Actors Talk About Being Typecast

Christopher Walken played Duane, Annie's (Diane Keaton) brother, in Woody Allen's "Annie Hall".Annie HallDuane has vivid, fiery fantasies about driving his car straight into traffic. Duane appears in few scenes in "Annie Hall".Annie HallWalken's presence shows, especially with Allen's character, Alvy. This role and others made Walken a go-to actor for unsettling villains.

During a 2013 interview withThe GuardianWalken called himself a "regular guy," yet filmmakers tailor roles to his type after he joins a project.

I often get a script I like, so I say I will do it. Then they rewrite it for me. They make it quirky, odd. I find that annoying. I call this Walkenising. Movies are so expensive to make that if something works.expensiveto make that... if something worksyou get asked to do itagainAnd when IstartedI did well with theseeccentricpeople.Troubled.Oftenvillains.And that's fine.… And that's fine.

Anna Kendrick's breakout came in Jason Reitman's 2009 dramedy "Up in the Air", despite having some theater and film roles as a child.Up in the AirIn the film, Anna Kendrick plays Natalie Keener, an overly ambitious young woman who follows rules.

ThePitch PerfectThe star was told right after her star-making performance she would be typecast as Natalie.Kendrick explained:

Somebody said something to me right afterUp in the Aircame out that was like, 'Everything you’re about to get offered is going to be the exact performance you just gave.' So you’ll basically be offered things that are the same as what you just did, and then you’ll do something different and get offered that.

After learning typecasting happens to all actors, even the most praised, Kendrick accepted it.

I think hearing that at the start of my career was a gift because I expected it and I don't take it personally. I just think, 'This is going to be the thing I'm fighting against my whole career, even a decade from now.'

Before Matthew McConaughey won an Academy Award for his 2013 performance inDallas Buyer's Club, he starred in light-hearted, breezy romantic comedies likeThe Wedding Planner, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, andFailure to Launch. McConaughey's sharp looks and Texas charm suited playing that cocky but likable romantic comedy lead.

He wrote in his 2020 memoirGreenlights:

The romantic comedies remained my only consistent box office hits, meaning they were my only consistent incoming offers. I enjoyed giving people a ninety-minute breezy romantic escape from life's stress where they did not have to think, just watch the boy chase the girl, fall, and then get up to get her. I took the baton from Hugh Grant and ran with it.

In 2010, McConaughey took a risk byturning downMatthew McConaughey earned $14.5 million leading an unnamed romantic comedy, seeking different parts.

His firmness helped McConaughey star in serious dramas likeTrue DetectiveKiller Joeand, of course,Dallas Buyer's Club.

Alexander Skarsgård became known to American audiences as the sexy, often shirtless, bad-boy vampire Eric Northman in HBO's steamy dramaTrue Blood. Since then, the Swedish actor has played the"sexy hunk"in many roles likeThe Legend of TarzanandThe Northman.

When asked about getting serious roles because people only saw his looks, Skarsgård admitted it caused some problems.This presented some challenges.

I don't know if my look stopped me from getting roles. In Sweden, people thought I was tall and blond. Most people here are tall and blond. Still, after my first job, I was on a list for 'sexy hunky hot,' and then people didn't take me seriously. If you want characters with depth but are labeled 'a guy who takes his shirt off,' you won't get those offers.

Fortunately, Skarsgård found many roles since, with memorable parts as villains in HBO hitsBig Little LiesandSuccession.

Playing a character on a sitcom running for 16 seasons makes it impossible not to connect with that character. Charlie Day also acted in action movies likePacific RimandHotel Artemis,Charlie Day is always known first as Charlie Kelly, a paint-huffing, rat-killing janitor fromIt's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

In 2018, Dayspokeabout his habit of getting cast as funny characters:

Mostly I play despicable people, paranoid people, or screaming people high on cocaine, but someday I will get a normal role… I think it is just that once you play one crazy role, everyone wants you for crazy roles. Maybe in my next movie I can play Guy Reading A Book.

Since then, Day has done some light voice work as Luigi inThe Super Mario Bros. Movie, plus a chance to play a romantic lead in the rom-comI Want You Back.

When film critic Nathan Rabinfirst namedcited Natalie Portman's character Samantha in The Onion's A.V. Club in 2007, the term “Manic Pixie Dream Girl”Garden Stateas the main example. Samantha is quirky, cute, high-energy, a bit wild, and only exists to help Andrew (Zach Braff) deal with losing his mother and severe depression.

Portman later discussed this trope whiletalking about the types of roles she felt limited to early in her career, in films likeBeautiful GirlsandLéon: The Professional.

I was lucky that what I was cast in was not planned—serious adult stuff, not kid-friendly things. But I feel I ended up in female roles, like Lolita. And I was clearly part of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl idea. I find being part of that very upsetting.

Natalie Portman found a wider range of characters since her young years, like her Academy Award-winning role in the 2010 psychological thriller.Black Swan.

Bill Hader became one of the most acclaimed cast members in history.Saturday Night Live.Saturday Night Live allowed him to show off his comedy skills during and after his time on SNL.SNLHader starred in several big-screen comedies, includingHot RodandSuperbad.

