These Actors Played Dual Roles And Wowed Us With Their Performances
With the rigors that come with filmmaking and dishing out appealing screen moments for the viewers either in theaters or on television, actors have their work cut out for them. Some even go the extra mile to make their character believable and convincing.
Whether being comical, showing a familial relationship, or showing a different timeline, here's a look at actors who took on dual roles, and still managed to wow us with their double duty performance.
10 Nina Dobrev -The Vampire Diaries
For eight seasons, CW's The Vampire Diaries garnered a massive following and shot its stars into the limelight. One of them is the leading lady Nina Dobrev as teen orphan Elena Gilbert who stole the hearts of the aged-vampire Salvatore brothers. Dobrev took on a dual role with the introduction of her doppelganger, Katherine Pierce. So while she played the main hero of the show quite convincingly, she also took on the villain of the show with ease. Her doppelganger duty went further with her also portraying Amara and Tatia on the show's spinoff series The Originals.
9 Lili Reinhart - Look Both Ways
The actress is living a fulfilling life outside her breakout role as Betty Cooper in CW's Riverdale. In her most recent Netflix film Look Both Ways, Reinhart portrays Natalie, a young woman about to graduate from college who goes through a dual timeline and different paths a night before her graduation after a casual sex with her friend Gabe (Danny Ramirez). One path sees her back at her parent's home, pregnant and navigating motherhood and co-parenting with the father of her child, while the other world sees her following her animation dreams in Los Angeles with a new love.
8 Mark Ruffalo - I Know This Much Is True
The Marvel star has built a wide fandom being a part of the MCU, and featuring in their record-breaking franchises. He also takes on impressive roles outside MCU. In his HBO miniseries I Know This Much Is True, the actor played the dual roles of Dominick Birdsey and his twin brother Thomas who has paranoid schizophrenia and is in an institution. These brothers experience different growing challenges and circumstances following a fractured family history.
7 Paul Rudd - Living With Yourself
Another Marvel star Paul Rudd took on a dual role on a Netflix show Living With Yourself, which he was also executive producer. He portrayed Miles Elliot, a copywriter at Pool Branding who is unhappy with his boring and routine life, as well as his clone who is more optimistic. The comedy drama premiered in October 2019.
6 Nicolas Cage - Adaptation
Cage played twin brothers in this 2002 meta comedy-drama. Like other characters who took on dual roles, Cage appeared as two people with two very different personalities; one as self-loathing screenwriter Charlie Kaufman who tries and fails to write the screenplay adaptation of Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief, while the other as his freeloading twin brother Donald who has moved into his house with screenwriting ambitions too.
5 Tom Hardy - Legend
In this 2015 mobster movie, Tom Hardy takes on the dual role of the Mafioso gangster brothers Reggie and Ronnie Kray. This biopic directed by Guy Richie follows the infamous Kray brothers as they attempt to transform '60s London into "the Las Vegas of Europe." Despite being twins, the Kray brothers are far from being the same, and Hardy captures this contrast remarkably. Reggie was the charming and calm-headed leader of the pack, while Ronnie was the unstable and irrational one.
4 Armie Hammer - The Social Network
Despite being embroiled in a sexual misconduct and cannibalism scandal, it is undeniable that the actor has served pretty impressive onscreen moments in the past. One of these is when he doubled up in The Social Network playing the identical Winklevoss Twins, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. There was, of course, a body double and the aid of split-screen technology to enhance his dual role.
3 Hugh Jackman And Christian Bale - The Prestige
These actors have done a fantastic job over the years making an impression with their character portrayals, and they appear not to be slowing down anytime soon. One of their noteworthy roles is the 2006 period thriller The Prestige, in which Jackman and Bale played former friends turned rival magicians hell-bent on destroying each other after suffering a tragedy. Jackman portrays Robert "The Great Danton" Angier and also Gerald Root, Angier's double during a trick, while Bale also portrays Alfred "The Professor" Borden and also Borden's brother Fallon.
2 Mike Myers - Austin Powers Franchise
The Saturday Night Live alum has had major success in his acting career. In Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Myers played the titular Austin Powers, a British super spy. He then took on a dual role playing Powers' arch nemesis Dr. Evil where he donned a bald cap. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me saw Myers take his dual role even further playing Austin Powers, Dr. Evil and new villain Fat Bastard too. In the film's third franchise Austin Powers in Goldmember, he took on a new character Dutch super villain Goldmember.
1 James Marsden - Dead To Me
James Marsden took on double duty in the bingeworthy series Dead To Me which premiered on Netflix in May 2013. For the first season, Marsden played Steve Wood, an attorney and Judy's (Linda Cardellini) narcissistic and emotionally abusive ex-fiancé. Then in season two, he appeared as Ben Wood, Steve's identical twin brother and Judy's new love interest after Steve's death. He also appeared in the third and final season which premiered in November 2022.
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