# Actors that don't really act **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 18, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343 "2011-11-18T14:56:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![P.Louise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@P.Louise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P.Louise)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/61 "2011-11-19T04:58:24Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > James Spader: I think deep down in the recesses of his brain he truly thinks his last name is California and he is the CEO of a paper company after a top-secret career as an archaeologist (hence the name change) and after he got bored with practicing law. James Spader is a method actor who is known for being meticulously prepared when he does a role. Maggie Gyllenhaal made comment about Spader that she bumped into him in LA after they had made the film Secretary. They talked a few moments and after he left she realized that she did not know this person at all. Maggie realized he had stayed primarily in character for the whole shoot. When she talked to him during their chance meeting he was himself…a much different person. I had the opportunity to meet Spader a few years ago and talk to him. The thing that struck me, a huge Boston Legal fan, is that I did not think of Alan Shore once during our meeting. He just didn’t look like Alan Shore or give off any Alan vibes. On that day James proved to be a bit shy or reticent, but friendly and very nice. ---
**Author:** ![tripthicket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripthicket/32/297_2.png) [@tripthicket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tripthicket)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/62 "2011-11-19T05:02:02Z")
So, wait, we’re about 60 posts in, and no one’s mentioned Samuel L. Jackson? \ I opened this thread expecting to see him named within the first 5 posts. I like Jackson, but he fits the OP’s criteria to a T. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/63 "2011-11-19T05:47:23Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > That doesn’t apply to Eddie Murphy as a rule. Watch Coming to America. He plays many different people in the movie. I watched it a few times before I realized that he was not only the lead but also characters like the old Jewish man in the barber shop as well. His work in _Dream Girls_ was excellent, and were it not for _Norbit_ being released in the same year, he would have been nominated for Best Supporting Actor and would have stood a good chance of beating Alan Arkin who really was not doing anything that amazing in _Little Miss Sunshine_. > [@JohnT](#): > > I even started a thread on this subject, but my example was Alan Rickman who seems to play the same, smarmy, dripping with better-than-thou sarcasm character in almost every role I’ve seen of his. I’m sure he has done stuff that doesn’t have the same persona, but I don’t think I’ve seen it… Then you haven’t seen _[Truly Madly Deeply](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103129/)_. Of course, neither did anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/64 "2011-11-19T15:26:32Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Charlie Sheen > > (dammit, why did Chuck Lorre have to decide to go all “he hurt my pride” and ruin the best sitcom out there?) I always suspected Lorre saw Sheen and had the idea “If I can get this guy to play himself and give him a great supporting cast, I’ll have a hit sitcom.” If Sheen thinks he was acting in that role, he’s even crazier than he’s been acting lately. For real acting, someone mentioned in a thread that when they first saw House, they wondered “Who is that American actor who looks so much like Hugh Laurie?” ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/65 "2011-11-19T18:01:19Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > Acting isn’t necessarily being different than how you are. Acting is making the character seem real in the circumstances. Reacting like a person would react, showing the right emotions for the scene, that kind of thing. Just because an actor is largely playing himself in that character doesn’t make that a bad acting job, if he’s pulling off the look and feel of the situations. That’s what makes acting convincing. > > Hamming it up, overselling, or not being in synch with the situation is much more off-putting than an actor seeming to be the same person in all of his roles. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/66 "2011-11-19T18:12:33Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > the awful acting of the girl I thought Justin Bieber was kind of good in the original _True Grit_. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/67 "2011-11-19T18:15:17Z")
> [@tripthicket](#): > > So, wait, we’re about 60 posts in, and no one’s mentioned Samuel L. Jackson? \ Currently playing Martin Luther King on Broadway. I haven’t seen the show, but… ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/68 "2011-11-19T18:44:58Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Morgan Freeman. Seems like the same guy in every movie he’s in. Seems like the same guy in real life. Watch _Street Smart_ then because Fast Black isn’t remotely like his character in _Unforgiven_. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/69 "2011-11-19T19:10:38Z")
> [@I'm Not Dennis Bergkamp](#): > > For a great example of Mickey Rourke as a full-on, capital-A “actor,” see [Angel Heart](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092563/). No matter what he’s done before or since, that was a tour de force performance. > > As to one-note actors, I think Rourke’s Angel Heart co-star Robert de Niro has recently fallen into simply playing himself in various types of situations, as has Jack Nicholson. Maybe that’s just a side-effect of becoming an iconic actor. Incredible movie, one of my top ten. But I’ll offer JimCarrey, and I have to agree about John Wayne, he was the same in war movies, the same in cowboys, the same in Ghegis Khan, and was the same IRL. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/70 "2011-11-19T20:01:50Z")
