Alter Ego Acting

"I created a monster, Cuz nobody wants to see Marshall no more, they want Shady -- I'm chopped liver"

- Eminem, "Without Me"

It can be said that some roles take on a life of their own, separate from the actor that plays them. Fox Mulder lives more vividly in our collective imagination than David Duchovny; Leonard Nimoy was so eclipsed by his character in Star Trek that he titled his autobiographies I Am Not Spock and I Am Spock respectively.

However, some actors not only allow the character this existence, they actively cultivate them as a persona as real as any other person walking around. This is usually done in one of a couple of ways.


 * 1) The first way is to portray the individual as an entirely separate person, while acknowledging the existence of the actor. The character may refer to the actor in the third person, or vice versa.
 * 2) The second version is to entirely subsume the "real" actor in the role. In this case, the actor is never mentioned by the character and the actor almost never appears in "public".
 * 3) The third method is when the actor acknowledges the character is "them", but somehow a "different" them. This is the least frequently seen, most subtle version, and the mechanism of this change in personality is not consistent, further making it more difficult to recognize.

See also Adam Westing, where a celebrity's public persona is a self-parody, but still uses their real name.

In a case of Real Life Writes the Plot, Alter Ego Acting isn't limited to the actors themselves; many of the fans, especially with sci-fi or fantasy series (like the furry fandom) use this trope to various levels in regards to their internet personas. In a reversal to the trope being applied to the actors, the third method is usually the most used, to the point where the fans refuse to respond to anything but their alter ego's name. Typically, though, the alter ego has enough personality quirks that only work within the confines of fantasy, the alter ego is unable to be fully emulated in the 'real world' during standard, off-line living and, thus, their real selves are markedly different, no matter how much they try.

Type 1: portray the individual as an entirely separate person
"Jay Leno- "Okay, what time is it?" Paul - (presses button on talking watch)"
 * Dame Edna Everage, who refers to Barry Humphries as her "entrepreneur" or manager.
 * Andy Kaufman pretended to have a difficult working relationship with his alter ego, Tony Clifton. His dedication to making Tony a separate persona went as far as appearing on stage with him - "him" actually being a friend (usually Andy's close colleague Bob Zmuda) dressed as Clifton and imitating Andy's Clifton voice.
 * It went further than that, actually; Andy would go far out of his way to do things in character that he would never have done as himself. When he was disguised as Tony, he chain-smoked cigarettes, never turned down a free drink, and ate red meat without blinking an eye — all guaranteed to shock anyone who knew that it was Andy Kaufman (a fairly Straight Edge vegan) behind that mustache.
 * It went even further when Andy permanently passed the Tony persona on to Bob Zmuda circa 1982. Bob was convincing enough that many people didn't realize for years that he had taken over the role; as revealed by Jim Carrey in the 1994 Comedy Salute to Andy Kaufman special, a good half of Tony's TV appearances were done by Bob and not Andy. (Speaking of Carrey, see below.) After Andy's death, Bob reprised the character at a tribute/benefit, and Tony still occasionally resurfaces via several performers.
 * Japanese television personality Masaki Sumitani does not respond to being called by the name of his alter ego, Razer Ramon HG (a.k.a. Hard Gay, a.k.a. HG-kun). He has, however, left fans briefly, changed into costume, and "sent" HG-kun to fulfill their interview requests. When ambushed on a TV program with his shades off, he realized there was a camera pointed at him, hid his face and scrambled for his hat and sunglasses to get into character.
 * Dan Aykroyd as Elwood Blues. In fact, bonus material from the House of Blues Radio Hour even features Elwood interviewing Dan about his work with Jim Belushi, as the "Dancing Refrigerators". In another example, John Landis gets interviewed, and treats Elwood and Dan as totally different people
 * Paul Reubens tended to portray Pee Wee Herman as a completely separate person, even billing the character as being played by "himself" in movie credits. He had never been interviewed as Paul Reubens until the film Mystery Men came out. Even then he managed to get through the first few minutes of the interview without saying a word, responding with nodding or shaking his head until forced to answer a non yes/no question.