In 2014, Hader discussed how fast he saw the typecasting dangers:

I got lots of supporting crazy parts in comedies because that's all I did. I realized, typecasting is real. I would doSuperbad, and the next offers were all crazy cop or security guard roles. After I didAdventureland, the main character was always a young kid in a summer job, and I was his crazy boss or something.

Hader's first serious role came in the 2014 dramedyThe Skeleton Twins,where he played a suicidal, struggling actor. He then co-created, directed, and starred in the successful Emmy Award-winning HBO tragicomedyBarry.

Jennifer Aniston played Rachel Green onFriendsShe played Rachel Green for 10 Seasons. Today, she remains one of the most successful of the six lead actors since the show ended in 2004.

Even though she has many comedy film roles likeHorrible BossesandThe Break-Upand dramatic roles inCakeandThe Morning Show, Aniston will always be linked to Rachel first and foremost.

“You just exhaust yourself,”Aniston saidin 2020. “I could not get Rachel Green off my back for the life of me. I could not escape ‘Rachel fromFriends’and it’s on all the time and you’re like, ‘Stop playing that f*cking show!’”

She became so linked to Rachel Green that she questioned if she could play a depressed store clerk inThe Good Girl.

I felt panic thinking, ‘Oh God, I don’t know if I can do this. Maybe they are right. Maybe everyone else sees something I miss, which is you are only that girl in the New York apartment with the purple walls.’ So, I almost did it for myself just to see if I could do something other than that. It was scary because you do it in front of the world.

Do not hate Charlize Theron because she is beautiful. The South African model-turned-actress got some roles because of her stunning looks, but her looks are not always an asset. She showed in a 2016interview withGQ:

Jobs with real gravitas go to people that are physically right for them. That ends the story. How many roles exist for the gorgeous gown-wearing, 8-foot model? When meaty roles arrive, I have been in the room, and pretty people get turned away first.

For Theron to get one of those jobs with “real weight,” she gained 30 pounds to play real-life serial killer Aileen Wuornos in the 2003MonsterCharlize Theron's acting skills earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress. This opened doors to varied roles where she could get hands-on, like playing Furiosa in "Mad Max: Fury Road".Mad Max: Fury Road

Regina King's first major film role was Shalika in the 1991 drama "Boyz n the Hood".Boyz n the HoodKing's part might have been supporting, but King proved she could own any scene.

Following "Boyz", the child actor who became a Hollywood star saw that most roles offered to her mirrored Shalika's.BoyzThe child actor became a Hollywood star and noticed most roles offered mirrored Shalika’s. “I saw that I was being stereotyped,”King saidKing said, "I saw that a lot of us were being stereotyped. I didn’t want to be part of that—that’s not the narrative I was creating for myself."

King explained the range she sought in her career:

She started refusing jobs if stories were too narrow, the kind that only showed women as the kind of woman she was in "Boyz ’N the Hood".Boyz ’N the Hood.That role was great for her; she needed it to show the difference between her work in "227" and afterward, that was enough.227After that, that was enough.

King's hard work paid off. Her busy career in many complex film and TV roles earned her an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and four Primetime Emmy Awards. She also became a director and producer.

Andy Garcíamoved to the United StatesHe moved from Cuba at age 5. His first big film appeared in Brian DePalma's 1987 crime drama.The Untouchables

He appeared almost only in serious films likeThe Godfather III, Internal Affairs, andWhen a Man Loves a Woman

García started his show business in the 1970s doing improv at The Comedy Store.The Comedy StoreBecause he became known for dramatic roles, García never showed his comedic side.

He said, "If you’re typecast, it means they respond to your work and you get work for that—so it’s good. But as an actor, you try to have a wider palette."

In 2022, García played a lighter part co-starring in a remake ofFather of the BrideHe also served as an executive producer.

Going from a Disney star to a serious adult actor is hard. Zac Efron gained fame as Troy Bolton, the All-American high schooler, in theHigh School Musicaltrilogy, then Link Larkin in the 2007 movie musicalHairspray

Efron knew he needed to change his image to keep acting. To avoid further typecasting, Efron turned down a role in the 2011 high school remake of "Footloose".FootlooseHe explainedin 2009:

He said, "I'm sure "Footloose" would have been a huge challenge, but the actors I love and those who work hard in this industry always shake things up, trying new genres, getting new skills. That is what will always appeal to me: the unknown."FootlooseI'm sure "Footloose" would have been a huge challenge, but the actors I love and those who work hard in this industry always shake things up, trying new genres, getting new skills. That is what will always appeal to me: the unknown.

The strategy worked for the actor. He then starred in the R-Rated comedy "Neighbors".NeighborsHe played serial killer Ted Bundy in Netflix's.Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.

Emily Ratajkowski burst onto pop culture after Robin Thicke's music succeeded.Blurred Lines.She appeared in the music video.

She appeared as the young "hot" student in.Gone Girl.Other acting offers flooded in. Most wanted to cast Ratajkowski in the "hot girl" part.

Ratajkowski. wanted different acting roles.She can afford to be picky. She shared her plan:

I am grateful for modeling and other income streams. Without them, I would only do the bathing-suit-girl role. You must prove yourself in this industry. I accept the challenge. It takes time to prove yourself and show you are more than one part they see.

Since then, Ratajkowski took on serious roles in dramas and thrillers like.Welcome Home.andLying and Stealing.