# Multiple levels of acting **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** theater-stage-dance\ **Created:** [October 5, 2023, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-levels-of-acting/991171 "2023-10-05T22:49:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [October 6, 2023, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-levels-of-acting/991171/21 "2023-10-06T09:27:11Z")
In one episode of _The Good Place_, the four main characters are transformed into versions of Janet - all played by D’Arcy Carden, as Janet, as themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2023, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-levels-of-acting/991171/22 "2023-10-06T11:21:41Z")
Including a bit of “Eleanor Janet pretending to be Jason Janet.” ---
**Author:** ![Moonrise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonrise/32/14764_2.png) [@Moonrise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonrise)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2023, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-levels-of-acting/991171/23 "2023-10-06T11:29:28Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > It’s not just that Travolta is playing Troy and Cage is playing Archer — Travolta is effectively playing Cage playing Troy _pretending_ to be Archer, and vice versa. I’ve never seen this movie, but I remember thinking at the time that it’d be great if they did just that, i.e. imitating the other actor’s style. I need to watch it now, I guess. > [@aurora\_maire](#): > > Tatiana Maslany was masterful at this in “Orphan Black” often playing multiple characters in the same scene and often pretending to be one of the other clones. Each clone had their own unique personality. In one episode Sara pretended to be Allison pretending to be Sara. It really felt like she was Allison trying to be Sara. The acting was amazing. Yes, amazing acting in an excellent series. ---
**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:** [October 6, 2023, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-levels-of-acting/991171/24 "2023-10-06T11:55:50Z")
One MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE episode (“The Play”) has Martin Landau’s master-of-disguise character Rollin Hand replace someone as usual, but this time he’s replacing stage actor Vitol Enzor, as played by Michael Tolan, in turn playing an Eastern European head of state who gets plenty of really good lines and is portrayed quite well, all told. The gag is, when Tolan-as-Hand-as-Enzor-as-The-Premier does his rehearsed bit on stage for a functionary who’s calling the shots — and who, sitting up front, thinks this is going great — the team’s tech guy makes it so the _real_ head of state, who’s farther back in the theater, hears _slanderously_ unflattering lines by that actor: being read in sync with the performance that wouldn’t infuriate anyone, but as a second simultaneous performance to get the hammer brought down on whoever seems to be ordering these actors around. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2023, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-levels-of-acting/991171/25 "2023-10-06T12:04:03Z")
Not quite the same, but Charlie Day as Charlie Kelly as Al Pacino as Serpico always makes me laugh. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ZjvTXdSkIts/hqdefault.jpg "Feast your ears on that Spindoctors Mix!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjvTXdSkIts) ---
**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:** [October 6, 2023, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-levels-of-acting/991171/26 "2023-10-06T12:23:47Z")
_Blackadder Goes Forth_ had Gabrielle Glaister as “Bob,” a woman who joins the army in disguise as a man and ends up performing in drag at a cabaret. ---
**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:** [October 6, 2023, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-levels-of-acting/991171/27 "2023-10-06T14:18:34Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Speaking of Don Quixote, Man of La Mancha has four layers. You’ve got an actor, playing the role of Cervantes, who’s playing the role of Alonzo Quihano, who’s deluded into thinking he’s Don Quixote. _Bored to Death_ had Ted Danson as George Christopher singing “The Impossible Dream” in a Don Quixote costume… ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2023, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-levels-of-acting/991171/28 "2023-10-07T04:21:04Z")
To return to _As You Like It_, you forget that Shakespeare’s company had no women. So it was a boy actor playing Rosalind disguised as Ganymede imitating Rosalind. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2023, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-levels-of-acting/991171/29 "2023-10-07T10:32:57Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > In Tropic Thunder, American actor Robert Downey Jr plays fictional Australian method actor and five-time Academy Award winner Kirk Lazarus, who has had a controversial “pigmentation alteration” surgery to temporarily darken his skin for his portrayal of the black character, Staff Sergeant Lincoln Osiris, who, at one point in the movie, during a daring rescue, then impersonates a Vietnamese villager with a water buffalo. He was a “dude playing a dude disguised as another dude”. He also didn’t drop character until the DVD commentary – literally. He did the DVD commentary as Kirk Lazarus playing Lincoln Osiris. > [@aurora\_maire](#): > > Tatiana Maslany was masterful at this in “Orphan Black” often playing multiple characters in the same scene and often pretending to be one of the other clones. Each clone had their own unique personality. In one episode Sara pretended to be Allison pretending to be Sara. It really felt like she was Allison trying to be Sara. The acting was amazing. This is gold standard for multiple levels of acting as far as I’m concerned. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2023, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-levels-of-acting/991171/30 "2023-10-07T15:55:38Z")
