The Most Typecast Actors of All Time

Have you ever been watching a movie when all of a sudden you recognize one of the actors in it, only because it seems like they played the exact same role in a different film? As the title of this post indicates, I am attempting to consolidate a list with the actors who are more typecast in Hollywood than anyone else. This list is meant to be incomplete and un-authoritative, so any suggestions are welcome.

The List (generally in order of least to most typecast, just to keep the suspense going)

Joaquim de Almeida
Role: the smooth Hispanic gangster
Examples: Clear and Present Danger, Desperado, the TV series "24"
Synopsis: you know who he is, you just never knew he had a name. The gravely-voiced oily antagonist to Harrison Ford and Keifer Sutherland alike, de Almeida is an ultimate That Guy who just happens to play the same role every time. Every time he talks in his slow, dangerous cadence, you get the feeling that he's on the verge of beating you with a whole roasted pig or whatever they eat in Portugal/Spain.

Jean Reno
Role: the French mercenary
Examples: Mission Impossible, Ronin
Synopsis: judging from IMDB, Reno has had a long and diverse career it's just that if you're not French, you've probably never seen this guy do anything other than heist/spy movies. This is the guy who could be the stereotypical portrait for French males, that is, if Gerard Depardieu were never born.

Orlando Bloom
Role: the elven blacksmith
Examples: Pirates, LOTR, Kingdom of Heaven
Synopsis: this one was almost too easy, and while I realize Bloom was never actually an elven blacksmith in any one of his movies per se, it sort of seems like it if you view his career in an abstract sense. His righteous, holier-than-thou attitude never changes, and though you want to hit him with a tire iron if you're a guy, you have to admit that his ass-kicking abilities rates up there with Steven Seagal, if not Charles Bronson.

Hugh Grant
Role: the bumbling, but charming lover interest
Examples: Sense and Sensibility, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones, Two Weeks' Notice, Love Actually
Synopsis: though he's not in the top 3, Grant is probably my prize find just because most guys aren't privy to cinematic knowledge of Hugh Grant, but watching the end of Love Actually jogged my memory. Love Actually is one of those movies where you can tell the writers created a character with a specific actor in mind and basically decided, "fuck it, he can only act one way but he's precise with it every time."

Kevin Spacey
Role: just look at his last name, it's so ironic
Examples: Se7en, The Usual Suspects, K-PAX, Superman (-ish)
Synopsis: Kevin Spacey also plays a cop in a lot of movies, but those roles aren't nearly as powerful/funny. As far as I'm concerned, Kevin Spacey's spaced-out (ha) self manifests in three separate forms: the good, but enigmatic and aloof Kevin Spacey (K-PAX), the secretive but diabolical Kevin Spacey (The Usual Suspects) and the bad/insane Kevin Spacey (Se7en, Superman Returns). I only wish there was a way to consolidate them all, because if you watched those movies back-to-back...there probably wouldn't be much of a difference, sans all the killing.

Robin Williams
Role: the erratic, but inspirational funnyman
Examples: Dead Poets Society, Good Will Hunting, Patch Adams, Good Morning Vietnam
Synopsis: what amazes me about Robin Williams is that he is able to get away with interjecting his style of stand-up comedy into literally every role he's ever had and no one thinks twice about it. You know what I'm talking about, the fast-paced narrative of a humorous event that you can't really make out but you just assume it's funny because you hear the beginning and end of it. This continuity of delivery and style between his most serious and most comedic roles only goes to show that by and large, people have accepted the fact that he'll usually bring one way to act to the table; that and something tragic always happens to him.

Ryan Reynolds
Role: the sarcastic smartass who provides comic relief
Examples: every movie he has done since 2002. For the nitpicky, these include Van Wilder (of course), Just Friends, Blade 3 (you read correctly) and Waiting
Synopsis: as an almost 22 year-old, Reynolds in many ways symbolizes the style of humor I've grown up with in pop culture: cynical, sarcastic and self-deprecating. Van Wilder has become one of the seminal movies of my generation, and Waiting is its under-appreciated cousin. Perhaps the only thing more entertaining than Reynolds' rapid-fire rapier wit is the fact that if you saw him from the neck up, you probably wouldn't believe that he's jacked out of his mind.

Adam Sandler
Role: the understated, but bipolar and violent everyman
Examples: his entire body of work, except "Click". Click never happened.
Synopsis: before Ryan Reynolds however, the 18-34 year old crowd was first exposed to Sandler who is even now likely the undisputed champion of slightly juvenile but touching comedy. Whether you're watching Little Nicky or Punch Drunk Love (the polar opposites in the quality spectrum of his career), you can't help but empathize with Sandler's characters who always start out as nobodies but eventually look within themselves and find that they can take control of a hotel empire/win a PGA championship/win a college bowl game/rule hell/get the slightly odd girl of their dreams.

Samuel L. Jackson
Role: the militant badass
Examples: every motherfuckin' movie he's ever been in
Synopsis: Mr. L. Jackson isn't #1 on my list for one simple reason: it's too easy to put him there. Trying to come up with cool, insightful things to say about him, I realized they've been said already. By him.

Morgan Freeman
Role: the benevolent, wizened mentor/narrator; ultimate supporting actor
Examples: The Shawshank Redemption, Bruce Almighty, March of the Penguins, Million Dollar Baby, Glory
Synopsis: One of my favorite jokes about Morgan Freeman is the one where he stars in his own movie called, "The Narrator" where the first line is him saying "Ever since I can remember, people have been telling me that they just like hearing the sound of my voice." The joke is funny because it's absolutely true; they should just rename the Best Supporting Actor Oscar the Morgan Freeman 2.0 Award.

Tommy Lee Jones
Role: the hard-bitten law enforcement agent
Examples: The Fugitive, US Marshals, Men in Black, Man of the House, The Hunted
Synopsis: it's hard to imagine Tommy Lee Jones' weathered face in any other role than the hard-to-please, no-bullshit FBI/MIB agent isn't it? This is made all the easier by how forgettable his characters were who did not fit this template (i.e. Two Face and the terrorist who looked like a member of Phish, but I can't think of the movie right now). Rarely is an actor in Hollywood so perfectly set up to play one character and one character only, he's so good in fact that I don't think anyone WANTS him to try a different character type.

These are the best of the best in my mind, I'll keep adding to the list as I go...bring on your own submissions as well