The Danza: Difference between revisions

[[File:mst3k credits 7944.jpg|link=Mystery Science Theater 3000|frame|He's the most troublesome puppet to operate, too.]]

 

 

 

A character whose name is clearly taken from the actor/actress portraying him/her. This shows up in TV a lot in shows designed as a vehicle for an actor's fame. By lending their name to the fictional character, there's some familiarity created already. The most obvious way to spot this is to see if the title of the show incorporates the lead actor/actress' name, but not always. This seemed to hit its peak in the sitcoms of the late eighties and early nineties. A good majority of sitcoms were based on a stand up comedian's routine (Tim Allen, Roseanne Barr) and many of these comics already were developing fanbases. Creating the Danza was a way to leverage their fame as a comic into success as an actor.

Compare [[Character as Himself]], [[Adam Westing]] and [[Ink Suit Actor]]. See also [[Name's the Same]], and [[Author Avatar]]. If '''The Danza''' is the writer, then it may be [[Write Who You Know]] as well as [[Author Avatar]].

 

 

{{examples}}

* A borderline case is [[Shinichi Watanabe|Nabeshin]] in ''[[Excel Saga (anime)|Excel Saga]]'' and ''[[Puni Puni Poemi]]'', who is voiced by director Wata''nabe Shin''ichi. Furthermore, Watanabe himself appears a few times in both shows with the same character model.

** ''Nabeshin'' was Watanabe's real nickname from ''before'' Excel Saga times, and he still uses it. And he ''[[Truth in Television|indeed]]'' dresses [[Alter Ego Acting|like his animated counterpart]].

** Patricia Martin's character has been confirmed to be inspired by [[Power Rangers|Patricia]] [[Power Rangers Turbo|Ja]] [[Power Rangers in Space|Lee]]. And then, in the English dub, was ''actually'' voiced by Patricia Ja Lee.

** Clerk Sugita is voiced by Tomokazu Sugita.

* ''[[Akahori Gedou Hour Rabuge]]'' has Tomokazu Seki starring as himself. Mostly.

* ''[[Code Geass]]'' has Inoue, Kento Sugiyama and Nagisa Chiba who are voiced by [[Kikuko Inoue]], Noriaki Sugiyama and [[Saeko Chiba]] respectively. In their case, the characters were named for their actors. The English dub has a coincidental version with Kallen Stadtfeld (played by [[Spell My Name with an "S"|Karen]] [[Karen Strassman|Strassman]]).

** And before Kati Mannequin, Cathy Weseluck voiced Catherine Bloom in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam Wing|Gundam Wing]]''.

* Hideyuki Tanaka was the voice of Hideyuki Makimura in ''[[City Hunter]]''. Tsukasa Hojo intentionally named the character after him in the manga long before the anime version was made.

* To voice Momoko Touyoko of ''[[Saki (manga)|Saki]]'', they chose... Momoko Saito.

* In ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler]]'', Saki is voiced by Saki Nakajima.

* Everybody in ''[[Special Duty Combat Unit Shinesman|Shinesman]]'' - at least in the original Japanese version. This was an intentional ploy on the part of the mangaka which worked out handily when the manga was adapted for an OAV.

* Maya in ''[[Burn Up|Burn-Up! W & Burn-Up! Excess]]'' is voiced by [[Maya Okamoto]].

* ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'' did this for some of the kids' parents' first names.

* Aya Stanford from ''[[Future GPX Cyber Formula]] SIN'' is voiced by [[Aya Hisakawa]].

* In ''[[Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko]]'', [[Kana Hanazawa]] provides the voice of a minor character named Hanazawa.

* Zenjiro in ''[[Kodomo no Omocha]]''.

* In ''[[K-On!]]'', Mugi shares her last name (Kotobuki) with that of her voice actress, [[Minako Kotobuki]]. Definitely a coincidence though, seeing how the manga came first. Now, if they could have gotten Hikaru Kotobuki from P-Model to ([[Cross Dressing Voice|somehow]]) play the role...<ref>For those who don't know, the members of Houkago Tea Time are all named after members of P-Model, while other notable cast members are named after members of The Pillows.</ref>

* [[Akira Kamiya]] as Akira Hibiki in ''[[Raideen|Yuusha Raideen]]''.

 

 

* Possibly the oldest example in film: [[Charlie Chaplin]]'s "Charlie" character, the center of many of his movies.

