Tunnel Vision: Actors Who You Could Never See Outside of That One Role

[millennium]

On 5/25/2015 at 2:31 AM, Snowprince said:

 

Peter Firth shall forever be MI-5's Sir Harry Pearce.

And yet, he was Pontius Pilate in some Jesus movie I just saw -- Risen.  He dispatches an operative to go out and track down Jesus's body, and I'm thinking, You should really give this one to Tom and Zoe ...

[Misslindsey]

Mine overlaps with music, but I can never take Drake very seriously because he will always be Jimmy Brooks from Degrassi to me.

[navelgazer]

Famke Janssen is Jean Grey for me, even though I really liked her as Kamala in ST:TNG.  

[ratgirlagogo]

16 hours ago, navelgazer said:

Kamala in ST:TNG.  

I always think of her as Kamala since that episode resonated so strongly with me when I first saw it.  I know it's usually seen as a sexist episode but my takeaway was that we ALL adjust ourselves to the people we spend our time with - so you should carefully choose who that is.  "I like myself when I'm with him."  You should choose friends and companions who allow you to be the best version of yourself.

Edited February 24, 2017 by ratgirlagogo

[ohjoy]

Barbara Bacock was in many different things during her career, but weirdly, I only ever recognize her as Joe and Brian Hackett's mother on Wings. I think she was only on one episode, but it must have been during my formative TV years, because that's the role that stuck with me.

[tribeca]

The actor who stabbed Lucy and Carter on ER.  He has been in many shows and movies but I can never forget his face when he stabbed Carter 

[ari333]

Kelsey will always be, "Frasier."

Shelley Long will always be "Diane."

[paulvdb]

Watching iZombie reminded me that Jason Dohring will alway be Logan Echolls. It doesn't help that both shows were created by Rob Thomas and have a blonde female main character who solves crimes and does voice-overs, but I felt the same way when I saw him on The Originals.

[Winter Rose]

I know Jared Padalecki is better known for Supernatural but since I've never seen it, he's Dean Forester to me. Which is funny because Supernatural has a Dean too so I refer to him as Dean from Gilmore Girls and not!Dean from Supernatural.

[slf]

James Marsters will always be Spike. He neither looks nor sounds right in other roles.

[festivus]

I haven't seen James Marsters in much besides Buffy but I thought he was really good in Torchwood, he didn't remind me of Spike at all. 

[SmithW6079]

Susan Lucci will never be anything but Erica Kane. I've heard she's a lovely woman, but she's not a great actress.

[Raja]

Dana Delany is Captain Colleen McMurphy R.N. assigned to the 510th Evacuation Hospital at "China Beach"

[Hellohappylife]

On 2/17/2017 at 5:18 PM, QTBlueMoon said:

Jason Bateman will play the same character no matter what he's in, only the name is changed.

I know this is old but the same could go for Kevin James 

[bmasters9]

I got that CBS/Paramount all-in-one DVD of Vega$ (1978-81 ABC detective/adventure series w/the late Robert Urich), and after seeing the first several second-season episodes of that series, I'm beginning to think that I cannot see Robert Urich as anything beyond Dan Tanna. 

Edited December 28, 2017 by bmasters9

[theredhead77]

Amanda Tapping will always be Samantha Carter. I watched Sanctuary and despite changing her hair and adding an accent I had a hell of a time separating the two of them.

Michael Shanks will always be Daniel Jackson. I see Saving Hope is on ION now and I keep trying to get caught up but I can't do it.

[kathyk24]

27 minutes ago, theredhead77 said:

Amanda Tapping will always be Samantha Carter. I watched Sanctuary and despite changing her hair and adding an accent I had a hell of a time separating the two of them.

Michael Shanks will always be Daniel Jackson. I see Saving Hope is on ION now and I keep trying to get caught up but I can't do it.

Amanda Tapping is the awesome Helen Magnus from Sanctuary. If you are looking for a new science fiction series I recommend it highly.

[theredhead77]

2 minutes ago, kathyk24 said:

Amanda Tapping is the awesome Helen Magnus from Sanctuary. If you are looking for a new science fiction series I recommend it highly.