 * Daniel Handler shows up at "Lemony Snicket's" book signings as a representative of Mr. Snicket, or sometimes "Mr. Snicket's Handler", and tells fans that the author was detained by some unfortunate accident. This is a slight variation, since while Handler writes under the pseudonym Lemony Snicket, he never "plays" Snicket in public. He would occasionally give an interview where he acknowledged Snicket's fictionality, making him a type 3 as well.
 * This trope was inverted, subverted, and played with 6 ways from Sunday on the DVD commentary, featuring Handler in character as Snicket, with director Brad Silberling. Silberling tries to claim that Jim Carrey was replaced by the real Count Olaf, and Snicket plays along at first. After a while, he becomes bored, and begins accusing Silberling of lying to him. So we have the real author playing his fictional creation critiquing a real actor under fake circumstances while the real director claims that his real film features the fictional author's fictional character for real.
 * In an unusual journalistic example, Hunter S. Thompson created a public persona that played up his flaws and general craziness to a point where he mirrored as much as reported the nastiness, paranoia, and absurdity around him. Often, this was under the name of Raoul Duke; just as often, it wasn't, falling into the third type of Alter Ego Acting.
 * Many pro wrestlers fall into this in Real Life, especially when Kayfabe was in high reign, but Mick Foley is probably the only one who made it actually part of his gimmick; in the later part of his WWE run, it was openly acknowledged that he had three "faces" that he would put on as the situation demanded (Dude Love, Cactus Jack, and Mankind), as well as his own normal persona that was rarely seen in the ring.
 * TNA recently resurrected this aspect of Mick Foley's character, as Mick "interviewed" Cactus Jack; as the mock interview went on, Cactus took on a life of his own, accusing Foley of being a craven sellout cashing in on the fame that Cactus had earned by sacrificing their shared body, something Foley would never have done if it were up to him.
 * Seeing Cactus Jack beat up Mick Foley was the closest TNA has come to a Crowning Moment of Awesome in a long time.
 * Sacha Baron Cohen attempts to portray his various characters as real people completely separate from himself. He has sometimes referred to himself as a separate person while in character. Responding to critics of his film Borat, he assumed the character of Borat to join in on the criticism, levelling anti-Semitic slurs against himself. When promoting his films, he usually insists on appearing in-character.
 * A strange example of this: on Australian program Rove Live, Sacha was playing Bruno while promoting the film of the same name. When Rove did his usual "20 bucks in 20 seconds" questionnaire, his final question was for Bruno to tell Rove what he thought of a picture of Borat, to which Bruno replied that Borat was "an incredibly racist stereotype" and "he's played by Sacha Baron whatever, right? Yeah, he really can't act", so that's what, a double subversion as well as playing it straight?
 * John Clark played Fred Dagg for many years, with the character being treated as essentially real, with other media and interviews playing along. Since everybody knew Fred Dagg, John Clark could not be himself or play any other roles, and eventually left New Zealand partly to escape the role.
 * Stephen Colbert's "Stephen Colbert" persona, discussed below, has another persona, Ching Chong Ding Dong, an offensive portrayal of a Chinese person. "Stephen Colbert" argues that he cannot be held responsible for the actions "Ching Chong" does, since "Ching Chong" did it, not "Stephen."
 * In a number of his late novels (after he'd pretty much lost his marbles), Philip K. Dick used characters named Phil Dick and Horselover Fat (the rough meanings of his two names) to try to parse out his spiritual beliefs and experiences.
 * Near the height of Garth Brooks' career in country music, he released an alternative rock album under the pseudonym Chris Gaines. He clearly played it as though he was creating a character, going so far as to release a VH-1 mockumentary, and hosting SNL as Garth Brooks but being the musical guest as Chris Gaines.
 * Which, regardless of how one feels about Mr. Brooks' music, led to the Crowning Moment of Funny when Mango (who had shot down Garth Brooks in a previous SNL episode) fell in love with Chris Gaines.
 * Related: sometimes avatars in the online virtual reality Second Life refer to their "typists" (or similar terms), making a distinction between the character and the human playing him/her/it: e.g. "Sorry I have to go, but my typist is making me go to bed." The consistency with which this convention is applied varies greatly, with some always maintaining character and others using it as an occasional joke.
 * The same is true of online role-playing in general, where those who use MUCKs, MMORPGs, and other real-time roleplay programs (or just roleplay through online messengers) will speak in-character of their "player" needing to leave/eat/go to the bathroom/sleep. This can be Played for Laughs through a bit of Black Comedy, as when the character really would like to continue but can't, so threatens the "player" for making them have to leave.
 * Sharp-tongued Lily Savage was always entirely separate from her actor Paul O'Grady, and he usually speaks of her as if she's a completely different person. For example, when he gets people asking him to perform as Lily again, his usual reply is "She's gone off to join the convent."
 * Anthony Fantano of the music review The Needle Drop has a slightly offbeat silly "roommate" Cal Chuchesta, that pops up time to time and sometimes gets his own reviews.
 * The members of GWAR would sometimes open shows as the band "X-Cops." In the mid-90s it was spun off as a new band made up of non-GWAR members.
 * This was also done by Spinal Tap who perform in character (they are actually actors). Christopher Gest as well as many of the other writers and actors from Spinal Tap made a similar mockumentary called A Mighty Wind. They did one show in which The Folksmen, their band from Mighty Wind, opened for Spinal Tap. They were booed off the stage by fans who were either unaware or uncaring that they were the same people.
 * For some time, Devo did the same thing, opening for themselves as Dove: the Band of Love. At first they were hippies, but during the 80s they became right-wing Christians, and even captured and brain-washed Devo's mascot Booji Boy during a show. Devo's music was held as Satanic and horrible, despite the fact that Dove played an awful lot of covers.
 * And then there's Booji Boy himself, who is Mark Mothersbaugh in a baby mask singing with a disturbing falsetto.
 * John Lydon invented the Johnny Rotten persona to handle public appearances, as he says he's extremely shy in real life. Depending on whether he's promoting The Sex Pistols and gonzo work or Public Image Limited, he appears as either Rotten or Lydon.

