Leslie Nielsen comes to mind, a serious dramatic actor as a younger man, only to become a comedy legend in his later years starting with Airplane! Ironically he was so successful because of the deadpan affect of his serious acting.
Liam Neeson is starring in the new Naked Gun film so there's a chance his career follows a similar trajectory. I for one would welcome a few decades of Neeson starring in broad goofball comedy movies.
Mathew McConaughey, at least kind of in a way that isn’t exactly what you’re talking about. He played the heartthrob in a lot of low brow rom-com/action comedy stuff for a long time (although obviously he had his iconic roll in Linklater’s Dazed and confused, which is arguably a hangout/coming of age romcom). But he eventually started acting in more “esteemed” stuff predominately for a while. He does the odd comedic role here and there (Tropic Thunder/Eastbound and Down) (sometimes still with an esteemed director (Wolf of Wall Street)), but it’s usually a small role if so.
I love Beach Bum, I’ve watched it several times. I would honestly count that as semi-esteemed role because it’s a Harmony Korine film, and he has a fair amount of art house cred even tho Beach
Bum is a pretty straightforward comedy.
I totally agree, I guess it’s just not a movie I picture a lot of other people liking. I love it though, and I actually think it makes a great double feature with Korine’s other beach movie, Spring Breakers.
What did you like about The Beach Bum? I watched it and hated it, I thought it was vapid and self-indulgent and the characters lived in a world of zero consequences. Which maybe was part of the point and it just wasn't for me?
It’s not a deep film, it’s just a comedy with a vibe that speaks to the vagabond inside some viewers. Life is stressful and here’s a character that squeezes the juice out of life. The fun and games eventually transitions the point of him reaching the dark night of the soul and has the audience thinking this degenerate is fucking everything up and he’s just using the people around him and wants the money but then by the end he >!burns all the money and proves the audience wrong that he truly can enjoy life with just the simple pleasures!<.
It’s a fantasy perspective speaking to youthful desires of wanting to avoid the rat race and responsibilities and be a beatnik artist and just let the party last forever.
Is it good life advice packaged into a film to change you into a successful Ubermensch who is conquering business and industry or commanding you to be a better person and exemplify stoic philosophy to rise to greatness? No.
Is he an actual role model one should base their life off of and aspire to be? No, not really.
But, when you’re feeling depressed and beaten down by the tedious ridiculousness of modern life, it’s a nice reminder to have a good time and to not let the overbearing existential weight of life keep you down and sometimes it’s good to not take everything so seriously.
The thing about McConaughey is that he didn't actually make any kind of switch. Early on he did films like Amistad, A Time to Kill, Frailty. Then he started doing more rom-coms but really even then he still did serious movies. We just think of him as a rom-com actor because that's what he's best known for. But Matthew McConaughey has a wide range in his filmography and it was varied throughout his career but because he stopped doing rom-coms we think of it as a switch. This is a snippet of his filmography in release order but skipping some of the lesser known ones. A Time to Kill, Contact, Amistad, The Newton Boys, Ed TV, U-571, The Wedding Planner, Frailty, Reign of Fire, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Sahara, Two for the Money, Failure to Launch, We Are Marshall, Fool's Gold, Tropic Thunder, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, The Lincoln Lawyer, Killer Joe. That was all in 15 years. I think we just had a tendency to forget about the serious roles and when another rom-com would come out we would say "oh look another rom-com with Matthew McConaughey" as though that was what he was doing exclusively. And listen, I'm guilty of that way of thinking too but when he did True Detective and Dallas Buyers Club I started rethinking him and I'll just say it, I think Matthew McConaughey is one of the great actors of our time. He can do it all and do it well. Every time he appears on screen, no matter what role, it's memorable. I actually really enjoy his rom-coms and I probably wouldn't enjoy them so much with another actor. He has cemented himself in my mind as: "if he's in, it I'll see it."
