20 Actors Who Spectacularly Broke Their Typecast

As an actor, getting typecast is a double-edged sword: On one hand, it means you’re so good at something that people want to keep seeing you do it over and over, and your future is secure as long as casting directors think of you whenever they need that. If you have any creative ambitions at all, however, doing the same thing over and over is going to become soul-crushing. You can try to break out, but very few actors are good enough to overcome the public’s perception of them.

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That means the ones who do tend to do so spectacularly. “Daniel Radcliffe has done great in changing his career after (Harry Potter),” Redditor ChenzVee told r/Movies, further elaborating that “Jim Carrey doing dramedies (Truman Show or Cable Guy), Joe Pesci doing comedy (Home Alone), (and) Robin Williams in thrillers (One-Hour Photo or Insomnia)” were also wildly successful.

They then asked, “Who was your favorite actor that totally broke out from their typecast role, and what role was it?” And true to their own typecasting, their fellow Redditors provided no shortage of answers.