History Main / SignificantDoubleCasting

** Done by sheer coincidence in ''Series/PowerRangersMysticForce'': when adapting ''Series/MahouSentaiMagiranger'', the producers realized that Creator/MachikoSoga had played Rita Repulsa in ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'', the very first series, as well as the Mystic Mother in ''Mystic Force''. [[spoiler:The Mystic Mother eventually admits that she was "known as Rita in the dark days." The fact that Rita had been hit by the purification wave unleashed by Zordon's HeroicSacrifice in the ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'' finale provided a convenient method for them to be the same person]].

* In ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', Creator/MegumiHayashibara provides the voices of both Rei Ayanami and Yui Ikari, alluding to Rei's true identity as Yui's clone. While the original English dub of the anime series gave them different voice actors, the dub of ''End of Evangelion'', as well as the Amazon Prime redub of the ''[[Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion Rebuild]]'' films, would give them both the same VA: Creator/AmandaWinnLee.

* In ''Film/MirrorMask'', Helena's mother and father (Gina McKee and Rob Brydon) are also the Queen (both the good and evil) and Prime Minister of her dream world.
* ''Film/{{Moebius|2013}}'': The same actress, Lee Na-ra, plays both the wife of the cheating husband, and the mistress that the husband is cheating with. This fits in with the film's themes of incest and sexual obsession, as the son becomes sexually attracted to the mistress before eventually having sex with his mother.

Frequently in fiction, and especially in theatre, the same actor will [[ActingForTwo play multiple roles]]. Sometimes this will just be for the sake of convenience, and not meaningful to the plot; after all, if an actor is going to show up at the theatre every night to perform, you might as well take as much advantage of their skills as possible. However, sometimes there are reasons for the same actor playing two parts that are symbolic or have some subliminal impact on the story. Hence, SignificantDoubleCasting.

* On ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', Max Grodenchik plays Rom, the younger and less-respected brother of Quark the bartender. In one specific episode ("Body Parts"), Quark has a dream where he's in the Divine Treasury ([[ProudMerchantRace Ferengi]] Heaven) and meets Gint, the first Grand Nagus -- who is also played by Max Grodenchik, a similarity that Quark immediately notes. On the one hand, it helps represent that fact that Rom, despite being the resident CloudCuckoolander, also has a sense of practicality that Quark often doesn't, with Dream!Gint trying to give Quark some practical advice. On the other hand, [[spoiler:it also foreshadows the fact that Rom will become the next Grand Nagus]].

* In ''Film/MirrorMask'', Helena's mother and father (Joanne Campbell and Rob Brydon) are also the Queen and Prime Minister of her dream world.

** In ''VideoGame/BlazBlueCalamityTrigger'', the voice cast listing during the staff roll has the [=VAs=] for Hakumen and Nu-13 replaced with question marks. [[spoiler:It isn't until the True End that it's revealed that Jin and Hakumen share the same [=VAs=] [[MyFutureSelfAndMe by being the same person]], and that Noel and Nu ([[VideoGame/BlazBlueContinuumShift and later Lambda]]) share [=VAs=] by being clones of the same person]], Ragna and Jin's younger sister Saya.]]

* In ''Manga/DragonBall'', Demon King Piccolo and Kami (AKA God) are voiced by Creator/TakeshiAono due to them originally being a single entity. In the English dub, both characters as well as Piccolo Jr. are voiced by [[Creator/ChristopherSabat Chris Sabat]]. (A number of parent and child pairs in the series are also voiced by the same actor, most notable with Creator/MasakoNozawa as Goku and his kids.)

-->'''Jenny:''' It makes sense if you think like your father.

** In ''VideoGame/BlazBlueCalamityTrigger'', the voice cast listing during the staff roll has the [=VAs=] for Hakumen and Nu-13 replaced with question marks. [[spoiler:It isn't until the True End that it's revealed that Jin and Hakumen share the same [=VAs=] [[MyFutureSelfAndMe by being the same person]], and that Noel and Nu ([[VideoGame/BlazBlueContinuumShift and later Lambda]]) share [=VAs=] [[CloningBlues by being clones of the same person]], Ragna and Jin's younger sister Saya.]]

* Creator/OrsonWelles's 1948 version of ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' had each of the actors playing the witches appear as another character. Brainerd Duffield played the First Murderer, Peggy Webber played Lady Macduff and Lurene Tuttle played the Gentlewoman. This version also expands the witches' roles into TheChessmaster, having them manipulating the events of the story.

