Actors/Actresses who were perfect for their roles

Jeffrey Tambor as Hank Kingsley on The Larry Sanders Show

January Jones was actually perfect as Betty Draper.

Janeane Garofalo, Lyla, Girlfriend's Guide To Divorce.

Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara

Carroll O'Connor as Archie Bunker

Jean Stapleton as Edith Bunker

Diana Ross, “Mahogany”

House wasn't much of a role though.

Angie for Murder, She Wrote.

The actress who plays Princess Anne in The Crown season 3. Erin Doherty. Damn she is amazing

Toni Colette, as Muriel/Mariel Heslop, in “Muriel’s Wedding.”

David Hyde Pierce as Frasier's bro

Julia Roberts IS Harriet Tubman

Clint Walker in Cheyenne.

Marisa Tomei as Mona Lisa Vito in My Cousin Vinny

Shelley Duvall as Olive Oyl.

Pretty much everyone in the original "Murder on the Orient Express", but particularly Rachel Roberts, Wendy Hiller, Pierre Cassel and Lauren Bacall.

Sheryl Lee as Laura Palmer.

Actually Twin Peaks was very solidly cast.

Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch.

Marlon Brando as The Godfather, and all of the actors who played his sons.

Travolta in Saturday Night Fever

Kathy Bates in Misery and James Gandolfini in The Sopranos.

Montgomery Clift in Judgement at Nuremberg.

Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly

[quote] Marlon Brando as The Godfather, and all of the actors who played his sons.

As much as I loved The Godfather, James Caan always stuck out like a sore thumb. He's a good actor, but there was no physical resemblance between him and the rest of the family. I realize this does happen in real life, though.

Betty White as Sue Ann Nivens

Karen Grassle as Caroline Ingalls, LHOTP

James Garner as Bret Maverick

James Garner as Jim Rockford

Kyle MacLachlan as Dale Cooper

Regina Taylor as Lilly and John Aaron Bennett as John Morgan in "I'll Fly Away"

Ursula Howells as Miss Blacklock in the Miss Marple mystery "A Murder is Announced"

EVERYBODY in the 1985-86 version of "Mapp and Lucia"

Zelda Rubinstein as Tangina in Poltergeist

Tony Todd in Candyman

Robert Englund and Heather Langenkamp in Nightmare on Elm Street.

Jaleel White as Urkel. Unfortunately, because of this, they overused the character.

Margaret Hamilton as Almira Gulch and the Wicked Witch of the West

Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs

Michael Clark Duncan as John Coffey. long before he was cast he was an audience member on the oprah Winfrey show (i swear he was but I can't find record of it) and when oprah spoke to him I said 'omg, he should be John Coffey' and then he was. and then he died.

Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison in The Doors.

Michael Chiklis in [italic]The Shield.[/italic] I think he shocked everyone with his complete 180 from his soft cuddly good-guy titular character in [italic]The Commish.[/italic] In [italic]The Shield,[/italic] his "Vic Mackey" character was the ultimate amoral, just get it done cop-turned staggeringly immoral. He was brilliant. Just brilliant.

John Malkovitch, Danny Glover, and Ray Baker in [italic]Places In the Heart.[/italic] Their respective roles put them on the Hollywood map, as they took what easily could have been cliched, throwaway roles and made something truly special and heartfelt of them. In fact, that film literally has NO bad performances, even among the child and bit part roles. I think it is a stunning film.

Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn.

Emma Thompson as Margaret Schlegel in Howards End

Kathleen Turner as Jessica Rabbit.

Timothée Chalamet as Elio Perlman.

Mrs. Patrick Ramsey as a loving, nurturing mother.

Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

I'd also vote for Wilder in "Young Frankenstein".

And the whole cast of "Clue". Kind of a crap film, but I enjoy the performances so much it's always watchable.

Divine and the cast at large in Female Trouble.

I'm not sure that was acting, though.

Sissy Spacek as Carrie

Piper Laurie as Margaret White

Mary Tyler Moore as Beth Jarrett!

Carrie Nye as Aunt Sylvia in Creepshow.

Shelley Duvall as Wendy Torrance in The Shining.

Scott Doebler as Buck Jarrett

Scot Doebler would never have died at 18.

[quote]James Gandolfini in The Sopranos.

