Celebrities who played a fictionalized version of themselves

Cafe Society
1

When I first saw the Celebrities who always appear as a fictional alter-ego thread, my first thought was Jennifer Grey who played a fictionalized version of herself in It’s Like You Know – a show that I thought was pretty good and didn’t deserve to die.

She doesn’t exactly fit that topic though because she doesn’t do that everywhere, just on that show.

There are other actors who’ve done the same like Jerry Seinfeld playing himself on his show, Larry David as well. I would even say that just about everything Adam West has done since Batman was play a fictionalized version of himself.

I also remember seeing Tom Hanks on The Naked Truth once playing himself who got his shirt caught sticking out of the zipper on his pants in a restaurant. The kicker at the end of the bit was that he told Tea Leoni’s character that he gets his kicks doing that in public.

So who else has played him or herself like this?

2

John Malkovich in Being John Malkovich.

Several guest stars (e.g. Kate Winslett, Ben Stiller, Patrick Stewart, Daniel Radcliff) did parodies of themselves on the Ricky Gervaise show, Extras.

3

**Neal Patrick Harris **in the Harold & Kumar movies.

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Julia Roberts in Ocean’s 12.

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Maybe Roger Moore in Cannonball Run.

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This was really common in the days of radio and early TV. George Burns and Gracie Allen; Jack Benny; Phil Harris and Alice Faye; Ozzie, Harriet, David and Ricky Nelson, for example.

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Does Kirstie Alley in “Fat Actress” count?

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Jean Claude Van Damme in JCVD

Kareem Abdul Jabbar in Airplane

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Neal Patrick Harris actually plays Neal Patrick Harris in the Harold & Kumar movies. An actor who has had a similar career as the real Harris, but is not “Himself”. Apparently the NPH of the Harold & Kumar movies is a bit of a psychotic. It’s all right there in the credits…

10

In Cold Souls Paul Giamatti stars as a fictionalized version of himself, agonizing over his interpretation of “Uncle Vanya.”

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William Shatner in Fanboys.

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Jamie-Lynn Sigler in Entourage.

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Lyle Talbot played himself in an episode of Green Acres.

Chuck Norris in Sidekicks. About a kid who takes up karate to be like his hero Chuck Norris. He ends up in a tournament where Norris is a judge.

14

This is the one I was going to add to the thread. I think it gets extra points because it involves Julia Roberts playing a fictional character who, in turn, masquerades at one point as Julia Roberts.

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Garry Shandling played Garry Shandling, the fictional host of a talk show on It’s Garry Shandling’s Show." It get’s a little more complicated because it’s a show-within-a-show, which means that Garry Shandling the actor played Garry Shandling the narrator who was talking about Garry Shandling the talk show host.

16

When you say “fictionalized,” does that include thinly disguised versions of themselves? Or must the character have the same name as the actor?

Example that comes to mind: Neil Simon’s “Chapter Two” was a thinly disguised account of his marriage to actress Marsha Mason. And when they made a movie of it, Marsha Mason got the lead role. No, the character’s name wasn’t Marsha Mason, but for all practical purposes, she was playing herself.

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Being John Malkovich

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Also… does it count when a celebrity stars as himself in his own autobiography? If so, Muhammad Ali played himself in “The Greatest,” and Jackie Robinson played himself in “The Jackie Robinson Story.”

If only fiction counts, well, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris starred in a TERRIBLE movie called"Safe at Home," in which they played themselves.

19

The TV Show Las Vegas had several actors/celebrities that played fictionalize characters of themselves.

Jean Claude Van Damme, Chubby Checker, Wayne Newton, Wolfgang Puck, Paul Anka

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Isn’t that the very definition of a “fictionalized version of themselves”?

He’s the actor from Doogie Houser (in reality) but fictionalized in his behavior.