History Main / MasterOfDisguise

* Burke from AndrewVachss's books is no shapeshifter, given the hard-realistic setting, but with the aid of makeup, changes of clothes and putting on a different persona has been able to pass himself off as different people

* The Master in ''Series/DoctorWho'' tended to do this up to the point that BBC credited the actor with an acronym to keep up the suspense. [[Recap/{{DoctorWhoS19E7Time-Flight}} Leon Ny Taiy]] = Tony Ainley anyone?

** A sixth has appeared in the Conan series: [[spoiler: Shuichi Akai, who has been posing as Subaru Okiya to keep an eye on the Black Organization and protect Ai as he promised to her dead sister. Yukiko is the one who trained him, too.]]

* Several characters in ''SuperSentai'' can do this, mostly the Pink Rangers, but also quite prominently Soukichi Banba (aka Big One) from ''JAKQDengekitai''. One memorable battle from ''KyoryuSentaiZyuranger'' even had Mei fighting the villains' master of disguise, Lamie, with both often switching costumes.
** Also it is noted that in ''DaiSentaiGoggleFive'', Goggle Pink/Miki Momozono is designed to be a ShoutOut (or {{Expy}}) to CuteyHoney above, since she just needs to spin around to change clothes without flinging them off (even going as far as switching from Goggle suit to a sexy Flamenco dancer outfit ''right off bat'').
** Shurikenger made his own version. He has no name or human appearance. As a result he has [[TheOtherDarrin no]] [[MythologyGag definite]] [[HeyItsThatGuy actor]] other than his voice actor. His human form is always that of some passerby, played by a past sentai hero, until he reveals himself by transforming (with the past hero's transformation pose! Except Battle Kenya's; since they didn't have transformation poses, KenjiOhba's Shurikenger awesomely, hilariously does his ''SpaceSheriffGavan'' pose, which is ''much'' more elaborate than any sentai one.)
* The Dolls of JossWhedon's ''{{Dollhouse}}'' are imprinted with many different personalities for their engagements.

* David Bowie. He's been known to wear different costumes and came up with a lot of different alteregos. He's more than ''just'' a master of disguise... he's the '''Wizard''' of it.
* As with David Bowie, PeterSellers was a real-life example of this; he discovered his talent for mimicry and acting when he was in the RAF, playing pranks in which he successfully pretended to be various high-ranking officials.
* Eddie Murphy has made several films out of his ability to disguise himself as multiple characters. He even impersonated a white man in more than one comedy sketch. While Jim Carrey has a similar knack for facial contortions, he's generally unmistakable for Jim Carrey.
* Gary Oldman, anyone?
* Or Johnny Depp.
* And Madonna...at least according to [[AustinPowers Basil Exposition]] in her "Beautiful Stranger" video.
* If we're talking about ''real'' [[MasterOfDisguise Masters Of Disguise]], Lon Chaney Sr. blows all of the above out of the water. It's not as if Johnny Depp applies or designs his own characters' make-up ... let alone, ''invented'' it.

* Christopher Guest is so good at this most people don't realize it's the same guy in different films. To clarify, he is Nigel Tufnel in ''ThisIsSpinalTap''; the Six Fingered Man in ''Film/ThePrincessBride''; Corky St Claire in ''Film/WaitingForGuffman''; Harlan Pepper in ''BestInShow''; and Allan Barrows in ''Film/AMightyWind''.

** The MonsterOfTheWeek in "The Ballad of Scary Mary" is able to do this, disguising itself as other students and also enlarging itself to fight Sym-Bionic Titan. It takes advantage of ShapeshifterGuiltTrip

** Mercilessly parodied with Koharu and Yuuji, who use disguises not to conceal their identities but to disrupt their rivals's concentration. And to provide a whole [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Crowning Match Of Funny]]. [[spoiler: To beat them, Momo and Kaidoh had to ''become'' Masters of Disguise, using lucha libre masks to confuse them back.]]

* A rather curious subversion in KimagureOrangeRoad. Akane is ''not'' a shapeshifter herself, but a psychic... but her PsychicPowers include making ''you'' believe she's somebody else you know. As far as we know, neither Kyousuke nor his sisters can copy said ability.

* ''Literature/TheAvenger''. Richard Henry Benson, of the 1930's pulps was a master of disguise. He suffered a horrible emotional shock which deadened the nerves in his face which he could mold like putty. ([[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer Ah the innocence of the 30's!]]) He carried around a disguise kit with wig, contacts, make-up etc to go along with the putty face. Later when his face came back to life he invented a serum which had the same effect.

* Octupusses are well known to be much better at changing their color than even cameleons. The Mimic Octopus however, has specialized in impersonating completely different creatures like flatfish, snakes, giant shrimp, lion fish, seahorses, sea anemones, jellyfish, and seemingly [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8oQBYw6xxc whatever else it wants]]. It not only assumes the form of the creature, but also acts like one, fooling most other animals. In fact, their existence wasn't discovered until 1998.

** Part of ''WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower''[='=]s every episode was to watch the scenery for the character Loo-Kee, who tended to be hidden amongst the scenery. While sometimes he was easy to find, there were several times it was very difficult to pick him out of the background. I'm not sure if this would count as being a Master of Disguise, but it certainly makes him a Master of Hiding.

