time, adding that Aeris/Aerith was his First Love. He even weighed in on the Cloud/Tifa/Aerith Love Triangle.
- He proved himself to be a major Promoted Fanboy when cast as the titular character in The Batman (2022). Interviews demonstrated that he's a massive nerd about Batman comics and media, to the point where it became somewhat of a meme about how Pattinson didn't bother with preparing for his role like his fellow cast members did with theirs because he already had prior knowledge.
- Rosario Dawson is an avid comic book fan, particularly of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. In fact, she's the co-creator of a series called Occult Crimes Taskforce. She is also an avid Star Trek fan who admits to speaking Klingon.
- Ruby Rose has been a fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles since she was a child, even eventually getting a tattoo of Leonardo. Based on some of her other tattoos, she's also a fan of Astro Boy, Samurai Pizza Cats, Gumby, and Tank Girl.
- Ryan Reynolds is a pretty big fan of Deadpool, the character he is now known for playing in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Well, until Wade Wilson is converted into Deadpool, at which point Scott Adkins takes over) and in the 2016 Deadpool (2016) film. Similarly to Nick Cage, he got that role and a role in Green Lantern (2011) by auditioning for every single comic book character possible until someone finally gave him one.
- Samuel L. Jackson, actor, bad motherfucker, and comic book collector. His most prized collection, original copies of the Lone Wolf and Cub manga. Has a framed picture of Ultimate Nick Fury in his living room and actually asked if he could portray him in Iron Man and the upcoming Avengers movie (which then got extended into a nine-film contract with Marvel). Which makes sense, since Ultimate Nick Fury was based on him in the first place. Word is that he allowed them to base Ultimate Nick Fury on him so that if they put Nick Fury in a movie he'd have an excuse to play him. He also asked to be in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (he would have happily taken an equivalent role of a stormtrooper if necessary), is a huge anime fan (voice actor for Afro Samurai), and may or may not be an excellent chess player. He actually had the initials BMF etched into his lightsaber, and is the only reason purple light sabers exist — Jackson badgered Lucas for one until he got it. He also plays EVE Online, and was the voice of Tenpenny in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. He also admits that he wished that a role in the film version of Mamma Mia! was offered to him because he happened to be an ABBA fan. Not to mention him repeatedly hosting the Video Game Awards. He's also a Breaking Bad fan. While shooting The Avengers in Albuquerque (where the series takes place), he allegedly snuck on the set and asked for a walk-on cameo. Vince Gilligan, creator of Breaking Bad, refused. He also appeared on Talking Bad, the show hosted by uber-geek Chris Hardwick, in a Heisenberg shirt.
- Shane Black, who has been hired
to direct the US adaptation of Death Note, is a big fan of the manga. So much so, in fact
, that he said "NO!" to Executive Meddling-induced Adaptation Decay.
- Tim Curry is reportedly a big fan of Scooby-Doo, making him a Promoted Fanboy when he provided voice work for Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost and Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King. He would've made an appearance in the live-action movie, but turned it down because just like his fellow Scooby-Doo fans, he loathes Scrappy-Doo.
- Tom Hanks is a big Star Trek fan and wanted to play Zephram Cochrane in Star Trek: First Contact but was already committed to a different film. Furthermore, he's a huge space nerd; Ron Howard commented on Hanks' knowledge of the US space program during the making of From the Earth to the Moon.
- He has also named Jason and the Argonauts as the greatest film ever made and provides the page quote.
- Tom Hiddleston is pretty much the biggest Shakespeare nerd outside of Kenneth Branagh and academic professors. And he fanboys for Loki like crazy in interviews, to the point where some people think it's contributed to Loki's Misaimed Fandom. And he has confessed that he once ran around impersonating a velociraptor from Jurassic Park. He also wrote a fan letter
◊ to Kieron Gillen, writer of Journey into Mystery, praising him for his portrayal of Kid Loki.
- He also admitted in an interview that he got star-struck when he met Kermit the Frog on the set of Muppets Most Wanted.
