History Main / MetaCasting

** He was cast as ''Film/IronMan'' not only because he is a good actor, but has had problems in the past with drug abuse. That added extra weight to a man who is struggling to redeem himself for past mistakes; a man who is also known for having problems with alcohol. Robert Downey Jr. IS Tony Stark for most practical purposes.

** The most extreme example is Creator/TomBaker, who played the Fourth Doctor. He insists ([[TrollingCreator although there's ample evidence against it]]) that he just performed his lines as himself at first and was surprised that people kept sending him fanmail [[RealityIsUnrealistic praising his outrageous and over-the-top persona]]; when asked in an interview by Horror Channel to describe his Doctor in a word, answered "I can do it in two: Tom Baker". He was cast in the role due to Barry Letts being impressed by Baker's naturally loopy personality and, as neither Terrence Dicks nor Creator/RobertHolmes had much of an initial direction for the Fourth Doctor's personality, both of them admitted to having just written the character to be like the actor. This, combined with AlterEgoActing (he disliked appearing publicly as himself while playing the role and tried to stay in character as much as possible) did lead to him becoming LostInCharacter, so none of the others have done it to quite the same extent.

* ''Series/IronFist2017'': Given the duality motif of [[ComicBook/TyphoidMaryMarvelComics Typhoid Mary]], it only seems appropriate that for her live action portrayal, she's played by Creator/AliceEve, who sports heterochromia (her left eye is blue and right eye is green).

* ''Series/IronFist2017'': Given the duality motif of [[ComicBook/TyphoidMaryMarvelComics Typhoid Mary]], it only seems appropriate that for her live action portrayal, the role was given to Creator/AliceEve, who sports heterochromia (her left eye is blue and right eye is green).

** Edward Norris, a former Baltimore Police Commissioner who had a somewhat controversial career that ended in an indictment and a felony conviction, plays a fictionalized version of himself that is a Homicide detective. His lack of respect for the current Commissioner is a running gag. And since the first season was shot while he was still in office, many things he says cross into borderline SelfDeprecation:

* Creator/SamuelLJackson was cast as ComicBook/NickFury because [[ComicBook/UltimateMarvel Ultimate]] Nick Fury's character design was [[ComicBookFantasyCasting based on him anyway]], and part of the contract letting them use his likeness stipulated he got first refusal on any live-action film using the character.

* In ''Film/MagicMike'', Michael "Mike" Lane is portrayed by Creator/ChanningTatum, who worked as a male stripper in Florida just like his character.

* * ActorSharedBackground -- The role is written with the actual (non-acting) history of the actor in place. A few former criminals with jail time (read: the likes of Creator/DannyTrejo) have gained a history of playing hardened criminals.

* ActorSharedBackground -- The role is written with the actual (non-acting) history of the actor in place. A few former criminals with jail time (read: the likes of Creator/DannyTrejo) have gained a history of playing hardened criminals.

** "Karen", the onboard AI in Peter's Spider suit, is voiced by Creator/JenniferConnelly, who is in real life the wife of Creator/PaulBettany, who voiced JARVIS and now plays The Vision.

** Edward Norris, a former Baltimore Police Commissioner who had a somewhat controversial career that ended in an indictment and a felony conviction, plays a fictionalized version of himself that is a Homicide detective. His lack of respect for the current Commissioner is a running gag. The first season was shot while he was still in office, so he often says things that cross into borderline SelfDeprecation:

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': Creator/AdamWest (but of course) plays a washed-up actor who is frustrated that nobody can think of him as anything but his most famous role. Other actors might have been able to portray it better, but no one else could have given it that added level of irony. And then producer Bruce Timm playing the crazy fan in the episode (complete as an InkSuitActor) really hits it home. The episode was written specifically for West - if West hadn't been available then the episode wouldn't have been made at all.

* Futaba, Ichigo, and Rin from ''Manga/SoreGaSeiyuu'' were all voiced by relatively new voice actresses since the characters are also rather new to the industry (well, Futaba and Ichigo are).

** The Eleventh Doctor's actor Creator/MattSmith bought his own... astonishing physicality to the role. Behind the Scenes stuff shows that he's even more of a clumsy loon than his character. He broke sonic screwdrivers on a regular basis and impulsively kissed his co-star Arthur Darvill in a ThrowItIn moment, and as a boy he was on the books of UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball teams Northampton Town, Nottingham Forest, Leicester City, captaining the latter's youth team before injury forced him out of football - though he [[CastShowOff did demonstrate his skills during one episode]].

* French actor Meta Creator/PatrickDewaere played a lot of misfit, fragile, drugged, neurotic individuals. Which he was in RealLife.

** Sgt. Jay Landsman is the supervisor of the Homicide unit. He is named after a real guy, who was a subject in David Simon's book ''Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets''. The real Jay Landsman also appears in ''The Wire''...as Lt. Dennis Mello, Major Colvin's NumberTwo in the Western District. This results in even more MindScrew in a season 5 scene that features Mello with JustForFun/JohnMunch (who was based on the real Landsman) and Gus Haynes (Creator/ClarkJohnson, Richard Belzer's former castmate from ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreets'', David Simon's predecessor work before ''The Wire'').

** Melvin Williams, a former gangster arrested by co-creator Ed Burns, was one of the inspirations for Avon Barksdale. Williams himself appears in seasons 3 and 4 of ''The Wire'' in the recurring role of the Deacon, who plays a major role helping out Cutty and Colvin.