Film

 * When Jim Carrey was cast as Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon he stayed in character(s) for the duration of the shoot (see above and below); this included not responding to his own name. (In addition, after the shoot was completed, Tony Clifton was discussed in Type 1 terms by all the participants.)
 * A really bizarre case was when "Kaufman" went auditioning for How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The Dr. Seuss estate rejected him, but then Carrey broke out of that character and did a Grinch impersonation that got him the role.
 * Daniel Day-Lewis has a major case of this, as he heavily researches his film roles to get into character - months before shooting even begins. When he's involved in the production process of films like The Last of the Mohicans, Gangs of New York, There Will Be Blood and many others, he won't refer to himself as anything other than the name of his character on or off-set. One story mentions that this has caused at least one friendship to break down - Liam Neeson won't even talk to Day-Lewis anymore because, when they were exercising together during an off day while filming Gangs, Day-Lewis wouldn't respond to Neeson calling him his real name - he would only speak if he was referred to as "Bill The Butcher".

Live-Action TV

 * The major cast of Trailer Park Boys appear in character almost constantly, even including "behind the scenes" commentary on the DVD for the show.
 * Jane Turner and Gina Riley rarely appear out of character as Kath and Kim.
 * Tom Baker kept up the persona of the fourth Doctor during his time on Doctor Who, and if fans met him in the street, he always tried to make sure they met The Doctor.

Music

 * Daft Punk never appear in public without helmets on and have not been photographed as themselves in ages. There are currently only one or two pictures of them without their helmets or another face obstructing item.
 * The members of Finnish heavy metal band Lordi make all of their public appearances in the elaborate monster costumes they wear onstage, and have gone to unusual lengths to keep their real names secret from the public. (Indeed, the band's first demo video has never been released to the public because it shows the singer, "Mr. Lordi", with no mask.)
 * When a gossip magazine showed a picture of Lordi without his mask (on the cover, no less), it created a massive backlash and tens of thousands of fans signing a petition of boycotting the magazine, eventually resulting in a public apology from it.
 * Part of this is because all the members of the band are very private people, actually working in a normal job as well as being a monster rocker, or both. Amen, for instance, is a web designer, and at least one of the members is a music teacher.
 * Sometimes GWAR appears out of costume as RAWG; other times, they appear in costume and in character on daytime TV, where Hilarity Ensues.
 * Likewise, the Australian rock-band T.I.S.M. made a point of never appearing (on stage or for interviews) without wearing some sort of identity concealing outfit, and referred to each other only by their stage names (such as Ron Hitler-Barassi and Humphrey B. Flaubert).
 * Experimental rock band The Residents have never been seen without their masks, never dropped out of character in public, and have never released their real names. They've managed to keep their identities a secret for 40 years. It is, however, long been suspected that "The Cryptic Corporation," a group of two "spokesmen" who speak for the band in all interviews, are actually the creative core of the band. The Cryptic Corporation admits to collaborating with the Residents, but always denies that they are actual band members.
 * Mana from Moi Dix Mois (formerly Malice Mizer) is almost never seen out of costume, out of character (e.g. speaking), or out in public. When he has been, it's usually by accident/some sort of freakish fluke.
 * And when he is photographed out of costume, nine times out of ten his face is mostly obscured by a large hat and sunglasses, and he's wearing bulky black clothing. He even appears like this when he's caught out suddenly by stray fans or photographers, which seems to suggest that this 'incognito' look is genuinely what he wears on a day to day basis.

