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For Sale Mar 31, 2026 at 4:08 PM

Actors and Actresses who played a role and then a similar role later in another movie

Posted by CitizenTony


I was discussing about this with someone but it was concerning voice acting, then I realized that there are indeed "live-action" actors who played similar roles in their career. I'm not talking about actors playing themselves in every movies. This is kind of special, I know. I'll start, to show you some examples. (I didn't noticed at first that my list was already pretty long. I hope you'll find more) \- Sean Connery is a king in Lancelot and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves \- Dustin Hoffman plays Ben Stiller's father in Meet The Fockers and The Meyerowitz Stories \- Steve Kahan is the police chief of Stallone in Demolition Man and also the chief of Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in The Lethal Weapon \- Clint Eastwood plays basically the same cowboy in The Dollars Trilogy and High Plains Drifter. Both are mysterious men with no real background and they have similar personnalities, they really deserves the "Man with no name" nickname. \- Russell Crowe is Henry Cavill's father in Man of Steel and plays a fatherly figure and mentor to Cavill again in the new Highlander movie \- Christopher Lee is a vampire baron in "Uncle Was a Vampire" and of course he played Dracula in several movies. In 1976, Lee plays a vampire who looks like Dracula again in a french comedy "Dracula père et fils". Second point, it's up to you to decide if it's on topic or not. Christopher Lee played iconic Monsters of literature : Dracula, The Mummy (1959) and Frankenstein's monster in The Curse of Frankenstein \- Morgan Freeman is the President of the United States in Deep Impact and Angel Has Fallen \- Charlton Heston plays historical figures in Ben-Hur, The Ten Commandments, Julius Cæsar \- Jeremy Renner plays a spy in The Bourne Legacy, Mission Impossible 5 & 6 and of course in the MCU (his version is strongly based on Ultimate Hawkeye, who is an agent of SHIELD) \- Toshiro Mifune plays very similar samurais in Yojimbo, Sanjuro, The Miyamoto Musashi Trilogy, Soleil rouge (1971) etc (sometimes with similar outfits) \- Mel Gibson plays Mark Wahlberg's father in Daddy's Home 2 and Father Stu \- Henry Cavill is a spy in The Man from UNCLE, Mission Impossible Fallout and Argylle \- Tony Curtis is Kashma Baba in Son of Ali Baba (1952) but he already had a very similar character in The Prince Who Was a Thief (1951) \- Gary Oldman plays a russian-speaking terrorist in Air Force One and a russian-speaking terrorist dictator in The Hitman's Bodyguard \- Richard Kiel is famous for his role of Jaws in the Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979) but he plays a very similar guy (with metal teeth!) in Silver Streak (1976) \- Kevin Costner and Diane Lane are husband and wife both in Man of Steel (2013) and Let Him Go (2020) \- Terrence Hill is almost the same cowboy (with the exact same outfit!) and personnality in Trinita 1 & 2, My Name is Nobody (1973) and Un genio, due compari, un pollo (1975) \- Ralph Fiennes is a spy in The Avengers, Skyfall and The King's man \- Kirk Douglas plays greco-roman historical figures in Spartacus (1960) and Ulysses (1954) \- Jason Staham is a spy in Fast & Furious, Spy (2015) and Operation Fortune \- Ben Affleck both played Batman and Daredevil. It's not just that they are comic book characters, they are very similar and Batman is of course one of the inspiration of Daredevil \- Tom Cruise plays a pastiche of Ethan Hunt from his Mission Impossible saga in "Knight and Day" \- Sean Connery's character Mason in "Rock" (1996) is basically James Bond. Michael Bay did it on purpose as a nod to his famous spy character \- Arnold Schwarzenegger is Lord Kalidor (a conan who is not Conan lol) in Red Sonja (1985). He already played the original character in Conan The Barbarian (1982) and Conan The Destroyer (1984) \- Harrison Ford is the President of the United States in Air Force One and Captain America Brave New World \- Mel Gibson plays 2 historical figures in Braveheart and The Patriot \- Connie Nielsen