Top 20 Actors Who Broke Type-Casting

i think something very important is happening and it's deeply connected to my purpose welcome to watch mojo and today we're counting down our picks for the top 20 actors who broke typecasting do you have a problem with me don't join uh sink this shot shake it shake it come on feel it feel it feel it feel it come on he's at the gym you got the gym well if the kid's there the parents got to be he's home alone for this list we'll be looking at famous actors who played against type and earned widespread acclaim for their performance who's your favorite versatile actor let us know in the comments number 20. adam sandler uncut gems adam sandler is enormously popular for his immature brand of humor marked by fart jokes p jokes and those weird gibberish noises uh please billy please no gibberish tonight please i beg you that said sandler has played against type on numerous occasions proving that he's an excellent dramatic [Music] actor [Music] his first big serious role was that of barry egan in punch drunk love but he also proved astoundingly good in uncut gems that's a million dollar opal you hold straight from the ethiopian jewish tribe i mean this is old school middle earth [ __ ] sandler's performance earned him universal praise some believed that he would be up for an oscar while he was awarded best actor by the national board of review he was totally snubbed by the academy still he's come a long way from being peed on by a deer movie doll towards me and back to you towards me back to you number 19. will ferrell stranger than fiction it's amazing to consider how many comedians make a seamless transition to drama okay people tomorrow morning 10 a.m santa's coming to oh town god will ferrell really hit his film stride in the early 2000s with films like old school elf and anchorman if you want to throw down and fistica is fine i've got jack johnson and tom o'leary waiting for you in all of them he plays a man who's immature for his age and then came stranger than fiction so this woman the voice told you you're gonna die well she didn't tell me she doesn't know i can hear her she said it yes and you believed well she's been right about a few other things this comedy drama follows an irs agent who learns that he's the subject of a novel in progress and that the ending dictates his death you're asking me to knowingly face my death yes really the movie was warmly received for its unique story and performances which saw farrell delivering a confident performance alongside the likes of maggie gyllenhaal dustin hoffman and emma thompson isn't there some very clear and established rule about fraternization auditor oddity protocol yeah yeah but i don't care and to think this came out three months after talladega nights number 18 leslie nielsen airplane engine rob is a chief still there yes sir this is a captain what am i for many of us it's hard to imagine the late mr nielsen as anything but an obvious choice for comedy casting directors but that wasn't always the case running an unstable ship at fall ahead is dangerous i'm sure especially one as old as this for about 25 years between the 1950s and 1970s leslie was a steady employed actor in serious films these included well-known classics like film's forbidden planet and the poseidon adventure however the perception of this talented actor was forever altered with his hilariously deadpan performance as dr rumak in airplane can you fly this plane and land it surely you can't be serious i am serious and don't call me shirley this would also lead to one of his most memorable roles as frank drebin in the film series the naked gun number 17 henry fonda once upon a time in the west the patriarch of the highly respected fonda acting dynasty henry originally built his career as the heroic everyman always primed to fight for what's right in the world it's not easy to raise my hand and send a boy off to die without talking about it first but that's why it took so many people by surprise when he took on the role of the hired gun frank and once upon a time in the west he's sent to intimidate a local landowner but instead slaughters the man and his kids the image of the actor who played the lone holdout heroic juror from 12 angry men killing three children forever altered the way he was seen by audiences everywhere i mean if i was on trial for my life i'd want my lawyer to tear the prosecution witnesses to shreds or at least try to number 16. melissa mccarthy can you ever forgive me i'm life huh life bothering you oh yes i'm lying fantastic i'm life man this funny woman burst onto the scene with bridesmaids earning herself an oscar nomination for best supporting actress a rare academy acknowledgement of the comedy genre this led to a long string of comedic roles what are you staring at huh i will destroy you in 2018 however mccarthy pivoted in a big way when she starred as lee israel in the acclaimed biographical comedy drama can you ever forgive me this is very special why would you part with it clutter you know i'm i'm not a very sentimental girl the movie is based on israel's criminal career in literary forgery pending up to 400 fake letters from dead authors and actors mccarthy's performance was widely praised and she earned her second academy award nomination this time in the lead actress category she ended up losing to olivia coleman for the favorite i suppose you might be mad at me as well well i mean if you didn't look so decrepit i might be number 15 jeff daniels dumb and dumber i'm starting to build a