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Okay, so I was watching a movie the other night and an actor seemed familiar somehow but I couldn't quite place why. So I went to IMDB and found out what was happening in my mind.

Jon Gries.

He played both Lazlo in "Real Genius" and Uncle Rico in "Napoleon Dynamite".


So what actor played two parts and blew YOUR mind?

Dulé Hill. I watched Psych a while back, and just last year I finally got around watching The West Wing (finished a month ago). I kept thinking that Charlie bore an uncanny resemblance to Gus, but dismissed it as racially-enhanced face blindness.

Imagine my surprise.

When I watched Bridge on the River Kwai when I was a kid and about half way through my dad told me that was Obi-wan Kenobi, my little brain exploded.

I can't think of a recent one.

If you've ever seen the movie "Tag" the pot-smoking dad is played by an unrecognizable Brian Dennahey.

If I hadn't watched the first season of Breaking Bad and jumped in late, I would have been really confused that Walter was played by Brian Cranston.

Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall in Coming To America. When I was a kid, the revelation that they also played all three people in the barber shop hit me like a ton of bricks.

Gary Oldman.
In everything.

...EV-ERY-THING.

Seriously, I rank Oldman as possibly the greatest actor of our generation. I don’t know of anyone else who is as good at completely becoming someone else (as opposed to just being “that guy he always plays,” like, say, John Goodman or Jack Nicholson. Or Johnny Depp.).

GasBandit said:

Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall in Coming To America. When I was a kid, the revelation that they also played all three people in the barber shop hit me like a ton of bricks.

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Thanks to Siskel and Elbert, I knew going in that they performed multiple roles, so it wasn’t such a shock (except for the old Jewish guy).
...but the first time I saw Mary Poppins? I was caught completely unawares.

—Patrick

Both Boris Karloff and Thurl Ravenscroft (the voice of Tony the Tiger) in the original Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

Patrick McKenna.

At the same time he was playing pimply-faced Harold on the Red Green Show, he was on a show called Traders paying a stressed out middle aged man.

Robin Wright

I was mindblown when I was watching House of Cards and realized that Claire Underwood was also Princess Buttercup from The Princess Bride.

I'm still not 100% convinced that The Dude & Obadiah Stane were really played by the same actor.

Vincent D'Onofrio

Pyle in Full Metal Jacket


Edgar in Men in Black


The Wizard in Emerald City

Also:
Mandy Patinkin
Princess Bride and Dead Like Me (though most might more than likely know him from Homeland)

Tinwhistler said:

Also:
Mandy Patinkin
Princess Bride and Dead Like Me (though most might more than likely know him from Homeland)

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Chicago Hope for me.

obligatory Scott Pilgrim meme

Tinwhistler said:

Vincent D'Onofrio

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WasabiPoptart said:

Chicago Hope for me.

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I think I first took notice of D'Onofrio from MiB, but of course my wife had already been watching him on Law & Order for ages.
I hear he plays a mean Kingpin.

--Patrick

PatrThom said:

I think I first took notice of D'Onofrio from MiB, but of course my wife had already been watching him on Law & Order for ages.
I hear he plays a mean Kingpin.

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I'm going to hop on the D'Onofrio train, but prior to L&O, it was realizing Pyle/Edgar was also Dawson, a.k.a. Thor, from Adventures in Babysitting.

Watching Mr. Z's head explode about 3/4 through Tropic Thunder when I told him Les Grossman was Tom Cruise was almost as entertaining as the movie itself.

mikerc said:

I'm still not 100% convinced that The Dude & Obadiah Stane were really played by the same actor.

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It's almost like you didn't have a Clu.

*fights for the Users*

When I learned this:

Ok, one more.
John C Reilly.

Who would think that the bumbling guy from Stepbrothers (and ugh...the upcoming Holmes and Watson) could also voice Wreck-It Ralph, a character with plenty of growth and depth? And even though I haven't seen it yet (and probably won't for a looong time), his performance in Stan and Ollie looks like it's going to be amazing, chock full of both comedy and tragedy regardless of whether the movie is a success or not.

--Patrick

PatrThom said:

Gary Oldman.
In everything.

