Actors/actresses who played different characters within the same film/tv series

Note I don't mean a former star of a movie franchise given a cameo in a different role in a remake, or a situation where someone plays multiple roles in the same movie. I'm looking for instances where someone appears in multiple movies in a franchise, or multiple tv episodes, and play differing characters in different episodes. Particularly looking for bizarre versions.

I know on Everybody Loves Raymond, Kevin James played both Kevin Daniels (for 9 episodes), and in others, he played King of Queens-role Doug Heffernan in a guest spot. John Santucci played three different characters in guest starring roles. And then Amy Yasbeck managed to play John Ritter's wife in the forgettable "Problem Child", then played a completely different girlfriend in the sequel.

other examples?

judith light played her own twin in a lifetime movie

the 'law and order' franchise is good for this thread. i think you can look at virtually any major guest character role and find that the actor showed up in other episodes before or after. cf. ritchie coster who played "the chechen" in the dark knight:

Law & Order: Criminal Intent (TV Series)
Jack Taylor / Simon Matic
- The Glory That Was... (2009) ... Jack Taylor
- Homo Homini Lupis (2002) ... Simon Matic

2000-2006 Law & Order (TV Series)
Kevin Almonte / Mark Bruner / Jorgan Stern
- Invaders (2006) ... Kevin Almonte
- Bodies (2003) ... Mark Bruner
- Dissonance (2000) ... Jorgan Stern

2005 Law & Order: Trial by Jury (TV Series)
Shane Lucas
- Skeleton (2005) ... Shane Lucas

1999 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series)
Carlo Parisi
- ...Or Just Look Like One (1999) ... Carlo Parisi

Joe Don Baker played the bad guy in one of the Timothy Dalton Bond movies, then a CIA agent in two of the Pierce Brosnans.

http://www.thesopranosblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/vlcsnap-00078.png

http://www.divertinajes.com/nueva/images/parrafos/110428Vito_Spatafore_en_el_club_gay.jpg

^ not the same character

But yeah, Gunsmoke, Law & Order, Miami Vice all going to run this category.

Jonah Hill in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him To The Greek

Majel Barrett in various Star Trek roles. Michael Dorn as Worf's grandfather in ST VI then as Worf in ST VII.

the woman who broke up with seinfeld after she saw his act = the waitress who george told he liked manure.

Tracy Kolis, who plays Kelly the waitress, previously played George's ex-girlfriend and Jerry's girlfriend, Marlene, in Season 2's "The Ex-Girlfriend".

Lots of nu-Who: Karen Gillan, Freema Agyeman, now Peter Capaldi.
What's his face from Deadwood.

I also assume that we're excluding animated tv series, where it's common practice for voice actors to play multiple characters.

most jarring trek one: mark lenard as the romulan commander in "balance of terror" and as spock's dad in lots else

you beat me to it

the 'law and order' franchise is good for this thread. i think you can look at virtually any major guest character role and find that the actor showed up in other episodes before or after.

My favourite example is Denis O'Hare, who played a crazy homeless guy who killed multiple people with a sword; and also a homeowner who nearly killed a crazy homeless guy with a rebar. (Plus a couple of other roles besides.)

I never realized those two Seinfeld characters were the actress...She was funnier the first time: "Jerry, I just don't know..." I think there was another woman who turned up twice, trying to remember who.

"same actress"

Giovanni Ribisi has a bit part as a kid who throws a condom into Phoebe's guitar case while she's busking in an early episode of Friends before he turns up as her brother later on in the series.

Weird movie dual-role: Melinda Dillon plays both Woody Guthrie's wife Mary and his duet partner "Memphis Sue" in Bound For Glory. I've never heard an explanation/justification other than that the characters don't appear in the same part of the movie.

Harry Morgan played a crazy general in the second season of "MASH", and of course joined the cast as Colonel Potter in S4.

John Lovitz did two one-shot appearances as different characters on "Newsradio" before joining the cast as a heretofore unseen third character who replaced Bill MacNeil/Phil Hartman for the show's final season.