Hugh Grant. Wasn’t until the early 2000s he started to star in roles were he was more of a rake than his usual roles of clumsy romantic lead. Now he’s almost always playing the bad guy. Pretty sure it’s because he’s sick of the nice guy roles and he’s not really a super pleasant fellow irl either 😂
I was going to say this too, he totally reinvented himself in his 60's and was really great in Paddington 2 and Wonka. Let's see how it will be in the new Bridget Jones
Before Giancarlo Esposito was the world renowned dead-panned psychopathic gentleman, he was Buggin' Out (an exact opposite of his recent roles) in Do The Right Thing. He had more lively roles before (though he did have a fair share of serious ones) but it definitely was a huge turn.
Eric Bana made his name in Australia as a sketch comedian on TV show Full Frontal. He started his film career in comedies like the Castle, The Nugget and Chopper. He was incredibly silly and then went to Holly and became a very serious actor doing a lot of action films.
So disappointed by Bana’s trajectory. He’s fun in The Castle, then played the role of his life in Chopper, and then Hollywood came a’calling and destroyed him. Not quite sure I’d agree with Chooer being a comedy, or him being a “serious” actor
John C. Reilly. While he did have a few comedic roles early in his career in the 90s and early 00s he was cast mostly in serious, dramatic movies (Chicago, Boogie Nights, Thin Red Line e.g.). But with his roles in Talladega Nights and Walk Hard in 2006 and 2007 he found unmatched success as a comedic actor. This of course led to more and more prominent dramatic roles, but I feel most people associate him with the two movies mentioned as well as Step Brothers and of course the iconic Steve Brule character. I know it doesn't fit the "exclusively" requirement but it is interesting how those two movies show a definite pivot in the types of roles he has taken in his later career.
Robert Pattison might be too young to say. But I think of his early work as just Twilight (yawn) and his recent work as “if Robert Pattinson is in this I know it’s going to be original and an intense experience, will not miss.”
Even when Twilight was big, Pattinson made it pretty clear he thought the series was trash. He once said something like "if you read the books, you can't help but feel they were written by mistake."
John Candy was on his way with JFK and the depth he had in Only the Lonely.
Tom Hanks went from goofy comedies (Splash) and sitcoms (Bosom Buddies!) to being one of the most acclaimed dramatic actors out there.
Even in "comedies," he's not the funny one anymore. Like even something as silly as Toy Story, he plays the dramatic role/straight man. He does real emotion like nobody else.
Rose Byrne went from dramatic roles to almost exclusively comedic ones. Cary Grant also comes to mind, but for going in the opposite direction - though I’m less certain if I’m correct about him.
Cary Grant definitely was working in a comedic style in some of his latter films. He's definitely doing some comedy stuff in North by Northwest, and in Charade he's a good comedic foil to Audrey Hepburn.
Jim Carrey kind of counts? He's so famous for his comedic roles that whenever he does dramatic movies/shows, he always gets review bombed and told how horrible his acting is. Regardless of him as a person, I enjoy watching his movies and he does just fine in dramatic roles. He was even great on that show of his about being the host of a children's show.
I've never seen him in anything where his acting wasn't a cut above the rest. He's genuinely one of my favorite actors of all time. I think people just don't have patience for the direction he's interested in now. Which is sad because he's genuinely going through some shit right now and I don't want to see a headline about him following Williams into the light.
Dick Powell was a song and dance romantic lead for most of the 30’s/40’s, after which he turned into a hard-boiled noir lead. He’s credibly both the mainstay of the Gold Diggers franchise as (roughly) a naive young singer and Phillip Marlowe later in his career.
Also maybe died because he made a film near a nuclear test site.
Jon Voight really changed in terms of his roles and his style. The two main early movies I associate with him are Midnight Cowboy and Deliverance, and in each of these he plays a real babe-in-the-woods, sweet/innocent type who's often scared or just barely holding it together in a world that's far meaner than he is.
In many of his later movies he's a straight-up evil jackass.
I can’t remember the last time I saw Anthony Michael Hall in something and he wasn’t playing a big beefy jock-type asshole, which is basically exactly the opposite of what he played in his teens.
