# How do some actors end up type-cast? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 13, 2025, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542 "2025-03-13T20:06:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/41 "2025-03-14T17:50:36Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > But that casting didn’t lock him out of other opportunities. Agreed; he had not only the star power, but the demonstrated talent to shine in roles that were clearly not “Robin Williams Being Robin Williams.” ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/42 "2025-03-14T17:56:29Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > At the same time, somebody financed this project. And that somebody was obviously willing to forego the usual studio play-safe of sticking actors into familiar roles. It would be interesting to learn more about that aspect of this case. Not that I think we can, just the it’s be interesting if we could. I mis-spoke - _A Thousand Blows_ was a Hulu series, not a film. That series is noted as “the brainchild” of Hannah Walters, a writer and producer who also happens to be Stephen Graham’s wife. They started a production company in 2020 called Matriarch Productions, which is one of the production companies for _Adolescence_. Graham has put in a lot of time in acting, and has been in a lot of big and small stuff. Walters has done her fair share too. Graham, at least, is known for being a great guy. I’m getting the sense it wasn’t hard for them to pitch the _Adolescence_ project, and to let Graham star in a role outside of his typecast. ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2025, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/43 "2025-03-14T18:03:31Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Agreed; he had not only the star power, but the demonstrated talent to shine in roles that were clearly not “Robin Williams Being Robin Williams.” Though I understand from time to time that if he was involved in a project from early on, the script would sometimes replace dialogue with (and Robin does his thing here). ---
**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 14, 2025, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/44 "2025-03-14T18:29:29Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Chris Pratt and John Krazinski are examples of guys who started off as “dad bod” types but buffed up for roles and now they’re hanging on to their buffness for more buff guy roles. Krasinski turned in a bravura performance as a sexually frustrated nerd in _Smiley Face_. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/45 "2025-03-17T13:14:57Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Graham, at least, is known for being a great guy. Are you sure he’s not a scummy man? Give him half a chance and I bet he’d rob you if he can. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/46 "2025-03-17T18:06:20Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Sometimes it’s that the actors do _too_ good a job, although having indelible characters help. > > After seeing them on Dobie Gillis, Dwayne Hickman as Dobie, Bob Denver as Maynard, Except for Gilligan, you mean. I have a book by Bob Denver’s wife with lots of pictures from his later career. He clearly never made it as big again, but his roles did not remind anyone of Maynard. He did have a distinctive look, can’t get away from that. There are two types of type casting. The first is when everyone associates an actor with a particular role, and casting directors are worried that casting this person in another role will make everyone point and say “there’s Batman” for instance. The second is that an actor is a particular type. Casting directors send agents the characteristics of the kind of role they are trying to cast, and the agents match them. If an agent doesn’t have a good match, they might send the headshot of someone as close as possible, but the odds are against the person getting a job. Hiring by appearance is a big no-no for most jobs, but it is the thing for acting. The form you fill out when joining SAG has questions that would get you in so much trouble if used in the real world. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/47 "2025-03-17T18:20:54Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Except for Gilligan, you mean. Not sure what you mean by this. How is Gilligan not a variation of Maynard? It’s the same character without the beat jive. And Gilligan’s relationship with the Skipper is similar to that of Maynard’s with Dobie. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/48 "2025-03-17T19:54:01Z")
I didn’t see much of a similarity. Gilligan had a work ethic, he just wasn’t very good. But to each his own. Denver proposed that he do physical comedy for the Gilligan role to Sherwood Schwartz, which was right in line with what Schwartz wanted. But to each his own. Denver played the sexless, not very attractive comic type, which fit both roles. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/49 "2025-03-17T20:55:37Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Gilligan had a work ethic,… Work!? ---
