Actors are often quite different from the characters they portray. After all, acting is about embodying different characters from role to rule. But while some actors play versions of their charismatic selves on screen, others are true chameleons. When the cameras stop rolling, it's night and day—and when you see the actor in an interview out of character, the difference astonishes you.
We rounded up a handful of actors who couldn't be more different from who they play on-screen—even the parts that made them a household name. No surprise: There are a lot of stars who have played villains on this list! Below, find 32 actors who are nothing like their most iconic characters.
Tom Felton
Draco Malfoy is, in fact, a lovely and down-to-earth person in real life! Calling his Harry Potter character "slimy," Tom Felton has noted that Draco was such a bully because he, in turn, was bullied (presumably referring to his parents), adding in other interviews that the character needs a hug.
Christina Ricci
Probably no surprise: Christina Ricci is a lot more approachable than the morbid, deeply sardonic Wednesday Addams. But she doesn't mind returning to her origins—see her appearance in season one of Netflix's Wednesday, in which she praised Jenna Ortega's portrayal of the character.
Robert Patrick
Known for playing on-screen baddies, Robert Patrick was just a down-on-his-luck actor (who lived in his car upon moving to L.A.) desperately hoping for a career when he was cast as the T-1000 in Terminator 2. He put in intense work to look and act as scary as possible in the classic '80s movie. (It worked.)
Jodie Comer
While it's obvious that Jodie Comer is not a scary-sexy Russian murderer, she loves her character Villanelle from Killing Eve. She told the BBC, "I expected her to be one thing and she was the total opposite. I read ‘assassin’ and immediately thought of a sexy woman in a catsuit scaling walls in six-inch heels, but Villanelle felt more real than that... She gets away with murder, quite literally, but I love her."
Angela Kinsey
One of the most notorious examples of "this person couldn't be less like the character they play," Angela Kinsey is a sweet, lovely, lighthearted person—and her character on the classic TV comedy The Office, also named Angela, is the most stuck-up person you'll ever meet.
Blair Underwood
Blair Underwood has charm and charisma for days—traits he did not use in Madea's Family Reunion to play an utter scumbag. These days, he's made good use of his ability to play dark characters (including in Self Made), but has said that kind of character is more interesting to him.
Jason Isaacs
Also known as Draco Malfoy's dad Lucius (and the personification of evil cowardice) in Harry Potter and the antagonist in The Patriot, Jason Isaacs is hilarious and sweet in reality. He also loves working and thinks villains are "fun" to play.
Stephanie Beatriz
Stephanie Beatriz is among the ensemble on the hit sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and her voice couldn't be more different than her character's. As the hard-nosed detective, she puts on a deep, deadpan delivery, while the actress has a higher pitch. In interviews, she's noted how surprised fans are when they meet her expecting a serious, angry character and instead get the cheerful person playing her.
Jason Mantzoukas
Most of the characters Jason Mantzoukas plays are over-the-top, from Rafi in The League to Jay in Big Mouth. Mantzoukas himself, though, is funny, insightful, and grounded. Listen to him in the "How Did This Get Made?" podcast and you'll see.
Megan Mullally
Karen Walker from Will & Grace was a delightfully clueless narcissist constantly looking for the nearest drink. Megan Mullally is a hilarious delight, although her roles would suggest otherwise (see also: Tammy in Parks and Recreation, which she plays opposite her real-life husband Nick Offerman).
Henry Winkler
It was rumored that Henry Winkler didn't like his most famous character (the suave greaser Fonzie from Happy Days), but he later said that wasn't true. He loved him, but he didn't share many of the same characteristics and didn't like being called by his character's name.
Imelda Staunton
If you're a Harry Potter fan, you're probably familiar with the wicked Dolores Umbridge—fans usually put her in the top three of the series' villains—but Imelda Staunton is a charmer who knows the character is monstrous. A testament to her impressive acting skills, she played a sweet and subdued Queen Elizabeth in The Crown.
Chadwick Boseman
The late Chadwick Boseman embodied Black Panther's T'Challa—stoic, strategic, calm, and a little reserved—impressively well, given that Boseman had so much charisma and natural energy. In interviews, it's clear that Boseman understood how much the character meant to fans.
Danny Trejo
Danny Trejo is essentially the opposite of any character he's ever played. He may look menacing, but he's got a wild success story. The star went from being incarcerated and recovering from addiction to becoming a character actor who now spends his life trying to help others.
Kerry Washington
Scandal's Olivia Pope is a legendary D.C. "fixer" and antihero (who made wild decisions throughout the Shonda Rhimes-produced show's run). Kerry Washington later told Vanity Fair she felt intense pressure to distinguish her off-screen persona: “Off the show, I felt I had to be an upstanding citizen because... there she is sleeping around with the president, right?”
Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda was known for playing kind, upstanding characters (most notably as the dissenting juror in 12 Angry Men). According to some who worked with him and his daughter, Jane Fonda, he could be challenging to work with and non-emotive in a major way.
Catherine O'Hara
It's safe to say that very few people are like Moira Rose in real life—the Schitt's Creek character is goofy in the extreme—but Catherine O'Hara is extremely down to earth. She's gone to bat for the character, saying her issue is that she's just "too loving."
Daniel Craig
Daniel Craig is suave IRL, but he has a bit more of a sense of humor than the self-serious, intense MI6 agent he's known for playing. The actor has been clear that playing James Bond for as long as he did was quite tiring (and injury-inducing). "I don’t want to go back,” Craig told the L.A. Times following the release of his final 007 film, 2021's No Time to Die. “I suppose I should be so lucky if they were to ask me back, but the fact is I need to move on from it."
Karen Gillan
It's not a shock that Karen Gillan is not a blue cyborg like her character Nebula from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But you might be surprised to learn she's not American; she's a cheerful Scot IRL.
Tom Hiddleston
Tom Hiddleston is hilariously not Loki from the Marvel Cinematic Universe unless you count a cheeky sense of humor and rapid intelligence. Hiddleston enjoys playing him but acknowledges that he's a complicated figure with a lot of family stuff.
Ming-Na Wen
Ming-Na Wen is, like many of her characters, a badass. There are several iconic characters you may know her as, from the voice of Mulan to Fennec Shand in the Star Wars universe. She fully admits that she was a shy loner growing up, but gained some of the same attributes as her characters, like fearlessness and honesty, over the years.
Mads Mikkelsen
Mads Mikkelsen: Not Hannibal Lecter! However, Mikkelsen imbues the titular, classic serial killer character with charisma and likability that other performances haven't. The Danish star is a charmer himself, but pretty well known in most of his American roles for playing frightening, complex villains who are at odds with his general joviality.
Lena Headey
Cersei Lannister from Game of Thrones is a lot of things, but sweet is not one of them. (The New Yorker referred to the character as “a beautiful expression of arbitrary terror, combining shapely grace with limitless evil.”) But Lena Headey admits she's just a regular sensitive person who feels imposter syndrome like the rest of us.
Margaret Brainard Hamilton
Margaret Hamilton had a distinctive profile—so, despite her impressive talent, she was often typecast as the "spinster." Playing the Wicked Witch of the West/Almira Gulch in The Wizard of Oz certainly contributed to that, since she was almost too excellent in the role.
Pedro Pascal
Oberyn Martell is a daring, charismatic, bisexual feminist with a score to settle on Game of Thrones. It might be difficult to believe at the time, but when he was cast, Pedro Pascal was still a relative unknown who was determined—but extremely nervous—to do justice to the character.
Michael Sheen
Good Omens is a huge fan favorite among sci-fi and fantasy lovers—and they especially find humor in how Michael Sheen, who plays angel Aziraphale, and David Tennant, who plays demon Crowley, are like each other's characters in real life. Sheen is goofy and snarky, whereas Tennant is sweet and sensitive.
Javier Bardem
Mercifully for probably everyone in his life, Javier Bardem is nothing like his sociopathic character in No Country for Old Men. Anton Chigurh is so deeply ruthless that he's a bit bored most of the time in a fascinating way—Bardem, by contrast, is charismatic and enthusiastic.
Ralph Fiennes
It takes real skill to be a funny, charming person... who has played one of the most memorable villains in all movies and literature. In the book-to-movie adaptation of the Harry Potter series, Ralph Fiennes played Voldemort, and his depiction was very faithful and very scary.
Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett may have been nominated for an Oscar for playing the driven, abusive megalomaniac Lydia Tár in Tár, but her performance is still underrated. Blanchett has relished playing baddies in the past too, from the Marvel Cinematic Universe to Hanna and Nightmare Alley.
Alan Rickman
The late Alan Rickman, reportedly sweet and incredibly professional, did villain roles extremely well. Fans of old action films remember him as Hans Gruber in Die Hard, but Harry Potter enthusiasts will never forget him as the shades-of-gray antihero Severus Snape.
Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep has played a lot of iconic characters in her long career. But the longest-lasting legacy is probably Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada, which was so far from her natural way of being that she had to isolate herself while on set.
David Tennant
Recent fans of David Tennant will note that he's as far from a conniving demon (like his role as Crowley in Good Omens) as possible. But fans who have loved him for a while know he's great at playing uncharacteristically vicious people—like Kilgrave from Jessica Jones.
