10 Actors Who Can't Help But Play Themselves

by Andrew Pollard

1. Robert Downey Jr.

Robert Downey Jr. is Hollywood myth; the flawed icon that was down and out yet climbed back to the top of the mountain. In his youth, the young RDJ took the playboy lifestyle to the extreme. After first experiencing marijuana at the age of 6, Downey Jr. would go on to become a serial womaniser and experience several drug-related run-ins with the law. Before his stint in prison, Downey Jr. gained critical acclaim for his role as Julian Wells, a drug-reliant playboy, in Less Than Zero. A sign of things to come, maybe? Despite several relapses throughout the '90s and into the early '00s, Downey Jr. still had a fan-following and would often receive high praise for his work when he was able to perform. Once RDJ began to get his life on track in 2001, his career saw a phoenix-like rebirth. With acclaimed turns in the likes of A Scanner Darkly, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Zodiac, Downey Jr.'s star was on the rise, culminating in super-stardom when 2008 saw him playing Tony Stark in Jon Favreau's Iron Man. His reputation once again cemented, Downey. Jr has continued to impress and is at the highest peak of his career to date. Throughout all of this, the ups, the downs, one thing has remained constant: Robert Downey Jr. is always Robert Downey Jr. Be it stood outside a courthouse or on the big screen as Iron Man, there is always that undeniable charisma and charm that is infinitely Robert Downey Jr. to its very core. It's gotten to the point now where the Marvel comic books have had to change their version of Tony Stark, a version that has been around since 1963, to make him more like Robert Downey Jr. I guess that's the definition of 'owning the role,' no? Exception To The Rule: In Ben Stiller's Tropic Thunder, Downey Jr. played Kirk Lazarus, an Australian method actor. The exception to the rule here isn't necessarily that there aren't any Downey Jr. traits on display - there certainly are, particularly the comedic subtleties - but it's more the fact that he plays a character who undergoes pigmentation alteration to darken his skin in order to fully immerse himself in the character of Sergeant Lincoln Osiris. So there's my list. There's a few near-misses, mainly Adam Sandler and Sylvester Stallone, but I was trying to look at a few different options here. What's your thoughts on actors rehashing the same performances film after film? Let me know in the comments section below.
Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.