** Sgt. Jay Landsman is the supervisor of the Homicide unit. He is named after a real guy, who was a subject in David Simon's book ''Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets''. The real Jay Landsman also appears in ''The Wire''...as Lt. Dennis Mello, Major Colvin's NumberTwo in the Western District. This results in even more MindScrew in a season 5 scene that features Mello with JustForFun/JohnMunch (who was based on the real Landsman) and Gus Haynes (Creator/ClarkJohnson, Richard Belzer's former castmate from ''Series/{{Homicide}}'', David Simon's predecessor work before ''The Wire'').

** Edward Norris, a former Baltimore Police Commissioner who had a somewhat controversial career that ended in an indictment and a felony conviction, plays a fictionalized version of himself that is a Homicide detective. His lack of respect for the current Commissioner is a running gag. As the first season was shot while he was still in office, some of his remarks cross into borderline SelfDeprecation:

** Sgt. Jay Landsman is the supervisor of the Homicide unit. He is named after a real guy, who was a subject in David Simon's book ''Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets''. The real Jay Landsman also appears in ''The Wire'' as Lt. Dennis Mello, Major Colvin's NumberTwo in the Western District.
** Anthony Collichio is a Western District plainclothes officer who takes the soldier's mentality to policing, the kind of policing that Bunny Colvin decries as detrimental to the job. Fittingly, he's played by Benjamin Busch, who is a United States Marine Reserve Corps officer.

** Creator/JonPertwee was cast as a comic actor and was intended at first to be a comedy character, but eventually, they settled upon basing the Doctor's personality on Pertwee's just, enthusiastic, serious and elegant natural one. This came as a big shock to people used to his comedy roles. Another bit of meta came out after his death. Three's secret agent antics and love of gadgets? Turns out Pertwee ''was'' in British Intelligence during World War II, instructing spies on the latest and greatest espionage gear of the era.

** The Eleventh Doctor's actor Creator/MattSmith bought his own... astonishing physicality to the role, and Creator/PeterCapaldi (the Twelfth) has said that the Doctor has a lot more of his natural personality in him than his other famous role, [[Series/TheThickOfIt Malcolm Tucker]].

* Creator/ChristopherReeve in his role in ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' as Virgil Swann. The past Superman is telling the current Superman where he came from and who he is. Often considered the [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome crowning moment of awesome]] for the show. Punctuated by the use of music from his Superman movies during his scenes. Creator/MargotKidder also appeared in one of Reeve's episodes.

* Creator/TomHanks is dubbed "The Nicest Man In Hollywood", so ''of course'' he is cast to play the ultimate NiceGuy himself, [[Series/MisterRogersNeighborhood Mr. Rogers]] in the {{Biopic}} ''Film/ABeautifulDayInTheNeighborhood'' (even though the two[[Main/AbilityOverAppearance (look nothing alike]]).

* Creator/TomHanks is dubbed "The Nicest Man In Hollywood", so ''of course'' he is cast to play the ultimate NiceGuy himself, [[Series/MisterRogersNeighborhood Mr. Rogers]] in the {{Biopic}} ''Film/ABeautifulDayInTheNeighborhood'' [[Main/AbilityOverAppearance (even though the two looks nothing alike).]]

* Creator/RobertRodriguez-favorite Creator/DannyTrejo, a Mexican ex-con who got into acting after leaving his past behind. As a result of his past, he almost always plays TheBrute-type characters, like in ''Film/{{Desperado}}'', ''Film/{{Heat}}'', ''Film/{{Predators}}'', ''Film/FromDuskTillDawn'', and ''Film/{{Machete}}''.

** The most extreme example is Creator/TomBaker, who played the Fourth Doctor. He insists ([[TrollingCreator although there's ample evidence against it]]) that he just performed his lines as himself at first and was surprised that people kept sending him fanmail [[RealityIsUnrealistic praising his outrageous and over-the-top persona]]; when asked in an interview by Horror Channel to describe his Doctor in a word, answered "I can do it in two: Tom Baker". He was cast in the role due to Barry Letts being impressed by Baker's naturally loopy personality and, as neither Creator/TerenceDicks nor Creator/RobertHolmes had much of an initial direction for the Fourth Doctor's personality, both of them admitted to having just written the character to be like the actor. This, combined with AlterEgoActing (he disliked appearing publicly as himself while playing the role and tried to stay in character as much as possible) did lead to him becoming LostInCharacter, so none of the others have done it to quite the same extent.

** The most extreme example is Creator/TomBaker, who played the Fourth Doctor. He insists ([[TrollingCreator although there's ample evidence against it]]) that he just performed his lines as himself at first and was surprised that people kept sending him fanmail [[RealityIsUnrealistic praising his outrageous and over-the-top persona]]; when asked in an interview by Horror Channel to describe his Doctor in a word, answered "I can do it in two: Tom Baker". He was cast in the role due to Barry Letts being impressed by Baker's naturally loopy personality and, as neither Creator/TerrenceDicks nor Creator/RobertHolmes had much of an initial direction for the Fourth Doctor's personality, both of them admitted to having just written the character to be like the actor. This, combined with AlterEgoActing (he disliked appearing publicly as himself while playing the role and tried to stay in character as much as possible) did lead to him becoming LostInCharacter, so none of the others have done it to quite the same extent.