Celebrities who played a fictionalized version of themselves

[Intergalactic Gladiator]

When I first saw the Celebrities who always appear as a fictional alter-ego thread, my first thought was Jennifer Grey who played a fictionalized version of herself in It's Like You Know -- a show that I thought was pretty good and didn't deserve to die.

She doesn't exactly fit that topic though because she doesn't do that everywhere, just on that show.

There are other actors who've done the same like Jerry Seinfeld playing himself on his show, Larry David as well. I would even say that just about everything Adam West has done since Batman was play a fictionalized version of himself.

I also remember seeing Tom Hanks on The Naked Truth once playing himself who got his shirt caught sticking out of the zipper on his pants in a restaurant. The kicker at the end of the bit was that he told Tea Leoni's character that he gets his kicks doing that in public.

So who else has played him or herself like this?

[Diogenes the Cynic]

John Malkovich in Being John Malkovich.

Several guest stars (e.g. Kate Winslett, Ben Stiller, Patrick Stewart, Daniel Radcliff) did parodies of themselves on the Ricky Gervaise show, Extras.

[Bob Ducca]

Neal Patrick Harris in the Harold & Kumar movies.

[Exapno Mapcase]

Julia Roberts in Ocean's 12.

[Icerigger]

Maybe Roger Moore in Cannonball Run.

[h.sapiens]

This was really common in the days of radio and early TV. George Burns and Gracie Allen; Jack Benny; Phil Harris and Alice Faye; Ozzie, Harriet, David and Ricky Nelson, for example.

[Hilarity N. Suze]

Does Kirstie Alley in "Fat Actress" count?

[Smitty]

Jean Claude Van Damme in JCVD

Kareem Abdul Jabbar in Airplane

[Justin_Bailey]

Originally Posted by HelloNinja

Neal Patrick Harris in the Harold & Kumar movies.

Neal Patrick Harris actually plays Neal Patrick Harris in the Harold & Kumar movies. An actor who has had a similar career as the real Harris, but is not "Himself". Apparently the NPH of the Harold & Kumar movies is a bit of a psychotic. It's all right there in the credits...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366551/fullcredits#cast

[drillrod]

In Cold Souls Paul Giamatti stars as a fictionalized version of himself, agonizing over his interpretation of "Uncle Vanya."

[cmyk]

William Shatner in Fanboys.

[yellowval]

Jamie-Lynn Sigler in Entourage.

[RealityChuck]

Lyle Talbot played himself in an episode of Green Acres.

Chuck Norris in Sidekicks. About a kid who takes up karate to be like his hero Chuck Norris. He ends up in a tournament where Norris is a judge.

[Kingspades]

Originally Posted by Exapno Mapcase

Julia Roberts in Ocean's 12.

This is the one I was going to add to the thread. I think it gets extra points because it involves Julia Roberts playing a fictional character who, in turn, masquerades at one point as Julia Roberts.

[kunilou]

Garry Shandling played Garry Shandling, the fictional host of a talk show on It's Garry Shandling's Show." It get's a little more complicated because it's a show-within-a-show, which means that Garry Shandling the actor played Garry Shandling the narrator who was talking about Garry Shandling the talk show host.

[astorian]

When you say "fictionalized," does that include thinly disguised versions of themselves? Or must the character have the same name as the actor?

Example that comes to mind: Neil Simon's "Chapter Two" was a thinly disguised account of his marriage to actress Marsha Mason. And when they made a movie of it, Marsha Mason got the lead role. No, the character's name wasn't Marsha Mason, but for all practical purposes, she was playing herself.

[cantara]

Being John Malkovich

[astorian]

Also... does it count when a celebrity stars as himself in his own autobiography? If so, Muhammad Ali played himself in "The Greatest," and Jackie Robinson played himself in "The Jackie Robinson Story."

If only fiction counts, well, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris starred in a TERRIBLE movie called"Safe at Home," in which they played themselves.

[notfrommensa]

The TV Show Las Vegas had several actors/celebrities that played fictionalize characters of themselves.

Jean Claude Van Damme, Chubby Checker, Wayne Newton, Wolfgang Puck, Paul Anka

[Jophiel]

Originally Posted by Justin_Bailey

Neal Patrick Harris actually plays Neal Patrick Harris in the Harold & Kumar movies. An actor who has had a similar career as the real Harris, but is not "Himself". Apparently the NPH of the Harold & Kumar movies is a bit of a psychotic. It's all right there in the credits...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366551/fullcredits#cast

Isn't that the very definition of a "fictionalized version of themselves"?

