Cult Actor



An actor whose fanbase exhibits a noticeably higher percentage of rabid devotion than what is typical of fandom in general, especially given the (usually small) size of said fanbase.

One tell-tale sign that you've got a Cult Actor on your hands lies in how well and to what degree they are known to the general viewing public: If someone is a Cult Actor you should expect to be met with either a blank stare or an endless stream of uncontrollable gushing about said person upon mentioning their name in conversation.

Also expect an alarming number of these actors' fans to actually think and act as if the actor really is the characters they're known for portraying.

Hire enough of these and you have a better basis for a Cult Classic than any other method. Hire ALL of them and you have the ultimate Stoner Flick. (Or a viral video remix, anyhow.) Creators go on a different page. Not to be confused with actors who ascribe to the beliefs of the Church of Happyology. Or actors who play a follower of the Cthulhu Cult.

Actors sometimes cited as having a "cult" reputation
Since there's no real way of measuring this, the following examples are highly subjective, of course.


 * Woody Allen
 * Sean Astin aka 'Rudy'
 * William Atherton
 * Kevin Bacon (and by extension, everyone else)
 * Theda Bara
 * John Belushi
 * Richard Belzer aka John Munch
 * Jack Black
 * Brian Blessed
 * Humphrey Bogart
 * David Bowie
 * Marlon Brando
 * Jeff Bridges
 * Albert Brooks
 * Mel Brooks
 * Charles Bronson
 * Clancy Brown
 * Reb Brown (thanks to MST3K and Spoony)
 * Steve Buscemi
 * Nicolas Cage
 * Bruce Campbell
 * David Carradine
 * Jackie Chan
 * Lon Chaney
 * Lon Chaney Jr.
 * Cheech and Chong
 * Sonny Chiba
 * Stephen Chow
 * John Cleese
 * Coluche
 * Jeffrey Combs
 * Kevin Conroy
 * Joan Crawford
 * Darren Criss
 * Benedict Cumberbatch in the United States, though this will most likely change after 2013.
 * Tim Curry
 * Bud Cort
 * Peter Cushing
 * Keith David
 * Bette Davis
 * James Dean
 * Louis De Funes
 * Robert De Niro
 * Johnny Depp (before he went A-list)
 * Marlene Dietrich
 * Divine
 * Clint Eastwood
 * Marty Feldman
 * W. C. Fields
 * Nathan Fillion
 * Judy Garland
 * Janeane Garofalo
 * Summer Glau
 * Crispin Glover (one of the definitive examples of this trope.)
 * Bobcat Goldthwait
 * Pam Grier
 * Philip Baker Hall
 * Jessica Harper
 * David Hasselhoff
 * Rutger Hauer
 * Lance Henriksen
 * Kane Hodder
 * Dennis Hopper
 * John Hurt
 * Eddie Izzard
 * Samuel L. Jackson
 * Raul Julia
 * Anna Karina
 * Boris Karloff
 * Buster Keaton
 * Harvey Keitel
 * Klaus Kinski
 * Kris Kristofferson
 * Chiaki Kuriyama
 * Burt Lancaster
 * Laurel and Hardy
 * Bruce Lee
 * Christopher Lee
 * Juliette Lewis
 * Jet Li
 * Traci Lords
 * Peter Lorre
 * Bela Lugosi
 * William H Macy
 * Mako
 * John Malkovich
 * James Marsters
 * The Marx Brothers
 * Malcolm McDowell
 * Steve McQueen
 * Ian McShane
 * Toshiro Mifune
 * Robert Mitchum
 * Mr. T
 * Bill Murray
 * Franco Nero
 * Jack Nicholson
 * Leslie Nielsen
 * Leonard Nimoy
 * Tom Noonan
 * Chuck Norris
 * Warren Oates
 * Al Pacino
 * Anthony Perkins
 * Ron Perlman
 * River Phoenix
 * Vincent Price
 * Richard Pryor
 * Paul Reubens
 * Edward G Robinson
 * Mickey Rourke
 * Kurt Russell
 * Katee Sackhoff
 * Jason Schwartzman
 * Peter Sellers
 * William Shatner
 * Adrienne Shelley
 * Max Shreck
 * Harry Dean Stanton
 * Barbara Steele
 * Ben Stiller
 * Peter Stormare
 * Max Von Sydow
 * George Takei
 * Amanda Tapping
 * Jacques Tati
 * The Three Stooges
 * Danny Trejo
 * Lee Van Cleef
 * Mamie Van Doren
 * Christopher Walken
 * M. Emmet Walsh
 * Hugo Weaving
 * Peter Weller
 * Orson Welles
 * Adam West
 * Mae West
 * Gene Wilder
 * Michael Winslow
 * Ray Wise
 * Mary Woronov
 * Sean Young

Other cult media personalities: (comedians, voice actors, etc.)

 * Lenny Bruce
 * George Carlin
 * Dave Chappelle
 * Stephen Colbert
 * Peter Cullen
 * Dick Gregory
 * Mark Hamill
 * Bill Hicks
 * Andy Kaufman
 * The Kids in The Hall: Dave Foley, Kevin McDonald, Bruce McCulloch, Mark McKinney and Scott Thompson
 * Don LaFontaine aka 'Mr. Voice'
 * Jerry Lewis
 * Rik Mayall
 * Spike Milligan
 * Monty Python
 * Conan O'Brien
 * Richard Pryor
 * Brother Theodore
 * Frank Welker