> [@tripthicket](#): > > So, wait, we’re about 60 posts in, and no one’s mentioned Samuel L. Jackson? \ > > I opened this thread expecting to see him named within the first 5 posts. I like Jackson, but he fits the OP’s criteria to a T. Ever see a small movie called _Jurassic Park_? ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/71 "2011-11-19T21:10:55Z")
I’m thinking Michael Douglas. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/72 "2011-11-19T21:16:27Z")
If you think it’s easy to play yourself, you’ve obviously never tried acting. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/73 "2011-11-19T21:26:02Z")
You can call it acting, but it doesn’t change the fact that the skillsets are completely different. Playing yourself is not the same as playing someone else. This is obvious because there are people that can just do one and not the other. My suggestions are people like Tim Allen, Roseanne Barr, and other standups who got their own show (though there are of course exceptions.) I would also name anyone who hosts their own show. Because if what Tim Allen does is acting, then so is what Craig Fergusen does. ---
**Author:** ![tripthicket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripthicket/32/297_2.png) [@tripthicket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tripthicket)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/74 "2011-11-19T21:35:05Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > Ever see a small movie called _Jurassic Park_? Yep. A movie from 1993. Jackson’s IMDB listing has in the neighborhood of 90 credits after _Jurassic Park_. I repeat myself: I like to see Jackson in movies, but I also believe there’s a reason why a percentage of people believe he basically plays either himself or very similar variations on the same type of character in many of his movies. That belief/myth may actually be based on the work he’s done in the last several years, as opposed to his entire career. I also believe that can be true without saying Jackson isn’t a fine actor. IMO, Jackson fits the criteria the OP laid out. As with any Internet opinion, YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/75 "2011-11-19T22:01:43Z")
Sean Connery. At least, in his later years. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/76 "2011-11-19T22:07:45Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > I’d be able to discuss George Clooney’s acting ability if I ever saw him do it. > > -and +1 to the recommendation for _The Searchers_ for people who think John Wayne can’t act. So the “look down, then look up with just your eyes” thing is not ACTING? My vote is for Tom Cruise. I just see Tom Cruise trying to be cool. In Tropic Thunder where he changed his look and acted all crazy, I just saw Tom Cruise trying to prove he could be a chameleon. But it didn’t work because I still just saw Tom Cruise. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/77 "2011-11-20T08:09:30Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > You can call it acting, but it doesn’t change the fact that the skillsets are completely different. Playing yourself is not the same as playing someone else. This is obvious because there are people that can just do one and not the other. > > My suggestions are people like Tim Allen, Roseanne Barr, and other standups who got their own show (though there are of course exceptions.) I would also name anyone who hosts their own show. Because if what Tim Allen does is acting, then so is what Craig Fergusen does. First, when someone does standup, they take on a persona. It may be close to their real personality, exaggerated, or very different. When you do a show based on a standup act, you obviously develop a character around the one in the act. Been that way for years. I trust you don’t think Jack Benny was actually cheap. For non-standup actors, do you think they started out playing themselves? That they kept going to auditions and refused to play a character, until someday they give them some sides that were about them? Nah. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/78 "2011-11-20T09:32:42Z")
> [@DxZero](#): > > I was gonna get all set to argue with you, because I do love me some Pesci, but alas… > > Everyone of his major characters at their base levels reacts to stress in the same way- aggressively. The tactics might be different but the strategy is always - “Get challenged, over compensate aggressively.” Its such a core principle in his most of his roles that you can to see it as the defining feature of any character he puts forth. > > Now that’s not to say that he can’t make the character believable and empathizable, which I think should be the main goal of a actor. The annoying sidekick in Lethal Weapon is not the brutal gangster from Goodfellas who is not the laconic burglar from home alone and none are Leon Bernstein in The Public Eye. Joe Pesci doesn’t have the biggest range in the history of acting, but he does have a good amount and doesn’t belong in this thread. There’s more than Scorcese in his career. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/79 "2011-11-20T09:36:25Z")
Now, for the Undisputed King of Limited Range Title, allow me to present you the Gruff Man himself: [Jason Statham.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_statham) ---
**Author:** ![Untoward\_Parable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/51bf81/32.png) [@Untoward\_Parable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Untoward_Parable)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/80 "2011-11-20T10:18:11Z")
Actors with Incredible range (awesome): Philip Seymour Hoffman, Cate Blanchett, still thinking… Actors with no range (maybe bad, maybe good): Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Will Smith, William Hurt, Bruce Willis, Paul Giamatti, Ben Affleck [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343.md?page=5)