* [[Laurel and Hardy|Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy]] usually played full-name versions of this in their films.

* [[The Marx Brothers]] did this in some of their films, and on stage.

* Subverted in ''[[Back To The Beach]]'' where Annette Funicello (known as Dee Dee in the classic Beach films) is called Annette while Frankie (her husband) is called "The Big Kahuna".

* Long before Sandra Oh was cast in ''[[Grey's Anatomy]]'', she won a Best Actress Genie Award (the modern day Canadian equivalent of the Oscars) for her role in 1998's ''Last Night''... playing a character named just Sandra.

* Subverted in ''[[Zack and Miri Make a Porno]]'', with two gay lovers with the name of one being a play on the name of the actor playing another: Bobby ''Long'' played by ''Brandon'' Routh and ''Brandon'' St. Randy played by Justin ''Long''.

* In ''[[Observe and Report]]'' the twin security guards John and Matt are played by John and Matthew Yuan.

* Every single character in ''[[Purple Rain]]'' shares their actor's first name except for that played by Prince (his name is The Kid) and his movie mother and father (they have fictional names).

* [[Stephen Chow]] directs and plays a character named Stephen Chow in ''[[God of Cookery]]''. A particularly brave example since he sets himself up as an [[Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist]] from the beginning.

* In ''[[Titanic]]'', the modern-time crew (aside from Brock Lovett, played by Bill Paxton) are named after the actors portraying them, e.g. Lewis Bodine is played by Lewis Abernathy. The crew in question is also the real-life crew of the ship.

* Eddie Redmayne as "Eddie" in ''Hick''.

 

== Literature ==

** Similarly, Jack Kerouac wrote many novels starring a protagonist named Jack Duluoz.

* Charles Yu, time-machine repairman in ''[[How to Live Safely In A Science Fictional Universe]]'' by Charles Yu. It really says something that this is one of the ''[[Mind Screw|less confusing]]'' things about the book.

* Darren O'Shaughnessy (who usually writes under the penname Darren Shan) is best known for a book series about a young vampire named [[The Saga of Darren Shan|Darren Shan]].

* J(ames) G(raham) Ballard in his novels ''Empire of the Sun'' and 'The Kindness of Women'' has the protagonist "Jim Graham".

 

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* Some of the supporting office mates in ''[[The Office]]'' share their character's first names. This is because many of then are [[Ascended Extra]]s. Also, Michael screens a movie starring himself as Michael Scarn, an obvious [[Mary Sue]] [[Author Avatar]].

* [[Norm MacDonald]] plays Norm Henderson on ''[[The Norm Show]]''. An early commercial showed Norm not responding to his character's original name, forcing the showrunner to change it to his real name to avoid confusion.

* Fred Willard played a bartender named Fred (Or Freddie, as the Nixon puppet would refer to him) on ''[[D.C. Follies]]''.

* Mayko Tran on ''[[Regenesis]]'' is played by Mayko Ngyuen.

* Ray Romano as Ray Barone in ''[[Everybody Loves Raymond]]''.

* [[Ellen DeGeneres]] played "Ellen Morgan" in the 1993-98 sitcom ''[[Ellen]]'', which was known as ''These Friends Of Mine'' for the first season. In 2001, she played "Ellen Richmond" in the sitcom ''The Ellen Show''.

* Speaking of which, Valerie Harper as Valerie Hogan in the early seasons of the same show.

* Raven-Symone as Raven Baxter in ''[[That's So Raven]]''.

* Ben Vereen as Mayor Ben in ''[[Zoobilee Zoo]]''

* John Ritter as John Hartman and Billy Bob Thornton as Billy Bob Davis in ''[[Hearts Afire]]''.

* ''[[Cheers]]''

** Charles Robinson shares the same last name as his character Mac Robinson.

** One could also argue Yakov Smirnoff as Yakov Korplenko.

* Nick, Joe, and Kevin Jonas play alternate universe versions of themselves on ''[[Jonas]]'', which includes keeping their real names.

* Both Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell as Kenan Rockmore and Kel Kimble, respectively, in ''[[Kenan and Kel]]''.

* Jim Belushi as Jim in ''[[According to Jim]]''.

* Rare last-name Danza: Mackenzie Phillips as Molly Phillips in ''[[So Weird]]''.