Taylor Nichols was on "Murder, She Wrote" four times in the space of four years, playing a different character each time.

If we're doing Doctor Who then Colin Baker, Lalla Ward and Peter Purves all had sizeable parts in a serial before becomin regulars as different characters ( special kudos to PP, who did it in the same serial), plus lots of actors that had more than one major supporting role (Philip Madoc, Michael Sheard, Michael Wisher etc).

Twin Peaks does this, obviously, but for plot-related reasons.

In The Parent Trap, Lindsay Lohan played both Hallie Parker and Annie James.

Lalla Ward almost doesn't count due to being completely acknowledged by the show that Romana intentionally regenerated herself to look like Princess Astra

In a similar vein, Freema Agyeman played a character who was killed at the end of season two only to show up in season three as the new companion and the cousin of the deceased character; I feel like the acknowledgment disqualifies from what the thread is looking for, which is "this actor has played completely unconnected characters and no one on the show seems to notice/remember the similarities" (this also DQ's Eve Myles, who was in "The Quiet Undead" playing a character who is later hinted to be a forbear of Torchwood's Gwen Cooper)

tbh I only put Lalla in because Freema had been mentioned (and Capaldi is supposedly subject to a Moffatt recon).

Whereas Peter Purves only has three weeks between Morton Dill and Steven Taylor.

I keep forgetting that that happened

Karen Gillan totally counts, though.

jeffrey combs is king of this in star trek franchise. also peter "admiral robocop" weller played a similar but different character in enterprise.

another from seinfeld: the female neo-nazi later appeared as jerry's girlfriend who wouldn't eat the pie.

the forgettable "Problem Child"

FP'd you for this, soz

If we're doing Doctor Who then Colin Baker, Lalla Ward and Peter Purves all had sizeable parts in a serial before becomin regulars as different characters ( special kudos to PP, who did it in the same serial), plus lots of actors that had more than one major supporting role (Philip Madoc, Michael Sheard, Michael Wisher etc).

don't forget Nicholas Courtney, who played space agent Bret Vyon opposite Hartnell, before returning to play Alister Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart against Troughton, Pertwee, Baker, Davison and McCoy

we could fill the thread with supporting actors from Who though

What character did Karen Gillan play in Dr. Who before Amy Pond? I can't remember seeing her in the series before that...

Giovanni Ribisi has a bit part as a kid who throws a condom into Phoebe's guitar case while she's busking in an early episode of Friends before he turns up as her brother later on in the series.

I always figured he could've been her brother first time round, but she didn't know him then

I was trying to remember actors who'd played different characters in "The Prisoner" (I'm sure there are some - where are you Marcello?) when I remembered that Patrick McGoohan had played three different characters (killers) in "Columbo"... except it turns out he actually played four!

Gillan was in The Fires Of Pompeii, bit part.

Lalla Ward almost doesn't count due to being completely acknowledged by the show that Romana intentionally regenerated herself to look like Princess Astra

It does so count!

Same episode as Capaldi (who also played a different character in Torchwood: Children Of Earth).

Diana Muldaur played Ann Mulhall and Dr. Miranda Jones in two separate episodes of Star Trek:TOS, and also Dr. Pulaski in ST:TNG.

I was trying to remember actors who'd played different characters in "The Prisoner" (I'm sure there are some - where are you Marcello?)

I don't think this happened...

Some different actors played the "same" part (No2 obv, No6 for plot reasons..)

oh, oh, I got one: Alexis Kanner played "The Kid" in "Living in Harmony" the cowboy one, and the 'youth' in the final episode. There you go..

xxxp then so does Anthony Ainley playing both Tremas and The Master.

Dammit, I was about to chime in with Alexis Kanner.

'Columbo' had a few repeated actors, but I wonder if it counts so much, as there's no real story arc? Each episode is pretty self-contained.

Re. The Prisoner; Kanner was also the uncredited photographer in the fairground in The Girl Who Was Death.

Other major Prisoner duplicates:

Patrick Cargill - Thorpe in Many Happy Returns, No 2 in Hammer Into Anvil, and I believe he himself confirmed that the two characters were not meant to be the same person.