Puppet Shows

 * Carroll Spinney, who portrayed Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, supposedly refused to do Sesame Street-related interviews out of character. He did do the occasional radio interview on CBC as himself, but only as Big Bird's companion, and the interviews were set up so that Carroll Spinney and Big Bird were never being asked questions at the same time.
 * Company policy at Jim Henson Co. was that the actors and puppeteers who play the various Muppet characters are not allowed to engage anyone in an on camera interview.
 * However, both Henson and Spinney made separate appearances on the syndicated version of What's My Line? On the other hand, Kevin Clash has been a guest on two different Food Network shows, complete with Elmo voice, and he's also made other appearances.
 * Played with during the Muppet appearance on The West Wing. Nobody broke character or showed the puppeteers behind the puppets.

Recorded and Stand Up Comedy

 * Rob Potylo used to record albums, play concerts, and make appearances on radio shows or at comedy clubs as Robby Roadsteamer, a trashy Jerkass Guttural Growler initially inspired by the way he saw singers for local nu-metal bands carry themselves on stage. He did some interviews as himself where he'd acknowledge Robby Roadsteamer as a character, but for the most part he would never appear publicly as himself. The character eventually got retired because he was concerned that if he kept it up too long he'd be pigeonholed - nowadays he makes music as himself rather than the character. It's since been joked that Robby Roadsteamer still exists, he just hasn't been heard from in years because he and his band left the Boston music scene for Western Massachusetts.
 * Comedian Leigh Francis has hardly ever appeared on TV as himself. He is currently known as Keith Lemon, but has previously been Avid Merrion, The Bear, and singer Craig David.
 * In an unusual subversion, comedian Andrew Clay Silverstein has been practically forced into a sort of Type 2 version of this trope. His character, Andrew Dice Clay, is seen as such an over the top misogyist and homophobe; that fans and detractors alike are unable or unwilling to separate the actor from his character; despite the profound difference between his real and assumed personalities, and his more recent attempts to distance himself from "The Diceman". This hasn't been help by many other performers refusing to perform or appear with Silverstein, even out-of-character.

Multimedia

 * Larry the Cable Guy used to simply be a role Daniel Lawrence Whitney would use on stage in his comedy routine, but it eventually took over his entire persona in all work he did - film, television, interviews, et cetera. He even wrote a book in-character, littered with grammatical errors. Whitney will usually break character for a few seconds once or twice per show as part of a joke.

Type 3: the actor acknowledges the character is "them", but somehow a "different" them

