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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"I've made a career out of playing [[Star Trek: The Next Generation|blind black men.]]"''
|'''LeVar Burton''', Dragon*Con 2010, when asked about this trope}}
You recognize the character immediately as being right off the [[Characters]] list. He hasn't said anything yet, but you know him because he is an example of '''Typecasting'''.
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* Jason Dolley, a member of the [[Disney Channel]] repertory, is typecast as ''two'' different types of characters: Either an unlucky, unappreciated loser who gets the girl in the end (in his three Disney Channel original movies: ''Read It and Weep'', [[Minutemen]], and ''Hatching Pete''): or a moronic, slacker musician (in his two Disney Channel sitcoms, ''[[Cory in The House]]'' and ''[[Good Luck Charlie]]'').
** He's finally due to play a moronic, slacker musician in a DCOM for a change, when the ''[[Good Luck Charlie]]'' movie is released.
* [[Hey, It's That Guy!|Brad Dourif.]] You've never heard his name, but if you've ever watched a [[Science Fiction|sci-fi]] show or [[Horror]] movie with [[Paranoia Fuel|a creepy-looking dude]] with scary, intense, and [[The Woobie|oddly woobieish]] eyes, you know who he is. If you have ever seen [[The Lord of the Rings|Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers]] and been oddly compelled to hug the traitorous [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Grima Wormtongue]], you know who he is. If you have ever played ''Myst III: Exile'' and [[Tear Jerker|sobbed your damn heart out over Saavedro's plight]], then you ''definitely'' know who he is.
** And his voice has likely ''[[Child's Play (film)|haunted your nightmares]]'' from childhood.
*** Which is strange, because he started off as the sweetest guy ever, Bill in ''[[One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest]]'' (''still'' a [[The Woobie|Woobie]]!). It seems 2 years ago, finally, he was able to play someone who wasn't evil in any way, shape or form in the ''[[Halloween (film)|Halloween]]'' remake as the Sheriff of the town, and probably the nicest guy in the movie.
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* [[Keanu Reeves]] is the embodiment of spaced-out characters. See ''[[The Matrix]]'', ''[[Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure|Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure]]'', and ''[[A Scanner Darkly]]''. There is some debate over [[Dull Surprise|how intentional this is]].
** It's a pity that so few people have seen the movies in which he plays [[The Heavy]]: in ''[[The Gift]]'', he plays a violent, wife-beating redneck, and in ''[[The Watcher (film)|The Watcher]]'', he plays a ''[[Serial Killer]]'', and is terrific in both. As an [[Action Hero]]? Not so much.
* To younger American audiences, it would probably be weird to see [[Alan Rickman]] as anything but the creepy bad guy with the sexy voice thanks to ''[[Die Hard]]'', ''[[Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (film)|Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street]]'' and ''[[Harry Potter (film)|Harry Potter]]'' (though he's {{spoiler|just a red herring bad guy}}), even though his career has seen him in a very wide variety of roles. (''[[Sense and Sensibility (film)|Sense and Sensibility]]'', ''[[Love Actually]]'', ''[[Galaxy Quest]]'', ''[[Dogma]]'')
* Andrew J. Robinson made his film debut as the baby-faced serial killer Scorpio in ''[[Dirty Harry]]''. He was so associated with the role that, despite winning an Emmy as the lead on ''[[Ryan's Hope]]'', he was recast after two seasons because they didn't want someone noted for playing a serial killer as a sympathetic lead. He went on to play a whole string of psychotic killers in films like ''Hellblazer'' and ''[[Child's Play (film)|Childs Play]] 3'', until he finally got to play one of the good guys: former assassin and torturer Elim Garak in ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]''.
** Also his role in ''[[Hellraiser]]''.
* Edward G. Robinson, before he was known as the vocal inspiration for ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' character Chief Wiggum, was famous for playing gangster Rico in the unflinchingly violent ''[[Little Caesar]]'' (1931). In his private life, Robinson was an enthusiastic art collector who hated guns—in fact, when firing blanks on the movie set, he had to tape his eyes open to keep from blinking in horror.
* [[Tim Roth]] usually plays thugs/murderers/convicts/all of the above at the same time. And he tends to die violent deaths.