I agree, I loved Sanctuary. I just had a hard time seeing Tapping as someone other than Carter with different hair and accent. It didn't help that I had spent the prior better part of a year marathoning literally all of Stargate for the first time when Sanctuary came into my life. 

[topanga]

I liked Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Zack Morris on Saved By The Bell, and I loved him as Mike Lawson on Pitch. I know it’s the same actor, but I must have some kind of cognitive dissonance going on—my mind can’t accept that it’s the same actor. I know MPG looks different now than he did in the ‘80s and ‘90s, but it’s not just that. He actually feels like a different person to me. I guess that’s called acting. LOL.  The only things I find the same are his voice (somewhat similar)and the way his eyes get all crinkly and adorable when he smiles. 

[bmasters9]

After finishing all of that 1974-76 NBC legal series Petrocelli on DVD, I am ever the more convinced that Barry Newman will always and forever be defense lawyer Anthony J. Petrocelli to me; I'm not that sure that I would care for anything else that Newman did. 

[blueray]

Amanda Tapping, I was just watching travelers which she guest starred in. Every time she came on screen I just saw her and it took me out of the show. I didn't have this problem in Sanctuary or Sg-1. But I suppose she was a regular then.

[bmasters9]

On 7/19/2014 at 7:00 AM, Snowprince said:

He had a longer tenure as DS9's Captain Sisko, but for me Avery Brooks will always and forever be Spencer For Hire's Hawk.

Same for me w/Susan Howard: she was on O-R Dallas on CBS from 1979-87 as Donna Culver Krebbs, but to me, she was better as Maggie Petrocelli in Petrocelli on NBC. 

[raezen]

On 16/02/2017 at 3:20 PM, abstractstuff said:

Ed O'Neill is Ed Bundy

Actually he was Al Bundy, there wasn't an Ed Bundy but there was a Ted Bundy in real life.....

[Snowprince]

On 2/25/2017 at 7:38 AM, garnetarden said:

Barbara Bacock was in many different things during her career, but weirdly, I only ever recognize her as Joe and Brian Hackett's mother on Wings. I think she was only on one episode, but it must have been during my formative TV years, because that's the role that stuck with me.

For me, she'll always be Grace Gardner of Hill Street Blues.

Edited January 13, 2018 by Snowprince

[meep.meep]

"Mouse kisses, Grace"                   best line of TV dialog ever!

[xaxat]

Have Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles been mentioned?

Because, at this point, I'm beginning to think that show will never end.

[kassygreene]

4 hours ago, xaxat said:

Have Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles been mentioned?

Because, at this point, I'm beginning to think that show will never end.

You do know that that show will never end, right?

Edited January 18, 2018 by kassygreene

[bmasters9]

Also, after completing all of Wanted: Dead or Alive (from Mill Creek's special-edition all-in-one DVD of that 1958-61 CBS Western), I think I can only see the late, great Steve McQueen as Josh Randall, bounty hunter. 

[Snowprince]

Despite Breaking Bad or Malcom in the Middle whenever I see Bryan Cranston on screen, I see Buzz Aldrin in From the Earth to the Moon.

[kassygreene]

8 minutes ago, Snowprince said:

Despite Breaking Bad or Malcom in the Middle whenever I see Bryan Cranston on screen, I see Buzz Aldrin in From the Earth to the Moon.

I always see Ericcson in Babylon 5.

[Macbeth]

On January 17, 2018 at 4:16 PM, xaxat said:

Have Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles been mentioned?

Because, at this point, I'm beginning to think that show will never end.

Supernatural will definitely outlive all of us. 

[blueray]

On 1/17/2018 at 4:16 PM, xaxat said:

Have Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles been mentioned?

Because, at this point, I'm beginning to think that show will never end.

It's funny because both of them I know better for other roles.

Jarad: is still Dean from Gilmore girls.

Jensen: as Jason in Smallville.

I've remember watching the pilot of Supernatural when it first aired and not getting into it. Wow that was forever ago. I was a kid then. I can't believe it is still on.

[Snowprince]

Hanging not seen her in anything else, Jaime Presley is My Name is Earl's  Joy Turner by default. 

