10 Unusual Film Roles That Helped Actors Avoid Being Typecast

Even really good actors seem to fall into a certain type that they revert back to over and over again. Roles that are in their comfort zone, so they have confidence in their ability to perform. Think about Daniel Day-Lewis, one of the greatest actors alive -- even he has a type of character that he likes to portray. And really, you can't blame them. After all, the reason casting directors keep bringing them in for the same kind of roles is because they're pretty good at it. But then there are some actors who make a conscious effort to avoid being typecast, by strategically taking roles that are so far from their normal fare that filmmakers and audiences can€™t help but see them in a different light. It's never too late for an actor to reinvent themselves in the eyes of both the industry and audiences, if several entries on this list are any indication. All it takes is one role, and it will make people forget about everything that came before...

10. Anne Hathaway - Brokeback Mountain

Really, Brokeback Mountain could be considered the film that helped most of its lead actors avoid being typecast -- it was a huge departure for Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Michelle Williams just as it was for Hathaway. But she was probably the one out of the bunch who had the most defined image at that point, so this applies for her more than anyone else. Up until that point, she was mostly perceived as a doe-eyed, real-life Disney princess. She got her big break in The Princess Diaries, where she was a San Francisco teenager who discovers that she's actually the heir to the throne of a small European country. Hathaway followed that up with Ella Enchanted, where she played another innocent, chaste heroine. Brokeback Mountain gave her the opportunity to play a role that was a little bit more mature than her previous fare, but also helped her to redefine the type of actress she wanted to be seen as. After the success of the film, she seemed to have finally transitioned into her adult career, making films like Rachel Getting Married and Les Miserables, both of which garnered her critical praise and attention from the Academy.