I was watching an old episode of CSI and a young, good looking Korean guy was guest starring as a Special Agent. He had the blandest accent (or lack of accent really) and was all geeked up in his Secret Agent suit. Turns out it was Daniel Dae Kim from Lost (Jin). If you’re a fan of the show you’ll know his character walks around all macho-man-like and doesn’t speak a lick of English. It was seriously amusing to see him in that role since I only know Kim AS Jin although his IMDB profile says I missed the 500 other non-Korean-speaking roles he’s had.
And of course there’s Hugh Laurie who half of the people know first as the crabby American doctor House, and the other half know him as that incredibly goofy Brit. I was equally as surprised to see him as House as my mom was to see him as Bertie Wooster.
Who have you typecast in your mind and are surprised to see out of their “expected” roll?
The first time I ever saw Hugh Laurie, he was playing Prince George on Blackadder. The next time I saw him he was in Flight of the Phoenix. I thought I recognized the face but I was quite shocked when I checked it on IMDB.
I haven’t seen most of what he’s done, but in the shows I watch, he always seems to show up as a huffy, relatively sarcastic, intelligent guy who’s a weird kind of authority figure.
Roswell - alien bodyguard
Angel - ancient prophecy translator
Felicity - biochemistry professor (figuratively) from hell
Over 20 years ago James Rebhorn was on a soap opera and played a rapist. He’s played over 75 other roles since then, including many completely benign characters. I however, cannot stop myself from thinking “Ooh don’t trust him he’s a rapist!” whenever he appears on screen.
B.D. Wong. I’ve only seen him as Dr. Wu in Jurassic Park and the psychologist on Law & Order: SVU; to me he’s “that one character actor who plays button-down scientist-types.” But an Asian friend once told me he’s quite a well-known figure in the Chinese-American community for his extensive work in live theatre.
I would never have put those two together! My son watches Berty and I assumed it was recently made. But now I see who it is I am amazed. The House guy on talk shows has the miscreant persona.
And see, I see B.D. Wong and immediately think about his phenomenal performance as Song Liling in M. Butterfly. Funny how we each typecast in our own ways.
Michael J. Fox has spent his entire career playing Alex Keaton (Alex Keaton travels through time, Alex Keaton goes to Vietnam, Alex Keaton runs the NYC government, Alex Keaton gets a job with The New Yorker and does lots of drugs . . .), and I’m sure I will never see him out of his expected role even if he makes a full recovery from the Parkinson’s.
Paul Reiser. No matter what I see him in, no matter what kind of role he plays, he will always be that rat bastard who was going to let Ripley and Newt get attacked by the facehugger in Aliens. I don’t care if he ends up playing the kindest, most gentle character in the history of film, I will still be yelling at the screen, “Don’t trust him! He’s going to betray you! Kill him now!”
I’ll always hate Eric Balfour because of the character he played on Six Feet Under, burnout jerk “wigger” Gabriel Dimas.
I’ll always hate Kathy Bates because of Annie Wilkes in Misery.
And I’ve never watched Lost, but I always think of Daniel Dae Kim as Gavin Park, the amoral young attorney from the evil law firm Wolfram & Hart, on Angel.
Jeff Daniels. Cannot take him seriously since Dumb and Dumber.
Keanu. Same thing for Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. During the Matrix trilogy I half expect him to air guitar and yell “Excellent!”.
For the rest of his life, no matter WHAT he does, Clancy Brown will Always be the Kurgen from the first Highlander movie to me.
Mr. Krabs? The Kurgen does Spongebob.
Lex Luthor? The Kurgen versus the Justice League.
Carnivale? The Kurgen tries to be a preacher.
ER? The Kurgen tries to doctor folk.
I’ve got a challenge along these lines. Go see the new film, The Good German (it opens next week), and see if you recognize someone in the supporting cast (below the top three name stars) from one of the HBO dramatic series. I’m not going to be more specific than this, not even identifying the sex of the person in question, and I’ll admit that part of the challenge arises from a change in appearance.
But I was stunned while reading the credits to see a familiar name so I checked when I got home, and sure enough.
No cheating and looking it up in IMDb. (Or for that matter, paying too close attention to the film’s opening credits!)
