Which Role Suits You Best?
Which Roles Suits You Best?
You'll notice that every successful actor has a personality type that he or she plays best. For example: James Gandolphini plays the role of the gangster in almost all of his movies and is best known for his role as a gun-wielding, street-smart hard-headed tough from New York with an affinity for hot women as much as raw violence... Meanwhile, all of Jennifer Aniston's roles seem to portray a cute, quirky girl next door with an independent side.
As an actor, you will have to discover the archetype the works best for you. During this process, you will have to be extremely honest with yourself about your strengths, weaknesses so that you can play a believable version of this character.
Here is a list of my top five favorite archetypes portrayed on the silver screen as a quick reminder that if you want to make it big in Hollywood, you'll have to know what resonate with your personality. This will help you better find your voice as an actor on the silver screen. Ask yourself this question: which one of the role below are you best suited for?
5. Renee Zellweger
Typecast as: Quirky, romantic comedy star
Notable examples: New In Town, Bridget Jones Diary, Jerry McGuire
Renée Zellweger, often portrayed as the cute, quirky, love-obsessed girl, Renée Zellweger warms our hearts as the sweet, frisky, diary wielding actress with the soft, unique face and endearing Australian accent from Bridget Jones diary. Although Bridget Jones is the movie she is best known for, her other roles have leveraged her very unique physical and emotional attributes to add a sweet, simple, smouldering charm to their romantic comedy scripts.
4. Penelope Cruz
Typecast as: Feeble, Soft, Feminine Sexy Vixen
Notable examples: Twice Born, Blow, Broken Embrace
Penelope Cruz is a very interesting actress because of her very soft, exotic features and the fact that she is physically more attractive than virtually any, other girl in Hollywood, yet, there is unmistakable down-to-earth vibe about her personality that makes you quickly fall in love with her. Never pretentious, gorgeous and extremely feminine, she is often cast for romantic comedies requiring vulnerable, down-to-earth and spicy leading ladies.
3. George Clooney
Typecast as: Cool, Handsome Guy
Notable examples: One Fine Day, Criminal, Solaris
George Clooney has been in a wide variety of movies, from roles where he is the bad guy, like in Oceans 11 and Criminal to roles where he is the good guy, like In The Clouds and Tomorrowland. One thing is for sure: when directors need a charming, mild-mannered nice guy that doesn't have a bad bone in his body, they choose George Clooney.
2. Brad Pitt
Typecast as: Clever Badass
Notable examples: Spy Game, Inglorious Basterds, Kalifornia
Brad Pitt is a very interesting character because he thrives most when he plays complex, eccentric characters. You'll often find he gravitates towards eccentric roles, that emphasize his passion, street-smarts and versatility all wrapped up in a bad boy package. Although he is best-known for being a very handsome guy, you will never see him play the role of the soft, stuttering, bumbling idiot that you typically see in romantic comedies. He is almost always in cult favorite movies where the charming, good-looking bad boy gets his way using his wits first, only complimented and never led by his world-class good looks.
1. Angelina Jolie
Typecast as: Strong, Kickass Girl
Notable examples: Foxfire, Hackers, GIA
Angelina Jolie is a very rare bird. You'll notice that she is extremely tall and in exceptional shape, very gorgeous, yet, she can also play very clever and street-tough when needed. While she spent the majority of her early years on the silver screen as a street-smart, sexy vixen that twists men’s hearts into pretzels and always gets her way, later on in her career, she traded a little bit of her sex vixen side for roles that portray her as a little tougher, and a little more mainstream, yet, the DNA of her roles tend to be very similar; the hot, kick ass girl that always gets her way.
Which Archetype are you?
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