8 Great Actors Who Didn't Realise They Were Being Weirdly Typecast

2. Paul Dano Is...Mentally Ill

Paul Dano Prisoners Love And Mercy Swiss Army Man
Warner Bros, Roadside Attractions & A24

Some actors just have a knack for playing mentally ill, even unhinged characters, and Paul Dano sure has leaned into that over the course of his career.

Examples: Dano has played a serial killer (Taking Lives), a suicidal homeless man (The Good Heart), a young man with the IQ of a 10-year-old (Prisoners), a paranoid schizophrenic (Love and Mercy) and a suicidal man who believes a washed-up corpse has come to life (Swiss Army Man).

It's something of a running joke by this point that Dano seems so adept at playing deranged and lost souls, but at least to his credit he's played them in a wide variety of genres, from thriller, to drama, biopic and even off-kilter comedy, which from his perspective probably doesn't seem quite so samey.

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.