Actors who keep doing the same thing again. And again. And again

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Some actors have made an entire career out of playing the same role over and over again. Here are four of the best.

Matt Damon

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From Saving Private Ryan to Interstellar to the currently playing The Martian, there’s been a long cinematic history of saving Matt Damon.

And the Matt Damon rescue missions aren’t limited to just these shows - if he’s not being saved, then he saves himself. For example, in Good Will Hunting, Damon gets saved from his psychological baggage by Robin Williams in dramatic-movie-mode.

And in the Bourne trilogy, he saves himself from amnesia and government spooks. If this keeps up, he’ll save himself again in the fifth Bourne movie coming out in 2016. (Mark your calendars, geeks!)

Sean Bean

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Game of Thrones fans had a rude shock when Sean Bean’s Ned Stark lost his head in season 1. But if they had kept track of Bean’s career, they would have known that Stark’s death was a forgone conclusion once the ill-fated Bean was cast. After all, Bean has died no less than 16 times on screen.

He had his throat cut in Caravaggio, was crushed by a burning antenna in Goldeneye and shot full of arrows in Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. But his favourite manner of demise by far is successfully catching bullets with his body: we counted nine deaths from bullets.

Repeat after me: One does not simply die and die again. Unless, of course, you are Sean Bean. Then you will always die.

Will Smith

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Let it be known that all of us are indebted to Will Smith. From Independence Day to Men In Black to I, Robot, Smith has saved, or help save, the world from aliens, robot squids and zombies for the last 20 years.

And his heroic tendencies know no bounds. Even when playing Deadshot, a villain, Will Smith still manages to say “Let’s go save the world”, in the Suicide Squad trailer.

Smith’s heroism runs in the family too. In After Earth, Will Smith and his son Jayden play father-and-son team Kital and Cypher Raige (yes, really), who are stranded on post-apocalyptic Earth. Jayden eventually signals for help and saves the world. Sadly, the Smith family’s world-saving skills couldn’t save this movie.

Tom Cruise

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(Source: Paramount Pictures)

It must be said that Tom Cruise isn’t afraid of making bold career choices, playing everything from embittered Vietnam War veteran to sex motivational speaker to maniacal studio head.

Nevertheless, starting with Top Gun, he’s made almost an entire career out of playing the cocky maverick who gets humbled, then redeems himself in the final act to save the day.

Cruise was a cocky conman with a tender heart in Rain Man, a cocky race car driver in Days of Thunder, a cocky military lawyer in A Few Good Men and a cocky sports agent in Jerry Maguire. You know he’s going to do it again and again - but who can resist that million dollar smile once he flashes it?

Gillian Ang is the co-founder of Geek Crusade, a pop-culture news website dedicated to tracking all your favorite TV Shows and movies from rumour to screen. #Jointhecrusade for up to date fandom news for Sherlock, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Marvel and DC movies and many, many more. Tweets go out at @geekcrusade. The views expressed are her own.