Typecasting

Typecasting is the practice of choosing actors for a single type of role, based on their personality, previous roles, or coming from a social or ethnic group.

Actors are sometimes so strongly identified with a role, that it makes it difficult for them to find work playing other characters. It is especially common among leading actors in popular television series and movies. Some actors are happy to remain typecast, but others wish to broaden their repertoire and take on different roles.

 Examples 
 Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee and Vincent Price in horror movies
 Erich von Stroheim as a German officer and spy
 Fay Wray as a victim of King Kong and many other horror figures
 John Wayne as a Western hero
 Theda Bara and Marlene Dietrich as vamps
 Jean Harlow as a gold digger
 Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield as sex symbols and dumb blondes
 Bruce Lee as a hero and Jackie Chan as a slapstick hero in martial arts movies
 Michael Madsen as a villain in Reservoir Dogs and other movies
 Jerry Lewis and Adam Sandler as goofy, childish men in comedy movies
 Danny Trejo as a Mexican criminal
 Lupe Ontiveros as a Mexican or Hispanic maid
 Bud Spencer and Terence Hill as movie duo heroes in Spaghetti Westerns and as slapstick heroes in action comedies

 References 

Category:Terminology
Category:Movie terminology
Category:Entertainment