Kenneth Griffith - Mad Scientist/No 2 in Girl Who Was Death, "The President" in Fall Out (it is possible that this is one and the same character but it's not obviously so).

Georgina Cookson - woman at roulette wheel in A, B & C (but No 6 was only dreaming), Mrs Butterworth/No 2 in Many Happy Returns (he might still have been dreaming).

Minor actors play two different characters in the same episode (electrician and gardener in Arrival, reporter and newspaper vendor in Free For All).

Colin Gordon - most controversial of all. Are his two No 2s in A, B & C and The General two different No 2s? Whereas Leo McKern's No 2 is demonstrably the same person in all three episodes in which he appears.

And back of The Stage newspaper regular Harold Berens played a reporter in Free For All and a boxing referee in Girl Who Was Death.

jerry orbach on Law and Order
The Wages of Love (24 September 1991) - Frank Lehrman (defense attorney)
Point of View (25 November 1992) - Detective Lennie Briscoe

(electrician and gardener in Arrival, reporter and newspaper vendor in Free For All).

Same dude = 'handyman'

and the reporter/vendor was obviously doing that "fanzine" thing.

Gillan was in The Fires Of Pompeii, bit part.

Same episode as Capaldi (who also played a different character in Torchwood: Children Of Earth).

Okay, I remember that episode, and I remember Capaldi being it, but I have no recollection of Gillan... Was she one of those cultists with facepaint?

Gillan and Capaldi both being in the same episode and later coming back as different characters could be a source for some interesting fan theories, I guess? Or maybe such theories already exist?

Colin Gordon - Are his two No 2s in A, B & C and The General two different No 2s?

I think they are fwiw. Colin Gordon is so good in everything that it's no surprise he was cast twice.

In Coronation Street, the policeman who investigated John Stape was played by the same guy who played the guy who had slept with Maria behind Toyah's back.

in the partridge universe nigel lindsay has played bob fraser owner of sexton's garden centre (I'm alan partridge series 2) and tommy gaskell survival expert (mid morning matters with alan partridge) and jason tresswell gordale media chief (alan partridge: alpha papa)

Weird movie dual-role: Melinda Dillon plays both Woody Guthrie's wife Mary and his duet partner "Memphis Sue" in Bound For Glory. I've never heard an explanation/justification other than that the characters don't appear in the same part of the movie.

See now, that's the shit that drives me crazy.

Having the same guy play the two brothers in There Will Be Blood was distracting.

What about the same guy playing both twins in "The Social Network" ?

I mean, I know OP says no actors playing multiple characters in one film, but the two examples above ain't exactly the Klump family dinner either.

The Winklevoss twins were based on real people and finding a set of identical twins who not only physically resembled them, but could also act in a major motion picture is difficult. So I get that, even with the CGI crap.

But in There Will Be Blood, those two fictional characters aren't even on the screen at the same time.

I don't know if Jeannie/Jeannie II or Samantha/Serena count here, but it was cool when Bea Arthur played her own grandmother.

The woman who played Walden's ex-wife Bridget in Two and a Half Men previously played Herb's sister who slept with Charlie at Judith and Herb's wedding.

More Trek: guy who played Gul Dukat on DS9 also played a bunch of other aliens/humans on TNG.

Susanna Thompson played the Borg Queen on Voyager, and also a mental asylum inmate PLUS some other bit part on TNG.

Also, Armin Shimmerman played a generic Ferengi on TNG before he played Quark.

guys we forgot Ian Marter on Dr Who, some lieutenant in Carnival Of Monsters, then Harry Sullivan in Tom Baker's first and second years, plus one self-penned spin-off novel.

can pplains explain the vito spatafore post?

i thought kanner was same guy in prisoner?

xpost Vito wasn't introduced until season 2. In the first season, the same actor played a guy in a bakery

Having the same guy play the two brothers in There Will Be Blood was distracting.

