# Actors who are seen as often "playing themselves" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 11, 2021, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-seen-as-often-playing-themselves/955873 "2021-12-11T07:41:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-seen-as-often-playing-themselves/955873/101 "2021-12-13T10:26:20Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > Most action stars—Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Jean Claude van Damme, Steven Seagal, Chuck Norris… Schwarzenegger definitely doesn’t play himself in his action roles; the world has seen enough of him in his political career to be sure of this. It’s not even fair to say that he plays the same character in every movie; the eponymous _Terminator_ and _Kindergarten Cop_’s John Kimble are pretty far apart in characterization. The same thing can be said of Sylvester Stallone: outside of acting he’s a successful, educated screenwriter and director, and this comes across clearly in interviews. His acting roles are also quite varied. Not that he’s shown an absolutely huge range, but the characters at least aren’t mere carbon copies of each other. I haven’t seen enough of Jean Claude van Damme, Steven Seagal, and Chuck Norris off the silver screen to know whether they’re just playing themselves, though there are certainly plenty of other action stars for whom this isn’t true. Dolph Lundgren, for example, often plays brainless muscle men, but in real life he’s got a master’s degree in chemical engineering. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-seen-as-often-playing-themselves/955873/102 "2021-12-13T10:40:02Z")
Alan Hale Jr. (The “Skipper” on Gilligan’s Island.) The person doing the casing for the show was eating out one night and heard a friendly laugh coming from another table. He thought, that’s the laugh I want from the skipper, turned around at saw Alan Hale Jr. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-seen-as-often-playing-themselves/955873/103 "2021-12-13T11:03:23Z")
Have you ever seen _The Mission_? ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-seen-as-often-playing-themselves/955873/104 "2021-12-13T11:15:03Z")
> [@Boycott](#): > > I’ve seen Roger Moore in The Saint which was before he became James Bond and in a film called The Sea Wolves which was made during the time he was James Bond. He pretty much played with the same characteristics as he did in the James Bond movies. _The Persuaders_ also fits that description; very similar character there played by Moore. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-seen-as-often-playing-themselves/955873/105 "2021-12-13T11:53:48Z")
It was Sarah Vowell who observed that Michael Douglas no longer plays anything but rich men. Type-casting (eg. Bob Denver unable to find work after Gilligan) vs self-typecasting (beauties and beefcakes rolling with it as long as they can). Or people behind the camera who either found their comfort zone/axe to grind: after a certain point Mike Nichols could only make movies about rich people; Aaron Sorkin about smart, sanctimonious people, and Ken Burns has to point out how racism is always there somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-seen-as-often-playing-themselves/955873/106 "2021-12-13T12:04:07Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > For instance, Michael Caine has been in a wide variety of roles, but I don’t think there has ever been a movie of his where I didn’t say to myself “Hey look, it’s Michael Caine!” _Quills_. ---
**Author:** ![Boycott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boycott/32/6741_2.png) [@Boycott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boycott)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-seen-as-often-playing-themselves/955873/107 "2021-12-13T16:10:50Z")
I haven’t but I’ll give it a try soon. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-seen-as-often-playing-themselves/955873/108 "2021-12-13T17:09:58Z")
Don’t forget about _Fury_… that’s another totally different Pitt character than the rest. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-seen-as-often-playing-themselves/955873/109 "2021-12-13T17:50:10Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Alan Rickman was well known for largely playing either villains, or Severus Snape, who usually behaved like a villain, but Rickman himself was, by all accounts, a friendly and gentle man. I have to think he loved playing a typecast Shakespearean actor in “Galaxy Quest” and he really was terrific in it. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-seen-as-often-playing-themselves/955873/110 "2021-12-13T19:56:28Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > It was Sarah Vowell who observed that Michael Douglas no longer plays anything but rich men. I haven’t seen some of his more recent movies but his last project was _The Kominsky Method_ in which he definitely was not rich. But talking in absolutes is fun. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-seen-as-often-playing-themselves/955873/111 "2021-12-13T22:30:50Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > > [@Loach](#): > > > > That doesn’t mean his acting had no range. You can’t tell me he is the same character in _Fandango,_ _Silverado,_ _Bull Durham_ , _A Perfect World,_ and _Yellowstone._ > > We disagree. There may be an exception or two, and he has been in some decent shows, but most of the time he plays Kevin Costner > > I think he was the most convincing in his screen debut! 😃 Ha! ISWYDT. And yes, I think he tends to play the same character over and over again. But that character was absolutely perfect for _Bull Durham_, which I think was his very best movie, and one of the best baseball movies ever made. (Tim Robbins, on the other hand, was waaayy out of place…) ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-seen-as-often-playing-themselves/955873/112 "2021-12-13T22:34:32Z")
It’s kinda like Jimmy Stewart, or Cary Grant. It was the uncommon film in which you didn’t think, Hey, that’s Kevin Costner up there." Generally a likable enough, middle-of-the-road emotional range guy. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-seen-as-often-playing-themselves/955873/113 "2021-12-14T00:24:10Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > I haven’t seen enough of Jean Claude van Damme, Steven Seagal, and Chuck Norris off the silver screen to know whether they’re just playing themselves I think there’s evidence to suggest Seagal and Norris _believe_ they are playing themselves. Van Damme seems to have more of a sense of fun and humor about his job. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-seen-as-often-playing-themselves/955873/114 "2021-12-14T00:26:50Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I think there’s evidence to suggest Seagal and Norris _believe_ they are playing themselves. Seagal in his prime was playing only 50% of his _current_ self. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-seen-as-often-playing-themselves/955873/115 "2021-12-14T01:41:58Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > > [@Dinsdale](#): > > > > > [@Loach](#): > > > > > > That doesn’t mean his acting had no range. You can’t tell me he is the same character in _Fandango,_ _Silverado,_ _Bull Durham_ , _A Perfect World,_ and _Yellowstone._ > > > > We disagree. There may be an exception or two, and he has been in some decent shows, but most of the time he plays Kevin Costner > > > > I think he was the most convincing in his screen debut! 😃 > > Ha! ISWYDT. And yes, I think he tends to play the same character over and over again. But that character was absolutely perfect for _Bull Durham_, which I think was his very best movie, and one of the best baseball movies ever made. (Tim Robbins, on the other hand, was waaayy out of place…) I don’t know how anyone can look at the four roles I named and say he was playing the same character or himself. Does someone have to use a wacky voice or pretend to have a disability to not be seen as playing themselves? He plays characters in the normal range of people but they are certainly not all the same. Granted a certain amount of his work is similar not all. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-seen-as-often-playing-themselves/955873/116 "2021-12-14T03:07:06Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Granted a certain amount of his work is similar not all. See the word “often” in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-seen-as-often-playing-themselves/955873/117 "2021-12-14T03:09:41Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I think there’s evidence to suggest Seagal and Norris _believe_ they are playing themselves. Van Damme seems to have more of a sense of fun and humor about his job. A friend of mine was on the production team for one of Van Damme’s low-budget direct-to-video films a few years ago. She told me that he was extremely personable, kind and respectful to the people working on the film, and didn’t come across as a big-ego movie star in the slightest. ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-seen-as-often-playing-themselves/955873/118 "2021-12-14T13:17:34Z")
The obvious ‘outlier’ film in **Van Damme** ’s career was **JCVD** > **[JCVD (2008) - IMDb](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1130988/)** > > JCVD: Directed by Mabrouk El Mechri. With Jean-Claude Van Damme, Valérie Bodson, Hervé Sogne, Rock Chen. Jean-Claude Van Damme gets involved in a bank robbery with hostages situation and reflects about his life during it. The plot has **Van Damme** as a (fictionalised?) version of himself as a washed up has been action film actor who gets caught up in a bank robbery. The film presents **Van Damme** as a pretty worthless failure. **Van Damme** delivers a corrosive self hating soliloquy at one point. TCMF-2L [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-are-seen-as-often-playing-themselves/955873.md?page=5)