- Vincent Price (for a certain value of "straight" actors...):
- The first film he ever saw, as a young child, was the now-lost silent horror film "The Golem", which he later said terrified him but he loved every second of it. After that he soon became obsessed with films, and was a major fan of various classic film actors like Ronald Colman and Greta Garbo (to the point of staring in shock and blurting out "It's Garbo!" when he saw her at a dinner party years later); he said that for several years when he was a student he saw every single film that was released. He particularly liked Gothic Horror (he was less interested in later genres of horror and was somewhat turned away from the genre by the slasher film trend) and murder mysteries and enjoyed several of the Universal Horror films, becoming a Promoted Fanboy when he later got to work with Boris Karloff.
- He was also a Promoted Fanboy for Edgar Allan Poe, considering him to be the greatest American writer, and aiming to encourage more people to read Poe with the films he appeared in based on his work. He used to read Poe on stage, and even years after he'd stopped doing that, on the set of Edward Scissorhands, was able to recite "Ligeia" entirely from memory (at the age of 80, no less!). As well as Poe he read and enjoyed books such as Dracula and Frankenstein, and the Sherlock Holmes stories. He loved the original stage play of The Bat and was hoping to revive interest in it by appearing in the film version, but ended up disappointed by the Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole issues with the final film.
- As a fan of murder mysteries, he greatly enjoyed his time hosting the TV program Mystery!, which presented episodes of various mystery shows, and particularly liked the version of Sherlock Holmes with Jeremy Brett, whose performance he praised (he was also a fan of the version with Basil Rathbone).
- He continued watching new films that came out throughout his life. While he was rather underwhelmed by A New Hope (he was impressed by the special effects and saw the new developments in that area as a good sign for the future of science fiction, but considered the story too predictable and therefore not suspenseful enough for a serious film, and not funny enough for a comedic film), he did enjoy Raiders of the Lost Ark.
- He saw The Rocky Horror Show on opening night and loved it, and wanted to play the Criminologist in The Rocky Horror Picture Show but it clashed with other commitments.
- He also loved rock music, and was a fan of Alice Cooper before getting to work with him. Afterwards he often received free tickets to concerts and sometimes brought guests such as Christopher Lee.
- And like several others on this page, he loved the Muppets, and considered it a great honour to appear on the show.
- Vin Diesel:
- He's really big into Dungeons & Dragons. He's actually so into Tabletop RPGs that he's written his own campaign setting, and one of several tattoos he wore for xXx was the name of his player character. He's also quite the avid video gamer and started his own video game production company Tigon Studios, which, along with Starbreeze Studios, developed The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, a game considered to be much better than the movie it was a prequel to. He's also written the preface to a hardbound collection of D&D artwork (Thirty Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons published by Wizards of the Coasts, current publishers of D&D). He once answered the interview question "Jedi or Sith?" with "I'd be
Chaotic Neutral". During the filming of The Chronicles of Riddick, he kept bugging Dame Judi Dench, an experienced DM, to play D&D with him. Dench later confirmed that not only did Diesel ask, but she also complied, as discussed in this interview.
- Vin Diesel's new movie, The Last Witch Hunter, was inspired by his D&D player character, built from an AD&D third-party splatbook with a name he stole from The Silmarillion. [1]
- He's also secretly on World of Warcraft, playing with his wife, and Baldur's Gate 2 is his favorite PC RPG.
- In mid-August of 2012, he briefly changed his Facebook profile picture to an image of the superhero The Vision which many interpreted that he was entering the MCU in some form. The next year, it was announced he would be voicing Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and he wound up voicing Groot's single line "I am Groot" in five different languages for international releases.
- He's really big into Dungeons & Dragons. He's actually so into Tabletop RPGs that he's written his own campaign setting, and one of several tattoos he wore for xXx was the name of his player character. He's also quite the avid video gamer and started his own video game production company Tigon Studios, which, along with Starbreeze Studios, developed The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, a game considered to be much better than the movie it was a prequel to. He's also written the preface to a hardbound collection of D&D artwork (Thirty Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons published by Wizards of the Coasts, current publishers of D&D). He once answered the interview question "Jedi or Sith?" with "I'd be
- Vic Mignogna:
- Probably best known for voicing Edward in Fullmetal Alchemist, he's a diehard Star Trek nerd. He conducts panels at conventions in which he challenges the audience to stump him at original series trivia. By his own admission, he used to tape-record the audio of TOS episodes and fall asleep listening to them at night, and got his mother to teach him to sew just so he could make a Trek costume to wear to conventions. He plays racquetball with Michael "Worf" Dorn, and at Genericon 2011, he informed those attending his Trek panel that he went to see the film reboot with Dorn because "what's more awesome than seeing the Star Trek movie with Worf?"
