The character you know and love walks off set on one side, and a couple of seconds later walks in on the other side, only he's wearing different clothes! And talking funny! And everyone's calling him Cousin Rick, not Fred!
For many a reason both solid and sordid, an actor might find themselves playing more than one role on the same show. It might be a twin brother (or cousin, aunt, etc. — television has never been fussy on the details). A male character may be put in drag to play his own mother, who looks a lot like him. More than a few action shows have had a lookalike try to frame the main character. Whatever the reason, the actor is Acting for Two. Sometimes more, depending on the role.
It happens occasionally in other media as well, but when the same actor plays multiple characters on TV or in a film, it usually has a very specific purpose. In theatre, it's just as often an economic use of talent. Often certain role-pairings become traditional, so for example some film versions of Peter Pan still cast the same actor for Hook and Mr Darling - even though they could afford two actors, and the stage tradition only arose because of their lack of scenes together. Maybe because it seems symbolic of... something.
This tradition goes way way back. Classical Greek drama was usually performed by two or three actors (wearing masks) plus chorus. As a result, you never see more than three principal characters at the same time, in very specific combinations: Hecuba talks to Cassandra and a Greek Herald, then Cassandra goes offstage (and changes masks) and comes back on as Andromache, then Andromache and the Herald go offstage and come back as Helen and Menelaus... To this day "doubling" of roles is common in theatre, especially in No Budget productions.
See Double Vision for a look at how they manage the trick of getting an actor on-screen more than once, when needed.
Understandably this happens a lot in animation, because one person playing two characters can get pretty difficult in live-action if you want both to be in the same scene at some point, whereas the only hurdle you have to overcome with animation is the two characters sounding too similar, unless their voice actor differentiates their voice enough. Not to be confused with Talking to Themself, in which the actor plays different personalities of a single character in-story. For the other kind of "acting for two," see Hide Your Pregnancy. Contrast Making Use of the Twin, where an actor happens to have a twin who's cast in order to avoid this trope.
This particular little ice cream cone comes in several flavors, depending on the purpose, and varying in utility by medium:
- Alternate Self: When everybody has their counterpart, you can have twice as many characters per actor.
- Mirror Universe: Evil Alternate Self.
- And You Were There: Like a Mirror Universe, but with a fun-house mirror (think The Wizard of Oz).
- But You Were There, and You, and You: A character tells a story, and the characters are depicted as people the storyteller knows.
- Cast as a Mask: An inversion. Different actors play a character's different identities.
- Doppelgänger: An in-story reason for them to be played by the same actor.
- Doppelgänger Replacement Love Interest: Hooking up with someone identical to your lost love.
- Dream Sequence: Not quite the same character, but pretty close.
- Evil Doppelgänger: A clone or identical Evil Counterpart.
- Ghost in the Machine: When "the little guy in your head" looks just like you.
- Good Angel, Bad Angel: When the angels on your shoulder look just like you.
- Identical Grandson: A character's descendants are played by the same actor.
- Identical Stranger: A new character arrives who looks just like an existing character.
- Criminal Doppelgänger: That new character also happens to be wanted by the police.
- Prince and Pauper: Identical Stranger + Swapped Roles + Princess for a Day + Fish out of Water.
- Inexplicably Identical Individuals: When multiple, nominally unrelated characters are all identical.
- Latex Perfection: Different character, same actor, because character has a perfect disguise.
- Lost in Character: A character who is an actor gets so into character they basically become a new character.
- Playing Their Own Twin: Characters who are identical twins (or triplets, quadruplets, etc.). Why hire two actors when one can do the job?
- Backup Twin: Another variant where the twins are never on screen at the same time (as an excuse for a popular actor to come back.)
- Evil Twin: Particular case of this.
- Reincarnation: In the "looks just like the old me" variant.
- Significant Double Casting: When having the same actor play multiple characters has a metatextual meaning significant to the story.
- Surgical Impersonation: An actor plays two characters, one of whom changes his face surgically to resemble the other.
- Talking to Themself: When two or more parts of a Split Personality engage in conversation.
- Uncanny Family Resemblance: Any family relation is played by the same actor.
- You Look Familiar: One actor plays two unrelated characters, within the same series, but (usually) different episodes.
Examples:
For works that have their own pages:- The Amazing World of Gumball
- Amphibia
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
- Dragon Ball
- Honoo no Alpen Rose
- Hello! Sandybell
- Lady!!
- My Hero Academia
- Voltes V
- In Return to Rainspell Island, Teresa Gallagher voices Fern, Queen Titania, and Rachel's mum.
- The Golden Hamster Saga: Freddy's Final Quest has an in-universe example. The characters go to see a stage production of Freddy in Peril, with the same two actors playing both Enrico and Caruso and Fleischkopf and Brewster.
- Bear in the Big Blue House:
- Peter Linz played Tutter, Pip, and Luna (puppetry only).
- Tyler Bunch played Treelo and Pop.
- Fraggle Rock:
- Dave Goelz played Boober and Uncle Travelling Matt.
- Richard Hunt plays Junior Gorg and Mudwell the Mudbunny.
- The Muppets:
- Jim Henson played Kermit the Frog, Rowlf the Dog, Dr. Teeth, and the Swedish Chef (head and voice).
- Frank Oz played Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy, and Animal.
- Dave Goelz plays Gonzo, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, and Zoot.
- Jerry Nelson played Floyd Pepper, Robin the Frog, and most of the chicken characters, mainly Camilla.
- Richard Hunt played Scooter, Janice, and Beaker.
- Steve Whitmire played Kermit the Frog, Beaker, Rizzo, and Lips.
- Fireman Sam On Stage: Andy Medhurst acts as both Elvis and Tom, while Adele Scott plays both Penny and Dilys.
- Fireman Sam:
- In Series 1-4, all the characters were voiced by one actor, John Alderton.
- In Series 5, John Sparkes voices all the adult male characters (and Dilys Price), Joanna Ruiz voices Sarah, James, and Bella, and Sarah Hadland voices Penny, Mandy, and Helen.
- In the CGI seasons, Steven Kynman plays Sam, Elvis, Norman, and Charlie, David Carling voices Station Officer Steele, Tom, and Mike, and Tegwen Tucker plays Penny and Bronwyn.
- Following some recasts in the CGI seasons in 2021, Siu-see Hung plays Mrs. Chen and Lily, and Ayesha Antoine plays Mandy and Helen.
- In the US dub, Andrew Hodwitz plays Sam and Elvis, while Lily Cassano plays Sarah, Mandy, and Lily.
- PAW Patrol: Ron Pardo acts for three as Cap'n Turbot, Mayor Humdinger, and Farmer Al.
- Postman Pat:
- In Series 1, all the characters were voiced by one actor, Ken Barrie.
- In Series 2, Ken Barrie voices all the adult male characters (and Granny Dryden), while Carole Boyd plays all the female characters and young boy characters.
- In Series 3-5, Ken Barrie voices Pat, Alf, and Ted, Carole Boyd voices Sara, Mrs Goggins, and Sarahnote , Janet James plays Julian, Lucy, and Lauren, and Kulvinder Ghir plays Ajay, Bill, and Tom.
