# Any Professions NOT Used In Films/TV Shows For Lead Characters? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 20, 2011, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442 "2011-08-20T17:18:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/81 "2011-08-21T12:16:14Z")
Haberdasher. Cycle repairer? Carpet fitter. > [@Quartz](#): > > We’re still looking for a film starring someone as an actuary. Love, Actuary. ---
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/82 "2011-08-21T12:28:39Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Wasn’t Chandler Bing an actuary? Before he went into advertising, I mean. No, he’s a transpondster. He did statistical analysis and data reconfiguration. ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/83 "2011-08-21T12:41:55Z")
Motel Night Auditor. Aside from Anthony Perkins being the only employee of the Bates Motel. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/84 "2011-08-21T13:15:55Z")
… ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/85 "2011-08-21T13:17:10Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > There have been a few in supporting roles, but Librarians are pretty sparse when it comes to lead roles. [The Librarian.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Librarian_franchise) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/86 "2011-08-21T13:37:57Z")
There’s been a few movies/ TV shows about Cassanova. He was a librarian. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/87 "2011-08-21T13:41:17Z")
Has there ever been a prison movie where the guard is the main character. In every one I can think of, the main character was a prisoner, with the guards being secondary characters. ---
**Author:** ![Boer777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c57346/32.png) [@Boer777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boer777)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/88 "2011-08-21T13:52:56Z")
Veterinarian? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/89 "2011-08-21T13:55:04Z")
> [@zombywoof](#): > > I think Engineers of all sorts are underrepresented - Chemical, Electrical, Mechanical, Civil etc. Wait, what? You’ve got Jeff Bridges in **Tucker: The Man And His Dream** , Wentworth Miller in **Prison Break** , Ben Affleck in **Paycheck** , Robert Downey Jr in **Iron Man** , and I’m pretty sure Richard Dean Anderson qualifies in **MacGyver** : using his academic background to put out a fire in an oil well and rebuild the equipment easy as conducting environmental-impact studies and changing operations at a nuclear power plant, or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/90 "2011-08-21T13:56:07Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Has there ever been a prison movie where the guard is the main character. In every one I can think of, the main character was a prisoner, with the guards being secondary characters. Tom Hanks was top-billed in The Green Mile. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/91 "2011-08-21T13:56:14Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Has there ever been a prison movie where the guard is the main character. In every one I can think of, the main character was a prisoner, with the guards being secondary characters. I never watched Prison Break but didn’t the guard become one of the main characters. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/92 "2011-08-21T14:01:31Z")
Good point on Tom Hanks, and I’ve never seen Prison Break, but you could be right… ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/93 "2011-08-21T14:06:10Z")
> [@Boer777](#): > > Veterinarian? All Creatures Great and Small. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/94 "2011-08-21T14:13:36Z")
If any show ever features a professional indexer as a main character, I will faint dead away. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/95 "2011-08-21T14:33:01Z")
I’m sure Mike Rowe has done a few jobs that haven’t been made into main characters. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/96 "2011-08-21T14:36:19Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Wasn’t the female lead in the first Mummy movie a librarian too? > > Now, the people who reshelf books, they get no movie/tv respect. I don’t know, I think student employees and paraprofessional staff show up pretty often. Didn’t the Ali MacGraw character in _Love Story_ work in the campus library? I’m sure the Chris O’Donnell character in _Scent of a Woman_ did. **Justin\_Bailey** has already mentioned Parker Posey in _Party Girl_. ---
**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:** [August 21, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/97 "2011-08-21T15:02:23Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > > The 1950 film _Cheaper by the Dozen_ was about the industrial engineer Frank Gilbreth and his family, although obviously it focused more on family life than on his professional life. > > He was a self-described “efficiency expert,” although that might be the same thing. I don’t believe it’s the same thing, but I believe that he pioneered a lot of what later became industrial engineering. And [this website](http://people.emich.edu/aross15/misc/ie-movies.html) from the University of Michigan also suggests The Pajama Game, Modern Times and The Efficiency Expert (aka Spotswood) as also containing industrial engineers. Mechanical engineers have also been portrayed in the movies, such as in the recent (but not very good) film The Dilemma, starring Vince Vaughn and Kevin James. They’re mechanical engineers who are attempting to build an electric-powered muscle car with the throaty sound of a traditional IC engine. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/98 "2011-08-21T15:03:49Z")
> [@Boer777](#): > > Veterinarian? Uma Thurman, **The Truth about Cats and Dogs** ---
**Author:** ![Surbey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@Surbey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surbey)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/99 "2011-08-21T15:44:09Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Landscapers are strangely underrepresented. You see the pool guys all the time, but never the landscapers. [A Better Life](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1554091/) ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/100 "2011-08-21T15:45:02Z")
No one’s mentioned this yet, so I’m going to feed this one to myself. How about a machinist? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442.md?page=6)