Edie Falco, too. Hell, the whole cast was pretty much perfect.

Yeah, House was popular but Bertie Wooster was the role Hugh Laurie was really born to play. Stephen Fry was also good in "Jeeves and Wooster." I've been rewatching the series and it helps me understand why the Cambridge Five signed up with the Communists. God damn, those people are STILL running the UK.

Peter Falk as Columbo.

Keanu as Neo.

Fairuza Balk as Nancy in The Craft

Catherine O’Hara - Moira Rose

[quote]Regina Taylor as Lilly and John Aaron Bennett as John Morgan in "I'll Fly Away"

r28 Georgie, didn't you lose it when they revealed John-Morgan had died in the wrapup episode on PBS?

SJP as Seabiscuit

Tony Randall and Jack Klugman as Felix Unger and Oscar Madison on "The Odd Couple."

Really tall guys like Duncan often die young.

Barbra as Fanny

John Gielgud in anything.

[quote] Divine and the cast at large in Female Trouble. I'm not sure that was acting, though.

I’ve seen worse from actual Hollywood films.

Sharon Stone as Catherine Tramell in Basic Instinct. Jude Law as Dickie in Talented Mr. Ripley.

Kit Harrington - Jon Snow

Liv Tyler - the Elf Princess in Lord of the Rings

Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth I

Sting reportedly wanted to play the character Steerpike from Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast novels but he was way too old by the time the BBC made its 2000 miniseries so the role went to Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who did the standard beautiful epicene Anglo villain adequately just did not have the oomph needed to play in the same piece as the likes of Ian Richardson and Christopher Lee. Maybe Sting might have, I don't know. I think Jude Law might have managed it. The SBEAV is a surprisingly hard trope to execute effectively, Tom Cruise in Interview with the Vampire being a glaring example of failure with the best intentions and effort in the world. I think DL favorite Lee Pace did a superb SBEAV as Thranduil in the Hobbit trilogy, which is pretty damn impressive for a boy from Oklahoma.

Fran drescher, The Nanny

Naomi Watts--Mulholland Drive

Laura Dern--Inland Empire, Enlightened

Sheryl Lee--Fire Walk With Me

Lee Marvin--Point Blank

Elizabeth Berkley--Showgirls

Sharon Stone--Basic Instinct

Robert De Niro--Taxi Driver

Jack Lord, Hawaii Five-0. Wood and all.

Jennifer Lopez as the taco-burrito queen.

Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett in the Runaways. Jack Black in School of Rock.

Rowan Atkinson as Edmund Blackadder, in the Blackadder series.

Ellen Burstyn, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

Only an antisemite would prefer a Muslim to a Jew.

- Alexander Skarsgård as Eric Northman and then again as Tarzan. - Johnny Depp as Cpt. Jack Sparrow. - Sigourney Weaver as Ripley. - Roy Scheider as Bob Fosse in All That Jazz and Chief Brody in Jaws. - Richard Dreyfus as Matt Hooper and Robert Shaw as Quint in Jaws. - Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor. - Christopher Walken as Nick in The Deer Hunter. - Meryl Streep as Karen Silkwood. - Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan. - Martin Sheen as Cpt. Willard and Brando as Col. Kurtz in Apocalypse Now.

^Sorry for the craptastic formatting at R78

Hit

the

"enter"

key

twice,

r79 / r78.

I know it's a cliché choice for a gay man but Judy Garland and [italic]The Wizard of Oz[/italic] were and are still a perfect match.

So were Hayley Mills and [italic]Pollyanna[/italic].

Faye Dunaway, Mommie Dearest.

Glenn Close, Fatal Attraction

Most of the actors in the Harry Potter movies were well cast.

R83 Most of the adults were well cast. I thought the kids were uneven. The girl who played Ginny Weasley, for instance, turned out to be quite plain-looking and had zero chemistry with Daniel Radcliffe. But I guess there’s really no way to tell what you’re going to get as a child actor grows up.

Thanks for the tip, R80. I remembered that right after I posted. An edit function sure would be sweet.

The cast of Friends - talk about lightning in a bottle! And judging by their lack of success after (except for Jen) it’s clear they were perfect for friends considering the monumental success of that show,

R86, Courtney had Cougartown which was successful for a bit and I think Kudrow had success afterwards. The men have struggled though. Remember Joey?