 * Veteran rocker Alice Cooper often refers to the stage version of himself either directly or indirectly as someone he "becomes" when he walks out to perform. He's not shy about being seen out of character, however. He's performed many interviews and public appearances as his normal, mild-mannered self, and even lampshades the distinction in Wayne's World, where he gives his backstage entourage a short lecture on Milwaukee history.
 * He also does a nightly, syndicated radio show, 'Nights with Alice Cooper' where he is very well spoken, funny and knowledgable. He tells jokes and stories about other musicians and interviews his famous friends. He regularly makes the distinction between his real life self and his stage persona on air.
 * In interviews, Vincent Furnier (Alice Cooper's real name) refers to Alice Cooper in the third person, and has mentioned that his children didn't think of Alice Cooper as their father when they were growing up.
 * Penn & Teller also maintain a distinct "version" of themselves for the stage. Most notably, Teller is almost never seen to speak on stage, maintaining a mute contrast to Penn Jillette's boisterous, extra-large personality. This model of themselves has been consistent even in other roles, for example in an episode of Babylon 5 where they played comedy team Reebo and Zooty. Off stage, however, Teller is known to be an articulate and engaging speaker (and has been a voice actor on at least one production). On occasion, when Teller speaks on camera, his face is obscured. A notable subversion is their feature-length film Penn and Teller Get Killed, in which Teller maintains his mute persona until the very end, when he breaks character and speaks.
 * Andy Kaufman, again, experimented extensively with different personas on stage—all of them called "Andy Kaufman," but not representative of his real personality.
 * Stephen Colbert's former on-air persona as a self-centered, hypocritical, frothing-at-the-mouth strawman conservative commentator is a complete act. Questioned by Larry King, he confirmed that "I call him 'him'."
 * This became surreal when he was vetted for a position in Barack Obama's cabinet, and Fake!Colbert insisted that he, the real person, could not be held responsible for the actions of a character he portrayed.
 * One episode made fun of this. It featured the fake Stephen Colbert thinking he was going to interview the fictional persona of the band Gorillaz, but was disappointed to find out everyone was out of character. He then breaks character himself and interviews the real people behind the band Gorillaz.
 * It got really interesting at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, where the Fake!Colbert praised George W. Bush's administration - with the Sarcasm Mode on, of course ("'Oh, they're just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.' First of all, that is a terrible metaphor. This administration is not sinking. This administration is soaring. If anything, they are rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg!").
 * Al Gore casually mentioned Colbert's character here, leading to Colbert claiming he had no idea what he was talking about
 * Marilyn Monroe was doing a walk-and-talk interview on the street with a biographer, without drawing any attention from the public around them. She turned to the author and asked "Do you want me to be her?", then slipped into her star persona by adopting a different walk and facial expression. Immediately passersby were turning their heads, waving, and asking for autographs.
 * Former professional wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has stated that "The Rock" is his normal personality "with the volume turned way up."
 * Bob Dole apparently used to refer to himself in the third person because he felt the personality he was forced to adopt to run for president wasn't the real him.
 * William Shatner and Adam West portray fictional versions of themselves in public. This is more a case of acknowledging/playing up their hammy acting styles than assuming a different persona. (For more on this, see Adam Westing.)
 * Shatner is noticeably less hammy when conducting interviews.
 * This probably applied to Gracie Allen, who was not so much of The Ditz in Real Life as her identically-named character was.
 * The editorial staff from College Humor play exaggerated versions of themselves in their skits and TV show.
 * In-character as The Nostalgia Critic, Doug Walker uses his real name, but the Critic's persona, opinions and backstory are wholly fictional.
 * Walker will usually go into some detail in commentaries about his conception of the character and how he has developed over time; a lot of what seems natural and spontaneous on-screen is actually very deliberately planned out.
 * Many internet critics get flack from angry fans random passers-by who think they agree with their characters about everything. The Angry Video Game Nerd gets a steady flow of hatemail for his first video, in which he bashed a genuinely good game for fun.
 * Linkara also refers to his on-screen personality as a "character", but at the same time, admits that he's just a slightly exaggerated version of himself.
 * When addressing complaints of how she treats Nella, Lindsay has also commented that The Nostalgia Chick is just a character and so is BFF Nella. In fact, if you want to see how they really are together, just check out their usually-squeeful conversations on Twitter.
 * The complaints are parodied in her second "Thanks For The Feedback!" video, where she claims that BFF Nella remains her friend despite the way she treats her because the Chick pays her to do so, showing an Alternative Character Interpretation during their first meeting (Nella: "I can see I've got my work cut out for me") and their contract renewal, where Nella is professional and very much in charge, while the Chick meekly avoids meeting her gaze.
 * But averted by The Spoony One, whom everyone has confirmed to be exactly the same (with a couple obvious exceptions) in Real Life as he is on camera. There is little functional difference between "Spoony" and Noah Antwiler.
