10 Unusual Film Roles That Helped Actors Avoid Being Typecast

5. Channing Tatum - 21 Jump Street

A brief summation of Channing Tatum's career until relatively recently goes as follows: dance, action, Nicholas Sparks, action, Nicholas Sparks. He either had to be the big, buff action hero, or the sensitive yet strong romantic lead in a tearjerker. There was no third option, and most people had to admit that his acting range wasn't exactly intimidatingly wide. But although Tatum was no Laurence Olivier by any stretch of the imagination, he did have one more big gun in his arsenal: comedy. Because underneath the big lummox exterior was an astute sense of comic timing and a willingness to go all out for a joke, as we learned in 21 Jump Street. Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill aren't the likeliest of bedfellows, but in this film they have a surprising level of chemistry that you normally only see in duos that have acted together several times before. This sudden revelation that Channing Tatum was funny gave him a little added legitimacy in the acting world, it gave him something else that people knew he could do well, and it caught the attention of people who had long since written him off.