- He also regards himself as a Promoted Fanboy, since he now does conventions with George Takei and Nichelle Nichols and the other actors he grew up revering, and he has to outwardly be cool and calm when on the inside he's freaking out because Sulu knows his name.
- And of course, he did the Fan Sequel web series Star Trek Continues for the love of the show.
- He's also a Star Wars cosplayer... who makes custom lightsabers.
- Will Smith is an Ultraman and Civilization fan. On the former, he once stated that if there was ever an American adaptation of the classic Japanese show, he would love to get a role in it. He's also a huge fan and collector of Beast Wars figures
- In a featurette for his episode of Stephen King's Nightmares and Dreamscapes, while talking about his character, William H. Macy makes a reference to The Firesign Theatre (in particular, Nick Danger).
- Zac Efron:
- He's a Death Note fan according to this interview
. And it just so happens that he looks like Light Yagami, to the point that some fans have declared he'd be perfect if Hollywood ever tried to make an American movie of it. He also likes Dragon Ball Z, Bleach, Naruto, and he's a video game addict. He likes American Comic Books as well. He was also rumoured to be put in a Live Action Full Metal Panic! movie, but, as he stated: "Not bloody likely."
- He's also supposed to be a big Star Wars fan and has talked about wanting to be Luke Skywalker. And he got pretty close to that when he did the voice of Anakin Skywalker in Episode III of Star Wars: Robot Chicken.
- He asked to be shown around the Stargate Universe set when he was at the studio... then asked to be sent a screening of the first episode, because he loved Stargate.
- He's a Death Note fan according to this interview
- Film and voice actor Eddie Deezen is the world's biggest fan of The Beatles (a claim that he has successfully defended several times) he is a pop-culture expert of monumental proportions. Since 2011, Eddie has been a contributing writer for mental floss
, TodayIFoundOut.com
and Neatorama.com
, concentrating on not only The Beatles, but on baseball, American history, and classic comedy acts like Laurel and Hardy, The Marx Brothers, The Three Stooges, and Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.
- Clint Eastwood: He is an enormous Jazz fan and likes Spencer Tracy.
- He fanboyed so much about John Glenn's space-shuttle flight, that he turned that massive Squee into Space Cowboys.
- Johnny Depp loved The Wizard of Oz since he was young: "I wanted to have a tornado sweep me up and take me away from the life I was living as a teenager." He also adores the work of Hunter S. Thompson and was a personal friend of the author. He starred in the 1998 adaptation of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas even portraying him in the Biopic The Rum Diary.
- Billy Bob Thornton is a huge rock fan, among which Frank Zappa and Motörhead are his favorites.
- Tim Allen named The Seven Samurai his favorite movie of all time.
- Antonio Banderas is a huge fan of Orson Welles, citing Touch of Evil and The Magnificent Ambersons among his favorites.
- Uma Thurman said: "All my life I wanted to be Doris Day. One of my favorites is Pillow Talk. It’s a light, breezy romp of a film that’s so much fun to watch. I love that Doris didn’t play anyone but herself in her movies."
- Morgan Freeman cites King Kong, High Noon, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Moby-Dick and Moulin Rouge! as his favorite movies. Of the latter, he said: "I think one of the best movies ever made was Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge! It was just an extraordinarily well-done film. Editing, directing, costuming — just everything about it was perfect."
- At the premiere of Captain America: Civil War, Andre the Black Nerd was geeking out seeing all the stars from the various Marvel films and shows, until he met Ed Skrein (Francis in Deadpool (2016)) who revealed to be a fan of Andre's videos, the two of them then discussing a potential crossover between Deadpool and the TMNT.
