# What Actor/Actress Will Always Be Character X For You
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-will-always-be-character-x-for-you/425909
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [November 10, 2007, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-will-always-be-character-x-for-you/425909 "2007-11-10T14:44:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2007, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-will-always-be-character-x-for-you/425909/1 "2007-11-10T14:44:01Z")
What actor, in your eyes -no matter how many subsequent roles they are in- will always represent a previous character they played?
I don’t watch CSI, but I see the commercials all the time which feature **Anthony LaPaglia** evidently in the lead role. He makes an occasional appearance in other movies I’ve seen but to me he will always be Simon Moon, Daphne’s dippy over-the-top brother from _Frasier_.
Also from TV, **Dan Hedaya** has had a long and varied career but for me he has always been and forever will be Nick Tortelli of _Cheers_.
Incidentally this isn’t meant to be [another] What Role Will Such-and-Such Actor Always Be Remembered For? as in Louise Fletcher / Nurse Ratched - Anthony Perkins / Norman Bates and many, many more. I was thinking along the lines of what particular actor holds this odd sway over you?
Next?
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### Author:  [@UntouchedTakeaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UntouchedTakeaway)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2007, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-will-always-be-character-x-for-you/425909/2 "2007-11-10T14:51:16Z")
Laurence Fishburne will always be Ike Turner.
VCNJ~
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### Author:  [@Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abby_Emma_Sasha)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2007, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-will-always-be-character-x-for-you/425909/3 "2007-11-10T14:59:57Z")
Louise Fletcher. She is a wonderful actress but I can never get over the Nurse Ratched thing. I know she has done wonderful things since then, and won many awards, but I can’t help but see her ass that evil nurse. Sorry.
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### Author:  [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2007, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-will-always-be-character-x-for-you/425909/4 "2007-11-10T15:04:04Z")
Ian McKellen will always be Gandalf to me.
Alec Guiness will never be just Obi Wan, though-I have seen some of his early work.
Colin Firth will always be Mr Darcy.
Renee Zellwegger will be Bridget Jones for the most part.
Nicole Kidman will always be a bad actress–oops, wrong thread…
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2007, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-will-always-be-character-x-for-you/425909/5 "2007-11-10T15:23:28Z")
Stanley Tucci will always be Richard Cross in [_Murder One_](http://imdb.com/title/tt0112086/) (a.k.a. “The Best TV Show Ever”).
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### Author:  [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2007, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-will-always-be-character-x-for-you/425909/6 "2007-11-10T15:30:24Z")
David Duchovny will always be Fox Mulder. Ted Levine will always be Jame “Buffalo Bill” Gumb. That made _Evolution_ a weird movie. I tried to watch _Monk_ once, but found myself expecting Captain Stottlemeyer to say “Was she a big fat person?”.
Jerry Seinfeld will always be Jerry Seinfeld, the character from _Seinfeld_.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2007, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-will-always-be-character-x-for-you/425909/7 "2007-11-10T15:35:02Z")
Kevin Spacey has gone on to star in big movies and win major awards but every time I see him I think back to Mel Profitt.
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### Author:  [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2007, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-will-always-be-character-x-for-you/425909/8 "2007-11-10T16:22:38Z")
> [@Veuve\_ClicquotNJ](#):
>
> Laurence Fishburne will always be Ike Turner.
For me, Laurence Fishburne will always be Furious Styles.
Peter Stormare will always be Gaear Grimsrud
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### Author:  [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2007, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-will-always-be-character-x-for-you/425909/9 "2007-11-10T16:28:18Z")
Brad Pitt will always be Jeffery Goines from _Twelve Monkeys_.
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### Author:  [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2007, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-will-always-be-character-x-for-you/425909/10 "2007-11-10T16:34:04Z")
[QUOTE=minlokwat]
What actor, in your eyes -no matter how many subsequent roles they are in- will always represent a previous character they played?
I don’t watch CSI, but I see the commercials all the time which feature **Anthony LaPaglia** evidently in the lead role. He makes an occasional appearance in other movies I’ve seen but to me he will always be Simon Moon, Daphne’s dippy over-the-top brother from _Frasier_.
