16 Movie Roles That Changed Actors’ Personalities Permanently, In Fans’ Opinions

Many actors put their all into their roles, doing everything they can to embody the character they’re playing. Sometimes, a part of that character stays with them long after the camera stops.

Recently, Redditor u/PumpkinCarvingisFun asked r/movies, “What’s a role that rubbed off on an actor/actress and permanently changed their personality off screen?”

Here are 16 of the most interesting replies:

1. “Angelina Jolie seemed like a weird ‘bad girl’ before starring in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, but after shooting in Cambodia, she devoted herself to human rights and charity causes.”

2. “The Truman Show and Man On The Moon caused an existential crisis for Jim Carrey. Since then, he’s seemed to have a very different personality and outlook on life.”

3. “Chris Pratt’s transformation for Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy not only seemed to change his personality but also seemingly completely changed the trajectory of his personal life.”

4. “Paul Walker became a huge car enthusiast after The Fast and the Furious. Unfortunately, it quite literally led to his demise.”

5. “I wouldn’t say permanently, but for a long time, after Elvis, Austin Butler couldn’t talk without the accent, and I think in that entire time he couldn’t get rid of the accent, he changed.”

6. “Tom Hanks. His follow-up collaborations with Spielberg after Saving Private Ryan [in which he played John H. Miller] show how much of an impact that movie had on his understanding of WWII and his empathy for the people who fought in it.”

7. “After the biopic Great Balls of Fire!, Dennis Quaid became Jerry Lee Lewis for a while in the ’90s. It was annoying and exhausting.”

8. “Val Kilmer couldn’t shake Jim Morrison, whom he played in the biopic The Doors, for years.”

9. “Jeff Goldblum played a character called Ian Malcom in Jurassic Park, and he has been acting like that character to this day. I miss when he used to really act.”

10. “Leslie Nielsen [who played Dr. Rumack] and Lloyd Bridges [who played Steve McCroskey] were both dramatic actors before Airplane!, and their performances there caused them to spend the rest of their careers in comedy.”

11. “100% Al Pacino after playing as Lt. Col. Frank Slade in Scent of a Woman. A lot of late-era Pacino mannerisms are right out of this role. ‘Hoo-ahhhh!,’ the growling affectation, wandering head and eyelines.”

12. “Christopher Walken was an up-and-coming leading man until he played a weirdo [Corporal Nikanor Chevotarevich] in The Deer Hunter. He has been typecast as such ever since, and I think he just leaned into that IRL.”

13. “Jeff Bridges IS The Dude [from The Big Lebowski] now.”

14. “Ryan Reynolds was already a massive fan of Deadpool, but after the film was successful, you saw a lot less The Voices and Mississippi Grinds coming from him.”

15. “There’s an old movie called Born Free about a couple in Kenya who care for lion cubs before sending two of them to a zoo in Europe. Elsa is the cub who stays behind, and the couple decide to return her to the wild. Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers, who played Joy and George Adamson, were so moved by the true story of the Adamsons and Elsa that [several years later] they gave up acting and became activists.”

16. And finally: “James Cromwell became a pretty outspoken animal rights activist because of his role as Arthur Hoggett in Babe.”

Which actors do you think were profoundly or permanently changed by a role they played on a TV show? Why? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Some responses have been edited for length/clarity.