** Pulled again in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty''. When Raiden first meets Lt. J.G. Iroquois Pliskin, the subtitles actually make sure to explicitly credit Pliskin as being voiced by Creator/DavidHayter in English and Creator/AkioOtsuka in Japanese, the same actors as protagonist Solid Snake. What makes things confusing is that the Big Shell station Raiden and Pliskin have infiltrated is said to be held hostage by someone calling themselves Solid Snake, and the real Snake should be dead either way. [[spoiler:As it turns out, the "Solid Snake" that's been holding the Big Shell hostage is his brother Solidus, looking and sounding absolutely nothing like the the real Snake, who unsurprisingly has been in disguise as Pliskin the whole time. This is muddied by the voice casts between languages: Solidus is also voiced by Akio Ohtsuka in Japanese, but unlike Pliskin has a completely different voice actor in English.]]

* In the original radio version of ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', Bill Wallis plays both Prosser (the man in charge of demolishing Arthur's house to make way for a new road) and Jeltz (the alien in charge of demolishing Arthur's planet to make way for a new hyperspace route).

* ''Sandbox/SilenceTheWhisperedWorld2'' has the [[spoiler:two girls that die in the prologue]] be the guards of the gate from Chapter 3.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'':

* In ''Anime/AfroSamurai'' and its spin-off game, Afro and Ninja Ninja are both voiced by Creator/SamuelLJackson, and it is eventually revealed that [[spoiler: the latter is a figment of the former's imagination]].
* [[spoiler:Yhwach]] in the ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' anime shares [[Creator/TakayukiSugo the same voice actor]] with Zangetsu [[spoiler:because the supposed Zangetsu is in fact an impostor whose image is a reflection of how Yhwach appeared 1000 years prior to the main story.]]

* In ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}} Evolution-R'', the man who hires Lina to protect him from the assassin Zuuma has the same actor, hinting what his "long business trips" ''really'' are.

* In ''WebVideo/SwordArtOnlineAbridged'', [[Creator/TeamFourStar Curtis "Takahata101" Arnott]] voices both [[BigBad Kayaba Akihiko]] and guild leader Heathcliff, foreshadowing that [[spoiler:the latter is the {{GMPC}} persona of the former. This is all the more impressive since in all but the European Spanish dub of ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'', Kayaba and Heathcliff are portrayed by different [=VAs=] to preserve TheReveal, but [=Takahata101=] is able to give them distinct voices himself.]]

[[quoteright:280:[[Film/{{Jumanji}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/significant_double_casting.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:280:Creator/JonathanHyde as Alan's greatest [[WellDoneSonGuy childhood]] and [[EgomaniacHunter adulthood]] fears.]]

Frequently in fiction, and especially in theatre, the same actor will [[ActingForTwo play multiple roles]]. Sometimes this will just be for the sake of convenience, and not meaningful to the plot; after all, if an actor is going to show up at the theatre every night to perform, you might as well take as much advantage of their skills as possible. However, sometimes there are reasons for the same actor playing two parts that are symbolic or have some subliminal impact in the story. Hence, SignificantDoubleCasting.

[[quoteright:280:[[Film/{{Jumanji}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/significant_double_casting.jpg]]]]

** In [[WesternAnimation/TheLegoMovie2TheSecondPart the sequel]], Creator/ChrisPratt pulls double duty playing both Emmett and Rex Dangervest, to symbolically emphasize their status as {{Foil}}s. [[spoiler:Except that's not quite true. The ''actual'' reason he plays both is because Rex ''is'' Emmett; he's Emmett’s EvilCounterpart from a BadFuture.]]

* The first ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' anime had both the Elrics' mother and Sloth being voiced by the same actress; [[spoiler:Sloth ends up being the Homunculus created when the brothers tried to use human transmutation to bring their mother back to life]].

** Pulled again in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty''. When Raiden first meets Lt. J.G. Iroquois Plissken, the subtitles actually make sure to explicitly credit Plissken as being voiced by Creator/DavidHayter in English and Creator/AkioOtsuka in Japanese, the same actors as protagonist Solid Snake. What makes things confusing is that the Big Shell station Raiden and Plissken have infiltrated is said to be held hostage by someone calling themselves Solid Snake, and the real Snake should be dead either way. [[spoiler:As it turns out, the "Solid Snake" that's been holding the Big Shell hostage is his brother Solidus, looking and sounding absolutely nothing like the the real Snake, who unsurprisingly has been in disguise as Plissken the whole time. This is muddied by the voice casts between languages: Solidus is also voiced by Akio Ohtsuka in Japanese, but unlike Plissken has a completely different voice actor in English.]]

** In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'', George Allster and Rau le Creuset are both played by Creator/ToshihikoSeki, which becomes significant when le Creuset encounters George's daughter Fllay and starts messing with her head.