12 Actors Who Broke Typecasting In The Most Epic Way

4. Albert Brooks - Drive

His Type

For most people of a certain age, Albert Brooks is most recognisable - or at least his voice is - as Marlin in FInding Nemo, but the reason he was cast by Pixar there was mostly because of his recognisable type. He'd typically play neurotic, funny types with the slightest bubble of meanness under the surface but nothing approaching aggression.

Insecurity, nervousness and a touch of egotistical obsession ran through his characters, as those were very much the pillars of his early on-stage persona.

How He Broke It

Like Robin Williams, Brooks went villainous for his typecast-breaker, as Nicolas Winding Refn put his famed left-field imagination to good use to cast him as violent crime boss Bernie Rose.

He's not like a Joe Pesci in Goodfellas sort of evil, but his calm demeanour is surprisingly intimidating and there's absolutely no hint of his usual nervous shtick. It's a picture of restrained brilliance.