 * Noah himself has said that this is the case, but confessed that he's not as good at separating himself from the Spoony persona as Walker is with Nostalgia Critic or James Rolfe is with the Angry Video Game Nerd. This has resulted in some backlash, as seen in his Final Fantasy X review where Spoony angrily calls for people to murder fans of the game and forced Noah to do some backtracking and apologizing when people believed that he felt the same way in real life.
 * Todd in the Shadows stated that "I may exaggerate my anger a little, but I'm not a good enough actor to adopt a different persona." Though the part about him being unpleasant/hated by the rest of the TGWTG is faked, obviously. And now that he's dating Lindsay Ellis, there's more of a disconnect: Todd is happy, romantic and feeling good about life while the character is still a sad, pathetic, rather creepy Stalker with a Crush for Lupa.
 * The fact that Brad Jones does reviews and other shows on both TGWTG and his own site as himself instead of his Cinema Snob character probably makes his real self a bit more visible than other contributors who review as exaggerated "characters".
 * Sarah Wilson admitted that Pushing Up Roses is happier and more childish than herself.
 * "Bill and Ben" from the New Zealand TV show Pulp Sport half embody this trope - while some of their skits are pre-scripted and they act alongside other people who are also generally playing themselves, other skits (usually the ones involving physical pain) aren't scripted and the guys are reacting in genuine ways. Interestingly, Ben could be seen as just playing himself, while Bill could be seen as playing a character - his real first name is Jamie.
 * Weird case: Brazilian soccer legend Pelé refers to himself as two different persons, Edison (his birth name; the everyday person) and Pelé (the footballer).
 * Comedian Lewis Black, in reality a very gracious and soft-spoken man whose stage persona is a loud, profane near-lunatic. He said in one interview "If I was that person all the time, I would die."
 * As in the page quote, Eminem generally raps as his alter ego Slim Shady, although he frequently blurs the line between the two personalities.
 * His first album titles even reference his multiplicity: The Slim Shady EP/LP, The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show.
 * The personalities on Cracked.com are starting to fall into a very labyrinthine version of this. Dan O'Brien is on record that his and Michael Swaim's characters in Agents of Cracked (or their similar but more toned-down counterparts on After Hours) are nothing like them. He also says that his column-writing persona and Swaim's Cracked TV/Does Not Compute character are also nothing like them either.
 * Considering Swaims an android in that, no shit.
 * In Hannah Montana, teen pop sensation Miley Cyrus plays Miley Stewart and her - Stewart's, not Cyrus' - Secret Identity, teen pop sensation Hannah Montana. This is further complicated by Cyrus performing in Real Life concerts as both herself and as Hannah Montana.
 * In truth, Miley only performed as both Hannah and herself between 2006 and early 2008. She does take on a wilder, more extroverted "wild" persona live, though, especially when wearing outrageous costumes and wardrobes.
 * Nicki Minaj: Onika Maraj is her real self, Nicki Minaj is her larger-than-life "Harujuku Barbie" identity, and Roman Zolanski is the angry, twisted version of herself.
 * Flight of the Conchords: Bret and Jemaine on the show are just exaggerated versions of the real Bret and Jemaine.
 * This is how David Bowie approached such Concept Album / concert personas as Ziggy Stardust in The Seventies. He struggled with Secret Identity Identity as a result—the BBC documentary profile Cracked Actor (1975) has him discussing his choice to drop the Ziggy persona because he was afraid it would overtake him. Unfortunately, he was far from his right mind (addicted to cocaine, etc.) when he created the cruel Thin White Duke for 1976's Station to Station and it proved to be his final such persona; one fansite that focuses on this period has an FAQ that discusses how the persona and the performer got disastrously entangled.
 * Beyoncé claims that she's actually really shy in real life, and when she's on stage, it's almost like she's taken over by another person entirely, who she eventually named Sasha Fierce.
 * Members of the Furry Fandom vary wildly on how they apply this trope to themselves and their characters, with some considering themselves and their characters to be entirely separate and never referring to themselves as their character in real life (unless wearing a fursuit or other costume); some viewing their characters as real people whom they "channel", speaking of them in third person and slipping in and out-of-character in public; some refusing to answer to any name but their furry name (further complicated by people who get their names legally changed, not all of whom believe their furry self to be real or separate from themselves); and some not even having a "fursona", just an online handle. But in general most furries are of the Type 3 variety, acknowledging or even proudly admitting that their fursona is just like real life, only with animal features (or a different body type), with very different fursonas either being a challenging exercise in roleplaying or indulging in wish fulfillment about their ideal self.
 * Elton John, at least by the time he started wearing silly glasses and costumes, had a very introverted onstage persona, the antithesis of his shy, awkward private personality. Elton also claimed his "Elton John" image was/is the opposite of everything his strict biological father wanted him to be: conservatively-clothed, with a sedate job like a banker or lawyer. Unfortunately, at the heart of his substance abuse problems (cocaine in particular) was a desire to open up more and be more sociable.
 * When Terry O'Reilly was still an adman (instead of a CBC Radio host), he once worked on an advertising campaign with Bob Newhart. Terry has mentioned on-air that one of the suggested commercials wasn't made because Bob Newhart objected: "My character wouldn't say that."