** He's playing a rare good guy (and television role) in ''[[Lie to Me (TV series)|Lie to Me]]''.
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* All through [[The Eighties]], Michael Winslow tended to be The Guy Who Makes Noises. In fact, his entire career is built on being The Guy Who Makes Noises. He even admits this.
** That's who he is in real life. Though he was a voice in [[Gremlins]].
* [[Elijah Wood]] is usually typecast as the wide-eyed innocent charming boy, ten years before playing Frodo from ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. But since ''LOTR'' he's been desperately trying to avoid typecasting as, well, Frodo (wide-eyed innocent + [[The Messiah]]). In fact, he was cast as a tough vandal in ''Green Street'' (also known as ''Hooligans'') because he represented corrupted innocence.
** He then completely reverses the ship by playing [[Complete Monster|twisted serial killer]] Kevin in ''[[Sin City]]''.
*** His last role before ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' was a hitman. A 17 year old hitman in a brilliant comedy. He was the best part of it.
* Chow Yun-Fat is good at playing tragic heroes in Hong Kong action movies. Since his work with [[John Woo]], nearly every gunplay role he plays has him using [[Guns Akimbo|two guns]] at least once in the movie.
** ... and [[Stranglehold|game]].
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** He plays a computer scientist in 1983's ''[[Twilight Zone the Movie]]'', a University of Kansas science professor in 1983's ''[[The Day After]]'', physicists in 1986's ''[[The Manhattan Project]]'' and 1984's ''[[The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension]]'', and an engineer who designs interplanetary spacecraft in 1984's ''[[Main/ptitledixtv 2 ac|2010]]''
* Rodney Dangerfield had pretty much played the same act in most movies he did the past couple of decades, with the possible darker exception of ''Natural Born Killers''.
* You've got a fantasy or horror setting, and your [[Evil Overlord]] needs a [[Cowardly Sidekick|comically incompetent]] but [[The Renfield|very loyal]] henchman? [[Timothy Spall]] is your man, as evidenced by ''[[Harry Potter and
* Vincent Price, as 'the really creepy scary movie actor'.
* [[Tom Selleck]] has been typecast as cops or soldiers, particularly in [[Magnum, P.I.]]. Selleck himself, however, claims that [[American Gun Politics|his support for the NRA]] has hurt his career.
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* [[Claudia Black]] seems to show up as capable, confident, and very [[Deadpan Snarker|sarcastic]] characters, whether she is there in person or it is just her voice.
* [[Zooey Deschanel]] seems to either play the [[Deadpan Snarker]] or the [[Manic Pixie Dream Girl]]. Or both. She's the [[Love Interest]] a lot, too. No wonder, she's ''beautiful''. It would take a lot of makeup and editing to make her creepy enough to be a villain, because [[Beauty Equals Goodness]]. She could probably pull off [[The Vamp|a seductress role]], though.
* Characters played by British actresses Imelda Staunton and Pam Ferris are often of the [[Jerkass]], [[Sadist Teacher]], and/or [[Complete Monster]] variety. See ''[[Harry Potter (film)|Harry Potter]]'' and ''[[Matilda]]'' for examples.
* Loretta Devine is almost always cast as a doting mother/grandmother. And, she is rarely in starring roles.
** Except in ''[[Urban Legend (film)|Urban Legend]]'' and its sequel ''[[Urban Legends Final Cut]]''.
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* Actress Lupe Ontiveros estimates that she's played a maid between 150 and 300 times on screen.
* Joan Plowright is the ultimate Sweet Old English Lady.
* C. C. H. Pounder usually plays some sort of [[Affably Evil]] authority figure. This even extends to animated works: she was Amanda Waller on ''[[Justice League (animation)|Justice League]]''.
** Oddly averted in her breakout role, ''[[Bagdad Cafe]]'', where she is in charge of delivering the [[Whoopi Epiphany Speech]].
** Now subverted with ''Warehouse13'': Mrs. Frederic is definitely an authority figure, but rather than being [[Affably Evil]], she is a gruff, kind of creepy [[Da Chief|Chief]] who nevertheless ''not'' evil (so far).