* ''Literature/TheAvenger''. Richard Henry Benson, of the 1930's pulps was a master of disguise. He suffered a horrible emotional shock which deadened the nerves in his face which he could mold like putty. ([[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer Ah the innocence of the 30's!]]) He carried around a disguise kit with wig, contacts, make-up etc to go along with the putty face. Later when his face came back to life he invented a serum which had the same affect.

* ''Literature/TheAvenger''. Richard Henry Benson, of the 1930's pulps was a master of disguise. He suffered a horrible emotional shock which deadened the nerves in his face which he could mold like putty. (I am not making this up!! Ah the innocence of the 30's!) He carried around a disguise kit with wig, contacts, make-up etc to go along with the putty face. Later when his face came back to life he invented a serum which had the same affect.

*** Then there the pastiche character, his sister, Literature/EnolaHolmes, who regularly fools ''him''. Knowing how he thinks certainly helps and she plans her disguises accordingly.

** At least once, Holmes's disguise was also mostly due to acting, in "The Final Problem"--Watson is supposed to meet Holmes at a train station, and instead is joined by an old Italian priest in a cassock. The priest changes his expression for a moment and Watson realizes it's Holmes. (The cassock is his only physical disguise.)

* TheShadow was, in the PulpMagazines, a disguise master as well.

* [[TheDragon Sauron]] in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' thanks to his [[{{Shapeshifter}} Shapeshifting]] ability. Beren and Luthien successfully disguise themselves as EliteMooks by wearing the pelts of their demonic enemies.

* OlderThanRadio example: Chilean LaResistance leader [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Rodríguez Manuel Rodríguez Erdoíza]].

* ''Literature/TheConfidenceMan'' has the confidence man himself. He sneaks on a riverboat on AprilFoolsDay, and puts on more than eight different disguises, becoming a different character tailored to be one that would be able to con money out of each passenger, all while testing the confidence in their morals and perception.

* Diabolik and his partner Eva Kant from the Italian comic ''{{Diabolik}}''.

* The Chameleon, an actor turned assassin who once came gunning for JonahHex.

* In ''Film/AdeleHasntHadHerDinnerYet'', Nick Carter is America's greatest detective and his disguises are "proverbially perfect", however, his intention to blend in with the crowd fails epically when he arrives in Prague. His books had perfect information about people and their life in the Bohemian countryside, but apparently not so much about life in towns, so he's immediately recognized by the Director of Police and a newsboy. Nick is also not pleased to learn that everything gets noised abroad in Bohemia and that his arrival was not kept a secret. However, his disguise as [[spoiler:Professor Bocek was amazing, down to MastorActor part]], and also his disguise as an Arabian gentleman when he was leaving for Egypt was truly impressive.

-->--'''Creator/DashiellHammett''', ''[[http://thrillingdetective.com/trivia/hammett2.html True Detective]]''

->''"I'm the master of disguise''
->''I can vanish from your eyes''
->''I can be in different places''
->''With my many friendly faces in disguise"''
-->--'''Robbie Rotten''' from ''LazyTown'', although his [[PaperThinDisguise disguises are less than masterful to the viewer]].

* In ''Film/AdeleHasntHadHerDinnerYet'', Nick Carter is America's greatest detective and his disguises are "proverbially perfect", however, his intention to blend in with the crowd fails epically when he arrives in Prague. His books had perfect information about people and their life in the Bohemian countryside, but apparently not so much about life in towns, so he's immediately recognized by the Director of Police and a newsboy. Nick is also not pleased to learn that everything gets noised abroad in Bohemia and that his arrival was not kept a secret. However, his disguise as an Arabian gentleman when he was leaving for Egypt was impressive.

* Mystique, ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'' - she's a shapeshifter, and is quite comfortable as either a man or a woman.
** On the other hand, she has more difficulty maintaining a shape that is different in mass than herself. For example, when she spent a few years pretending to be a Governor's wife, using the name Mallory Brickman, part of her disguise was that she was about twice her normal weight. Since she was going to have to maintain this image for a very long time, she gained weight, to bring her own mass up to the same amount as "Mallory".

* ComicBook/{{Batman}}

* The original ArseneLupin, gentleman thief, had this down to an art.

* Several PeterSellers characters. Some merely fancy themselves as this, such as [[ThePinkPanther Inspector Clouseau]], but others, like [[{{Lolita}} Claire Quilty]], are dangerously good at it. [[BeingThere Chance the Gardener]] has a knack for blending in. Also, Peter Sellers ''himself'': see, for example, ''DrStrangelove'' where he plays three characters.

* There are several [[strike:PrCs]] ''Prestige Classes'' in third edition DungeonsAndDragons that focus on this skill, focusing on creating and maintaining cover identities and gaining certain bonuses to using them. The [[strike:PrC]] ''Prestige Class'' descriptions mention that use of these methods is usually cover for less legal activities.
** Not everyone understands game jargon. Spell it out for the non-gamers who might be interested.
** There is also the basic skill usable to all characters 'Disguise', it's less effective though.