* Another especially convoluted example would be Redd Foxx (born John Elroy Sanford), playing Fred Sanford in ''[[Sanford and Son]]''.

** [[Larry David]] in ''[[Curb Your Enthusiasm]]'' is actually an [[As Himself]], but the show has a number of Danzas—regular characters, Cheryl, Jeff, Susie, plus some one-shot characters with just one name, which happens to be the actor's.

** The kids on ''[[You Can't Do That on Television]]''.

** Norman Lovett in ''I Lovett''.

** [["Weird Al" Yankovic]] in ''[[The Weird Al Show]]''.

** Ed Begley, Jr. guest starred as Ed Begley, Jr. on ''[[Dharma & Greg]]''. He was always addressed on screen by his full name, "Ed Begley, Jr.", not Ed or Mr Begley.

** Jon Dore on ''The Jon Dore Television Show''.

* Delores Hall as Nurse Delores Mitchell in ''[[Diagnosis: Murder]]''

* Yasuko Nagazami as Yasko and Alibe Parsons as Alibe in ''[[Space: 1999]]''.

* ''[[UFO]]'' had several first-name Danzas: Ed Bishop played Ed Straker, Gabrielle Drake played Gay Ellis and Peter Gordeno played Peter Carlin.

* In ''[[The Pretender]]'', Andrea Parker plays female lead character Miss Parker, but this is apparently a genuine coincidence. On the other hand, her [[Mooks]] are first-name Danzas (with [[No Name Given|no last name]]) to a man, apparently as an acknowledgement that it's not worth the effort of giving them real names.

* Many of the supporting cast on the U.S. version of ''[[The Office]]'' share first names with their characters, including Phyllis, Angela, and Oscar. Creed Bratton plays a fictionalized version of himself, so he skirts into [[As Himself]] territory.

* [[Charlie Sheen]] has played characters named Charlie on several occasions, notably on ''[[Spin City]]'' and ''[[Two and A Half Men]]''. He even played "Charlie" in the sequel to ''[[All Dogs Go to Heaven]]''.

* ''[[Third Watch]]'' had paramedics Bobby Caffey and Kim Zambrano played by... Bobby Cannavale and Kim Raver. The minor firefighter characters shared their full names with their actors: Firefighter Billy Walsh was played by Bill Walsh, Derek "DK" Kitson by Derek Kelly.

* Alan the cab driver is played by Alan George in ''[[Skins]]''.

* Katherine Mulgrew played Kate Columbo in ''[[Mrs. Columbo]]''.

* Several minor ''[[Babylon 5]]'' characters who were not given names on their first appearance (usually being referred to only as something like "Emperor" or "Minister") were belatedly given the names of the actors playing them when they appeared or were mentioned in later episodes (such as Malachi Throne's Centauri Prime Minister being later named "Prime Minister Malachi").

** There's more. Nurse Shari was played by Shari Saba, Nurse Jo Ann was played by Jo Ann Thompson, and Nurse Sheila was played by Sheila Lauritsen.

* Mocked on ''[[Extras]]'' where (both [[In-Universe]] and Out-) [[Celebrity Cameo]] Keith Chegwin's character has his name changed to Keith after the actor repeatedly fails to comprehend that the character has a different name to him.

** Edmondson actually played a psychotic ex-talk show host called Eddie Monsoon in ''[[The Comic Strip Presents]]'' [[Mockumentary]] episode "Eddie Monsoon -- A Life?" (The show was originally intended to be an episode of his talk show "Back To Normal", but it was judged too obscene even for [[Channel 4]], so it was turned into a mock biopic instead.)

** Mayall changed his first name in his teens—he was born Richard Mayall, fitting this trope even better.

* Two of Station 51's firefighters in ''[[Emergency]]'', Marco Lopez and Mike Stoker, simply used the actors' names. Stoker, the driver of Engine 51, actually ''was'' an LA County firefighter at the time of filming (he retired in 1996), making it convenient for filming as one of the regular cast members was qualified to drive and operate the truck.

* [[The Olsen Twins|Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen]] as Mary-Kate and Ashley Burke in ''[[Two of a Kind]]''.

* Most of the ''[[Kids Incorporated]]'' kids. When a [[No Name Given]] character had his name revealed in an episode, it was that of the actor Rahsaan Patterson.

* Sissy Walker, a very minor character on ''[[The Waltons]]'' who appeared only five times between 1973 and 1978, was played by Cissy Wellman.

