One Trick Pony Actors

[Mr. DS]

There are several actors/actresses out there that seem to revive the same role in films over and over again.  Sometimes it works and a lot of time it doesn't.  My opinions;

My Favorites
Rodney Dangerfield - The guy pretty much played the same wise cracking lovable guy in every film...it never seem to get old either.
Ben Stiller - He generally seems to take on the loser type roles which he seems to flourish in. 

My Least Favorites
Jennifer Anniston - I swear she revives her role from Friends in every film I've seen her in...its less entertaining as time moves on.
Hillary Duff - Up until recently she always took on the ditzy "like oh my god" roles.

I have several more but I figured I'd open this up to everyone else's favorites/least favorites.

[ulthar]

Well, we could mention the obvious:  Ahhhnoooold.

From the B-Movie (and some not-so-B) world:  Buck Flower.  He always played a drunk, sometimes for comic relief but sometimes integral to the plot.  I for one liked his portrayal of "The Janitor" in SORORITY BABES IN THE SLIMEBALL BOWL-O-RAMA."  If you are not familiar with him, check out his filmography - you'll be surprised the number of films he appears in as mostly bums, drunks and throw-away characters.

Ben Stein, a favorite, generally plays something of a smart-guy, or at least someone with less fully refined social skills like a stereotypical nerd.

Steven Segal
Chris Rock (though didn't he sorta break his mold a little bit in NEW JACK CITY?)

[Menard]

Let's start with a big name, just to see how many I can p**s off.

Roger Moore - Though I have seen him in like 2 or 3 movies outside of The Saint/007 franchises, well he doesn't change much in what I have seen. The basic difference between Simon Templar and James Bond, as portrayed by Roger Moore, is the name; otherwise, they are the same character.

And let's move on to others.

Norm MacDonald - He's wise cracking Norm with the same delayed reaction from movie to TV. His missing his cues can be humorous, but we don't have to be subjected to it that much.


That's it for now

[Jim H]

Let's get to a harsher one..

Denzel Washington.  He plays a character named Denzel Washington in practically all of his films.  Not to say he does a bad job of it, but his shtick is almost always the same.

[Him]

Robin Williams
Jim Carrey

[ghouck]

Vin Diesel. . . Same boring, predictable, unbelieveable, wanna be tough guy moron in everything of his I've seen. .

[Yaddo 42]

Vin Diesel stretches as an actor a bit in Find Me Guilty. Convinced me he can do more if he wants to.

I wish Denzel would tap into what he did in Training Day a bit more. But he's more of a star than an actor these days. Getting into Harrison Ford mode and just going through the motions for a paycheck.

Even Roger Moore tells people he's not much of an actor, like when he demonstrates the "range" of his emotions by arching one eyebrow and then the other. He was good in a little thriller called The Naked Face from the 80s that I'd like to see again. And he knew when to play up his screen image in stuff like fFolkes.

Norm has always annoyed me, he's probably a fun guy to party and drink with but he's a lousy and lazy performer. His Burt Reynolds is okay and they put it to good use on My Name is Earl last week. His Bob Dole had it's moments on SNL, like in the Paula Jones ploitician line up sketch. "I'll give you a dye job, you dirty whore!"

My nominees:
Tom Cruise
Harrison Ford (since the late 80s)
Martin Lawrence
Julia Roberts (when she's play outside her big star image she sucks)
Chuck Norris

Edited because "apostrophe s" is my mortal enemy.

[Jack]

Can I just vote for pretty much everybody who's popular these days?  One of the big reasons I don't like "good" movies is because it's just the same celebrities playing the same characters no matter what they're in.  Give me a low budget movie with no-name actors who I can actually believe are the characters they're playing.

[fortunato]

A classic one-trick actor would be Tony Danza.

Anyone ever watch something of his where he doesn't play a guy named Tony?

Thought so.

[rebel_1812]

will smith- always playing the role from fresh prince of bel-air.

[KYGOTC]

will smith- always playing the role from fresh prince of bel-air.

Exept for I, ROBOT. And for the record, Frsh prince is pretty bleepin sweet.

Whos the guy who played Napolion Dynomite? Hes always in a dorky guy role.

[Torgo]

Even though I'm a big fan, Jose Pesci has just one thing that he does over and over in almost every single movie that he's ever been in.

[RCMerchant]

  My favorite actor of ALL time is,sadly,a one trick pony...more or less. Bela Lugosi. BUT...it's a dam good trick,IMHO!!!

[Torgo]

  My favorite actor of ALL time is,sadly,a one trick pony...more or less. Bela Lugosi. BUT...it's a dam good trick,IMHO!!!

Yeah, he made an entire career out of it sadly.   

[Zapranoth]

Al Leong!
Al Leong!
Al Leong!