I Am Not Spock: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|''It was Captain Kirk playing TJ Hooker, not [[William Shatner]] the actor. You're just thinking he's taken a month off... and come down to Earth and said 'I want to be a cop for a bit'.''|'''[[Eddie Izzard]]''', ''Unrepeatable''}}

This is most certainly a double-edged sword, as it often guarantees that the performer will be famous for some time to come, but on the other hand, that role may end up stifling the performer's future acting prospects, as he or she may get rejected for other roles that may be seen as being [[Playing Against Type|against type]]. This can be tough on actors, who as artists may strongly desire moving on. As viewers and historians, it can sometimes be difficult to tell the difference between an actor who lucked out by getting one iconic role, and an actor whose career was hampered by over-association with it.

 

 

Outside live action, this may be a [[Pigeonholed Voice Actor]].

** John De Lancie is having a hard time escaping his association with the iconic Q. It doesn't help that he recently voice acted a Q [[Expy]] named Discord in ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]''.

** This has suffered Robert Picardo from ''Star Trek Voyager''; it's hard to see his character from ''[[Stargate Atlantis (TV)|Stargate Atlantis]]'' as anything but the EMH in a different uniform.

** Then again, Doyle did try to escape the typecasting by entering politics. He ran for Congress in 2000 and lost.<ref>In California's 24th District, as a Republican. This seat is well-known to be a safe seat for Democrats, and Doyle's opponent was an incumbent--and California specifically gerrymanders its districts to favor incumbents, regardless of party.</ref> These days he's a syndicated [http://www.jerrydoyle.com talk radio host.]

** Andreas Katsulas, who played G'kar, did manage to avoid this trap... by already being incredibly famous on stage in his home country of Greece. He came to America, did a Narn (and [[Star Trek the Next Generation (TV)|a Romulan]] and [[The Fugitive (Film)|a man with one hand]]) for a few years, then went right back to being famous in his home country (he was right up there with his castmates in not caring about typecasting either way because he adored the G'kar character, though).

** At least he's also remembered for being [[Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog|Sonic]] [[Sonic the Hedgehog (TV)|the]] [[Sonic Underground|Hedgehog...]]...among the fans of that series at least.

** Odd that he doesn't sound or look anything like the nasally, fashion-unconscious [[Extraverted Nerd|Urkel]] in real life.

** Tom Baker most embodies this trope of all the Doctors, simply because by his own admission he ''was'' the Doctor during the years he played him - it's fair to say there wasn't a huge amount going on in his life when he managed to get the role, so he and the character grew together over the next seven years - he used to walk around in the hat, long scarf and coat, sign autographs "Doctor Who" and so on. He understood the power of this on his younger fans - there's a famous story of him being out and about one Saturday evening, wanting to see his latest episode of DW as it aired, and upon being let into a house where the TV was on he slipped quietly into a seat to watch the programme without disturbing the children already in the room; the look on their faces at the moment where they glanced around from the screen, then back, then back to the Doctor in the next chair can be vividly imagined... He later shied away from revisiting the series for many years, but in 2009 finally took up the role again in a series of audio dramas made under license by BBC Audio, though arguably only when his fame had gone from "Formerly of Doctor Who" to "Famed Eccentric and borderline National Treasure".

** Subverted with Patrick Troughton(Second Doctor). He was a highly successful character actor before Doctor Who and became one almost immediately after leaving the program. He was always recognized as the Doctor for the rest of his life, and loved doing conventions, but he did more than enough stuff that he was often recognized for his other work too. A combination of being arguably the most versatile and talented actor to play the part combined with always keeping a sharp distinction between himself and all of his roles probably both helped a great deal with that.

** SCTV satirised this with the Leave It To Beaver 25th Anniversary sketch with John Candy playing the role of Jerry Mathers as the Beaver.

* "And Anne B. Davis as Alice"...and everyone else from [[The Brady Bunch|that show]].

* Andrea McArdle as ''[[Annie (Theatre)|Annie]]''. And, in fact, most girls who played Annie on Broadway (except [[Sarah Jessica Parker]]).

** In fact, McArdle declined to be in the documentary ''Life After Tomorrow'', chronicling many of the women who played orphan roles on Broadway. This ran the gamut from fairly well-adjusted women to actresses still in the business to women who just can't shake their association, and it's likely she declined because she fell into the latter. (Sarah Jessica Parker didn't have a problem with it; neither did Kristin Vigard, [[The Pete Best]] of the musical.)

* Any character from the British soap [[Eastenders]] but bonus points must be given to Shaun Williamson, otherwise known as [[Extras|Barry from EastEnders]].

** Except for Todd Carty who'll be remembered for his childhood role as Tucker Jenkins on Grange Hill.

* Zachary Quinto, who plays Sylar on ''[[Heroes (TV)|Heroes]]'' is starting to get this way. For his first appearance in the new ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' [[Star Trek (Film)|film]], you half expect him to unleash telekinetic whoop ass on the Vulcan council. He is a good enough actor that this effect fades away after the first hour or so and he becomes Spock.

** Also, Masi Oka is Hiro.

** Now he's Liddy too.

* There is no "Elijah Wood"! There is only <s>[[Ghostbusters|ZUUL!]]</s> [[The Lord of the Rings (Film)|FRODO]]!

** It could be worse. He could be remembered as [[North]].

** Can't sleep! Elijah Wood will [[Sin City|eat me]]!

* The voice actor for [[Half Life|Alyx Vance]] reports in the commentary saying that co-workers tend to peek out of the corridor when they hear her talk.

* It is generally agreed within the anime fandom that [[Rie Kugimiya]] [[Pigeonholed Voice Actor|will be always]] be associated with [[Tsundere]] characters (particularly flat-chested [[Token Mini-Moe|loli]]s [[A Cup Angst|who are very]] [[Berserk Button|sensitive about it]]). So much so that most of her non-tsundere roles have long been forgotten, ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist|including Al]]''. Apparently, this could be [[JC Staff]]'s part.

* Gary Sinise has been so strongly identified as Lieutenant Dan Taylor in ''[[Forrest Gump]]'' that he called his band "The Lieutenant Dan Band". May be subverted by younger viewers of ''[CSI:NY\]''.

** There are younger viewers of CSI: NY??

[[Category:Characters and Casting]]

[[Category:I Am Not Spock]]