**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:** [March 17, 2025, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/50 "2025-03-17T23:44:03Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > > [@FairyChatMom](#): > > > > But that casting didn’t lock him out of other opportunities. > > Agreed; he had not only the star power, but the demonstrated talent to shine in roles that were clearly not “Robin Williams Being Robin Williams.” Remember that Robin Williams studied drama at Julliard (alongside Christopher Reeve). He wasn’t always just a comedian. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/51 "2025-03-17T23:55:29Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Mindy Kaling seems to be doing that for herself too. Kaling isn’t typecast; she’s one of those actors who play themselves on screen. Listening to the _Office Ladies_ podcast (where Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey of _The Office_ discuss their time of the show and rewatch each episode), they watched Kaling’s transformation from the start of the show where she dressed more conservatively and acted more sober, until she slowly dressed more casually and became more animated and pop culture-obsessed. As the show went on, she snuck more of her real personality into the character. By the end of the show, what you see on the screen is pretty close to Kaling in real life (though she’s much more intelligent than her character of course). She’s more in the Christopher Walken category, where she just plays herself on screen, rather than someone typecast due to a well-known role. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/52 "2025-03-18T00:03:18Z")
A few years ago I was arguing with a friend about why Adam West was typecast and William Shatner wasn’t - part of it has to do with how popular the role was to the general audience. _Batman_ was a huge hit (a top-five program broadcast twice a week), while _Star Trek_ was not a huge hit (in spite of a devoted fandom). Almost everyone would have seen Adam West’s iconic Bruce Wayne/Batman, while the number of people who saw Shatner as Kirk would be much smaller (and of course, it’s harder to take West seriously after his faux-serious role as Bruce/Batman - while the Kirk role is basically an ordinary person in authority, opening the way for roles as a cop, or a lawyer (for example). ---
**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:** [March 18, 2025, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/53 "2025-03-18T00:11:58Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > She’s more in the Christopher Walken category, where she just plays herself on screen, rather than someone typecast due to a well-known role. I’ve sometimes wondered if this or that actor decided to shrug into living a ‘moneymaker celebrity’ persona in real life — you know, just to sell the _‘movie star that folks pay to see play himself’_ effect? Like, imagine if Jack Nicholson was a mild goody two-shoes who could go a decade without showing an ounce of real passion or even a genuine smirk — but who concluded, _golly, audiences wouldn’t find me to be very interesting, would they? I bet they’d prefer me if they thought I was something I’m not, and thought I was playing myself…_ ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/54 "2025-03-18T00:12:35Z")
ETA: @Andy_L two posts up … Maybe. I never once saw Shatner / Kirk as anything but Captain Kirk grounded and busted back to Precinct Captain or whatever. He _was_ Kirk. Still is IMO. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/55 "2025-03-18T00:15:21Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I’ve sometimes wondered if this or that actor decided to shrug into living a ‘moneymaker celebrity’ persona in real life — you know, just to sell the _‘movie star that folks pay to see play himself’_ effect? Like, imagine if Jack Nicholson was a mild goody two-shoes who could go a decade without showing an ounce of real passion or even a genuine smirk — but who concluded, _golly, audiences wouldn’t find me to be very interesting, would they? I bet they’d prefer me if they thought I was something I’m not, and thought I was playing myself…_ We’ve discussed this in politics threads, but I suspect a lot of the celebrity asshole talking heads are just that, perhaps from the opposite end. They started out playing a role on talk-show TV as the loud-mouth firebrand sure of [whatever]. Then they decided they liked the role. They also noticed their audience liked them in that role. So they started playing it in public too. Now their true personality has become that role. > Look not long into the Abyss. For the Abyss looks back into thee. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/56 "2025-03-18T01:40:32Z")
As Vonnegut wrote: “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/57 "2025-03-18T01:49:44Z")
If Nietzsche and Vonnegut are the prophets of our time, we are well and truly screwed. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/58 "2025-03-18T01:57:28Z")
Hey Steve Franken is also in The Time Travelers ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/59 "2025-03-18T03:37:50Z")
Being typecast isn’t the same as never getting another part. Since Franken himself complained about being typecast, I’m going with him. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/60 "2025-03-18T10:58:48Z")
That’s fine - just happened to remember that role (which is somewhat Chatsworth,like anyway) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542.md?page=4)