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Actors Who Seem To Play Themselves on the Screen


someone told me Jack Nicholson, and I thought that was a good example.

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Nicholson came to mind before I opened this thread👍

Dennis Hopper most likely...odd, interesting, free spirited, way out there...

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Me too, but it fit lots of characters.

Julia Roberts seems like the same person in every role.

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Yes, she is adorable and engaging in the roles I've seen her in and frequently seems like herself

Erin Brockovich might be the exception...she was rougher around the edges in this
Still very attractive though!

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She's a whoo-ah !

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Cary Grant? I love the guy, but he always speaks the same way and almost always is wearing a suit and always seems like he thinks he's the smartest person on the screen. Seriously, I love Grant's films and I take nothing away from the man, but he was his own type.

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Cary Grant and Clark Gable, always themselves.

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I can't watch any movies with Cary Grant.... Even when I see a short clip, it doesn't seem like acting, but trying to make himself look and sound good.

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Well, he DID look good! 😏

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Christopher Walken

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Walken seemed to settle, at least imo, into a comfortable niche of portraying ruthless killer mafioso types:

At Close Range (1986)
True Romance (1993)
Nick of Time (1995)
Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995)
Suicide Kings (1997)

Could we assume there was something cathartic going on here, as in exorcising personal demons ?

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Interesting question. I’m no expert but I think there’s always something personal that comes through. It’s what makes the performance seem realistic.

Walken has an ability to go from laughing and joviality to deadly coldness in a heartbeat, which is a schizo trait that you would expect from the characters you mentioned.

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Yes, you tuned into the quality I also perceived. I saw him recently in Biloxi Blues where he portrayed a drill sergeant. He came across as cold, precise and intimidating, much like the aforementioned characters but more subdued.

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Samuel L. Jackson

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Good one

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Meryl Streep ??

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Robin Williams did, for the most part.

Keanu Reeves.

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Adam Sandler
Jennifer Aniston

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