...EV-ERY-THING.

Seriously, I rank Oldman as possibly the greatest actor of our generation. I don’t know of anyone else who is as good at completely becoming someone else (as opposed to just being “that guy he always plays,” like, say, John Goodman or Jack Nicholson. Or Johnny Depp.).

Thanks to Siskel and Elbert, I knew going in that they performed multiple roles, so it wasn’t such a shock (except for the old Jewish guy).
...but the first time I saw Mary Poppins? I was caught completely unawares.

—Patrick

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^this

Also:

Cheesy1 said:

When I learned this:

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It helped that he already played the Trickster in the 80s Flash series.

WasabiPoptart said:

Robin Wright

I was mindblown when I was watching House of Cards and realized that Claire Underwood was also Princess Buttercup from The Princess Bride.

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Also the chief warrior Amazon in wonder woman.

Buttercup really hit the gym.

Tinwhistler said:

Vincent D'Onofrio

Pyle in Full Metal Jacket

Edgar in Men in Black

The Wizard in Emerald City

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When I watched the Magnificent Seven remake, I Watched it knowing full-well that Vincent D'onofrio was in it, and after they had assembled the whole crew, I was like "Wait, where's D'onofrio? He must be one of the bad guys, I guess?". There was like, ten minutes left in the movie when I realized he was the mountain man.


And it's not like he's under a lot of prosthetics or anything. He Looks like himself there just with a beard. But when he plays a role, he REALLY inhabits that role and you really do lose sight of him and just see the character he's playing. He and Gary Oldman are both fucking chameleons. They both have movies I've seen multiple times before realizing they were in them.

sixpackshaker said:

It helped that he already played the Trickster in the 80s Flash series.

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Wait a minute -- is this the guy from Corvette Summer?

evilmike said:

Wait a minute -- is this the guy from Corvette Summer?

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Oh come on, nobody remembers Corvette Summer. Or the Big Red One.

Ravenpoe said:

^this

Also:

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It even took me years before I even knew that the .GIF was Oldman (and no I haven’t seen the movie it’s from).
I don’t know how he does it, how he’s able to be someone different each and every time, and not just “it’s Gary Oldman in a suit” or “it’s Gary Oldman with glasses and a beard” or “it’s Gary Oldman but with one arm CGI’d out.”

sixpackshaker said:

Oh come on, nobody remembers Corvette Summer. Or the Big Red One.

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I’ve seen Big Red One.
I’ve even seen the Amazing Stories episode with him in it.

—Patrick

sixpackshaker said:

Oh come on, nobody remembers Corvette Summer. Or the Big Red One.

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Or Full Throttle.

WasabiPoptart said:

Chicago Hope for me.

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Oh ! I forgot the most mindblowing one. Sam Francisco in Alien Nation.

Tinwhistler said:

Oh ! I forgot the most mindblowing one. Sam Francisco in Alien Nation.

https://m.imgur.com/r/baldmenwithnoears/myu6owG

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For a long time I thought it was Mandy Patinkin as Casey Jones in the TMNT movies, and figured he was just playing Iñigo Montoya, but with sports equipment.
Then I learned it was someone else entirely.

--Patrick

Karl Urban. In the Lord of the Rings. I did not recognize him when I first saw Two Towers. And then watching the credits and looking through the actor list it was like

Wahad said:

Karl Urban. In the Lord of the Rings. I did not recognize him when I first saw Two Towers. And then watching the credits and looking through the actor list it was like

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Okay. You got me on this one. I had to go see what he looked like in the movie and I had no clue, either.

I knew it was him the instant the line "I would cut off your head, Dwarf, if it stood but a little higher from the ground!" Of course, at that point, I'd only ever only seen him in Hercules/Xena as Julius Caesar, so it was more "Oh, I guess he got his big break!"

GasBandit said:

I knew it was him the instant the line "I would cut off your head, Dwarf, if it stood but a little higher from the ground!" Of course, at that point, I'd only ever only seen him in Hercules/Xena as Julius Caesar, so it was more "Oh, I guess he got his big break!"

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He also played Cupid in those shows.