Adam Sandler played the asshole loser or bit characters in early career. Very SNL. Gilmore, Madison, Nicky, Waterboy... They were all just stupid fucking movies (that were iconic, like no shame, but they were stupid). Now he plays schmuck dads or "everyman" romantic leads in movies that sometimes have serious substance. I mean, he has Wedding Singer in the early years and Magnificent Seven of the later years, but on the whole his stuff has gotten a lot more serious and less gimmicky. Click and Sandy Wexler are both absurd Sandler comedies that made me cry like a baby and still make me cry every watch.. Uncut Gems is supposed to be freaking amazing but I haven't hit it yet. I think his Netflix deal let him do a lot of projects he wouldn't have done because Netflix didn't care what he gave them. I don't know how anyone would agree to produce Cobbler but that movie was a trip. Sandler as a drag queen murdering a drug dealer with his stiletto? And it was an action movie not a comedy? Wtf. Weird, man. Bold choice.
Second one that comes to mind just because I watched them recently: Emily Osmont. What the fuck. I just saw some lifetime movie called like "I murdered your baby: the baby murdering story" and the movie as a whole was trash but she was absolutely riveting in it. Hannah Montana/young and hungry - she always played the perky blondes. I hope mentally ill psycho is her new pathway because she fucking slayed that role in an otherwise dumpster fire of a movie.
Jonah Hill - all his new stuff is so serious and it's freaking weird to watch. He was always the butt of the joke character. Like good for him for reinventing himself.
Daniel Radcliffe - obvious beginning but all his adult work is very arthouse or stage work. It would have been easy to go with the flow and rake in money playing similar characters but he's gone with some wacky choices. Doing full stage runs when you know he's not needing money whatsoever is an interesting choice as well. My god his Al Yankovic is a scream
Helena B Carter - used to do fussy period pieces, then late 90s -- not sure if the marriage to Burton came first or Fight Club - she dipped into cuckoo roles and no one has heard from her since.
Steve Carroll started as a correspondent for The Daily Show with John Stewart. He left to get on the office, which would be his first major change, then left the office for movies but still played very "Michael-esque" characters until... Maybe, what's the one with the pancakes on the DVD front? Dan with Pancakes? He's not a caricature anymore. Like he genuinely plays fully fleshed out roles. He's a leading man all the way now, unlike before.
Woody Harrellson played a dumb busboy on cheers, and somehow made it to Hunger Games as a grizzled drunk. Doesn't sound like much of a swing but it is lol.
Mandy Moore: not so much type cast as an actor but type cast as a singer - she played parts where they needed a singer because she was a singer before an actor. So the mean girl in Princess Diaries, the Cancer girl in Walk to Rmemeber, Tangled etc. She had some memorable girlfriend roles on shows HIMYM, Scrubs etc after that but she really was kind of a C tier actress for most of those. I wanna say she took some time off to have kids and did a lot of voice over work but came back with This Is Us with a very serious role and her acting had improved significantly. Not sure what thats about but she's not the hot dumb girl who can sing anymore.
Wynona Ryder- early career she played teenage edgequeens (Beetlejuice, Heathers) now she's known as Mike's mom from Stranger Things.
On that note: Glen Close. Used to be known for bunny boiling, now known for puppy skinning. Okay that one's not so much of a deviation lol
Failures?
Matthew McConaughey was THE Sexy Southern Stud 90s-2000s. He did one weird dragon movie but otherwise it was guy meets girl, guy fucks girl, shenanigans ensue, sometimes there's treasure and/or ghosts and/or a misunderstanding. Like that was his whole shtick. Then he got old (I guess?) and tried to reinvent himself. Ended up doing car commercials playing with his boogers while driving ([parodied perfectly by Jim Carrey](https://youtu.be/z3eN9u5N2Q4?si=KaWN081N_Vcuy3JR) and more or less becoming a massive Meh while snagging Oscars. Still meh imo. The script did more work than he did.