- Juliet Landau is a huge fan of science fiction and fantasy, especially when it comes to Doctor Who and anything in the Gothic Horror genre. She's especially a fan of anything to do with vampires, which is funny when you think of her star-making role. She has often been seen cosplaying at various science fiction conventions as the Fourth Doctor, Emma Peel, and as Drusilla the Mad.
- Ezra Miller. Exhibit A
◊. Exhibit B.
◊ Exhibit C.
An interview about Justice League (2017) even has them quoted as calling Grant Morrison "the high priest of comic books and graphic novel writers."
- Michael B. Jordan is an unapologetic fan of anime (except for that one time he quickly scribbled out "anime" and replaced it with "women" when asked what his guilty pleasure was
◊). The current shows that he follows are Naruto and One-Punch Man, and that's not to mention the more obscure shows that he's watched. He also happens to be aware of comparisons between his character Erik Killmonger and Vegeta, which he personally finds amusing.
- Brie Larson is an avid gamer, having cosplayed
as Zero Suit Samus for Halloween and expressed her wish to one day work on a Metroid film, something that many fans also hope to see. Her love for Nintendo is so big that she often interacts with Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser on Twitter, and even shot a commercial
for Animal Crossing: New Horizons. She's also expressed a love for Sailor Moon, practically Squeeing in delight when she saw someone draw fanart
of Carol Danvers as a Magical Girl in the show's style. Ironically, despite being cast in the MCU, she is a life-long fangirl of DC's Wonder Woman. She also has her own YouTube channel
.
Live Action Film Directors
- One disappointment of Akira Kurosawa voiced about his career? Not directing a Godzilla film.
- French director Alain Resnais was a huge fan of comics, especially American comics and fan of The Sopranos and Alias.
- Alfred Hitchcock was such a fan of the cartoons of Charles Addams that the two struck a friendship. Hitchcock owned two cartoons of Addams in his private collection.
- Bryan Singer is a big science fiction fan, and is especially fond of Star Trek.
- Edgar Wright has been quoted as saying on his TV show Spaced, "It's a show by geeks, for geeks." Also, he casually mentions the difference between the Green Goblin and Hobgoblin on the commentary track to Hot Fuzz. And this is before we get to Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
- Watch Eli Roth in any list show about horror movies; you can tell he's still amazed he gets to make horror movies for a living. He attends the Ain't It Cool News annual film festival Butt-Numb-a-Thon (a 24 hour straight showing of classic and new films in Austin, TX) religiously...whether or not he has a film to promote.
- Federico Fellini was a huge movie fan and especially adored Laurel and Hardy and The Marx Brothers. He was also a colossal comic book reader and enjoyed drawing cartoons and caricatures his entire life. Apart from that he has a fascination with clowns and the circus, an obsession that went back to his childhood and would be referenced countless times in his work.
- James Cameron had such a strong desire to make a Battle Angel Alita movie, that he had a fleshed out script and more than 1 year of design work completed before teaming with Robert Rodriguez to finally make it. Also, his answer to question 'Have you seen Inception?':
- George Lucas shares a passion for Walt Disney, along with his friend Steven Spielberg. But he is also a huge comic book fan. He wrote the foreword to the republication of classic comic books stories like Tales from the Crypt and the Donald Duck stories of Carl Barks. The "rolling boulder" scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark was directly inspired by a similar scene in a Donald Duck story by Barks
- One can easily see the Star Wars franchise as the ultimate homage to all the pop culture stuff he enjoys: old film serials, Flash Gordon, Walt Disney, Akira Kurosawa, Looney Tunes, David Lean, John Ford, Sergio Leone, Ray Harryhausen, Joseph Campbell and Isaac Asimov.
- The Indiana Jones franchise has these elements too.
- He's also an art collector, ranging from classic art, to popular illustrations, to comic strip and comic book art. He's taken a lot of his collection and is making it into a museum
.
- Guillermo del Toro:
- He has said that "video games are the comic books of our time... It's a medium that gains no respect among the intelligentsia."
- He thinks BioShock has one of the most immersive worlds out there.
- He enjoys Left 4 Dead partly because he had an idea very similar to the game, and someone else made. Once, at a book signing, he even defended video games as an art form, and teased a massive game he worked on, called Insane, which THQ cancelled in August 2012.