plays a greco-roman character in Gladiator (Lucilla) but also in Wonder Woman and Justice League (Hippolyta) \- From Fast and Furious 7, Vin Diesel's Dominic Toretto start to be a spy and basically morph into Xander Cage (from the xXx trilogy). Both characters are spies, take risks and are sportive, pilot and stuntman \- Michael Keaton is Batman in the Tim Burton's movies and The Flash but he also plays a very similar character in Birdman (2014). Idk if you want to add The Vulture (MCU) too? Does it count? \- Jackie Chan plays a spy in The Tuxedo, The Accidental Spy and The Spy Next Door (2010) N.B. I'll give them for fun but it's cheating because it's not necessarily in movies : \- Roger Moore is a spy in The Saint and The Persuaders (both are TV show) and of course he later became the famous James Bond \- Henry Cavill is a medievalesque swordsman in The Witcher (Geralt de Riv) and he's playing a mediavalesque immortal who is always carrying a sword in the new Highlander (Connor MacLeod) \- Chuck Norris is a texas ranger in Lone Wolf McQuade (1983) and later in the tv show "Walker: Texas Ranger" \- Jason Staham is pretty much Frank Martin again (From the Transporter trilogy) in the Volkswagen Transporter TV Ads

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Ubyte64 Mar 31, 2026 +21
Long way around just saying “type cast”
21
CitizenTony Apr 1, 2026 +1
As I said in the post, it's not "totally" about type cast. In your sense, type cast is basically actors who plays themselves, which is a different thing. For eg, Henry Cavill and Jeremy Renner playing spies in different movies with different directors is just funny coincidences, this isn't because they are strongly associated to a famous spy character. Kirk Douglas being Ulysses and Spartacus, Steve Kahan playing chief of police 2 times, Russell Crowe as the father of Henry Cavill in two different movies aren't type casting either.
1
NYChockey14 Mar 31, 2026 +12
In before *Ryan Reynolds/Will Smith/The Rock in every role they play*
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I_Weep_for_Willow Mar 31, 2026 +3
OP already poo pooed that in the post. 
3
A-Kia Mar 31, 2026 +5
Angela Bassett played Betty Shabazz in Spike Lee's Malcolm X (1992) and then again in Mario Van Peeble's Panther (1995)
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CitizenTony Mar 31, 2026 +2
Wow that's excellent! Thank you. Another one from me that I forgot to add in my post, Jim Carrey played 2 "christmas characters" in The Grinch (2000) and A Christmas Carol (2009)
2
Leighgion Mar 31, 2026 +5
Julie Andrews played two singing nannies
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ImAK93 Mar 31, 2026 +3
Glenn Morshower has played government/military officer types in most of his filmography.
3
mdmnl Mar 31, 2026 +2
Him and Keifer Sutherland turn up to set with their own squiggly earpieces running in to their collar.
2
CitizenTony Mar 31, 2026 +2
thanks! that's pretty on topic. I forgot to add [Liam Garrigan](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liam_Garrigan) but he's in my NB list because he played the same character but in a TV show then a movie. That's kinda curious but he was King Arthur in Once Upon a Time but also in Transformers The Last Knight.
2
BlainethePayne Mar 31, 2026 +1
A number of them have his last name, too
1
daniel_yyz Mar 31, 2026 +3
Liam Neeson in Taken, Non-Stop and The Commuter. Always a dad with a particular set of skills saving someone. Love him though.
3
CitizenTony Mar 31, 2026 +1
In Ted (2012), it always made me laugh that Liam Neeson could indeed be the dad from Taken but who got crazy after too much adventures
1
cerberaspeedtwelve Mar 31, 2026 +3
As an interesting twist on playing the same role: John Hurt played the hero Winston in 1984, an everyman trying to resist a totalitarian, tyrannical government. Twenty years later, he played Chancellor Sutler in V for Vendetta, the dictator of a totalitarian regime partially inspired by 1984.
3
halfdeadmoon Mar 31, 2026 +3
>Roger Moore is a spy in The Saint and The Persuaders (both are TV show) and of course he later became the famous James Bond And in The Cannonball Run, he plays "Roger Moore" as his 007 persona.