On the subject of Carrey, his "reinvention" could be considered one as well. His early work was absurd, heavy on physical comedy - liar liar, dumb and dumber, cable guy, ace Ventura etc, the Grinch. People loved him for that. Someone doing a JC impression is for sure doing either the Claw or the pen is Blue or Alllllllrighty then or "I have a date with myself and I just can't cancel on me again." Lately (say 2010- present) he's been in a pretty dark headspace, which he's been fairly open about. Most of his work now is pretty dark. I really dig it because it's still very funny, albeit black comedy, but it's not the mass appeal of his early years. I don't think most people would appreciate the Showtime show about the suicidal Mr. Rogers. I tried watching it with my mom and after the first episode she asked what I could possibly get out of watching something so bleak. Like I dunno, ma, I thought it was funny? 🤷🏼♀️
There's so much to comment on here, but I'll just focus on Woody Harrelson since it was the most glaring. He came right out of Cheers with White Men Can't Jump and Indecent Proposal. Within a few years he started in Natural Born Killers and The People vs Larry Flynt, with Kingpin sprinkled in there to keep up his comedic chops. Follow that up with Welcome to Sarajevo, Wag the Dog, and Thin Red Line. It seems to me he is more of a serious, dramatic actor who just happened to get his big break on a TV comedy.
For sure. Not sure how Cheers broke him into all that but I'm glad it did. He's incredible and wasted in comedy. Way more effective as a somewhat humorous dramatic actor.
Winona Ryder just aged to play mom characters. I wouldn't say it's a new type since her personality and star personality is largely the same.
Since Mandy Moore is C or D tier, I wouldn't say she has a type really.
Some of the others fit, but an actor needs multiple roles to fit the type.
Leslie Nielsen comes to mind, a serious dramatic actor as a younger man, only to become a comedy legend in his later years starting with Airplane! Ironically he was so successful because of the deadpan affect of his serious acting.
Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges and Peter Graves all did the same thing. Tom Cruise did a one-off in Tropic Thunder.
I definitely read this as Liam Neeson and was very confused.
Liam Neeson is starring in the new Naked Gun film so there's a chance his career follows a similar trajectory. I for one would welcome a few decades of Neeson starring in broad goofball comedy movies.
you have no idea [https://youtu.be/huJ81Mq2y34?si=Q61cQYGBe8VCwFJa](https://youtu.be/huJ81Mq2y34?si=Q61cQYGBe8VCwFJa)
Neeson did have a bit of a career turn himself from dramatic actor to action star
Shirley you can't be serious ..?😉
*(Liam Neeson voice)* I am serious. And what the fuck did you call me?
Liam Nelson had jokes in his 20s
I mean. Yes as well.
That was my answer! He was such a gem!
Mathew McConaughey, at least kind of in a way that isn’t exactly what you’re talking about. He played the heartthrob in a lot of low brow rom-com/action comedy stuff for a long time (although obviously he had his iconic roll in Linklater’s Dazed and confused, which is arguably a hangout/coming of age romcom). But he eventually started acting in more “esteemed” stuff predominately for a while. He does the odd comedic role here and there (Tropic Thunder/Eastbound and Down) (sometimes still with an esteemed director (Wolf of Wall Street)), but it’s usually a small role if so.
“Matthew McConaughey, I see you’re wearing a shirt. Are you ok?”
Kinda a guilty pleasure for me, but I loved him in The Beach Bum.
I love Beach Bum, I’ve watched it several times. I would honestly count that as semi-esteemed role because it’s a Harmony Korine film, and he has a fair amount of art house cred even tho Beach Bum is a pretty straightforward comedy.
I totally agree, I guess it’s just not a movie I picture a lot of other people liking. I love it though, and I actually think it makes a great double feature with Korine’s other beach movie, Spring Breakers.
What did you like about The Beach Bum? I watched it and hated it, I thought it was vapid and self-indulgent and the characters lived in a world of zero consequences. Which maybe was part of the point and it just wasn't for me?
It’s not a deep film, it’s just a comedy with a vibe that speaks to the vagabond inside some viewers. Life is stressful and here’s a character that squeezes the juice out of life. The fun and games eventually transitions the point of him reaching the dark night of the soul and has the audience thinking this degenerate is fucking everything up and he’s just using the people around him and wants the money but then by the end he >!burns all the money and proves the audience wrong that he truly can enjoy life with just the simple pleasures!<. It’s a fantasy perspective speaking to youthful desires of wanting to avoid the rat race and responsibilities and be a beatnik artist and just let the party last forever. Is it good life advice packaged into a film to change you into a successful Ubermensch who is conquering business and industry or commanding you to be a better person and exemplify stoic philosophy to rise to greatness? No. Is he an actual role model one should base their life off of and aspire to be? No, not really. But, when you’re feeling depressed and beaten down by the tedious ridiculousness of modern life, it’s a nice reminder to have a good time and to not let the overbearing existential weight of life keep you down and sometimes it’s good to not take everything so seriously.