― pplains, Tuesday, November 19, 2013 10:20 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I forgot until just now that that was a thing that happened.

or, via wiki

Vito Spatafore wasn't introduced on The Sopranos until the Season 2 episode "The Happy Wanderer" as a nephew to fellow mobster Richie Aprile and later a cousin to Adriana La Cerva and Jackie Aprile, Jr. However, Joseph Gannascoli played a pastry shop patron named "Gino" in the season one episode "The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti". It's one of the few times a single actor was used on The Sopranos to play two separate roles.

xpost Vito wasn't introduced until season 2. In the first season, the same actor played a guy in a bakery

― imago-er not a show-er (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, November 19, 2013 3:01 PM (1 minute ago)

oh yes ok

few times a single actor was used on The Sopranos to play two separate roles.

Patsy and his dead twin brother threw me for a loop too.

http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/_po7So0MKq4/hqdefault.jpg

http://www.imfdb.org/images/thumb/b/bc/Sop201-g19a.jpg/600px-Sop201-g19a.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quincy,_M.E.

Many of the episodes used the same actors for different roles in various episodes. For example, an actor who plays a crooked Navy captain also plays a ballistics expert in several of the later episodes. Using a small "pool" of actors was a common production trait of many Glen A. Larson TV programs. Before becoming a regular cast member as Quincy's girlfriend-wife Dr. Emily Hanover in the 1982-1983 season, Anita Gillette had portrayed Quincy's deceased first wife Helen Quincy in a flashback in a 1979 episode "Promises to Keep".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KRQ72iHV40

Steve Coogan was intended to play compère Fred Rickwood, but couldn't make it so Irish comic Jon Kenny stepped in. Kenny had appeared in Father Ted previously, as Michael the cinema owner in "The Passion of St Tibulus".

More Trek: guy who played Gul Dukat on DS9 also played a bunch of other aliens/humans on TNG.

Noticed this today. In the TNG two-parter where some of the crew gets transported to 1800s San Francisco, he plays the more outspoken poker player at a game Data hustles to get spending money.

The actors who played Roz and Frasier's dad in Frasier both appear in different roles in Cheers. With the former, you could at least explain it away that this was years before Frasier met Roz... But when John Mahoney appears, at no point is Frasiers like, "That guy looks exactly like my dad!".

Then again, in Cheers Frasier's dad was supposed to be dead. They retconned it in the latter series, when Sam comes to visit and meets Martin, by saying that Frasier was so mad at him he told everyone he's dead. Must've been some family feud!

Terry Willis in Family Ties

- Alex Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1989) ... Cabbie
- The Spirit of Columbus (1988) ... Dwane
- A Tale of Two Cities: Part 1 (1987) ... Desk Clerk
- Paper Chase (1986) ... Dr. Schulte
- The Graduate (1984) ... Dr. Schulte
- Double Date (1984) ... Dr. Schulte
- Suzanne Takes You Down (1983) ... Don Bradford

Alan Blumenfeld in same

- Miracle in Columbus (1987) ... Mr. Krewson
- A Tale of Two Cities: Part 2 (1987) ... George Bellack
- A Tale of Two Cities: Part 1 (1987) ... George Bellack
- Beauty and the Bank (1986) ... George
- Mr. Right (1985) ... Mr. Gleason
- Auntie Up (1985) ... Man at Garage Sale
- Lady Sings the Blues (1984) ... Lou Stone

Loads of examples of this in Doctor Who over the years.

Thread is missing one canonical Star Trek TOS actor who did this: William Campbell, who played both Trelane in "The Squire of Gothos" and the Klingon Captain Koloth in "The Trouble With Tribbles," which role he later reprised on a DS 9 episode, apparently

orphan black obv, or does that not count

Nah, the point of the thread, as far as I understand it, is that they're unrelated characters and it goes unmentioned.

Virginia Gregg played 13 different characters on Dragnet (1967-1970 version) plus a 14th in the Dragnet TV movie (1969).

She had played seven different characters in the earlier 1950s version of Dragnet (I'm trusting imdb on that one).