In the series “Dollhouse” Actor Enver Gjokaj has personality traits implanted into him and portrays versions of series regulars Topher Brink and Lawrence Dominic, the latter normally played by Reed Diamond, who has some pretty distinctive mannerisms. It’s a hoot. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2023, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-levels-of-acting/991171/31 "2023-10-07T18:34:01Z")
Hugh Laurie pretending to be an American who is pretending to do an English accent, the accent he really has but can not use because it would sound too real for his character. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/XfBTe_N-m6U/hqdefault.jpg "House - Fake British Accent") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfBTe_N-m6U&t=14) ---
**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:** [October 7, 2023, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-levels-of-acting/991171/32 "2023-10-07T20:52:36Z")
Enver also portrayed Eliza Dushku’s character Echo at one point - and quite well. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2023, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-levels-of-acting/991171/33 "2023-10-07T21:30:26Z")
> [@aurora\_maire](#): > > Tatiana Maslany was masterful at this in “Orphan Black” often playing multiple characters in the same scene and often pretending to be one of the other clones. Each clone had their own unique personality. In one episode Sara pretended to be Allison pretending to be Sara. It really felt like she was Allison trying to be Sara. The acting was amazing. This. I had a friend who said it felt like the cast listed in the credits at the beginning of each episode was so small when it felt like there were so many more cast members. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2023, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-levels-of-acting/991171/34 "2023-10-07T22:04:35Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > This. I had a friend who said it felt like the cast listed in the credits at the beginning of each episode was so small when it felt like there were so many more cast members. Orphan Black pulls off what so many movies and shows can’t. It made me forget it was one actress and I just thought of each iteration of Maslany as its own character. They were so distinct. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2023, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-levels-of-acting/991171/35 "2023-10-08T03:54:01Z")
The Steve Coogan / Rob Brydon series of movies - _The Trip_, and its sequels - often has them bantering at lunch, and often doing interpretations. Thus: Real Coogan + Real Brydon play characters who are versions of themselves - Film Coogan and film Brydon. When they do impersonations over meals they are sometimes impersonating real people but often doing actors in character. There’s [18 of these](https://www.vulture.com/2017/08/ranking-every-the-trip-impression-from-brando-to-bowie.html) so points for depth and breadth. ---
**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:** [October 8, 2023, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-levels-of-acting/991171/36 "2023-10-08T15:26:19Z")
George Hamilton got nominated for Best Actor at the Golden Globes for ZORRO, THE GAY BLADE, in which he plays Don Diego de la Vega — no, not that one; the _son_ of the guy who, as Zorro, fought injustice years before — and, for a little over half a minute, Hamilton also voices the narration of Diego Senior tasking Diego Junior with carrying on the family business. And the joke the movie is built around is that Junior manages to successfully pass himself off as the original for maybe one day before getting injured on the job and needing his brother Ramon to put on a mask and pretend to be the same guy. And so, in effect, it’s Hamilton as Ramon passing himself off as Diego Junior passing himself off as Diego Senior as Zorro — with Diego Junior now limited to pretending to pretend to be Zorro, by showing up in full costume (and thereby getting everyone’s full attention) before innocuously explaining that he was told to arrive so attired for a masquerade ball here and now (so his brother, now pretending to be his cousin, can more easily pull off a heist in drag while leaving a ‘Z’ calling card). ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2023, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-levels-of-acting/991171/37 "2023-10-08T15:52:55Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Orphan Black pulls off what so many movies and shows can’t. It made me forget it was one actress and I just thought of each iteration of Maslany as its own character. They were so distinct. The British sitcom Stella Street has two impersonators (John Sessions and Phil Cornwell) doing a cast of dozens and it really gets confusing when they have 6 characters playing Monopoly, for instance. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/o-E3gzmCB_s/hqdefault.jpg "Stella Street: Series 1, Ep6 - The Zulu Party") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-E3gzmCB_s) ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2023, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-levels-of-acting/991171/38 "2023-10-08T16:10:48Z")
There’s this bit from Stargate: SG1 [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/fGfq_uncUUQ/maxresdefault.jpg "Wormhole X-Treme - Behind The Scenes") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGfq_uncUUQ) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multiple-levels-of-acting/991171.md?page=1)