career is life up on the screen so terrible in the 1980s jeff daniels earned back to back golden globe nominations for his work in the purple rows of cairo and something wild what are you doing i'm setting you free maybe i don't want to be free in 1993 he played colonel joshua chamberlain in the epic war film gettysburg and in june 1994 he played a swat officer in speed he can reach the circuit wire no no no no don't don't don't that's a decoy classic six months later he was enduring explosive diarrhea on a broken toilet and giving bottled pee to a police officer yep dumb and dumber changed how we saw jeff daniels forever be right out i hope you're not using the toilet it's broken we never expected such low brow comedy from an actor of daniel's stature but daniel made it work thanks to his commitment and incredible chemistry with jim carrey man you are one pathetic loser no offense no none taken he wouldn't often return to comedy but we all know that he can do it number 14 robert pattinson good time if an actor is looking to break type all they have to do is go to the safety brothers it worked for adam sandler and it worked for robert pattinson what if i'm not the hero i want to find the bad guy after twilight many were willing to write off pattinson as just another heartthrob flavor of the month but maybe he just needed the right director and material in the 2010s he tackled roles in several dramas but it was his performance as connie mikas in good time that really cemented his reputation as a serious actor i think something very important is happening and it's deeply connected to my purpose and i think that you are somehow connected to it as well and i mean do you feel me at all the rule earned him widespread acclaim and best actor noms at various film festivals losers like you're incapable of taking care of themselves or either leeching off mommy or leeching off welfare or living off the government in jail that's you he's since carried his newfound reputation into more stellar work like high life and the lighthouse number 13. johnny depp edward scissorhands throughout the 1980s johnny depp was perceived as something of a pretty boy and cast accordingly not unlike robert pattinson you dreamed about the same creep i did that's impossible he had a starring role in a nightmare on elm street appeared as learner in oliver stone's war drama platoon and later starred as the titular character in john waters crybaby and then came edward scissorhands i'm not finished oh put those down don't come any closer directed by tim burton the movie was positively received for its gothic fairy tale style and depp was nominated for a golden [Music] globe that was the single most thrilling experience of my whole life it was the first time he was recognized by a major institution and would prove the first of ten golden globe nominations hey hi george monroe whoa what's the heck of a handshake you got there ed funnily enough the success of edward scissorhands resulted in a new typecasting as he became the go-to guy for tim burton and weird fantastical characters number 12 jamie foxx rey and collateral i'ma tell you something man that country music you know why they like it the stories man before rey jamie foxx was known for his comedy he performed on in living color and starred in his own wb sitcom the jaime fox show from 1996 to 2001 and when he ventured into film he was given supporting roles in movies like any given sunday and ali that changed in 2004 when fox starred in rey and collateral which were released around three months apart you killed him no i shot him bullets in the fall killed him both proved fox's capabilities as leading dramatic actor and earned him widespread praise from critics and academy members [Music] in fact he received two oscar nominations in the same year making him just the third male actor in history to do so somebody had a gun to your head said you gotta tell me what's going on with this person over here or i'm gonna kill you what is driving him number 11. jonah hill moneyball do you have any bigger clothes or do you only shop at baby gap once an actor who was more likely to be nominated for a teen choice or mtv movie award than an oscar jonah hill had his breakout role as the vulgar and funny seth from super bad dude i want to talk a lot of [ __ ] okay well she's gonna be at the party and she's gonna be drunk and she likes me at least a little enough to get with me that is until he was tapped for the role of peter brand in the 2011 biographical sports drama moneyball our goal and our expectation is by mid-july to be within seven games at first cast is an economics expert who changes the way that baseball teams are put together through his expertise and knowledge moneyball depended on hill's untested ability to be taken seriously okay so billy says he'll pay for rincon himself but when he sells him for more money next year he's keeping the profit pulling it off to such a degree that it earned him an oscar nomination he turned out to be well worth the gamble you've been a huge part of this team but sometimes you have to make decisions that are best for the team i'm sure you can understand that number 10 will smith ali while jamie foxx was great nali that movie belonged to will smith early in his career smith was widely known for his rapping and the fresh prince of bel air i am jeffrey your uncle's butler oh okay well uh cheerio when all that rotten eye opportunity bring the horses around would you when he ventured into film he mostly stuck to fun lighthearted movies like