* Keri Lynn Pratt can never be cast as anything but a variation of [[The Ditz]], due to her comically squeaky voice. A ditzy intern on ''[[Brothers and Sisters]]'', ditzy girlfriend Missy on ''[[Jack
* Catalina Saavedra originally refused (angrily) the role of Raquel in ''[[The Maid]]'' (2009 Chilean film) because she had already played too many maids.
* [[Helena Bonham Carter]] used to be [[The Ingenue]]. Since the late nineties, however, she's typically been a darkly funny nutcase with a hag-ish look (''[[Fight Club]]'', ''[[Harry Potter (film)|Harry Potter]]'', ''[[Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (film)|Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street]]''), and when not, she is virtually ''always'' in a less-than-glamorous role (''[[Planet of the Apes]]'', ''[[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (film)|Charlie and
* Luciana Salazar as "eye candy on rehashed sequel of an old comedy franchise/movie based on cartoon".
* Ever since ''[[The Suite Life of Zack and Cody]]'', [[Brenda Song]] has been typecast as the [[Asian Airhead]] in [[Disney]] productions. Ironically, her first major role was in a [[Nickelodeon]] show, ''[[100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd|One Hundred Deeds for Eddie Mcdowd]]'', as an ''[[Asian and Nerdy|egghead]]''—a retroactive [[Playing Against Type]]. Outside of Disney, she still occasionally gets typecast as an [[Asian Airhead]]. It seems she's just good at comedy.
* Despite not even being 20 yet{{when}}, [[Jennette McCurdy]] of ''[[iCarly]]'' fame has already been typecast to [[Mean Character, Nice Actor]] type roles, getting several [[Alpha Bitch]] characters as well as the occasionally sociopathic Sam Puckett.
* [[Tilda Swinton]] as the androgynous [[Ice Queen]].
* Although her most popular role was as Elliot's mom in ''[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial|E.T.]]'', the rest of Dee Wallace's acting career seems to subsist of that of the victim in various horror films, with ''[[The Howling]]'', ''[[The Hills Have Eyes]]'', ''[[Cujo]]'' and the remake of ''[[Halloween (film)|Halloween]]'' being amoung the most popular.
** Subverted in ''The Frighteners'', where she is portrayed as the victim only to {{spoiler|change gears halfway through the film to become the villain)}}.
* Julie Walters is always the nanny or otherwise responsible for a [[Harry Potter (film)|large group of kids]].
* When Zhang Ziyi appears on the screen, you start to count down to the beginning of some serious [[Waif Fu]].
* Kelly Preston seems to usually play the doting mother in family films (e.g. ''Jack Frost'', ''What a Girl Wants'', ''The Cat in the Hat'', ''Sky High'', ''Old Dogs'', and ''The Last Song'').
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* Given the number of times [[Hayden Panettiere]] and Christina Milian have played [[The Cheerleader]], [[The CW]] missed a trick by not getting one or the other or both to make a guest appearance on ''[[Hellcats]]''.
* [[Stephanie Sheh]] will forever be known as the woman who voices [[Shrinking Violet|shy]], busty [[Moe]] girls who [[Naruto|have]] [[Bleach|crushes]] [[Haruhi Suzumiya|on the main protagonist]].
* [[Betty White]]
* Characters played by Mischa Barton usually tend to end up in relationships with other girls, at least briefly. The same is sometimes true for her [[The OC|OC]] girlfriend Olivia Wilde.
* Krysten Ritter usually plays bitchy characters with [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|a heart of gold]].
* [[Chloë Grace Moretz]] as a precocious [[Strange Girl]] who is almost always [[Wise Beyond Her Years]] (''[[500 Days of Summer|Five Hundred Days of Summer]]'', ''[[Hugo]]''), sometimes engages in [[Troubling Unchildhood Behavior]] (''[[Kick-Ass (film)|Kick Ass]]''),and is often somehow connected to the supernatural (''[[Let Me In]]'', ''[[Dark Shadows (film)|Dark Shadows]]'', the forthcoming ''[[Carrie]]'' and [[Emily The Strange]] adaptations).
* [[Shirley Temple]] was faced with this as she grew up and took on more mature roles as a teenager. Her acting career declined mostly as people came to associate her more as a cherubic little girl than a saddle
== Both ==
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