Quote

 

[Chaos Theory]

I always thought it wasn’t fair to typecast actors especially ones you like.  I tend to do the opposite.  I follow the ones I really like to new projects and give tv shows I wouldn’t otherwise have tried a chance if an actor or more likely an actress I like is playing a large roll in it.  

[Ceindreadh]

13 hours ago, Chaos Theory said:

I always thought it wasn’t fair to typecast actors especially ones you like.  I tend to do the opposite.  I follow the ones I really like to new projects and give tv shows I wouldn’t otherwise have tried a chance if an actor or more likely an actress I like is playing a large roll in it.  

I’ve happened across a number of good shows and movies that way. Some crap as well!

[MissAlmond]

Back in the heyday of the TV miniseries, when discussing a show afterward, my family always called an actor's character by their more well known TV ones.  This got weird and funny at times.  

[QueerGirrl]

I still do that!

[Browncoat]

I saw Dale Dickey in a really good movie the other night (called Leave No Trace), and all I could think of when I saw her was Patty the Daytime Hooker from My Name Is Earl.  Her character in the movie was absolutely nothing like Patty.

[WarnerCL45]

I see that Jim Halpert is starring as Jack Ryan.  No.

[enoughcats]

On 8/23/2018 at 3:38 PM, Browncoat said:

I saw Dale Dickey in a really good movie the other night (called Leave No Trace), and all I could think of when I saw her was Patty the Daytime Hooker from My Name Is Earl.  Her character in the movie was absolutely nothing like Patty.

If you are torn by that Dale Dickey disjunct, you need to see Winter's Bone.  

(In agreement about Leave No Trace).

[millennium]

On 12/28/2017 at 10:17 AM, bmasters9 said:

I got that CBS/Paramount all-in-one DVD of Vega$ (1978-81 ABC detective/adventure series w/the late Robert Urich), and after seeing the first several second-season episodes of that series, I'm beginning to think that I cannot see Robert Urich as anything beyond Dan Tanna. 

I would have agreed up to Spenser For Hire. 

Poor Robert Urich.   He was a nice guy who died too young.

[Browncoat]

13 hours ago, enoughcats said:

you need to see Winter's Bone.  

That was an excellent film. 

[ByTor]

On 8/22/2018 at 11:01 PM, MissAlmond said:

Back in the heyday of the TV miniseries, when discussing a show afterward, my family always called an actor's character by their more well known TV ones. 

When I saw Eric Braeden in Titanic, I said "Hey, there's Victor Newman!"

[Raja]

6 hours ago, ByTor said:

When I saw Eric Braeden in Titanic, I said "Hey, there's Victor Newman!"

You're wrong he is Hauptmann Deitrich. A German but not a Nazi officer fighting the Rat Patrol in North Africa

[opus]

Valerie Bertinelli will always and forever be Barbara Cooper.

[ByTor]

10 hours ago, Raja said:

You're wrong he is Hauptmann Deitrich. A German but not a Nazi officer fighting the Rat Patrol in North Africa

LOL even knowing that he did Rat Patrol 1st, if I ever saw Pat Patrol I'd probably say "Hey, there's Victor Newman!" :)

[meep.meep]

Even to those of us who also think of him as Robin Scherbatsky's father, he's still Victor Newman.

Not surprising, he's been playing the role for almost 30 years.

[Bastet]

It's kind of the nature of soaps; even if they don't play a character that long, you see them multiple days a week for at least a year, usually.  Anyone I knew from Guiding Light is forever their GL character to me, no matter what they've gone on to do.

In that same repeated exposure vein, and anyone who guest starred on a show I re-watch repeatedly is permanently that character to me (in terms of immediate and primary association, not that I actually can't watch them in another role without thinking of them as that one role) no matter how many things I'd seen them in before that role.

[Bort]

In the soap vein, Sarah Michelle Gellar has never truly been Buffy to me. She’s Kendall Hart.

[Annber03]

3 hours ago, kariyaki said:

In the soap vein, Sarah Michelle Gellar has never truly been Buffy to me. She’s Kendall Hart.

Same. Either that or Helen from I Know What You Did Last Summer, one of the two.