- His film Pacific Rim has been openly stated by him to be a love letter to giant robot and mecha fiction, with notable influence from Neon Genesis Evangelion (though he has claimed to have never watched it) and, to a lesser extent, Gunbuster (Hideaki Anno is even given special thanks in the credits to PR). He has also been spotted holding personally-purchased copies
of the two Puella Magi Madoka Magica films.
- Knowing Pacific Rim's other major inspiration is kaiju eiga, you probably wouldn't be surprised to know he's also a fan of the Godzilla and Ultraman franchises. He even appeared
alongside Ultraman's most iconic foe, Baltan, and was homaged by Ultraman's creators, who featured a planet named after him
in 2015's Ultraman X!
- Knowing Pacific Rim's other major inspiration is kaiju eiga, you probably wouldn't be surprised to know he's also a fan of the Godzilla and Ultraman franchises. He even appeared
- He's also a fan of Gravity Falls. He tweeted Alex Hirsch that it was "one of the best realized, most compelling series around".
- Jordan Vogt-Roberts, director of Kong: Skull Island, has shown himself to be an avid Metal Gear and Gundam Fan since childhood, even at one point reccomending Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team, calling it one of the greatest anime series of all time. When a video was published where he talked about the Gundam movie, people were very quick to notice that he owned a Metal Structure Nu Gundam - an extremely rare kit that often goes for upwards of $3,500. Safe to say, the live-action adaptations of Metal Gear and Gundam are in good hands.
- Kevin Smith:
- Often references comic books and Star Wars in his films, and mentions various other nerdy interests of his Evening With Kevin Smith movies.
- He named his daughter Harley Quinn.
- He founded a charitable organization named The Wayne Foundation, after both Wayne Gretzky, and Bruce Wayne's fictional charity.
- Being a friend or close associate may automatically grant One of Us status. Seriously, just listen to any random show on the Smodcast Internet Radio network.
- John Carpenter, as it turns out, loves video games more than his involvement with F3AR would indicate, although horror games aren't as prominent as one would think
.
- Surprisingly, he is also a self-admitted addict of the Sonic the Hedgehog series, and is even quoted
as even enjoying "the one where he turns into a werewolf".
- Surprisingly, he is also a self-admitted addict of the Sonic the Hedgehog series, and is even quoted
- Peter Jackson:
- He personally selected developer Michel Ancel to develop the King Kong (2005) tie-in game because he was a fan of Beyond Good & Evil, and because of the inconsistent quality of The Lord of the Rings games. He was supposed to do a new Halo game with Bungie, but that ended up being cancelled.
- Peter Jackson allegedly got hooked on Halo 2 online multiplayer during the production of King Kong, leading to his attempts to adapt or work on a Halo property, which eventually became District 9.
- He also has a friendship with the Perry Twins (the two original sculptors for Games Workshop), and is taking sculpting lessons from them in his spare time.
- He is also a huge Tintin fan, which explains why he and Steven Spielberg made a Tintin movie in 2011.
- He is apparently so much of a Doctor Who fan that he offered to direct an episode in exchange for a life-size Dalek.
- Robert Rodriguez:
- He was such a huge fan of Sin City that he shot a scene from Booze, Broads, and Bullets in his basement, and then showed it to Frank Miller as proof that he could make a loyal adaptation of the comics.
- He also started playing video games with his kids in order to make Spy Kids 3 more realistic.
- Which is to say nothing of his Hetero Life Mate, Quentin Tarantino.
- And he teamed up with James Cameron to make an adaptation of Battle Angel Alita.
- Stanley Kubrick admired the films of Max Ophüls, Federico Fellini, Orson Welles, Woody Allen and Ingmar Bergman. He was an avid reader of Franz Kafka and liked Woody Woodpecker so much that he want to put a cartoon of the character in all of his films, but Walter Lantz refused to give him permission. Kubrick also loved to watch Roseanne, The Nanny and The Simpsons during the last years of his life. According to the show's creator, Matt Groening, it must have been a strange experience for him, because Kubrick movies are referenced so often in The Simpsons.
- Paul Thomas Anderson has a very passionate and eclectic taste:
- He is not only a huge fanatic of filmmakers such as Jonathan Demme, Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, Stanley Kubrick, Christopher Nolan and Edgar Wright but he also managed to strike a friendship with every single one of them.