* ''[[The Goodies]]''—Tim (Brooke-Taylor), Graeme (Garden) and Bill (Oddie). Plus, the books that spun off from the show give their full names in appropriate places, and their "brochure" in ''The Goodies File'' lists their real-life years and places of birth. Needless to say, the characters are just highly exaggerated versions of themselves.

* ''[[In Plain Sight]]'' has lead character Mary Shannon played by Mary McCormack. Whenever she needs an alias-to testify in court, let's say-she goes by "Mary [[Meaningful Name|Shepherd]]".

* Andy Griffith as Andy Taylor in ''[[The Andy Griffith Show]]''.

* In ''[[Make Room For Daddy]]'' (aka ''The Danny Thomas Show''), Danny Thomas starred as Danny Williams.

* Mr. Mackay in ''[[Porridge]]'' was played by Fulton Mackay

* Neil (Buchanan) and Kim (Goody) on ''No 73'', a 1980s [[ITV]] kids' [[Sitcom]] [[Magazine Show]]. None of the other main characters were Danzas. Possibly this was because Neil and Kim were generally more involved with the magazine show elements (artwork and interviewing popstars respectively) than the plots (at least to begin with), and were therefore more presenters than characters.

* [[Playboy]] Playmate Julie McCullough as Mike's girlfriend Julie Costello on ''[[Growing Pains (TV)|Growing Pains]]'' in the 1989-1990 season.

* Bob McGrath as Bob Johnson and Linda Bove as Linda in ''[[Sesame Street]]''.

{{quote|Roger Price said "What's your favorite name?" and I was kind of fazed, and I said, "Elizabeth." And that's how the role got its name.}}

* In ''[[The Wire]]'' the character Felicia "Snoop" Pearson is played by [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1787519/ Felicia "Snoop" Pearson]—who also happens to be a former Baltimore drug dealer with [http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/may/24/the.wire.season.five a conviction for second-degree murder].

** And while Jay Landsman is played by Delaney Williams, from Season 3 the character Dennis Mello is played by Jay Landsman.

** Well-renowned attorney Billy Murphy more-or-less [[As Himself]] playing the role of Clay Davis's lawyer.

* Half the cast of ''[[Out of This World]]'': Donna Pescow as Donna Garland, Buzz Belmondo as Buzz, and Peter Petofsky as Peter.

* Mary Kay Stearns as essentially herself in the very first TV [[Sitcom]], ''Mary Kay And Johnny'', which first aired in 1947 on the Dumont Network.

* Spoofed on ''[[Mega 64]]'', with Rocco Botte as Rocko Boaty, Derrick Acosta as Derek Ackawzdha, and Shawn Chatfield as Sean Chatfield. In other words, the same names, yet different spellings.

* Joey Lawrence made guest appearances on both ''[[Diff'rent Strokes]]'' and ''[[Silver Spoons]]'' as a kid named Joey before landing the role of Joey Donovan on ''[[Gimme a Break!]]'' This was followed by Joey Russo on ''[[Blossom]]'' and Joe Roman on ''[[Brotherly Love]]'' (in which brothers Matt and Andy play Matt and Andy Roman). He ices the cake by playing himself in the 2008 horror/comedy ''Killer Pad''. As of 2010, he is playing a character called Joe Longo on the sitcom ''[[Melissa and Joey]]'', alongside Melissa Joan Hart.

* Chuck Campell plays Chuck the Gate Tech on ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'', though this may actually have been a mistake. The character was without a name for quite a while, and it's rumored that another actor dropped his name into a line. He is, however, later called Chuck again by another character. Notable in that fans had been calling him Chuck the Gate Tech (or, alternately, "Chucknician") for some time previous.

* Lee and Tim from ''[[Not Going Out]]'' are played by Lee Mack and Tim Vine respectively. There is also Tim and Lucy's father, Geoffrey, who is played by Geoffrey Whitehead, but this is an odd case as he was originally played by Timothy West.

* The French series ''Hénaut Président'' is made of this trope; of the 7 main characters SIX are playing characters with whom they share a first name - every major character other than the lead (the eponymous Hénaut).

* Subverted on the UPN show ''Eve'', where the rapper Eve's character was named...Shelley. (The series was originally called ''The Opposite Sex'' until the title change.)