He's the actor from Doogie Houser (in reality) but fictionalized in his behavior.

[Lord Ashtar]

Originally Posted by astorian

Also... does it count when a celebrity stars as himself in his own autobiography? If so, Muhammad Ali played himself in "The Greatest," and Jackie Robinson played himself in "The Jackie Robinson Story."

If it does, then we have to count Howard Stern playing Howard Stern in Private Parts.

[sqweels]

Merv Griffin played himself as a genial serial killer in Steve Martin's The Man with Two Brains. Hilarious.

[Swallowed My Cellphone]

Originally Posted by kunilou

Garry Shandling played Garry Shandling, the fictional host of a talk show on It's Garry Shandling's Show." It get's a little more complicated because it's a show-within-a-show, which means that Garry Shandling the actor played Garry Shandling the narrator who was talking about Garry Shandling the talk show host.

Also a lot of the guest stars played fictionalized versions of themselves appearing on his fictional talk-show.

[Intergalactic Gladiator]

Originally Posted by Smitty

Kareem Abdul Jabbar in Airplane

I'm sorry son, but you must have me confused with someone else. My name is Roger Murdock. I'm the co-pilot.

[ElvisL1ves]

There was Michael Jackson on "The Simpsons", doing the voice of the fat white guy in the mental hospital who was deluded into thinking he was Michael Jackson.

And Ethel Merman in "Airplane!", as Lt. Hurwitz, the mental patient who thought he was Ethel Merman.

[MovieMogul]

Originally Posted by yellowval

Jamie-Lynn Sigler in Entourage.

Not just her--dozens of actors and directors on that show have done the same thing.

Originally Posted by Exapno Mapcase

Julia Roberts in Ocean's 12.

Actually, Julia Roberts plays another character (Tess) who resembles the "real" Julia Roberts and chooses to impersonate (and who is mistaken for) the famous actress.

But IIRC, "Julia Roberts" (the character) never appears in the film.

Bruce Willis, however, does count in Ocean's 12. He also played "himself" in The Player, which also featured many other actors (including Julia Roberts) playing fictionalized versions of themselves.

Oh, and as long as we're talking about Garry Shandling, there were plenty of actors playing fictionalized versions of themselves as guests on The Larry Sanders Show, too.

[Don Draper]

Creed Bratton, while not exactly a household name, was a member of the mid-60s band the Grass Roots, and now plays himself on the U.S. version of "the Office."

[Justin_Bailey]

Originally Posted by Jophiel

Isn't that the very definition of a "fictionalized version of themselves"?

He's the actor from Doogie Houser (in reality) but fictionalized in his behavior.

Sort of. But Neil Patrick Harris is very adament about describing his role in Harold & Kumar as "a character very much like me, who has the same name as me, and starred in the same TV show I did as a kid, but I'm not playing myself."

[pepperlandgirl]

Originally Posted by cmyk

William Shatner in Fanboys.

He also plays himself in Free Enterprise. I love that movie. They're so excited to meet him, and then they gradually realize he's insane.

Topher Grace and a few other people whose names I don't know played themselves in Ocean's 11.

[filling_pages]

In Hamlet 2, Elisabeth Shue plays Elisabeth Shue, except that she's given up acting and become a nurse.

[Joey P]

I'm gonna go with Bob Saget in Huff (Played a cocaine addicted actor on a show called "America's Favorite Dad") and most of the cast of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

[Jophiel]

Originally Posted by filling_pages

In Hamlet 2, Elisabeth Shue plays Elisabeth Shue, except that she's given up acting and become a nurse.

And Molly Ringwald playing herself working as a flight attendant (or some sort of airline employee anyway) in Not Another Teen Movie.

[Swallowed My Cellphone]

Originally Posted by ArchiveGuy

Not just her--dozens of actors and directors on that show have done the same thing.Actually, Julia Roberts plays another character (Tess) who resembles the "real" Julia Roberts and chooses to impersonate (and who is mistaken for) the famous actress.

Oh, that reminds me. Former tennis tantrum star John McEnroe played both himself and his almost doppelganger on CSI:NY in the same way. He had a prosthetic nose for the guy who looked a whole lot like John McEnroe and would pretend to be him in order to sleep with girls who were otherwise out of his league.

[Haunted Pasta]

My favorite underappreciated comedy, The Tall Guy, was written by the one-time straight man for Rowan Atkinson's live show. The titular character is the straight man for an obnoxious comedian named Ron Anderson, played by Rowan Atkinson.