- He is also a huge fan of comedian Adam Sandler, which he managed to strike up a friendship with and even gave him the lead role in Punch-Drunk Love. Anderson himself stated that the film is "an arthouse Adam Sandler flick." Interestingly, when he announced PDL as his next film after Magnolia, critics laughed at the concept.
- He admires actors like Daniel Day-Lewis, Phillip Baker Hall and Tom Cruise so much that he would often write out roles with them in mind.
- He is also seen carrying a copy of the book 13 Reasons Why.
- He is a huge fan of the band Radiohead and even managed to recruit the band's guitarist Jonny Greenwood as his long-time composer, starting with There Will Be Blood.
- Just look at his favorite films list right here
.
- Martin Scorsese: He is on record as a huge fan of The Rolling Stones. He used their music in many of his movies, even directed the concert movie Shine A Light. Apart from that Scorsese was also a technician on Woodstock in 1969 and devoted an entire documentary series Martin Scorsese Present The Blues about his love for blues music. Two of his other documentary series A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese expressed his love for both American and Italian movies. Scorsese is a huge admirer of Stanley Kubrick, John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock and Federico Fellini and also loves to watch Fawlty Towers.
- While most of today's filmmakers operate with an "out with the old, in with the new" mentality, Scorsese is president of The Film Foundation, which is dedicated to the preservation of film (including the very obscure, very old ones). For this passion alone he is adored by many a fan of silent film and classics alike. A good part of the reason Hugo works so well is because of this.
- During his childhood he would constantly borrow a certain book from the New York Public Library featuring photos from various films up to 1950, and a few times succumbed to the temptation to clip a picture out.
- Watch his documentaries about American and Italian cinema to see Scorsese in full-on film geek mode.
- Scorsese once surprised Dave Chappelle by saying he was a fan and fanboyed about "The Playa Haters Ball" in front of Dave and Robert DeNiro, including dropping the quote "What can I say about that coat that hasn't been said about Afghanistan?".
- In the book "Monty Python Live," there's a little anecdote about how Scorsese went to dinner with the Monty Python troupe soon after Mean Streets premiered. This became a Hilarious in Hindsight moment for the Pythons as they had no clue who Scorsese was.
- Martin Scorsese is also quite a Godzilla fan. When he met Ishiro Honda, director of the original Godzilla (1954), during the production of Akira Kurosawa's Dreams, he took the opportunity to thank him.
- Michael Bay is a huge anime fan, and says that was part of why he agreed to direct the Transformers movies.
- Steven Spielberg:
- He's apparently into video games and Transformers, which he got into playing with his kids. He once famously said, "I will accept video games as a story-telling medium when someone can honestly say, 'I cried at level 17.'" note He currently has a deal with EA to help develop games, one of them Boom Blox.
- Spielberg was one of the creative forces that developed the Gameworks mega-arcade chains.
- The Medal of Honor series essentially started when Spielberg decided to try making a video game version of Saving Private Ryan.
- His favorite two games are Myst and Monkey Island.
- On that note, Ron Gilbert (creator of Monkey Island) said Mr. Spielberg enjoyed visiting Lucas Arts and playing whatever they were cooking up.
- He was also quoted on The Castle of Cagliostro as having the best car chase scene in any film, ever.
- He is a HUGE fan of the original Ghost in the Shell. He's one of the influencing factors that a live action movie was made.
- His wife Kate Capshaw said that her first experience with him had him asking if she wanted to play an arcade game he had in his office.
- Oh, and he's producing the Xbox Live Halo TV series.
- Spielberg is a huge admirer of Walt Disney, whose animated films emotionally upset him when he was younger. A famous anecdote about him is that he ran out of the theater in fear when watching Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs for the first time. In Close Encounters of the Third Kind Pinocchio is referenced while a character in 1941 (1979) is moved to tears while watching Dumbo in the theater.
