Hollywood faces a significant imbalance when it comes to its stars. There are some actors like Adam Sandler who can’t separate the profession from real life and cast his friends and family as characters in movies. Then, there are others who vanish into a role for years, portraying their commitment to the art.
While bringing their real-life persona into a character is not necessarily a bad thing, there are actors whom the audiences love for it and some whom they hate for the same. Here’s a look at actors who often portray characters close to their public image.
Michael Cera
Michael Cera started his career as a child actor and got his breakthrough role as George-Michael Bluth in Arrested Development. Cera portrayed an awkward teen in the series and since then became Hollywood’s go-to actor for such a role. Cera is an introverted person in real life too. He revealed last year that he almost quit the industry as he couldn’t handle the fame and the terrifying experience of fans approaching him (via The Guardian). Reddit user u/Full-Rice shared:
“The only time he didn’t play himself was when he played himself in This Is The End. Lol.”
Cera went on to portray similar roles in Superbad, Juno, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, and Barbie. However, he has also shown some range in acting in recent years.
Aubrey Plaza
Aubrey Plaza is best known for playing the shady and offensive characters in movies and TV series. Her deadpan expressions became her signature style over the years. Plaza’s breakout role was April Ludgate in Parks and Recreation and has since made a mark for herself with similar characters, who look like they want to murder you. Reddit user u/AdoHavana shared:
“Aubrey Plaza literally plays herself in every movies/tv shows she’s in.”
Plaza’s interviews often became viral for her same bawdy sense of humor as her characters. She recently received Emmy and Golden Globes nominations for her role in The White Lotus.
Kevin Hart
Kevin Hart began his career as a stand-up comedian and slowly moved up the ranks to become a big-screen star. However, most of his films are just extensions of his stand-up routine. In every other movie, Hart plays a variation of himself, the fast-talking short Black guy, who’s the subject of insults from taller straight men. One user u/Caramel_Cappucino couldn’t even remember his characters’ names:
“Kevin Hart usually just plays ‘Kevin Hart With A Different Name’”
Kevin Hart is known for his friendship with Dwayne Johnson and they have starred together with the same dynamics in films like Central Intelligence and the Jumanji film franchise.
Jennifer Aniston
After her massive success as the funny and self-absorbed character Rachel Green in FRIENDS, Jennifer Aniston rarely stepped away from the genre. Audiences too couldn’t separate Aniston from Rachel and some of her more serious roles during the run of FRIENDS flopped at the box office. The Morning Show actress was then pushed to the romantic comedy roles, where she mostly played the city girl with guy problems. u/Idea-Warm wrote on Reddit:
“Jennifer Aniston’s acting style is just clearing her throat before every sentence.”
Aniston recently starred alongside Adam Sandler in the Netflix comedies, Murder Mystery and Murder Mystery 2.
Gal Gadot
It’s hard to imagine any other actress in the Wonder Woman role other than Gal Gadot. Unfortunately, most of her roles are an extension of this strong powerful woman who has an accent. Her acting has been often subjected to criticism for being very one-dimensional. One Reddit user u/Shnoochieboochies shared:
“Gal Gadot – that must be her real persona because it’s certainly not acting.”
From Fast & Furious to the recent Heart of Stone, viewers have not seen much variation or range in her acting.
Ryan Reynolds
Ryan Reynolds found his biggest success when the Deadpool franchise allowed him to channel his witty banter and comedic charm into the role of Wade Wilson. Ever since that role, the Green Lantern actor has produced some hit comedy films playing versions of him in different storylines. Interestingly, people seem to love the guy and therefore they root for the characters too. u/MoonieNine shared on Reddit:
“I came here to say this. I like him, but he’s exactly the same in every movie.”
His recent films including Red Notice, The Adam Project, and Free Guy were all massive hits with the audience due to Reynolds being himself.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
Dwayne Johnson’s characters, from the most serious ones like Luke Hobbs in Fast & Furious to the full-on comedy roles, have an element of his wrestling persona The Rock in him. After making his mark with his heel character in WWE, Johnson took on film roles starting with The Mummy Returns. The actor’s signature bald head and toned body became part of his every role. One Reddit user, u/Leonyliz, shared:
“Whenever there’s someone in a movie I usually call them by their character names. Not with the rock though because he always plays the rock.”
His latest movies like Black Adam failed at the box office and the actor is currently back at WWE, where he will be a prominent presence in this year’s WrestleMania.
Adam Sandler
Adam Sandler is known for his critically panned comedy movies, which make up the majority of his filmography. In most of these films, Sandler plays the good-hearted guy who resembles him a lot. This character will go to lengths to help out his friends and others whom he takes a liking to. He also usually gets the girl who’s far out of his league for his good heart. One Reddit user mentioned the formula for an Adam Sandler movie:
“Adam Sandler always tends to play the naive/obnoxious guy who resolves the movie’s conflict by learning a heart-warming lesson and manages to get the hot girl that’s way too far out of his league.”
Sandler also plays intense characters in great movies, but sadly these roles rarely find him. The Uncut Gems actor currently makes a ton of money for Netflix by releasing his type of movies on the streaming platform, where they are a huge success.
