# Actors with the same LAST name as their character **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 13, 2014, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-with-the-same-last-name-as-their-character/693008 "2014-07-13T18:51:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-with-the-same-last-name-as-their-character/693008/21 "2014-07-14T15:37:57Z")
This is cheating, but… Redd Foxx’s real name was John Sanford. “Fred Sanford” was the name of his real-life brother. So, you could say that, on the sitcom _ **Sanford and Son** _, he was using his own last name. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-with-the-same-last-name-as-their-character/693008/22 "2014-07-14T16:20:14Z")
In that same vein, Diane Keaton played Annie Hall, and her real last name is Hall. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-with-the-same-last-name-as-their-character/693008/23 "2014-07-14T16:35:48Z")
Jerry Seinfeld played Jerry Seinfeld on Seinfeld.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-with-the-same-last-name-as-their-character/693008/24 "2014-07-14T16:40:47Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > If we’re going to talk about the casting of people as their ancestors, there’s Desi Arnaz, Jr. playing his father in _The Mambo Kings_. And Mario Van Peebles playing his father Marvin in [Baadasssss!](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367790/?ref_=nm_knf_i3) And, of course, Neil Patrick Harris in the _Harold & Kumar_ films. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-with-the-same-last-name-as-their-character/693008/25 "2014-07-14T17:16:34Z")
I thought of an obscure one. Ming-na Wen played Senator Wen on Eureka. IMDb says the senator’s name was Michaela. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-with-the-same-last-name-as-their-character/693008/26 "2014-07-14T17:55:46Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Not quite the same thing, but it’s amusing that Richard Dreyfuss played a part in a movie about The Dreyfus Affair. (Can’t remember the movie, but it was a good one.) Sort of similar, TCM recently showed the 1935 film, _[Ruggles of Red Gap](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruggles_of_Red_Gap)_. The Ruggles of the title is Marmaduke Ruggles, a proper English valet who was in the employ of an earl. The earl lost Ruggles in a poker game in Paris to an American, Egbert Floud, of the small Western boomtown, Red Gap, Washington. Anyhow, the American is played by Charles Ruggles. (Later Charles Ruggles played the father-in-law of the banker Drysdale on The Beverly Hillbillies.) ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-with-the-same-last-name-as-their-character/693008/27 "2014-07-14T18:08:43Z")
Jensen Buchanan was hired to play Sarah Gordon on _One Life to Live_. Eventually the character married Bo Buchanan and became Sarah Buchanan. Not quite the same thing, but _Days of Our Lives_ couple Will and Sonny is known by the portmanteau _WilSon_. When the actor playing Will left the show, Guy Wilson was hired to replace him. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-with-the-same-last-name-as-their-character/693008/28 "2014-07-14T18:43:38Z")
> [@Flywheel](#): > > Wilford Brimley played Horace Brimley on _The Waltons_. That would be Anthony W. Brimley. > [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Marie Osmond portrayed her own mother, Olive Osmond, in _Side by Side: The True Story of the Osmond Family_, a TV movie from 1982. And that would be Olive M. Osmond. BTW, my new book on the topic is [**now available**](http://www.amazon.com/Name-Droppers-Compendium-Notable-Individuals-Changed-ebook/dp/B00LMF0FZW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1405363389). ---
**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:** [July 14, 2014, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-with-the-same-last-name-as-their-character/693008/29 "2014-07-14T19:24:42Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > That would be Anthony W. Brimley. > And that would be Olive M. Osmond. > > BTW, my new book on the topic is [**now available**](http://www.amazon.com/Name-Droppers-Compendium-Notable-Individuals-Changed-ebook/dp/B00LMF0FZW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1405363389). Awesome name! ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-with-the-same-last-name-as-their-character/693008/30 "2014-07-14T19:28:36Z")
> [@Flywheel](#): > > Charles Robinson played Mac Robinson on _Night Court_. This was actually the kind of thing I was looking for. Not actors playing a fictional version of themselves, or playing a relative with the same last name. And I’m a little embarrassed that I didn’t think of this one because I was a huge “Night Court” fan back during its original run. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-with-the-same-last-name-as-their-character/693008/31 "2014-07-14T19:31:02Z")
Drew Carey played “Drew Carey” on “The Drew Carey Show”. And Desi Arnaz Jr. played Desi Arnaz Sr. in _The Mambo Kings_. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-with-the-same-last-name-as-their-character/693008/32 "2014-07-14T19:49:08Z")
Barry Pepper played Ned Pepper in True Grit. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-with-the-same-last-name-as-their-character/693008/33 "2014-07-14T21:01:32Z")
Esai Morales played Bob Morales in **La Bamba**. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-with-the-same-last-name-as-their-character/693008/34 "2014-07-15T00:36:12Z")
ElvisL1ves, see post #19. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2014, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-with-the-same-last-name-as-their-character/693008/35 "2014-07-15T15:16:30Z")
James Hong played Dr. Hong in _The Golden Child_. Plus a couple other similarly named characters. I think you’d find a lot of this sort of thing among Asian actors, especially Chinese. American scriptwriters were notoriously lazy about naming Asian characters for many years. There’s a lot of examples of actors playing a parent in a bio-movie, but so many actors have stage names. E.g., Sophia Loren played her mother, who had a different last name. So the examples given so far are more the exception than the norm. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-with-the-same-last-name-as-their-character/693008/36 "2015-02-27T21:23:22Z")
Bumping to add: Arturo Castro plays Jaime Castro on _Broad City_. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-with-the-same-last-name-as-their-character/693008/37 "2015-02-28T06:34:09Z")
On Raising Hope, one of the main characters is named Jimmy Chance. In a flashback a teenaged version of Jimmy Chance was played by Greyson Chance. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-with-the-same-last-name-as-their-character/693008/38 "2015-02-28T12:26:44Z")
On Family Guy, the role of Mayor West is voiced by Adam West. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-with-the-same-last-name-as-their-character/693008/39 "2015-02-28T12:34:01Z")
Matt Smith, who was the eleventh actor to portray Dr. Who, in the episodes “The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People” portrayed a doppelganger of the Doctor who told everyone present to refer to him as “Mr. Smith” - an alias long used by the Doctor when forced to give a name other than The Doctor. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-with-the-same-last-name-as-their-character/693008/40 "2015-02-28T16:00:37Z")
Not quite what the OP is looking for, but some of the posters for _Men in Black_ billed it as starring “Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-with-the-same-last-name-as-their-character/693008.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-with-the-same-last-name-as-their-character/693008.md?page=3)