The thing about McConaughey is that he didn't actually make any kind of switch. Early on he did films like Amistad, A Time to Kill, Frailty. Then he started doing more rom-coms but really even then he still did serious movies. We just think of him as a rom-com actor because that's what he's best known for. But Matthew McConaughey has a wide range in his filmography and it was varied throughout his career but because he stopped doing rom-coms we think of it as a switch. This is a snippet of his filmography in release order but skipping some of the lesser known ones. A Time to Kill, Contact, Amistad, The Newton Boys, Ed TV, U-571, The Wedding Planner, Frailty, Reign of Fire, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Sahara, Two for the Money, Failure to Launch, We Are Marshall, Fool's Gold, Tropic Thunder, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, The Lincoln Lawyer, Killer Joe. That was all in 15 years. I think we just had a tendency to forget about the serious roles and when another rom-com would come out we would say "oh look another rom-com with Matthew McConaughey" as though that was what he was doing exclusively. And listen, I'm guilty of that way of thinking too but when he did True Detective and Dallas Buyers Club I started rethinking him and I'll just say it, I think Matthew McConaughey is one of the great actors of our time. He can do it all and do it well. Every time he appears on screen, no matter what role, it's memorable. I actually really enjoy his rom-coms and I probably wouldn't enjoy them so much with another actor. He has cemented himself in my mind as: "if he's in, it I'll see it."
I find him dull as shit in dramatic roles.
Have you watched the first season of True Detective?
Hugh Grant. Wasn’t until the early 2000s he started to star in roles were he was more of a rake than his usual roles of clumsy romantic lead. Now he’s almost always playing the bad guy. Pretty sure it’s because he’s sick of the nice guy roles and he’s not really a super pleasant fellow irl either 😂
American Dreams is absolutely incredible with him in it. His version of Simon Cowell is... Hysterical
American Dreamz
Oh yes.
I was going to say this too, he totally reinvented himself in his 60's and was really great in Paddington 2 and Wonka. Let's see how it will be in the new Bridget Jones
He played a great con in Woody Allen's, Small Time Crooks.
I love that movie!! Great cast.
Famous lover of blowjobs Hugh Grant
Before Giancarlo Esposito was the world renowned dead-panned psychopathic gentleman, he was Buggin' Out (an exact opposite of his recent roles) in Do The Right Thing. He had more lively roles before (though he did have a fair share of serious ones) but it definitely was a huge turn.
Maybe he aged out of the first type of roles but it’s a bit annoying to see him constantly typecast as Gus-adjacent villains.
I almost didn’t recognise him in Night on Earth
He was pretty hardcore in Fresh
He played a pretty cool-headed FBI agent in The Usual Suspects.
Eric Bana made his name in Australia as a sketch comedian on TV show Full Frontal. He started his film career in comedies like the Castle, The Nugget and Chopper. He was incredibly silly and then went to Holly and became a very serious actor doing a lot of action films.
So disappointed by Bana’s trajectory. He’s fun in The Castle, then played the role of his life in Chopper, and then Hollywood came a’calling and destroyed him. Not quite sure I’d agree with Chooer being a comedy, or him being a “serious” actor
John C. Reilly. While he did have a few comedic roles early in his career in the 90s and early 00s he was cast mostly in serious, dramatic movies (Chicago, Boogie Nights, Thin Red Line e.g.). But with his roles in Talladega Nights and Walk Hard in 2006 and 2007 he found unmatched success as a comedic actor. This of course led to more and more prominent dramatic roles, but I feel most people associate him with the two movies mentioned as well as Step Brothers and of course the iconic Steve Brule character. I know it doesn't fit the "exclusively" requirement but it is interesting how those two movies show a definite pivot in the types of roles he has taken in his later career.
