Summary
Actors often play multiple roles in movies for a variety of reasons, whether they’re playing twins, doppelgängers, or completely unrelated characters.
The use of the same actor in multiple roles can add to the comedic effect or create a creepy atmosphere, depending on how it is used.
From classic films like “Dr. Strangelove” to modern movies like “Us,” actors have delivered great performances in dual roles, exploring themes of identity and obsession.
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It’s not all that uncommon for actors to play multiple roles in the same movie, but there are many different reasons they might do this. One of the most common reasons an actor will take on a dual role is because the characters need to have similar appearances, perhaps because they are identical twins or clones. Another common trope is the idea of someone coming into contact with their doppelgänger. This is often used in horror movies or psychological thrillers to probe themes of individuality and identity.
In other cases, actors can play two or more characters who don’t look alike. This is usually a great showcase for a comedic actor, and part of the joke is watching the same actor juggling so many roles. The artificiality of the movie becomes the whole point, and this meta joke makes the conflicts between the characters even funnier. Mike Myers, Peter Sellers and Eddie Murphy have all played multiple roles in comedy movies for this reason. Depending on how the technique is used, choosing the same actor for many roles can either be hilarious or creepy.
15 Peter Sellers In Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Merkin Muffley, Lionel Mandrake, and Dr. Strangelove
In Dr. Strangelove Peter Sellers delivers one of the greatest comedy performances of all time. He plays a British military man, a German crackpot scientist, and the American President in a Cold War satire that suggests each side is as foolish as the other. Having Sellers in all three roles doesn’t just give him a platform to do what he does best, it also suggests that different sides in a war have more in common with one another than it may appear. The ending of Dr. Strangelove is inevitable, but only because the heads of state can’t work together.
14 Lindsay Lohan In The Parent Trap (1998)
Hallie Parker and Annie James
The clever directing and camera tricks of The Parent Trap were so convincing that even Disney’s CEO thought there were two Lindsay Lohans. The Parent Trap is a remake of a 1961 Disney movie which starred Hayley Mills in a dual role as a pair of twins who plot to reunite their parents. In the 1998 version, Lohan’s twins trade places. This means that Lohan plays Hallie pretending to be Annie, and she plays Annie pretending to be Hallie. It’s a surprisingly nuanced performance for such a young actor, and the movie wouldn’t work with a less capable star.
13 John Cleese In Monty Python & The Holy Grail (1975)
Sir Lancelot, the Black Knight, Tim the Enchanter, the French guard, and more.
Every Monty Python movie features each member of the group playing multiple roles. The comedy troupe honed their craft in sketch comedy, and their show, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, showcases their broad range of heightened characters. Even when they moved into feature-length movies, the Pythons approached the project in much the same way. John Cleese provides many of the movie’s biggest laughs and most memorable characters. The Black Knight and Tim the Enchanter are two iconic Monty Python characters, and neither of them are Cleese’s most important role in the story.
12 Jesse Eisenberg In The Double (2013)
Simon James and James Simon
The Double isn’t one of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s most famous works, but Richard Ayoade chose it as the subject for his second feature film. Jesse Eisenberg stars as Simon James, a man who is driven to a mental breakdown when a doppelgänger, James Simon, starts to usurp his life, starting with his job but soon moving on to his home and his love life. James Simon is everything that Simon James aspires to be. He is charming, confident, and well-respected. The most infuriating thing for Simon is that nobody else sees the similarity between the two.
11 Michael J. Fox In Back To The Future Part II (1989)
Marty McFly, Marty McFly Jr. and Marlene McFly
Michael J. Fox’s triple role in Back to the Future Part II is a great example of the franchise’s clever sense of humor.
Marty McFly has to pose as his son in the year 2015 to prevent him from getting arrested for a robbery gone wrong. Luckily, they look exactly alike. Marty McFly’s daughter Marlene also makes a brief appearance. She too bears more than a passing resemblance to her father. The Back to the Future movies managed to get away with its conflicted time travel logic by refusing to take itself too seriously, and Michael J. Fox’s triple role in Back to the Future Part II is a great example of the franchise’s clever sense of humor.
10 Buster Keaton In The Playhouse (1921)
The conductor, the musicians, the stagehand, the performers, the audience, and more.
Many silent film stars often played multiple roles in the same movie. Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin, and Laurel and Hardy all played multiple characters in their movies, but Buster Keaton’s The Playhouse takes the joke to another level. Keaton buys a ticket to a play, and he finds that every musician, every actor, and every member of the audience is also Buster Keaton. The Playhouse has a great gag referencing its own absurdity, when an audience member sees the play bill, and every actor is credited as Buster Keaton.
9 Eddie Murphy In Coming To America (1988)
Prince Akeem Joffer, Randy Watson, Saul and Clarence.