3
DukeRaoul123 Mar 31, 2026 +3
Seymour Goldfarb Jr.
3
halfdeadmoon Mar 31, 2026 +1
Yes! Yet another layer
1
CitizenTony Mar 31, 2026 +1
Nice catch! In this era, actors didn't care to play pastiche of their iconic roles
1
Calraider7 Mar 31, 2026 +3
Kinda surprised you missed Hackman as Harry Call (the conversation) and Harry Call (enemy of the state) in enemy of the state his work photo from the conversation is on the wall by his work station… Tony scott did some work to make sure his real name was never used.
3
CitizenTony Mar 31, 2026 +2
didn't know this! thanks
2
Calraider7 Mar 31, 2026 +2
Me and my wife saw Enemy in the theatre and a minute into his character being introduced we’re like wtf? We figured it was just an homage but they straight up had Harry Calls photo on the workbench
2
CitizenTony Apr 1, 2026 +1
Lmao, Tony Scott clearly did what Michael Bay did in Rock with Sean Connery. They are so fans of the characters that they just don't care and do as if they were the same men. Nowadays that's pretty rare, I suppose that filmmakers would fear to get sued for copyright. And in the 70's and 80's it was even more trivialized, Roger Moore played a pastiche of James Bond/Western actors played almost the same cowboys/Christopher Lee was hired to plays vampire in non-Universal movies etc Very interesting era tbh
1
[deleted] Mar 31, 2026 +2
[deleted]
2
CitizenTony Mar 31, 2026 +2
lmao, good catch
2
I_Weep_for_Willow Mar 31, 2026 +3
Hiroyuki Sanada fights a Marvel hero with a samurai sword. The Wolverine and Endgame. 
3
zk3033 Mar 31, 2026 +2
Pierce Brosnan as Remington Steele, James Bond, and the washed-up spy in The Matador
2
CitizenTony Mar 31, 2026 +1
I wonder if we should add Thomas Crown too. He basically acted as James Bond in this
1
MurkDiesel Mar 31, 2026 +2
that's some list, i hope you worked on this for a while because if that just poured out your head, wow
2
CitizenTony Mar 31, 2026 +1
Thanks. In fact most of it are things that I know for years (the Tony Curtis movies are vhs from my childhood, Russell Crowe is a recent find that I already talked about in the sub because I love this guy, Dustin Hoffman being Ben Stiller's father 2 times is because I liked Meet The Fockers and I saw The Meyerowitz Stories by hasard etc)
1
[deleted] Mar 31, 2026 +2
[removed]
2
CitizenTony Mar 31, 2026 +1
Thank you so much, I appreciate your comment. As I said, this all began because I noticed that in voice acting (in video games, in animation or seiyus in Japan) they curiously plays sometimes similar roles. For examples some men voiced butlers, militaries and cops several times. A foreign voice actor is the official voice of Christian Bale and Jason Clarke, this means that by PURE hasard, he voiced John Connor two times in two different Terminator movies. Then I thought about live action movies. I already knew for years that curiously Morgan Freeman was the US president two times, that Terrence Hill was the same cowboy in different movies for no reason, and that Clint Eastwood did a tribute to The Man with no name in High Plains Drifters. but I pushed the idea a bit further.
1
Darmok47 Mar 31, 2026 +2
Don Johnson playing a racist white guy in Django Unchained, Knives Out, and Rebel Ridge. Obviously very different role each time, but all variations on corrupt racist guy. Not sure how he feels about that niche.
2
Felis_bieti Mar 31, 2026 +2
Took all the fun out of answering the question with all the answers you already posted.
2
CitizenTony Apr 1, 2026
I mean I already got a list, the first purpose of my post was to share it. But as you can see, there are way more overthere. People from the sub got nice find. You (listnookors) get discouraged way too fast.
0
dreck_disp Mar 31, 2026 +2
I've got the perfect example. Al Pacino in Scarface (1983) and Carlito's Way (1993). Both are directed by Brian DePalma.
2
waynechriss Mar 31, 2026 +1
Cary Elwes acted as a handler to the protagonist in two Guy Ritchie movies, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre and The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.
