10 Actors You Didn't Know Played TWO Characters On TV Shows
When the casting pool runs out of actors.
Even the most modest TV show is typically comprised of a huge cast of actors, from the semi-permanent main ensemble to an array of periodic supporting characters and a ton of fleeting one-off roles.
The years-long nature of TV production typically allows showrunners to get away with a lot of minor discrepancies over the course of a series' run, be it continuity errors, lore contradictions or, more boldly, literally recycling prior actors in new roles.
These 10 actors, then, wound up playing two characters on a hit TV series, whether out of necessity due to a small casting pool, the showrunners (rightly) thinking most viewers wouldn't notice, or occasionally, for actual artistic effect.
Indeed, the vast majority of audiences never even noticed these dual roles from some of the most beloved TV shows of the last 20 years, no matter how prominent at least one of their characters was.
Needless to say, these re-used actors came as quite the shock to anyone deciding to revisit these series for the first time in a while...
10. Donald Glover - Atlanta
Donald Glover serves as not only the creator of FX's hit show Atlanta but also the star, playing downtrodden protagonist Earnest Marks across the series' two seasons to date.
But Glover also played a secret second character in the show's legendary season two episode "Teddy Perkins" - the creepy title character, in fact.
The episode sees Darius (Lakeith Stanfield) visiting Perkins to pick up a valuable piano, and in addition to being depicted as a deeply eccentric recluse, Perkins also touts peculiar, uncanny facial features not unlike those of a late-period Michael Jackson.
As it turns out, Perkins is actually played by Glover himself underneath a mountain of extremely convincing "whiteface" makeup.
Yet between the incredible physical transformation and his affected voice, many fans had no idea it was Glover at all, and even actor Derrick Haywood, who played Teddy's brother in the episode, didn't have a clue he was working opposite Glover.
To further sell the trickery, Glover wasn't credited for the part, with Perkins instead billed as played by "himself." Brilliant.