- Apart from that he also likes Looney Tunes, particularly the work of Chuck Jones. Spielberg wrote the foreword for Jones' autobiography "Chuck Amuck" (1989) and was interviewed in the documentary about Jones' work, "Extremes and In-Betweens" (2001). In Spielberg's film The Sugarland Express the characters watch the Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner shorts "Beep, Beep" and "Whoa, Be Gone!". In Close Encounters of the Third Kind the cartoon Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century is playing on the TV when Richard Dreyfuss' character wakes up.
- In E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial another famous cartoon series happens to be on TV when E.T. accidentally flicks on the television set: a scene from the Tom and Jerry cartoon "The Mouse Comes To Dinner".
- Spielberg's love for cartoons has also led him to produce several cartoons and animated projects, including Don Bluth's An American Tail and The Land Before Time, the live-action and animated feature Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the series Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Pinky And The B Rain, Toonsylvania and Freakazoid!.
- Like Peter Jackson mentioned above, Spielberg is also a huge Tintin fan, which explains why both directors made a Tintin movie in 2011. His Indiana Jones movies are often compared to the style of Tintin, even though when he directed Raiders of the Lost Ark he didn't know about it until a French film critic made the comparison.
Spielberg: "The reviewer was saying that I must have been a real fan of Hergé, because there was such a similarity between the two worlds. It was comparing my movie with the Hergé adventures but that was the first time I had come across Hergé. I immediately had my assistant get me a book, in French, and I loved the storytelling. I understood everything, even though I couldn’t read the language. I then quickly read all the books in English, and I was completely enthralled. I understood the comparisons with Indiana Jones, and thought the Tintin stories would make fantastic motion pictures.''- Spielberg also shares a love for Carl Barks' Donald Duck comics, which inspired the rolling boulder scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
- Terry Gilliam is a huge fan of MAD, Tintin, the early Walt Disney cartoons, Jan Švankmajer, Philip K. Dick, Gustave Doré, Stanley Kubrick, Walerian Borowczyk, The Goon Show, the Ealing Comedies, Stan Bridges, Ernie Kovacs, Akira Kurosawa, Ingmar Bergman, Luis Buñuel, Stanley Donen and Federico Fellini. Much like Fellini he too is a cartoonist who eventually became a film director. He also likes all kinds of animation, from Eastern European Animation, Walt Disney, Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, underground 1960s and 1970s cartoons,... to South Park.
- Wes Anderson has placed Neon Genesis Evangelion on his list of top 5 DVDs.
- Sergio Leone was enormously influenced by the works of Akira Kurosawa and John Ford. A Fistful of Dollars is mostly the same plot as Kurosawa's Yojimbo, who sued for credit and received it. Many of Leone's spaghetti westerns have shots and characters that are direct references to many classic westerns by Ford. Leone was also a fan of Flash Gordon' and was offered to opportunity to direct the 1980 picture Flash Gordon, but declined because he felt the script didn't resemble Alex Raymond's original work. Other comic book adaptations he planned on doing, but never got around to, were based on The Phantom and Mandrake the Magician. Leone also read regular novels and planned both a film adaptation of Journey to the End of the Night and a remake of Gone with the Wind, despite liking the 1939 movie adaptation.
- Quentin Tarantino is virtually the definition of a film geek. He fills his movies with zillions of pop culture references to movies, music, comics, books and other stuff he enjoys.
- He is a big fan of Soul, bubblegum pop, comic books, martial arts movies, Elvis Presley, Ennio Morricone, Nirvana and Bob Dylan.
- Tarantino admires the work of Howard Hawks, but especially worships Sergio Leone, whose influence can be seen in most of his own work. When Leone died in 1989 Tarantino claimed it was the first time he cried over the death of someone who wasn't a close family member or friend. Several of Tarantino's films since Kill Bill have music by Ennio Morricone on the soundtrack.
- Oliver Stone loves the work of H. R. Giger, even going so far as naming him the sole person who "accurately portrayed the soul of modern humanity. A few decades from now when they talk about the twentieth century, they will think of Giger." He also adores The Doors, which wouldn't surprise anyone since he directed the biopic The Doors about them.
- Sergei Eisenstein admired Walt Disney and even met him personally. He remained a die-hard fan of his works even throughout the 1940s when many intellectuals felt Disney was getting rather kitschy. He called Bambi "the work that crowns, of course, the whole study on Disney."