men in black independence day and wild wild west first i was going to pop this guy hanging from the street light and then i realized you know he's just working out even bad boys his most serious work at the time had elements of camp and goofiness smith took on more prestigious work with michael mann's ali filling some massive shoes by portraying the titular boxing legend while the movie earned a solid if somewhat muted reception smith's performance as ali was singled out for praise and he earned his first of two academy award nominations for best actor he did three rounds realized he was going to lose the muhammad ali and knocked himself out and i predict that when the fighter said he might not show number nine jim carrey the number 23. [Music] when jim carrey's first famous leading role involved a sequence where he literally talked out of his ass it set a precedent for the types of roles he was offered and given thereafter excuse me i'd like to ask you a few questions in the years since then he's attempted to fight that perception with more dramatic roles including acclaimed performances in the truman show man on the moon and eternal sunshine of the spotless mind remember me try your best [Music] maybe we can still the idea that he was that guy who starred in outrageous comedies that took advantage of his rubber-faced antics persisted for many it took him starring in a psychological thriller as a man struggling with dreams of murder to truly break the mold he'd created before you kill me number eight michael keaton batman many actors have broken type by playing batman including christian bale so what do you think does it come in black but none have shattered their type quite like michael keaton before 1989 keaton was a comedic performer idea to eliminate garbage edible paper see eat it it's gone eat it it's out of there he was on the sitcoms all's fair and the mary tyler moore hour and starred in film comedies like night shift and mr mom in 1998 he worked with tim burton on beetlejuice which of course led to his starring role in burton's batman keaton's casting actually caused considerable controversy [Music] thousands of protest letters were sent to warner brothers and even batman creator bob kane voiced his reservations what is all this the police have got it wrong they're looking for one product the joker's tainted hundreds of chemicals at the source luckily it all worked out and batman became the fifth highest grossing movie in history at the time number seven joe pesci home alone going on vacation where you going in many of joe pesci's most famous film roles he's the most dangerous and feared person on screen despite his small stature well i'm funny how i mean funny like i'm a clown i amuse you it takes an actor who's capable of tapping into a raw anger and rage that few of us can understand to be able to pull that off successfully hello tommy one more shines billy what i said no more shines maybe you didn't hear about it you've been away a long time didn't go up there and tell you i don't shine shoes anymore for the same actor to be able to make a fool of himself for the delight and laughter of families worldwide without missing a beat is truly impressive but that's just what pesci did as harry in 1990s home alone [Music] even more amazingly this performance came right on the heels of his role as tommy devito and goodfellas showing just how easily pesci was able to switch character types dead kid number six robin williams one hour photo a lot of actors who've earned the respect of their peers spend the later years of their career coasting on fame and taking on easy roles that line their wallets let's make fortunately for ardent film fans robin williams was not one of those people look at me son it's not your fault choosing to stretch his acting muscles in dark new ways his performance as a photo clinic employee with a dangerous obsession was so organic and real we wish he'd given the genre a try much earlier i never see you away from the store after all these years you think we'd run into each other at some point the role won him universal acclaim from critics and a saturn award for best actor you would never take disgusting sick degrading pictures of your children doing these things number five tom cruise collateral tom cruise has spent most of his career carefully cultivating a resume of respected performances and a squeaky clean image i'll answer the question you want answers i think i'm entitled you want answers i want the truth you can't handle the truth he's played against that image at times for example as the villainous yet charming less dad in interview with the vampire i've come to answer your prayers then there was the vulgar and over the top les grossman and tropic thunder but it says vincent in michael mann's neo-noir crime thriller collateral that he truly stands out as a remorseless contract killer who makes no attempt to be likable this role had critics raving and moviegoers seeing him in an all new light we got to make the best of it improvise adapt to the environment darwin [ __ ] happens eat ching whatever man we gotta roll with it number four heath ledger the dark name hi the joker is arguably one of the most recognizable and acclaimed villains in modern pog culture and what's with that stupid grin life's been good to me previously brought to the big screen by hollywood heavyweight jack nicholson anyone assigned the challenging role certainly had big shoes to fill so when they cast the guy who sang in the bleachers in a 90s team comedy a lot of fans