Which, side note, brings me to a longtime issue I've had with every iteration of Hercules: they pick and choose when to use the Roman names vs when to use the Greek names. Still bugs me.

checkeredhat said:

He also played Cupid in those shows.

Which, side note, brings me to a longtime issue I've had with every iteration of Hercules: they pick and choose when to use the Roman names vs when to use the Greek names. Still bugs me.

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Well. In defense of those shows, they were an anachronistic jumble that saw Xena visit both Helen's Troy and Caesar's Rome, cities that existed 1000 years apart.

Yes. I said that in defense of those shows.

I loved Xena, anachronisms or not.

Gruebeard said:

Well. In defense of those shows, they were an anachronistic jumble that saw Xena visit both Helen's Troy and Caesar's Rome, cities that existed 1000 years apart.

Yes. I said that in defense of those shows.

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I know it doesn't make sense, but I can forgive the anachronism, but can't forgive the name jumble. I think because this isn't limited to those shows. EVERY version of Heracles I can think of does it, so the other things seem like knowing, winking decisions. The names seem like a mistake.

I still liked those shows though. And Jack of All Trades, which also made hilarious anachronistic choices.

Gruebeard said:

Well. In defense of those shows, they were an anachronistic jumble that saw Xena visit both Helen's Troy and Caesar's Rome, cities that existed 1000 years apart.
Yes. I said that in defense of those shows.

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And Jerusalem at the turn of BC into AD, too.
The shows were great fun, no argument. But they definitely played fast and loose with history.

—Patrick

Peter Cullen. He’s the voice behind Optimus Prime.

He also played Eeyore in the old animated Winnie the Pooh films.

Mind. Was. Blown.

Well if you want to go with cartoon voices, there's always the voice of Maggie Simpson or Edna Mode.

--Patrick

For opposite reasons, Jeff Goldblum. Not because he's a chameleon, like Oldman or whoever, but because he's inevitably always Jeff Goldblum, and it always works out. Especially in his later years.

PatrThom said:

Well if you want to go with cartoon voices, there's always the voice of Maggie Simpson or Edna Mode.

--Patrick

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Edna Mode is voiced by Brad Bird though, the director of The Incredibles. While a few people have done Maggie's voice, including James Earl Jones in a Tree house of Horror episode, it's typically attributed to Nancy Cartwright for her vocalizations.

Far said:

While a few people have done Maggie's voice, including James Earl Jones in a Tree house of Horror episode, it's typically attributed to Nancy Cartwright for her vocalizations.

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Yes. Except for that one time it was done by Elizabeth Taylor.

--Patrick

Cheesy1 said:

When I learned this:

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My son and I are playing Lego DC Villains, and I remembered to share this little factoid with him this evening.

The look on his poor, little face. I think I broke his brain!

Seen on reddit:

Not really the "Played more than one part," but it definitely blew my mind and has to be one of the most shocking things I've seen on the Internet in a loooong time.



--Patrick

Two that blew my mind: learning that James "Uncle Phil" Avery voiced Shredder in the original Ninja Turtles cartoon.

One that blew my mind in recent years is Jonathan Banks (of Breaking Bad and one season of Community) was in Gremlins.

Here's how most of us know him:

Here's how I know him:

Banks was also like... every asshole villain henchman in the 80s, dating back to Beverly Hills Cop.

The 86 movie Critters has three of them for me.
* Billy Zane / Ethan Phillips / Scott Grimes

Tim Robbins broke out of prison with a 96 mph fastball.

The Shawshank Nukedeption?

Bruce Campbell had an interesting and complex take on Elvis.

Philip Seymour Hoffman's entire career.

evilmike said:

Bruce Campbell had an interesting and complex take on Elvis.

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That's an amazing and criminally underappreciated movie.

ThatNickGuy said:

That's an amazing and criminally underappreciated movie.

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Elvis: “You know that Kennedy was White, right?”
JFK: “They DYED me this color”

Fisher Stevens

You know, this guy:



But also, this guy:



Yep, the Indian guy from Short Circuit was played by a white guy. Brown face cringiness aside, he did such a good job that many actual Indians were excited that they had representation in a major film. He has also since apologized for the whole brown face thing, of course.