- Orson Welles cited John Ford as the greatest director of all time. Before making Citizen Kane he rewatched Stagecoach countless times. Welles also loved Charlie Chaplin and said: "... But you must see City Lights. You'll see Chaplin in "City Lights". He also claimed that: "Out of all the younger movie filmmakers Stanley Kubrick strikes me like a giant." In 1983 Welles was a member of the jury during the Festival of Cannes and laughed his head off with Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, which he wanted to award the Palme d'Or. His wish didn't come true, but the movie did win the Special Jury Prize.
- Joel Schumacher is a lifelong comic fan, and his original version
of Batman Forever was much more in-line with the tone of the first two films. Executive Meddling lead to what we ultimately got for the third film as well as the fourth.
- Samuel T Weston is a troper. He's active on the TV Tropes forums. He has a troper page. And he's here on this page.note
- Zack Snyder is a huge comic fan, to the degree that he originally refused to direct the adaptation of Watchmen — because he agreed with the fandom's general opinion that the book was inextricably tied to the comic book medium itself, and was thus unfilmable. He only reconsidered when he realized that his refusal just meant that the studio would get somebody else and that somebody else probably wouldn't share his reverence for the original novel (and would thus be more amenable to Executive Meddling).
- He is also a fan of anime and cited
that a scene in Birdy the Mighty as an influence for a sequence in Man of Steel (generally believed to be
the Birdy/Nataru fight in Decode inspiring the Superman/Zod fight in MoS's climax).
- He also went out of his way to edit
the Dawn of Justice teaser to include Star Wars.
- He is also a fan of anime and cited
Porn Actors & Directors
- Former porn star Jessica Steinhauser (better known as Asia Carrera) is a member of Mensa, a classically trained pianist who performed at Carnegie Hall as a child, builds her own computers, and plays Unreal Tournament. Her review of one version of Photoshop was published in Maximum PC magazine. On a side note, she has discounted Sharon Stone's claim to being a member of Mensa.
- Loads of porn actors and actresses are secret geeks. For example, Stoya is a huge sci-fi fan and has been an IT nerd from a very early age.
- Alt Porn Star Darling/Dee Williams has talked about her love of role-playing games. Both pen and paper/board and Live action varieties. She has also compared BDSM roleplay to LARP.
- There is a porn star named Phoenix Askani.
- And another who goes by Diana Prince.
- And another one named Lenina Crowne.
- Avena Lee has the Dragon Ball dragon tattooed on her lower back.
- Porn star / import model Francine Dee has a tattoo of Mew down there.
- Nicki Hunter has ComicCon on her yearly list along with the AVN Expo, and even starred in a porn parody of Avatar.
- There's a pornstar named April O'Neil. If that wasn't enough, she is a Doctor Who fan and played Deanna Troi in a parody, which she considered a dream role. She also gave the world what Wil Wheaton described as "probably the most meta cosplay in the world
".
- This video
makes it very clear that Bobbi Starr knows her video games quite well.
- Alana Evans is not only a hardcore gamer but actually hosts a show about sex and gaming on SiriusXM.
- Phoenix Marie plays World of Warcraft and is a classic car buff who restores her own cars.
- Tanya Tate has a DeviantArt page where she cosplays as superheroes and fantasy characters
like Cersei Lannister, Emma Frost and Invisible Woman.
- Tommy Gunn has his own truck specially modified in case of a Zombie Apocalypse, which he later sold.
- Mercedes Carrera used to be an aerospace engineer before she entered the porn industry.
- Manuel Ferrara is an anime and videogame fan who hosts gaming live streams with other porn stars. He also seems to be friends with Benzaie.
- Mia Malkova streams video games on Twitch.tv. She loves fantasy novels and Game of Thrones.
- Madison Ivy is a huge fan of anime, most specifically being Dragon Ball Z.
- Riley Reid listens to Sam Harris podcasts.
- Eva Lovia, aka Candice Horbacz, runs her own "philosophytube" podcast.
- Ella Hollywood might be one of the biggest nerds in Porn. Ella’s Instagram Sodacattv is filled with video game and cosplay content, aside from a few posts its hard to tell that Ella does porn at all.