[Rayne Man]

Many of the guest stars in Extras played fictional versions of themselves.

[RealityChuck]

Audie Murphy played himself in To Hell and Back, his autobiography (which probably had some fictionalized elements).

Oliver Stone played himself in the miniseries Wild Palms, where it's mentioned that he had underestimated the size of the Kennedy assassination conspiracy.

Matt Lauer played himself in Land of the Lost.

Larry King often plays himself in movies and TV.

[astorian]

Tom Jones played himself in "Mars Attacks," and pilots the plane that helps a party of people escape from the Martians.

[Argent Towers]

I think Adam Sandler in Funny People qualifies, even though the character is named "George Simmons." It's pretty blatantly supposed to be a caricature of Sandler himself; I'm not sure how "fictionalized" it is, actually, although I would certainly hope that the real Adam Sandler is not as depressing as "George Simmons" was.

[astorian]

Oh, and Reggie Jackson played a fictionalized version of himself, in "The Naked Gun." He's the guy hypnotized into assassinating Queen Elizabeth.

[sciurophobic]

Originally Posted by kunilou

Garry Shandling played Garry Shandling, the fictional host of a talk show on It's Garry Shandling's Show." It get's a little more complicated because it's a show-within-a-show, which means that Garry Shandling the actor played Garry Shandling the narrator who was talking about Garry Shandling the talk show host.

He wasn't a talk show host on "It's Garry Shandling's Show". That was "The Larry Sanders Show."

[Katriona]

Originally Posted by kunilou

Garry Shandling played Garry Shandling, the fictional host of a talk show on It's Garry Shandling's Show." It get's a little more complicated because it's a show-within-a-show, which means that Garry Shandling the actor played Garry Shandling the narrator who was talking about Garry Shandling the talk show host.

And David Duchovny guested as a version of himself with a crush on Gary. Or maybe it was Larry (see post above mine).

Oh, Bruce Campbell in "My Name is Bruce."

[thelurkinghorror]

It's strongly suggested that Tom Petty is portraying himself in The Postman.

[Justin_Bailey]

Originally Posted by Katriona

Oh, Bruce Campbell in "My Name is Bruce."

This one drove me crazy. Bruce Campbell's real-life persona (that of a devoted husband and a hardworking nice guy who loves his fans) clashed so greatly with his movie persona (a divorced horndog who was lazy and hated everybody) that I had a really hard time watching My Name is Bruce. Of course, the fact that the rest of the movie was pretty much a failure didn't make it any easier.

Oh, and if we're counting novels, Bruce Campbell wrote Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way starring a fictionalized version of himself as a B-movie actor working on a movie with A-list co-stars.

[kunilou]

Originally Posted by sciurophobic

He wasn't a talk show host on "It's Garry Shandling's Show". That was "The Larry Sanders Show."

My mistake. It was a sitcom about a sitcom. Garry the actor played Garry the narrator who talked about Garry the sitcom character.

[Joey P]

Kareem Abdul-Jabar on Airplane!

[Harvey The Heavy]

KISS in KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park. Also Raquel Welch and Keith Hernandez on Seinfeld.

One I've wondered about on Curb Your Enthusiasm is Wanda Sykes. Is she playing herself or just a character named Wanda? Even with a lot of the bit parts on that show the actors use their real first names.

[Spoke]

Ray Liotta played a fictionalized version of himself in Bee Movie.

[Spoke]

Oh yeah, and Bob Barker hilariously played himself in Happy Gilmore.

[Ponch8]

In Wayne's World 2, during the parody of The Graduate, Wayne stops at a gas station to ask for directions, but the attendant is a "bad actor" who messes up his lines. The bad actor gets pulled away by some stagehands, and gets replaced by "good actor" Charlton Heston, who gives the directions flawlessly.

[RealityChuck]

Recently, Mike Tyson played himself in The Hangover.

Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, and Ralph Houk all played themselves in Safe at Home.

Mets outfielder Bernard Gilkey played a Mets outfielder in Men in Black (the guy who sees the alien ship and misses the fly ball).

Sportscaster Heywood Hale Brown plays himself in The Odd Couple. The scene shows the Mets getting a triple play, but Oscar misses it because Felix calls him. The players who made the triple play were actual members of the team (Ed Charles, Bud Harrelson, Ed Kranepool, and pitcher Jack Fisher) and Bill Mazeroski is the one who hit the ball (after Roberto Clemente refused to).