# Actors who can play a wide range of roles and do it believably

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-can-play-a-wide-range-of-roles-and-do-it-believably/1015809>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 19, 2025, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-can-play-a-wide-range-of-roles-and-do-it-believably/1015809 "2025-03-19T03:44:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 3

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**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:** [March 21, 2025, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-can-play-a-wide-range-of-roles-and-do-it-believably/1015809/41 "2025-03-21T20:09:55Z")

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> [@ashtayk](#):
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> I am on the fence about Helen Mirren; I have yet to see her in the Yellowstone prequel. I am not sure of her ability to do an American accent, except for maybe an old school mid Atlantic one.

I have not started to watch the second season but I liked the first season a lot. She doesn’t play an American. Her character is an Irish immigrant. So if you watch it you can critique her Irish accent.

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**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-can-play-a-wide-range-of-roles-and-do-it-believably/1015809/42 "2025-03-21T21:15:54Z")

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Michael Sheen is an actor with a very wide range, from Tony Blair, Brian Clough, Kennneth Williams and David Frost, to Aziraphale and the robot barman in _Passengers_.

He is one in a long line of excellent comic actors with a wide range, including Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers and Ronnie Barker.

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**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-can-play-a-wide-range-of-roles-and-do-it-believably/1015809/43 "2025-03-21T21:41:24Z")

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> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#):
>
> A character actor is someone who takes supporting roles with some kind of eccentric characteristic.

Or as Jake Gyllenhaal put it on SNL, a character actor is an actor whose face you can remember but whose name you cannot.

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**Author:** ![cieskokid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cieskokid/32/5374_2.png) [@cieskokid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cieskokid)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-can-play-a-wide-range-of-roles-and-do-it-believably/1015809/44 "2025-03-22T03:25:57Z")

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So did Smoochy 🐇

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