21 characters in one franchise is pretty unusual

The actors who played Roz and Frasier's dad in Frasier both appear in different roles in Cheers. With the former, you could at least explain it away that this was years before Frasier met Roz... But when John Mahoney appears, at no point is Frasiers like, "That guy looks exactly like my dad!".

Then again, in Cheers Frasier's dad was supposed to be dead. They retconned it in the latter series, when Sam comes to visit and meets Martin, by saying that Frasier was so mad at him he told everyone he's dead. Must've been some family feud!

― Tuomas, Saturday, September 10, 2016 11:17 AM (five hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is off-topic, but I was watching some early episodes of Cheers for the first time recently and was really weirded out by the episode in which Fraiser's mother appears (and threatens to murder Diane!) I think that in the first episode of Fraiser they mention that she has died at some point over the last few years?

In Coronation Street, the policeman who investigated John Stape was played by the same guy who played the guy who had slept with Maria behind Toyah's back.

― ailsa, Tuesday, November 19, 2013 2:32 PM (two years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

according to this there are 1,141 actors who have played multiple roles in corrie, which must be the record, surely?

http://coronationstreet.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Actors_who_have_played_multiple_roles

I wonder who has the highest number of appearances as a character who is *not* the character they appeared as the most times? the guy who played Richard Hillman had 14 appearances as a social worker in the 80s: http://coronationstreet.wikia.com/wiki/Don_Worthington

re: Melinda Dillon in Bound for Glory, supposedly the reason for her playing two roles is that the director felt sorry for her as she broke down crying on set when her shooting for the initial role was done (post-shoot depression I guess), so the director called her up later on to offer the smaller, second role to give her an opportunity to extend her experience.

This thread is divided and conquered by Richard Schaal on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and Richard Stahl on "The Odd Couple".

seinfeld: the woman who played the saleswoman in the store with the elaine mannequin also appeared as elaine's pregnant friend at the baby shower.

Seinfeld "The Trip":

The cop riding shotgun is the same actor that would later portray Jake Jarmel.

in the first episode of Malcolm in the Middle the teacher is played by the same woman who was Stevie's mom. I guess in theory it could be the same character but I don't think it's intended to be

sheryl lee, if she hasn’t been mentioned yet

Ice-T played a villain in one episode of Law & Order (and got killed) and was then brought into Law & Order: SVU, where he's been a detective for the last 35 years or so.

add Kyle McLachlan to Sheryl Lee, post-2016

I was trying to remember actors who'd played different characters in "The Prisoner" (I'm sure there are some - where are you Marcello?) when I remembered that Patrick McGoohan had played three different characters (killers) in "Columbo"... except it turns out he actually played four!

It's only taken me 12 years to remember but Patrick Cargill plays Thorpe in The Prisoner episode Many Happy Returns and No. 2 in Hammer Into Anvil. The Prisoner being The Prisoner there are all sorts of theories that he's the same character.

The actors who played Roz and Frasier's dad in Frasier both appear in different roles in Cheers. With the former, you could at least explain it away that this was years before Frasier met Roz... But when John Mahoney appears, at no point is Frasiers like, "That guy looks exactly like my dad!".

Then again, in Cheers Frasier's dad was supposed to be dead. They retconned it in the latter series, when Sam comes to visit and meets Martin, by saying that Frasier was so mad at him he told everyone he's dead. Must've been some family feud!

― Tuomas, Saturday, September 10, 2016 11:17 AM (five hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

another Frasier-verse related one is Frasier and Lilith appearing in an episode of Wings with Tony Shalhoub, and then Tony Shalhoub later showing up in an episode of Frasier, but as a different character to the one he played on Wings. Tim Daly also appears in an episode of Monk playing himself (they have a conversation about Wings which Monk claims not to have seen)

Always a bit stranger when someone returns to play a major character, similar to the Ice T one, there is Krycek in X Files where he originally played a victim character in one episode.

As opposed to just someone like that guy in Miami Vice who played three different roles

On the original Hawaii Five-O Al Harrington played three different criminal types in early seasons (1969-70), two of them prison convicts, before suddenly appearing in season 4 (1972) as Police Detective Ben Kokua, his regular role for three years.