1
mdmnl Mar 31, 2026 +1
Steven Seagal played a shadowy former ThreeLetterAgency agent/officer turned blues guitarist/small town *something* in basically everything since 2002. Shane Rimmer was Control Room Guy in Batman Begins, The Spy Who Loved Me and Superman (or maybe II).
1
m0j0r0lla Mar 31, 2026 +1
Any Ryan Reynolds or Will Smith movie
1
zed857 Mar 31, 2026 +1
Lance Reddick plays essentially the same kind of cop/detective/agent in the Wire, Bosch, Oz and Fringe.
1
gmsal121 Mar 31, 2026 +1
denzel washington in pretty much every movie feels like you could swap his character out for another in a different movie and you would get the same thing
1
Dottsterisk Mar 31, 2026 +1
Justin Long’s first role was as Brandon in Galaxy Quest. Much later, he plays male p*** star Brandon St. Randy in Zack and Miri Make A P****. I actually had the chance to ask if the latter was the former, all grown up, and Long gave it a think before saying Probably Not.
1
Odd-Necessary3807 Mar 31, 2026 +1
Might as well say Joe Pesci playing a quick-talking mobster in movies.
1
angusthermopylae Mar 31, 2026 +2
until he suddenly played the calmest mobster ever in *The Irishman*
2
Flimsy-Island-8528 Mar 31, 2026 +1
Timothy Olyphant plays a Marshall in, well every other role..
1
DukeRaoul123 Mar 31, 2026 +1
Gandolfini in The Sopranos and Killing Them Softly
1
M5Yates Mar 31, 2026 +1
Hector - Noel Gugliemi Played the same named character in 11 movies.
1
Independent_Push_159 Mar 31, 2026 +1
John Wayne played the same character in literally every film he was in. I exaggerate but barely.
1
CitizenTony Apr 1, 2026 +1
Seriously, does this even count as playing himself? He sometimes have the exact jacket with the same color in a lot of western. But from time to time, he would wear the same jacket… with different colors.
1
simihal101 Mar 31, 2026 +1
Ralph Fiennes is the intense, pasionate, ilicit, inner tormented, profoundly emotional (and ridiculously handsom) lover in The English Patient and in The End of an Affair. Similar variations in Oscar and Lucinda,The Constant Gardner, The Reader, Wuthering Heights. Allways heartbeaking 💔
1
SarcyCow Mar 31, 2026 +1
Sean Bean always from Sheffield in every role regardless of trying out an accent
1
kuuups Apr 1, 2026 +1
Noel Gugliemi, for his acclaimed role as Hector - in basically almost all the movies he appears in.
1
Minereon Apr 1, 2026 +1
Sean Bean plays a key character who dies. Then dies again. And again. Also in that one.
1
PorkProofPrion Apr 1, 2026 +1
Peter Dinklage plays a little person every movie
1
SerWrong Apr 1, 2026 +1
Colin Firth played Mr Darcy twice.
1
bhodrolok Mar 31, 2026 +1
Jason Statham in every movie? Most Bollywood actors in every Bollywood movie
1
CitizenTony Mar 31, 2026 +2
> Jason Statham in every movie? I think this would rather count more as "playing himself". Since The Transporter, he's always the serious and angry action star fighter in every movies.
2
StuTheSheep Apr 1, 2026 +1
Except in "Spy", when he plays a parody of that character. 
1
verone3784 Mar 31, 2026 +1
Noel Albert Gugliemi 2001 - Hector - The Fast and the Furious 2012 - Hector - Vi 2013 - Hector - Hope Cafe 2014 - Hector - Retail 2015 - Hector - Furious 7 2015 - Hector - Fresh Off The Boat 2020 - Hector - Ghettobusters 2021 - Hector - The Cleaner 2024 - Hector - Cash out 2024 - Hector - Ray & Jae: Pitched Out 2024 - Hector - Seven Cemeteries 2024 - Hector - Rock 2025 - Hector - High Rollers 2025 - Hector - Aimee Comes First 2025 - Hector - Closure 2025 - Hector - Evil Nun :D
1
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