20 performances that thwarted audience expectations

Even though David Tennant is no stranger to playing villains — he played Barty Crouch Jr. in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire — he is arguably best known for playing Doctor Who. He thus offered viewers a very different experience of him in the Marvel series Jessica Jones, where he played Kevin Thompson/Kilgrave. It’s one of Tennant’s most terrifying performances, as he seems to fully inhabit the mind and body of this abusive and manipulative monster. In Tennant’s capable hands, however, he becomes something more than just a cardboard villain. He instead comes to feel like a living, breathing human, with all of the complexities that entails. 

Jennifer Aniston is, in some ways, the quintessential girl-next-door, a persona she carefully cultivated during her time on Friends. In some ways, the character of Rachel Green has been a bit of a prison, but fortunately, Aniston has learned how to break out of the limitations imposed by the character’s popularity, particularly in the Apple TV series The Morning Show. Aniston’s character is ruthless and charismatic, determined to save her career as a journalist. The role demands a lot of Aniston, and she more than delivers. 

People who grew up in the 1990s probably first encountered Katey Sagal as the beautiful but lazy housewife Peg Bundy on Married…With Children. However, Sagal has repeatedly proved that she can act in anything. In Sons of Anarchy, she is electrifying as Gemma Teller Morrow, the matriarch of a motorcycle club. There’s something almost Shakespearean about her performance, which shows the many layers and depths of Gemma’s persona. Sagal has that intangible trait that can only be called star power, and she uses that to full effect to create this monstrous yet understandable mother figure.

If there is one contemporary actress who deserves the title of the funniest woman alive, it would have to be Melissa McCarthy. She is particularly well-known for her use of her body and her willingness to be an unruly woman. While some of these traits are in her role as the noted literary fraudster Lee Israel in Can You Ever Forgive Me?, it is mostly a more understated performance. McCarthy digs deep into this extraordinary woman’s life. Israel emerges as a brilliant but haunted individual whose ambitions always exceed her grasp. She is, ultimately, someone the audience can empathize with and understand, even if they disapprove of her actions.

Danny DeVito is one of his generation's most successful and hilarious comedic actors. Given his long history in comedy — particularly in the sitcom Taxi and in such films as Ruthless People — it must have been somewhat surprising to see him in Tim Burton’s superhero film Batman Returns, in which he plays the villain the Penguin. What’s especially remarkable about DeVito’s performance is the extent to which he gives viewers a richer and deeper understanding of this character’s horrifyingly tragic backstory, even as he also excels at making the character someone who is truly terrifying in the best Batman tradition. 

If there’s one thing Brad Pitt has been known for, it’s being a sex symbol. Whether as a vampire in Interview with the Vampire or a drifter in Thelma & Louise, his success has always been built on his good looks and sex appeal. However, he has also proved willing to take some risks with his roles, most notably in the Coen Brothers’ Burn After Reading, where he played a fitness enthusiast with looks without brains. What’s particularly remarkable about his performance is just how ridiculous it is, which is quite a brave move for someone like Pitt, who is usually on his dignity. It’s a delicious send-up of himself, and he succeeds marvelously.

Some actors wait a surprisingly long time for the role that finally allows them to shine, and such was certainly the case with The White Lotus, in which she played the well-meaning but self-centered Tanya McQuoid. Though Tanya is exactly the type of figure that Coolidge was known for playing, she still managed to thwart expectations by making Tanya the centerpiece of the entire show. There’s a certain tragic pathos to Coolidge’s performance in the series. Tanya is a woman desperate for connection and love even as she is so self-involved that she can rarely see outside herself. One can’t look away from her, even as her obliviousness becomes even more maddening. 

These days, Bryan Cranston is arguably best known for his chilling, terrifying, and electrifying performance as chemistry teacher-turned-drug dealer Walter White in the acclaimed drama Breaking Bad. Before this, however, he was best known for playing the father, Hal, in Malcolm in the Middle. He imbued Walter with an intensity that was quite disturbing at times, particularly the more Walter lost himself to his ego. Anyone who thought Cranston was merely a comedic actor was in for an awakening. More than any other in his career, this role demonstrated just how formidable Cranston’s acting talent is. 

By the time the horror comedy Lake Placid was released, Betty White was best known for playing the lovably naive Rose Nylund in the long-running and beloved sitcom The Golden Girls. It’s thus quite a joy to see her in this film featuring a killer giant crocodile, playing the foul-mouthed older lady Mrs. Delores Bickerman. Unlike Rose, Mrs. Bickerman not only swears with abandon; she also feeds cows to the croc and has no patience for anyone who trespasses on her territory. As she would throughout her screen career, White showed remarkable comedic timing, even when playing a woman who watched her husband get eaten by a crocodile and went on to adopt the beast as her own. 

Throughout its three seasons, Only Murders in the Building has become many people’s favorite murder mystery/comedy. Each season has managed to move the show in new and exciting directions while staying true to its roots. The third season threw a few curveballs into the mix, most notably by casting A-list Meryl Streep. Her character, Loretta Durkin, is shy and mousy, a rather odd role for someone of Streep’s talents. Nevertheless, Streep delivers one of her most subdued and nuanced performances, complete with some heartbreakingly beautiful musical numbers. It’s yet another testament to Streep’s remarkable versatility.