were shocked and appalled i mean i can't be worried about what everyone else is doing you know i mean i'm focused on what i'm doing and i'm gonna build hundreds of skateboards a month all with your name stacy peralta right there next to zephyr even though he'd given respected performances in films like lords of dog town and brokeback mountain prior to the dark knight few thought he'd be up to the task why so serious outperforming even the highest expectations he gave one of the most legendary performances in film history and earned a posthumous oscar to boot where [Music] number three steve carell fox catcher steve carell is one of the most acclaimed and respected comedians working today the worst thing about prison was that was the dementors they were flying all over the place and they were scary and then they come down and they suck the soul out of your body and it height he received widespread recognition for his work as michael scott on the office and supplemented this with hilarious work in anchorman and the 40-year-old virgin among many other you stop films you jerk and while he demonstrated his dramatic chops in little miss sunshine that movie can still be considered a comedy a word no one would use to describe foxcatcher i hope it's not too late no i just wanted to check in and make sure that everything was all right with you carell was barely recognizable as wrestling coach and convicted murderer john dupont and he channing tatum and mark ruffalo all received praise from critics david we have a lot of work to do in the next couple of months and you're an integral part of that you understand right she's going to need you carell earned his seventh golden globe nomination the first six being for the office and his first oscar nomination for the role whoa do you have a problem with me john don't join oh john i don't have a problem number two tom hanks philadelphia i think i need to go to the hospital in the 80s tom hanks shot to fame thanks to his roles in comedies including splash and big however his filmography took a very different turn in the next decade what happened your face i have aids 1993 saw him star as andrew beckett a gay lawyer and aids patient in the legal drama philadelphia plan on bringing a wrongful termination suit against charles wheeler and his partners at the time the film was groundbreaking in mainstream cinema for addressing the hiv epidemic and homophobia is everything around you just the blood and the mud i am divine i am oblivious hanks's performance won him his first oscar and led to a number of other dramatic roles in the 90s such as forrest gump and saving private ryan before we unveil our number one pick here are a few honorable mentions ashton kutcher the butterfly effect talk about a tonal whiplash i just thought you should know you know what that you were happy once robert de niro stardust from tough guy to captain shakespeare very long way down plenty of time to reminisce about your pitifully short lives please look we're just trying to make our way home mark duplass creep those who haven't seen duplass be funny might be convinced that he's actually psychotic okay it was smart that you filmed it and it was smart that you put your phone on speed dial for the cops but why didn't you at least look behind you i mean it just seemed dumb that you would just sit there arnold schwarzenegger twins the terminator does comedy do i look cool now mr ice and just please before we continue be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos you'll have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them if you're on your phone make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications number one brian cranston breaking bad are you familiar with my product i've been told it's excellent few people can be both funny and utterly terrifying brian cranston is one of those people before breaking bad cranston was primarily known for his comedy work he had a bit part on seinfeld playing tim watley before hitting it big with malcolm in the middle they take a sausage stuff it with cheese wrap it with bacon and shove it in a deep fat fryer full of lard before that glorious bald head and glasses look became iconic all anyone could picture was cranston doing a goofy dance on roller skates but breaking bad proved cranston to be an accomplished dramatic actor you clearly don't know who you're talking to so let me clue you in i am not in danger skyler i am the danger he disappeared into walter white becoming another one of those brilliant casting decisions that make it impossible to imagine anyone else in the role he won four emmys one golden globe and two sag awards for his performance solidifying his place in television history i just want you to know that no no matter how it may look i only had you in my heart do you agree with our picks check out this other recent clip from watchmojo and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos you

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Keywords: actors who broke typecasting, actors typecasting, actors typecast, actors who are typecast, actors who were typecast, actors playing against type, most versatile actors, casting choices, surprising casting choice, best movie casting, adam sandler, tom cruise, tom hanks, bryan cranston, will ferrell, Steve Carell, will smith, heath ledger, jonah hill, Marvel, Movies, Comics, Film, DC, Supervillain, watchmojo, watch mojo, top 10, list, mojo

Id: 7gREV4eBSvo

Length: 24min 27sec (1467 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 10 2021