Eddie Murphy has such a talent for comedic dialogue that he can have hilarious conversations with himself. Whether he’s giving himself a haircut or arguing with himself about boxing, many of the funniest scenes in Coming to America happen when two of Murphy’s characters come into contact with one another. Of all Eddie Murphy’s characters in Coming to America, the most surprising is Saul, an argumentative Jewish man who can be seen in the barbershop.
8 Jake Gyllenhaal In Enemy (2013)
Adam Bell and Anthony Claire
Denis Villeneuve’s twisty psychological thriller follows Adam, a college professor who becomes obsessed with an actor who looks exactly like himself. Adam’s search for Anthony takes him on a dark path, but the two eventually meet in a hotel room. They discover that they even have the same scars, and Anthony turns the tables by stalking Adam instead. Enemy is a deep meditation on obsession and identity, and Jake Gyllenhaal is a magnetic presence in both roles. As the boundaries between the two men’s lives begin to fade, Gyllenhaal merges their subtle mannerisms and tics expertly.
7 John Rhys-Davis In The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers (2002) & The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King (2003)
Gimli and Treebeard
John Rhys-Davis appears as Gimli in all three The Lord of the Rings movies, and he takes on an additional role for the last two. Rhys-Davis provides the voice of Treebeard, the Ent who helps Merry and Pippin on their journey. Voice actors are often asked to play mutliple roles in a single project, but it’s unusual for them to also appear in a live-action capacity. Rhys-Davis has used his distinctive Welsh voice for a variety of TV shows and video games, and he can be heard in both Justice League and SpongeBob SquarePants.
6 Armie Hammer In The Social Network (2010)
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss
The Social Network is based on the real-life story of Mark Zuckerberg’s time at Harvard University and the events that caused him to found Facebook. Armie Hammer plays the Winklevoss twins, who accuse Zuckerberg of stealing their idea and twisting it into his own creation. Director David Fincher has long been a master of visual effects, and his ability to seamlessly stitch together different shots of Armie Hammer into a single frame is incredible. The work of the visual effects team and body double Josh Pence does not go unnoticed.
5 Michael Myers In Austin Powers (1997)
Austin Powers and Dr. Evil.
Mike Myers plays both British super-spy Austin Powers and his over-the-top villainous counterpart Dr. Evil in all three Austin Powers movies. In each of the sequels, Myers also takes on an additional role. He is the Scottish hitman Fat Bastard Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, and he adds Dutch supervillain Goldmember to his repertoire in Austin Powers in Goldmember. Sticking to just four roles is no trouble at all for Myers, who plays a total of nine characters in his Netflix miniseries The Pentaverate.
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4 Lupita Nyong’o In Us
Adelaide and Red
Jordan Peele’s sophomore horror film Us tells the story of an underground society which mirrors the lives of the people who live on the surface. Every actor has a second role as one of the “tethered,” who are more sadistic and violent versions of their main characters. Nyong’o’s character Adelaide is the focus, as she’s the one who first got a glimpse into the hidden underworld when she was a child. As an adult, Adelaide comes face to face with a murderous doppelgänger, and she and her family become embroiled in a fight to the death.
3 Alec Guinness In Kind Hearts & Coronets (1949)
Eight members of the D’Ascoyne family
Choosing to have one actor in eight different roles highlights Louis’ unhealthy obsession with the family.
The British black comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets features Alec Guinness playing almost every member of an aristocratic family, regardless of gender or age. Dennis Price also plays two roles in Kind Hearts and Coronets. He plays the protagonist, Louis Mazzini, who decides to murder every single one of the D’Ascoyne family who stands between him and the inheritance he believes should be his. Choosing to have one actor in eight different roles highlights Louis’ unhealthy obsession with the family, and Guinness is a comedic delight eight times over.
2 Hugh Jackman In The Prestige (2006)
Robert Angier and Gerald Root
In order to perform his version of a teleportation illusion on stage known as “The Transported Man,” magician Robert Angier employs a lookalike. Angier’s rivalry with fellow magician Alfred Borden leads him to copy his most famous trick, even if he can’t figure out how exactly Borden pulls it off. The ending of The Prestige shows that there was more trickery at play than there first appeared to be, as Christopher Nolan plays with the idea of actors playing multiple characters in a few different ways.
1 The Entire Cast Of Cloud Atlas (2012)
Multiple characters across multiple time periods
Based on the novel by David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas dips in and out of six different timelines, spanning from the year 1849 to 2321. The cast of Cloud Atlas take turns as the protagonist in different stories, but many actors appear in at least two timelines. Cloud Atlas is a boldly ambitious movie, but it has polarized opinion among both critics and general audiences. It can be viewed conversely as a masterpiece dealing with themes of fate and rebirth, or an incoherent mess.