20 Actors Who Played Both Villains And Heroes So Well, They Have ALL The Range
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Some actors are known for playing villains. Others are always playing the hero. But there are a handful of talented actors out there who can do BOTH, and do it incredibly well.
Netflix
Redditor u/rigorousthinker recently asked, "Who’s an actor who’s both played the 'good' guy and the 'bad' guy amazingly well?" And the responses are a who's who of some of the best actors in the business, who definitely have the range. Here are the most upvoted responses:
1.Christian Bale in The Dark Knight and American Psycho
"Christian Bale: Batman and Bateman."
—u/kylepm
2.David Tennant in Doctor Who and Jessica Jones
3.Lupita Nyong'o in Us
"Lupita Nyong'o played both in the same film — Us."
—u/kwentworthy
4.Bryan Cranston in Malcolm in the Middle and Breaking Bad
"Walter White and Hal Wilkerson, Cranston's the best!"
—u/jefft818
"Walter White alone. Walter White was a stand-up guy that transformed into a maniac."
5.Denzel Washington in Philadelphia and Training Day
"Denzel Washington has played a lot of memorable protagonist roles, but is perhaps best remembered for his role as the antagonist in Training Day."
—u/letsgetrandy
6.Robin Williams in Good Morning, Vietnam and One Hour Photo
"Robin Williams: good guy in pretty much everything except his turns in One Hour Photo and Insomnia, where he really let his demons out to play. Scary as hell after growing up watching him in things like Good Morning, Vietnam, Mrs. Doubtfire, Hook, etc."
7.Cate Blanchett in The Lord of the Rings and Thor: Ragnarok
"Cate Blanchett, Galadriel and Hela."
—u/MillianaT
8.Ian McKellen in The Lord of the Rings and X-Men
"Ian McKellen: Gandalf and Magneto."
—u/Hunt-Pale
9.Imelda Staunton in Vera Drake and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
"Imelda Staunton: Vera Drake and Professor Umbridge."
—u/Schezzi
10.Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained and Inglourious Basterds
"Christoph Waltz: played Col. Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds (the bad guy) and played Dr. King Shultz in Django Unchained (good guy)."
"His range is crazy. A living legend."
—u/BuckManscape
11.Lena Headey in The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Game of Thrones
"Sarah Connor/Cersei Lannister."
12.Hannah Waddingham in Ted Lasso and Game of Thrones
"She's amazingly evil as 'Shame Nun' Septa Unella, and then, she's such a delight as Rebecca. Although you could argue that she was a villain in Ted Lasso at first, too!"
—Andy Golder
13.Alan Rickman in Harry Potter and Die Hard
"Hans Gruber or Snape. And he was in Galaxy Quest and Dogma as just a few of his movies."
—u/desdmona
"I would have said the character that was bad was Snape, and the character that was good was also Snape."
—u/SamanthaSass
14.Daniel Day-Lewis in The Crucible and There Will Be Blood
"No 'great actor' thread is complete without mention of Daniel Day-Lewis.
Guy played hero roles like Gerry Conlon in In the Name of the Father and John Proctor in The Crucible, switched to villains to play Bill the Butcher in Gangs of New York and Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood, then came back and played Abraham f-ing Lincoln in Lincoln."
15.Rosamund Pike in Pride & Prejudice and Gone Girl
"She's so sweet and kind as Jane and then SO scary as Amy."
—Andy Golder
16.Sam Neill in Jurassic Park and Peaky Blinders
"He was a total bastard [as Inspector Cambell]."
—u/ScatManitee
17.Andrew Scott in Fleabag and Sherlock
"Bad guy — Sherlock; good guy — Fleabag (hot priest!)."
18.Lee Dong-wook in Bad and Crazy and Hell Is Other People
"Lee Dong-wook. My K-drama ppl know what I'm talking about."
"IKR. Theres a reason I’m in love with both Moon-jo and Soo-yeol."
19.Charlize Theron in Mad Max: Fury Road and Monster
"Furiosa in Mad Max and Aileen Wuornos in Monster."
20.Javier Bardem in Vicky Cristina Barcelona and No Country for Old Men
"Javier Bardem's slide from No Country for Old Men to Vicky Cristina Barcelona was actually difficult for my brain to process."
—u/smoogstag