* Almost every single bloody sketch on ''[[French and Saunders (TV)|French and Saunders]]'' has Dawn and Jennifer as... Dawn and Jennifer. Even in the film spoofs.

** Oh, and also Jen in ''Girls on Top''.

* Oliver Babbish on ''[[The West Wing]]'' is played by Oliver Platt.

* ''[[Alias (TV series)|Alias]]'' had Michael Vaughn (played by Michael Vartan) and Rachel Gibson (played by Rachel Nichols).

* Simon Templeman plays Simon Leeds in ''[[Just Shoot Me]]''.

* Billy Connolly again as Billy MacGregor in ''[[Head of the Class]]'' and ''Billy''.

* Miranda Hart as the title character of ''[[Miranda]]''.

** These are something of a fictionalized version of [[As Himself|as themselves]]

* Nia Vardalos's character in ''[[My Big Fat Greek Wedding]]'' was named Toula in the movie, but changed to Nia for the TV series.

* The little-known sitcom ''Big Brother Jake'' features fitness personality Jake Steinfeld as Jake Rosner.

* In the 70s British spy serial ''[[wikipedia:Callan (TV series)|Callan]]'' (starring Edward Woodward, later the suspiciously similar McCall in ''[[The Equalizer]]'') the character Liz was played by Lisa Landon. For about half the four season run, she was credited only as "Hunter's Secretary".

* The ''entire'' cast of the Japanese television series ''Playgirl''.

* [[Jessica Alba]] played a character named "Jessica" in three episodes of ''[[The Secret World of Alex Mack]]''.

* A well-hidden example lurks in ''[[The Stockard Channing Show]]'', with main character Susan -- which is Stockard Channing's ''real'' first name.

 

 

== Radio ==

 

== Theater ==

* ''[[Finian's Rainbow]]'' has a harmonica-playing minor character named Sunny, originally played by Sonny Terry.

* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' stage play "Seven Keys to Doomsday", the companions were going to be called Dave and Jenny; but when James Mathews was cast, his character was renamed to Jimmy. Later stage revivals reverted to "Dave", but in the [[Big Finish]] audio version he's "Jimmy" again.

** ''"O"'': Le Vieux, the emcee, was long known as Eugen after original performer Eugene Brim.

* A strange inversion: Born Joseph Lane, a name that was already in use by another actor, Nathan Lane took his stage name after, Nathan Detroit, his favorite character in Broadway classic ''[[Guys and Dolls]]''. Years later, his Broadway career reached new heights when he received rave notices for playing Nathan Detroit in a revival.

 

== Theme Parks ==

* Games made by Skip Ltd. (such as ''[[Chibi-Robo!]]'' and ''[[Captain Rainbow]]'') frequently feature a black-and-white dog named Tao, who is usually portrayed as somewhat lazy and often very hungry. Tao was the actual dog of Skip's creative director, looked exactly like his fictional counterparts, and... was somewhat lazy and often very hungry. (The real dog died in 2009, but the fictional version will live on in games forevermore.)

* In the first ''[[Star Wars]]: [[Rebel Assault]]'', Ru Murleen was named after the actress who played her. Averted with the sequel, which used [[The Other Darrin|a different actress]], Julie Eccles.

* In ''[[The Journeyman Project (series)|The Journeyman Project]]'', Megan Love, heard on the radio during the intro, was voiced by Megan Wheeler.

* In ''[[Police Quest]]: Open Season'', the actress who played Barbie Cann was named Barbara Shannon ("Barbie" is a nickname for Barbara).

* [[Adam Westing|Adam West as Mayor Adam West]] on ''[[Family Guy]]''.

** Lampshaded in that Mayor Adam West actually ''is'' Adam West. ...then again, [[Word of God]] says he's not.... All of this just to intentionally make it confusing.

*** Norm the Genie is named after [[Norm MacDonald]], who plays him in two eps. Norm the Genie has been said to be based on MacDonald.

* [[John Candy]] in ''Camp Candy''.

* Arianna Huffington as ''[[The Cleveland Show]]'''s Arianna the Bear

* After [[The Other Darrin|Recasting]] for "What's With Andy", [[Black Best Friend|Danny Pickett]] was now voiced by Danny Brochu. The original voice actor (Bumper Robinson)'s real name is "Larry".

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Naming Conventions]]

[[Category:Trivia Trope]]

[[Category:Characters and Casting]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Danza, The}}