12 Actors Who Broke Typecasting In The Most Epic Way

5. Robin Williams - One Hour Photo

His Type

From Mork and Mindy onwards, Robin Williams was an affectionate goon, doing voices, mugging to camera and basically doing cartoonish characters. For the most part, he did outrageous comedies with larger than life figures who usually demanded wacky physical performances.

In essence, his charismatic roles were simply an extension of his early career as a stand-up comedian, and he similarly seemed to need those characters to be just as liked.

How He Broke It

Williams had done drama well in the past - such as in Good Will Hunting - but most of the time, he still made sure those characters were likeable (hence the appeal of his casting), but he turned everything down and the sinister factor right up for both Insomnia and One Hour Photo.

Without the laughs, One Hour Photo's portrait of a chilling psychopath, in particular, was completely alien to the rest of his CV. In place of mugging was a spine-tingling quiet and calm as his earnesty became something altogether more terrifying. He slipped into the role with scary ease.