While the central trio of Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Richard Gere tend to dominate discussions of the hit musical film Chicago, John C. Reilly also deserves a great deal of credit for Amos Hart, the well-meaning but oblivious husband of heroine Roxie. Though Reilly was best known for his comedy roles, he more than excelled as Amos, including in his musical number. He ably captures Amos’ sense of hurt and anger when Roxie’s infidelity is revealed, and he manages to turn him into a figure that is more than just a loser but is instead something of a tragic and unappreciated hero. 

Heath Ledger made his name in Hollywood playing a romantic leading man — both in romantic comedies and dramas like Brokeback Mountain —  so it was all the more remarkable when he was cast as the psychopathic Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. The role indelibly imprints itself in the viewer's mind, and one can’t look away. Ledger’s Joker will willingly destroy the world just for the pure joy of causing chaos, and the character’s ongoing popularity is a testament to the actor’s great talent and the risk he took in taking on the role. 

The vampire novels of Anne Rice were beloved from the late ‘70s and into the ‘90s, thanks in large part to her sumptuous prose and tortured vampiric protagonists. It all started with Interview with the Vampire. In 1996, it finally got the Hollywood treatment. Though Brad Pitt seemed made to play Louis, the eternally tormented vampire of the title, Tom Cruise raised a few eyebrows, including Rice herself. Fortunately he more than succeeded in capturing the titanic ego and charismatic flamboyance of the vampire Lestat, arguably Rice’s most enduringly popular literary creation. Arrogant yet utterly charming, this vampire seems to draw the viewers and Louis into his dark and deadly world. 

Known for her statuesque beauty, Theron has also shown remarkable talent throughout her career. Arguably, her best and most terrifying performance is in the film Monster, in which she plays serial killer Aileen Wuornos. Theron seems to slide right into the role of this troubled soul, a woman who exists on the margins of society and endures quite a lot of abuse before she finally snaps and lashes out at the men whom she sees responsible for her misery. Theron’s performance is somehow both empathetic and monstrous, allowing the viewer to see beyond the tabloids to see the human beneath. 

For a long time, Lady Gaga was more famous for her style and musicianship than her acting, but this began to change after her casting in the fourth season of Ryan Murphy’s anthology series American Horror Story.  She really showed off her acting talents, however, in Bradley Cooper’s A Star is Born, in which she plays Ally Maine, the young singer whose star starts to rise just as her husband’s begins to fall. There’s a wrenching pathos to Gaga’s delivery as she moves from ingenue to superstar. While her musical numbers sometimes steal the show, they in no way detract from her undeniable acting prowess. 

Eddie Murphy has long been associated with comedy, and he was, in fact, one of the biggest comedy stars of the 1980s and 1990s. However, he has repeatedly shown that he has a remarkable range, and nowhere is this more evident than in Dreamgirls, where he plays the character of James (Jimmy) "Thunder" Early. Murphy makes the most out of his moments on-screen, ably conveying the tragedy of a man whose own career goes into eclipse and who cannot quite deal with that fact. His performance is evidence, if any more were needed, that there is far more to him than just the earthy and bombastic comedy for which he is mostly known.

Kristen Stewart rose to prominence due to her performance as Bella Swan in the Twilight series, but in the years since then, she has gone on to show a remarkable range. Arguably, her finest performance is in the film Spencer,  where she plays Princess Diana during a particularly fraught stay at Sandringham. Part gothic tale and part melodrama, Stewart seems to completely lose herself in the role of Diana, to such an extent that it’s sometimes hard to see where the role actor begins and the role ends. More than almost any of her other performances, this one demonstrated that Stewart was truly a phenomenal acting talent. 

For quite a long time, Robert Pattinson was most associated with the role of Edward Cullen in the Twilight series. Since then, however, he has branched out, and he made a big leap when he began starring as Bruce Wayne/The Batman in The Batman. The role allows Pattinson to stretch his talents, and he more than delivers. He expertly conveys Wayne’s psychology and motivations. While there are clear evocations of some other men who have inhabited the role, Pattinson manages to make it his own. In the process, he demonstrates the extent to which he should be regarded as much more than just a teen idol.

Jim Carrey’s comedic antics were key to his star appeal throughout the 1990s, and his exuberant energy and elastic facial expressions served him well in films such as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. Slowly but surely, however, he moved into drama, frequently subverting audience expectations. He took more than a few risks in the film I Love You Phillip Morris, in which he plays con artist Steven Jay Russell, who falls in love with Ewan McGregor’s Phillip Morris while both in prison. Carrey is convincing in the role, and while he uses his plentiful comedic skills, he shows the audience how much Steven loves Phillip. It’s one of the roles in which Carrey keeps the various parts of his star persona in a delicate balance, and it works. 

For much of the early part of his career, Robin Williams was considered one of his generation's most talented comedic actors. Throughout the ‘90s and ‘00s, he also showed tremendous dramatic range, and he gives a particularly chilling performance in Insomnia. In the film he plays Walter Finch, a man who murdered a young woman after she mocked him. Just as Williams was so often able to find the hurt and the pain lurking in his comedic figures, he digs deep to find the darkness in Finch, a charismatic yet utterly terrifying man.