[/QUOTE]
He is not in CSI - I do believe he is from _Without a Trace_ - but I don’t watch that show so hard to say.
For me, Ralph Macchio will always be The Karate Kid - I think most people feel this way because he sure doesn’t get a lot of big movie work
Patrick Swayze will always be Johnny Castle
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### Author:  [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2007, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-will-always-be-character-x-for-you/425909/11 "2007-11-10T16:44:12Z")
Mork will always be Mork. He sometimes dresses as a teacher, a doctor, a robot, a psychologist or what have you, but he is always Mork, trying to jerk a tear out of you during a comedy.
And when Ripley dressed as Queen Isabel of Spain in “1492”, I feared for the life of poor Cyrano who now wanted to discover America.
ETA: Oh, and no matter how pointy his ears get, Agent Smith is always Agent Smith.
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### Author:  [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2007, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-will-always-be-character-x-for-you/425909/12 "2007-11-10T16:51:56Z")
Alec Baldwin will always be Jack Ryan…Even if Han Solo kept getting the part.
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### Author:  [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2007, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-will-always-be-character-x-for-you/425909/13 "2007-11-10T17:03:02Z")
Heh. I was recently forced to watch Six Days, Seven Nights (or something like that) and my wife got mad at me because I said to the actress on the TV “You fool, you are climbing on a plane piloted by Indiana Jones and Han Solo, what do you think is going to happen?”
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### Author:  [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2007, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-will-always-be-character-x-for-you/425909/14 "2007-11-10T17:13:35Z")
Demi Moore will always be the reporter she played on General Hospital (Barbara something). And she still can’t act.
Tom Cruise will always be the hotshot new guy-- I cannot imagine him as the wise old sage.
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### Author:  [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2007, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-will-always-be-character-x-for-you/425909/15 "2007-11-10T17:16:26Z")
[QUOTE=twickster]
Stanley Tucci will always be Richard Cross in [_Murder One_](http://imdb.com/title/tt0112086/) (a.k.a. “The Best TV Show Ever”).
[/QUOTE]
For me, he will always be Morty from [Undercover Blues](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108442/)
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### Author:  [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2007, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-will-always-be-character-x-for-you/425909/16 "2007-11-10T17:24:21Z")
Cary Elwes will always be Westley. Always.
Ron Livingston will always be Peter from _Office Space_.
…and happy birthday to Roy Scheider, who to me will always be the captain from _SeaQuest DSV_. (_The French Connection_, _Jaws_, _Blue Thunder_, and _All That Jazz_ notwithstanding.)
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### Author:  [@Lilacs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lilacs)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2007, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-will-always-be-character-x-for-you/425909/17 "2007-11-10T17:25:06Z")
For me, Adam Baldwin will always be Jayne Cobb from Firefly/Serenity. NO matter what I see him in, I blurt, “It’s the man called JAYNE!”
Zachary Quinto will unfortunately always be Sylar from Heroes. I know he is playing young Spock in the next Star Trek movie, but I can only see him as the man who loves braiiiins.
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2007, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-will-always-be-character-x-for-you/425909/18 "2007-11-10T21:16:20Z")
Colm Meaney, an excellent actor, will always be Chief Miles O’Brien from Star Trek. Gary Sinise, to me, is always Lieutenant Dan. And Mandy Patinkin, the only actor who could get away with calling James Caan “Shithead,” will always be George “Sam” Francisco
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### Author:  [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2007, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-will-always-be-character-x-for-you/425909/19 "2007-11-10T21:18:33Z")
Laurence Fishburne is always going to be Morpheus for me (I’m dating myself, right?)
Patrick Stewart could play a murderous raving psychopath and he’s still be Jean-Luc Picard. And I can’t see Mike Myers as anything but Austin Powers.
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### Author:  [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2007, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-will-always-be-character-x-for-you/425909/20 "2007-11-10T21:21:56Z")
I love Mandy Patinkin dearly, but when he was tracking down serial killers on _Criminal Minds_, he was still Inigo Montoya to me. I kept thinking that eventually he would corner some murderous psycho, introduce himself, and say “You killed my father. Prepare to die.”
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