8 Actors Who Are Often Typecast Into Their Roles

Movie typecasts

Matthew McConaughey didn’t want to be typecast as the romantic comedy guy and rejected numerous offers one at 14.5 million.

Typecasting is when an actor plays the same type of role over and over again for several movies over years, and it’s not always a good thing. On one hand, producers and casting directors may have recognized their talent to portray a certain type of character, but it also limits their creative prowess. That’s why many actors have spoken against being typecast, and some even struggle to escape the shadow of the biggest roles of their careers.

It surely is frustrating, because not only does it limit an actor’s reach, but it could also eventually backfire on their career. Everybody wants to be seen as a versatile entertainer who could pull off any role that’s demanded. Here’s a list of actors who often get typecast in films, whether it’s accidental or not, and what it means for their respective careers.

8 Tom Holland

Tom Holland is the perfect embodiment to portray Peter Parker / Spider-Man. In both comics and films versions, the superhero is a shy, nerdy high school kid with a lot of insecurities and lacks self-esteem but when he puts the mask on, he’s a completely different persona with self-deprecating humor.

The character, somehow, has lived in the actor’s body for years as he’d also landed quite similar roles with his recent films, especially as Nathan Drake in Uncharted (2022).

7 Angelina Jolie

For decades, Angelina Jolie has almost played the same character over and over again: the seductive femme fatale. When she made her breakthrough with cult classic Hackers in 1995, it seems like she was following the same trajectory in some of the biggest movies of her career: Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Wanted, and Salt, to name a few. It also helped her land the heroine role in the Tomb Raider franchise, and the list goes on and on.

6 Dwayne Johnson

Need a big, tough guy in an adventurous movie, especially set in a jungle? Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is your guy. People want The Rock to play The Rock, especially at the height of the modern-day Jumanji franchise and Emily Blunt’s Jungle Cruise last year.

Even if it doesn’t take place in the wilderness, Dwayne Johnson always plays the role of a tough guy with a few humorous twists in the Fast & Furious franchise, Central Intelligence with Kevin Hart, and Netflix‘s critically-panned Red Notice.

5 Michelle Rodriguez

Michelle Rodriguez rose to fame thanks to her role as tough chick Letty Ortiz in the Fast & Furious franchise, and she’s been associated with the character ever since. In fact, she embraces every second of it.

“I was typecast the minute I did a film called Girlfight years ago.” She opened up about being typecast in a 2010 interview with Hollywood News, adding, “you allow yourself to be typecast. If I decided I didn’t want to be typecast tomorrow I’d just go do an indie film where I play some poor girl who goes through some excruciating experience and win myself an award for crying or being raped or playing someone with mental illness.”

4 Kevin Hart

Before he was an actor, Kevin Hart was a comedian at heart. So when he ventured into the acting world, people would pay to see his humorous and witty one-liners as a jokester character. He’s scored one comedy film hit to another for years: the Jumanji franchise alongside Dwayne Johnson, Will Ferrel-starred Get Hard, Ice Cube-co-starred Ride Along & Ride Along 2, and more.

3 Cameron Diaz

For years, Cameron Diaz had been playing the same ditzy blonde character almost in every movie she’s in, but she didn’t seem to be outgrowing that dimension until she eventually retired from acting.

The ageism in Hollywood is real, and to top of that, she hadn’t exactly ventured into gritty films that could potentially showcase her acting range when she was still active. She’s been enjoying her well-deserved break from the spotlight for quite some time.

2 Tom Cruise

Need a mysterious man who runs from his love interest because he gets caught up with bad people, or a cocky overly-powerful protagonist with one cheesy grin? Tom Cruise is the man. Throughout his filmography, he’s known to have played an IMF agent, a NASCAR driver, a mysterious high-achieving high school student, an Irish immigrant, and more, but most of them follow the same trajectory.

Now, the 60-year-old actor may be at the latter age of his career, but he has just scored one of the biggest films of the year with Top Gun: Maverick and is gearing up for two more Mission Impossible titles.

1 Helena Bonham Carter

A Tim Burton film wouldn’t be a Tim Burton film without Helena Bonham Carter’s eccentric play. It doesn’t matter if she’s the protagonist or antagonist, or just a completely side character, but her character would always have the sass and over-the-top attitude. ​​​​​​​