Topic: Actors/Acresses playing multiple parts

[Blair]

Seen in both movies and TV, I would wager that it is more commonly seen in the latter given the number of available opportunities. A single actor or actress takes on multiple roles within a series portraying twins, alternate universe duplicates, doppelgängers, or even parts not quite as similar... like Patty Duke playing "identical cousins."

How many come to mind for you? Do you have any favorites or opinions on performance?


(Minor-spoiler) When done well, this is one of the few things that can get me excited during a series. This came to mind because I am re-watching Fringe, and for those who don't know, an alternate universe is discovered of similar characters. It's not a mirror universe like "Evil Spock" and "Evil Kirk" in the original Star Trek series. The characters are very much the same but with some obvious differences.

I always find it interesting how you get to know a character (not the actor playing the character) in a series, and when a double is discovered, the personality is so different from the familiar that you can almost believe it is a different actor or actress playing the part. I can get invested so much that when the twin attempt to pass himself/herself off as the character we've always known (as often happens in at least one episode) I can feel myself cringe. "No! Don't go in there with him! He's the impostor!"

[Dragonfire]

Fringe did that very well with the alternate versions of the characters.  The alternate Walter and Olivia were very, very well done. 

Hmmm....I know I've seen others...all I can think of right now is Phoebe's twin sister on Friends and Urkel and Stefan on Family Matters.  I know there are others.

[DJ Doena]

What I like about these alternate personas is that most of the time you get to see the actor act completely different.

Examples that come to mind:

Smallville: In season 10 they introduced an Earth-2-version of Clark, raised by Lionel Luthor. Suffice to say he wasn't the nicest of guys.

How I Met Your Mother: There was this running gag where everyone has a Doppelgänger but the best one was Stripper Lily.

Speaking of Lily, there was Vampire Willow on Buffy. The funny thing about that was that in her second appearance, when VW crossed the universe, Alyson got to play four different version of the same person and they all really felt different: Willow, Vampire Willow, Willow pretending to be Vampire Willow, Vampire Willow pretending to be Willow.

And don't forget that Rachel dated Russ!

[Tom]

I really like the movie "What's Your Rashee?". Priyanka Chopra plays twelve different characters in it!

[GSyren]

A classic example is Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) where Alec Guinness plays eight different roles. A most enjoyable comedy and highly recommended.

[Kathy]

Who is that handsome devil in your new avatar Gunnar?

[GSyren]

Who is that handsome devil in your new avatar Gunnar?

Oh, it's just some old git that sometimes looks back at me in the mirror...

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Who is that handsome devil in your new avatar Gunnar?

Oh, it's just some old git that sometimes looks back at me in the mirror...

I wish my mirror would be that kind to me.

[FredLooks]

Orphan Black
It's rather the entire premise...

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

A classic example is Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) where Alec Guinness plays eight different roles. A most enjoyable comedy and highly recommended.

The German answer to this was Didi - und die Rache der Enterbten.
An unbelievably bad piece of film.

[Blair]

Multiplicity had Michael Keaton playing multiple copies (literally) of himself, each a different personality. And then there's Nutty Professor where Eddie Murphy plays his entire family (that was weird ) and even Michael J. Fox playing his future daughter in Back to the Future II. But I was talking about television

What I like about these alternate personas is that most of the time you get to see the actor act completely different.

Exactly my point. Anna Torv, for instance, when I first started watching Fringe, I felt her delivery was rather dry except when she had to show a bit more emotion, but I never took into account that her character is very vulnerable. That changed when I saw her play "Alternate Olivia" who was a lot more confident in turn making me realize the original was more of an acting choice than weak acting ability.

[Tom]

 As for television shows which could fit this topic: I recently watched "Dollhouse", where the main cast gets different personalities downloaded into the brains each episode, essentially making them different people.

Another one would be "Sliders", where they meet their counterparts in alternate realities.

[Dragonfire]

I forgot about Dollhouse...and the stuff with Buffy. 
There is Angel/Angelus  with Buffy/Angel even though he is basically the same person..well vampire.  But very, very different, so it was almost like 2 different characters.

I did see the first episode of Oprhan Black..but my DVR was so full, I gave up trying to keep up with it.

Sliding Doors with Gwyneth Paltrow shows 2 different versions of her character.  How if one thing happened, it completely changed her life, and she became a different version of herself.

There was an episode of That 70s Show that had Eric wishing he'd never dated Donna after they broke up.  His guardian angel I think it was showed him how things would be different, and most of the characters were very different.  Kelso was still an idiot though.

I think there was another show I saw that had some kind of alternate version thing shown.  I can't think what it was though.

[Achim]

And don't forget that Rachel dated Russ!

You're gonna have to explain this one to me...

[DJ Doena]

And don't forget that Rachel dated Russ!

You're gonna have to explain this one to me...

After Ross and Rachel broke up (for the first time IIRC - the "we were on a break" incident) Rachel started to date a guy by the name of Russ and her friends couldn't help but notice that he has a slight resemblance to Ross wich isn't that suprising because he was played by David Schwimmer as well.



http://friends.wikia.com/wiki/The_One_With_Russ


Slightly off-topic but I love this snippet. This is basically Dr. House before he was Dr. House.