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Repeat Offenders: Actors Recycled Over and Over Again on L&O!


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There's a thread like this in the CI forum, but I figured one would be useful here, too. In its long almost 20-year history, L&O has had many guest stars. But there are always some actors who came back again and again as different characters.

 

Discuss the actor(s) and their roles here!

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One of the most annoying repeat offenders: Tony Roberts, who played three different characters over six seasons between 2-5-8). Apparently he was on a three-year installment plan :)

There's another actor whose name and episode titles are failing me - one time playing a postal worker who kills a hippie, another time a janitor who kills a little girl with roach spray and a few others. His face is so distinctive that it was distracting to see him return over and over. Unlike, say, a James Rebhorn, neither he or Roberts had that ability to disappear into the "that guy" cloak.

I know who you're talking about! His name is Paul Calderon. He first appeared as the priest in season 1's "The Secret Sharers"! Edited by GHScorpiosRule
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Thank you, that was driving me crazy! And now I see he was in that horrid episode of SVU, "Fat" with Tricia "Soon to be Rooney" Mara. 

 

He hit for the cycle; the only show he didn't appear on was L&O: LA.

 

And probably only because L&O: Los Angeles wasn't on long enough.

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I just saw two Sam Rockwell eps almost back to back! One where he plays the son to the crazy mom who wanted the Asian kid killed because he was taking her kids scholarship and then again as the cop that rolls on the homophobic cops who left the gay cop to get shot without back up.

He does have one of those morph into any role kind of faces.

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My all-time favorite example of recycled casting in L&O is S. Epatha Merkerson.  In season 1 she played the mother of an infant that was killed in a home invasion.  Three seasons later she's back as Lt. Anita Van Buren!

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My all-time favorite example of recycled casting in L&O is S. Epatha Merkerson.  In season 1 she played the mother of an infant that was killed in a home invasion.  Three seasons later she's back as Lt. Anita Van Buren!

 

Yes! And she was awesome in that S1 role. I felt so sorry for her, losing her baby because a kid couldn't read and had the wrong place. (Not to mention had the gun, etc.) Funny how the franchise would go to the well if/when a new character was needed. CI cast its last captain the same way: Jay O. Sanders was a serial killer in the S2 premiere - then back as a totally different guy and new/final captain in S10.

 

But speaking of S. Epatha Merkerson, did she ever win the Emmy or was she even nominated? Maybe for her final cancer arc? Anyone know? Because I thought she was excellent. I still loved Mothership Captain Cragen (he seemed a wee bit different to me on SVU) but as his successor, I liked Van Buren.

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and then again as the cop that rolls on the homophobic cops who left the gay cop to get shot without back up.

 

Saw the UK version of this one. Liked the original much better. (Probably belongs in the comparison thread, but I'm too lazy to compare right now, hence the quip here.  :-) )

 

(But I do recall the captain or whomever of the gay cop who was killed in the original US version was played by Charles Hallahan, who was the captain on Hunter for the last 5 of its 7 seasons, and all I could think of when I saw him was "Charlie Devane changed his name and got sick of Los Angeles!"  :-) I guess the guy was good at playing a cop.)

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Epatha was never nominated for L&O, but during its run, she scooped up a Golden Globe, SAG and Emmy as Lead Actress in the HBO adaptation of Lackawanna Blues.

 

Well, at least her talent was recognized, so...good!  :-)

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Don't forget the versatile Denis O'Hare, one of the show's go-to perps (most memorable as a schizophrenic who represents himself at trial). The cops could have saved themselves a lot of shoe leather if they'd just slapped the cuffs on O'Hare as soon as he showed up.

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Just caught her the other night in "Blaze" and definitely recognize her face, though I didn't realize she had achieved Rebhorn-status as a repeat offender:

 

http://lawandorder.wikia.com/wiki/Jenna_Stern

 

Ha! I feel special. The link you posted, Chattygal, was for Ms. Stern's 7 appearances. The only thing is, in the CI forum, I noted her for one not even listed! So it's actually 8 characters. Wow.  :-) (And confirmed I wasn't wrong and it was her in that 8th via IMDB, for the CI episode, "Cadaver", in Season 10, the unfaithful wife of Steven Weber's character!)

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I found a recycle I'd never seen before early this morning, in a bout of insomnia induced L&O watching.  Isabel Gillies, who played Kathy Stabler on SVU, was first cast on Original Recipe as a cop murderer with blue streaked hair. 

 

The one repeat offender that amuses me (for reasons I can't figure out) is Carlos Leon.  He's done 2 SVUs, 2 CIs, and 3 Motherships.  And every single time I see him, my brain goes, "Oh, that dude who's Madonna's daughter's dad."  I really should give him more credit; he's a pretty solid character actor.

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The one repeat offender that amuses me (for reasons I can't figure out) is Carlos Leon.  He's done 2 SVUs, 2 CIs, and 3 Motherships.  And every single time I see him, my brain goes, "Oh, that dude who's Madonna's daughter's dad."  I really should give him more credit; he's a pretty solid character actor.

 

Glad I'm not the only one who always thinks this when I see him on any of the franchise shows!

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Watching "Collision" on Sundance (the schizophrenic woman killed by the mentally ill man) and the murderer's mother is none other than Carla Lowenstein!

Edited by ktwo
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The best repeat offender is Jeremy Sisto. He played a defense attorney in the season 17 finale, and then was introduced as Lupo in the season 18 premiere. I'm pretty sure he's only actor in L&O history to play two different characters in consecutive episodes.

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The best repeat offender is Jeremy Sisto. He played a defense attorney in the season 17 finale, and then was introduced as Lupo in the season 18 premiere. I'm pretty sure he's only actor in L&O history to play two different characters in consecutive episodes.

 

I disagree. Though he didn't appear as one character in one season, and then a different one in the very next episode like Sisto, for me, Jerry Orbach was the best 'repeat offender' if you will. Showing up as the defense attorney in Season Two's "Wages of Love", to reappear in Season 3 almost a year later, to replace Sorvino/Ceretta.

 

Just like New York, Orbach was Law & Order.

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It turns out JK Simmons also played a character named Jerry Luppin in the mothership's S4 episode Sanctuary, & a character in a Homicide: Life on the Street ep that's connected to/continues the mothership's Charm City ep before taking the role of Dr. Skoda in L&O.

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Is it in writing that Daniel Hugh Kelly can only play slime in the L&O universe, or deeply suspected slime? He played the politician Logan decked, thus earning a one-way ticket to Staten Island. He also played the evil abuser/murderer who had Jack McCoy on a hit list!

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I'm watching "Volunteers" from S4. Stephen Mendillo played one of the Bedford Street residents harassed by Roland Kirk. He went on to play the man "passing" for white in S8's "Blood". I can't see him without hearing Van Buren saying, "hello, my brotha!" 😂

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1 hour ago, Xeliou66 said:

RIP. He played a defense lawyer in numerous episodes of the Mothership and SVU.

He also played Danny Sussman on Criminal Intent, milquetoast mama's boy, whose mother (played by Linda Lavin) killed his wife in "Shandeh" in S2.

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