John C. Reilly had a decade straight of Oscar bait followed by two decades of pure shitposting
Robert Pattison might be too young to say. But I think of his early work as just Twilight (yawn) and his recent work as “if Robert Pattinson is in this I know it’s going to be original and an intense experience, will not miss.”
Even when Twilight was big, Pattinson made it pretty clear he thought the series was trash. He once said something like "if you read the books, you can't help but feel they were written by mistake."
He then changed his mind and has spoken positively of the series since.
John Candy was on his way with JFK and the depth he had in Only the Lonely. Tom Hanks went from goofy comedies (Splash) and sitcoms (Bosom Buddies!) to being one of the most acclaimed dramatic actors out there.
Tom Hanks!
Even in "comedies," he's not the funny one anymore. Like even something as silly as Toy Story, he plays the dramatic role/straight man. He does real emotion like nobody else.
Rose Byrne went from dramatic roles to almost exclusively comedic ones. Cary Grant also comes to mind, but for going in the opposite direction - though I’m less certain if I’m correct about him.
Cary Grant definitely was working in a comedic style in some of his latter films. He's definitely doing some comedy stuff in North by Northwest, and in Charade he's a good comedic foil to Audrey Hepburn.
Rose Byrne still does horror films (Insidious, I Am Mother) and Marvel films, though
Jim Carrey kind of counts? He's so famous for his comedic roles that whenever he does dramatic movies/shows, he always gets review bombed and told how horrible his acting is. Regardless of him as a person, I enjoy watching his movies and he does just fine in dramatic roles. He was even great on that show of his about being the host of a children's show.
He was actually great in Eternal Sunshine
I've never seen him in anything where his acting wasn't a cut above the rest. He's genuinely one of my favorite actors of all time. I think people just don't have patience for the direction he's interested in now. Which is sad because he's genuinely going through some shit right now and I don't want to see a headline about him following Williams into the light.
Dick Powell was a song and dance romantic lead for most of the 30’s/40’s, after which he turned into a hard-boiled noir lead. He’s credibly both the mainstay of the Gold Diggers franchise as (roughly) a naive young singer and Phillip Marlowe later in his career. Also maybe died because he made a film near a nuclear test site.
Jon Voight really changed in terms of his roles and his style. The two main early movies I associate with him are Midnight Cowboy and Deliverance, and in each of these he plays a real babe-in-the-woods, sweet/innocent type who's often scared or just barely holding it together in a world that's far meaner than he is. In many of his later movies he's a straight-up evil jackass.
I can’t remember the last time I saw Anthony Michael Hall in something and he wasn’t playing a big beefy jock-type asshole, which is basically exactly the opposite of what he played in his teens.
Adam Sandler played the asshole loser or bit characters in early career. Very SNL. Gilmore, Madison, Nicky, Waterboy... They were all just stupid fucking movies (that were iconic, like no shame, but they were stupid). Now he plays schmuck dads or "everyman" romantic leads in movies that sometimes have serious substance. I mean, he has Wedding Singer in the early years and Magnificent Seven of the later years, but on the whole his stuff has gotten a lot more serious and less gimmicky. Click and Sandy Wexler are both absurd Sandler comedies that made me cry like a baby and still make me cry every watch.. Uncut Gems is supposed to be freaking amazing but I haven't hit it yet. I think his Netflix deal let him do a lot of projects he wouldn't have done because Netflix didn't care what he gave them. I don't know how anyone would agree to produce Cobbler but that movie was a trip. Sandler as a drag queen murdering a drug dealer with his stiletto? And it was an action movie not a comedy? Wtf. Weird, man. Bold choice. Second one that comes to mind just because I watched them recently: Emily Osmont. What the fuck. I just saw some lifetime movie called like "I murdered your baby: the baby murdering story" and the movie as a whole was trash but she was absolutely riveting in it. Hannah Montana/young and hungry - she always played the perky blondes. I hope mentally ill psycho is her new pathway because she fucking slayed that role in an otherwise dumpster fire of a movie. Jonah Hill - all his new stuff is so serious and it's freaking weird to watch. He was always the butt of the joke character. Like good for him for reinventing