But surely that’s one actor playing six people, the opposite of what’s wanted . Or maybe I’m misrembering.
I guess it’s technically both…
I guess the people who said they were Spartacus doesn’t count.
In The Last Emperor Puyi was played by four actors (all of whom had speaking parts):
- John Lone as an adult
- Richard Vuu as a 3 year old
- Tijger Tsou as an 8 year old
- Wu Tao as a 15 year old
In addition Puyi’s younger brother Pujie was played by three actors:
- Fan Guang as an adult
- Henry Kyi as a 7 year old
- Alvin Riley III as a 14 year old
Do we get to count DeForest Kelley?
Good point. I’d say yes.
Also Fiona in Shrek: The Musical.
In Jumanji: The Next Level most of the characters (Spencer, Martha, Fridge, Eddie, Milo) are played by actors in the real world, and then inhabit multiple avatars in the game. For example, Spencer is played by Alex Wolff in the real world, and by Awkwafina and Dwayne Johnson at times during the game. Eddie is played by Danny DeVito in the real world, and Awkwafina and Dwayne Johnson in game. Fridge is played by Ser’Darius Blain, and then he inhabits Oberon (Jack Black), Ruby Roundhouse (Karen Gillian), and Mouse (Kevin Hart).
Meta-example: in Noises Off (both the play and the film adaptation), three actors inadvertently end up playing the burglar in the play-within-the-play at the same time.
In the execrable made-for-cable Dead Weekend (1995), five actresses - including Bai Ling - play a shapeshifting alien named Amelia.
And that reminds me of the terrific 1987 cult classic The Hidden, whose villain is an alien parasite with the ability to jump between hosts, which means the film’s antagonist is played by six different humans (Chris Mulkey, William Boyett, Claudia Christian, Clarence Felder, Ed O’Ross, John McCann) and a dog (Jake).
If we’re including shapeshifters and the like, at least 4 actors played the T-1000 in Terminator 2:
Robert Patrick (default)
Jenette Goldstein (John’s foster mom)
Dan Stanton (twin of Don Stanton, the guard at the vending machine in the mental hospital)
Leslie Hamilton (Linda Hamilton’s twin)
I’d prefer not to… for the simple reason that I don’t see other actors playing the shape-shifter’s character so much as I see the shape-shifter character mimicking other characters.
The boundary is blurry, though. On the one hand, you’ve got shapeshifters that change their own form, like the T-1000. If they don’t count, then what about the body-stealers, who invade someone else’s body and control it? But from there, it’s a short jump to situations like the body-swapping in Farscape, where all of the people involved were trying to make it clear who they really were, and not at all trying to pretend to be the body they were occupying (in fact, they even wore nametags with pictures of the people they “really” were, to try to make it easier on each other).
Even without superpowers: how many people have played, say, Ethan Hunt?
In American Splendor, Harvey Pekar is portrayed by four actors:
- Daniel Tay as young Harvey
- Paul Giamatti as adult Harvey
- Donal Logue as Harvey in the play-within-the-film
- Harvey Pekar as himself
Scott Lang was played by five different actors in Avengers: Endgame.
Paul Rudd, of course, was the main actor playing the character. But in the time travel test scene, Scott Lang was also played by Bazlo and Loen LeClair (baby), Jackson Dunn (child), and Lee Moore (old man).
One for the holiday weekend: in When Do We Eat?, Ira is played by four different actors:
- Caleb Armstrong as Ira as a Toddler
- Arman Manyan as Ira as Young Boy
- Joshua Weinstein as Ira as Young Man
- Michael Lerner as Present-Day Ira
In 2007’s Atonement, three actors portray Briony Tallis:
- Saoirse Ronan, age 13
- Romola Garai, age 18
- Vanessa Redgrave, (much) older
Another case of three actors playing the character at different ages: Big Fish (2003). Ewan McGregor and Albert Finney get most of the role of Ed Bloom, but Perry Walston also plays the character at the age of 10.