[quote] Remember Joey?

I’d rather not.

Jennifer Coolidge made "Joey" tolerable.

R89, she doesn't help that show 2 broke girls either....but then again, no one did,

R24, they needed James Caan as Sonny to get the financing for the Godfather films. Thank God Coppola stood up to them over the casting of Michael--the studio wanted Redford!

Arrested Development's original cast was just about perfect.

R87 cougartown was moderately entertaining and it was interesting to see Court be the singular star of a show, Kudrow was interesting in that web therapy series she had..was it on YouTube? But nothing they’ve done compares to friends which besides being excellently written, was masterfully cast. And the casting was so perfect it translated to offscreen - the fact that they all got along so well for 10 yrs, became good friends, no jealousy or envy or egos is amazing for a cast of 6.

Kathy Bates in virtually any of her roles.

Meryl Streep in bridges of Madison county

R95 Ugh. The Mary-est movie that ever Mary’d.

[quote] Thank God Coppola stood up to them over the casting of Michael--the studio wanted Redford!

Oh, God, you're joking. The Godfather would have been a different movie with Redford as Michael. Talk about wooden and one-note. And very blonde! There would have been no sequels.

Adam Sandler - The Wedding Singer

Steve Buscemi in any small/supporting roles he was cast in

Stacey Dash as a clueless token black conservative.

Helen Mirren as Elizabeth II in "The Queen."

Sid Haig as Captain Spaulding

Sissy Spacek - Coal Miner's Daughter

Sally Field - Norma Rae

Charlize Theron - Monster

Hilary Swank - Boys Don't Cry

Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander in TGWTDT.

Even for the American version, mumbling autistic goth Rooney Mara doesn't even come close.

Even though it was originally written for Anthony Michael Hall, I think Jon Cryer was perfect for Duckie.

Ellen Pompeo — Meredith Grey

Maybe not at first but now I’ll never be able to see her as anyone else

[quote] I know it's a cliché choice for a gay man but Judy Garland and The Wizard of Oz were and are still a perfect match. So were Hayley Mills and Pollyanna.

R81 is the gayest post ever written

Clark Gable as Rhett Butler

It recently occurred to me how much credit Jason Alexander deserves for nailing his role in Pretty Woman

R109 nailed it? maybe but I had to check IMDB to see what his role was, that says something, it's a completely forgettable cliché role. On the contrary, we all remember the compassionate hotel manager (Hector Elizondo), that is a breakthrough role!

Vivian Vance as Ethel Mertz

The entire cast of "Another Year"

Audrey Hepburn in "Breakfast At Tiffanys" even though it wasn't Capote's original vision

r110 Elizondo, of course, The quintessential fairy godfather! I've gotta stick to my guns on Alexander, I will report back at some point, prepare to be shaken

r111 and without Audrey Hepburn we wouldn't have gotten Moon River, since Mancini tailored the song specifically for Hepburn's limited vocal range

I don't know why the FT link won't work, the title for those interested is "Moon River — the song that nearly didn’t make the final cut of Breakfast at Tiffany’s"

John Franklin in Children of the Corn

Lynda Carter IS Wonder Woman.

Peter O'Toole in anything. Wild Card: Elijah Wood as Frodo.

Judy Davis in Husbands And Wives

Arnold as the Terminator

Charles Dance as Tywin Lannister

Peter Dinklage as Tyrion

Pedro Pascal as Oberyn Martell

So many Game of Thrones people. Great job with the casting.

Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds. Absolutely perfect casting.

Leonardo DiCaprio in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape

R120 I meant to add why- Christoph was charming, handsome, intelligent, spoke four languages and could go from goofy to terrifying in half a second. He nailed the part.

That was the first time I’d seen this guy and was thouroughly impressed.

He was also great in Django Unchained.

Tom Cruise as the cocky Maverick in Top Gun.

Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense. He was a good little actor.

Toni Collette was also perfect as his mother.

This is one of my favorite scenes in the movie. They both nail it.

Colin Firth as Darcy in Pride & Prejudice and as Mark Darcy in the Bridget Jones series.

Renée Zellweger as Bridget Jones.

Cybill Shepherd as Maddie Hayes in Moonlighting.

Catherine OHara as Cybill Shepherd on Six Feet Under.

Top Gun is one of the only films I’ve walked out on-