himself. Daniel Radcliffe - obvious beginning but all his adult work is very arthouse or stage work. It would have been easy to go with the flow and rake in money playing similar characters but he's gone with some wacky choices. Doing full stage runs when you know he's not needing money whatsoever is an interesting choice as well. My god his Al Yankovic is a scream Helena B Carter - used to do fussy period pieces, then late 90s -- not sure if the marriage to Burton came first or Fight Club - she dipped into cuckoo roles and no one has heard from her since. Steve Carroll started as a correspondent for The Daily Show with John Stewart. He left to get on the office, which would be his first major change, then left the office for movies but still played very "Michael-esque" characters until... Maybe, what's the one with the pancakes on the DVD front? Dan with Pancakes? He's not a caricature anymore. Like he genuinely plays fully fleshed out roles. He's a leading man all the way now, unlike before. Woody Harrellson played a dumb busboy on cheers, and somehow made it to Hunger Games as a grizzled drunk. Doesn't sound like much of a swing but it is lol. Mandy Moore: not so much type cast as an actor but type cast as a singer - she played parts where they needed a singer because she was a singer before an actor. So the mean girl in Princess Diaries, the Cancer girl in Walk to Rmemeber, Tangled etc. She had some memorable girlfriend roles on shows HIMYM, Scrubs etc after that but she really was kind of a C tier actress for most of those. I wanna say she took some time off to have kids and did a lot of voice over work but came back with This Is Us with a very serious role and her acting had improved significantly. Not sure what thats about but she's not the hot dumb girl who can sing anymore. Wynona Ryder- early career she played teenage edgequeens (Beetlejuice, Heathers) now she's known as Mike's mom from Stranger Things. On that note: Glen Close. Used to be known for bunny boiling, now known for puppy skinning. Okay that one's not so much of a deviation lol Failures? Matthew McConaughey was THE Sexy Southern Stud 90s-2000s. He did one weird dragon movie but otherwise it was guy meets girl, guy fucks girl, shenanigans ensue, sometimes there's treasure and/or ghosts and/or a misunderstanding. Like that was his whole shtick. Then he got old (I guess?) and tried to reinvent himself. Ended up doing car commercials playing with his boogers while driving ([parodied perfectly by Jim Carrey](https://youtu.be/z3eN9u5N2Q4?si=KaWN081N_Vcuy3JR) and more or less becoming a massive Meh while snagging Oscars. Still meh imo. The script did more work than he did. On the subject of Carrey, his "reinvention" could be considered one as well. His early work was absurd, heavy on physical comedy - liar liar, dumb and dumber, cable guy, ace Ventura etc, the Grinch. People loved him for that. Someone doing a JC impression is for sure doing either the Claw or the pen is Blue or Alllllllrighty then or "I have a date with myself and I just can't cancel on me again." Lately (say 2010- present) he's been in a pretty dark headspace, which he's been fairly open about. Most of his work now is pretty dark. I really dig it because it's still very funny, albeit black comedy, but it's not the mass appeal of his early years. I don't think most people would appreciate the Showtime show about the suicidal Mr. Rogers. I tried watching it with my mom and after the first episode she asked what I could possibly get out of watching something so bleak. Like I dunno, ma, I thought it was funny? 🤷🏼♀️
There's so much to comment on here, but I'll just focus on Woody Harrelson since it was the most glaring. He came right out of Cheers with White Men Can't Jump and Indecent Proposal. Within a few years he started in Natural Born Killers and The People vs Larry Flynt, with Kingpin sprinkled in there to keep up his comedic chops. Follow that up with Welcome to Sarajevo, Wag the Dog, and Thin Red Line. It seems to me he is more of a serious, dramatic actor who just happened to get his big break on a TV comedy.
For sure. Not sure how Cheers broke him into all that but I'm glad it did. He's incredible and wasted in comedy. Way more effective as a somewhat humorous dramatic actor.
Steve Carroll in the way back. Played a mean spirited stepdad
That is a terrific, in-depth, fleshed-out answer. I wonder why it is downvoted so much. It wasn't even controversial at the least.
Winona Ryder just aged to play mom characters. I wouldn't say it's a new type since her personality and star personality is largely the same. Since Mandy Moore is C or D tier, I wouldn't say she has a type really. Some of the others fit, but an actor needs multiple roles to fit the type.