Fictional stories sometimes feature a fictional movie or play. In these cases, occasionally, a fictional actor appears. In movies, it is not infrequent that a real, famous actor plays the role of a fictional person who is also an actor.
The following list features fictional actors including, in (parentheses), the real actor who played the fictional actor in a movie. At the end of the entry appears the name of the movie or the television series where the fictional actor appeared.
In the book Moving Pictures , the alchemists of the Discworld have invented moving pictures. Many hopefuls are drawn by the siren call of Holy Wood, home of the fledgling "movie" industry. Some of them begin working in movies, specially under producer Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler. The following list only covers the characters in the book that work in movies, and only if their names are given (failed stars who do not get a single role are not listed). This list is also intended to cover any known theater actor in Discworld, in other books.
Although not a main part of the Star Wars expanded universe mainstream, theater and "holo-movies" are also featured in this universe, including the following actors, most of whom reached notoriety only after leaving show business.
Jonathan Scott Frakes is an American actor and director. He is best known for his portrayal of William Riker in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and subsequent films and series. He has also hosted the anthology series Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction, voiced David Xanatos in the Disney television series Gargoyles, and narrated the History Channel documentary, Lee and Grant. He is the credited author of the novel The Abductors: Conspiracy, which was ghostwritten by Dean Wesley Smith.
Laurence John Fishburne III is an American actor. He is a three-time Emmy Award and Tony Award winner known for his roles on stage and screen. He has been hailed for his forceful, militant, and authoritative characters in his films. He is known for playing Morpheus in The Matrix series (1999–2003), Jason "Furious" Styles in the John Singleton drama film Boyz n the Hood (1991), Tyrone "Mr. Clean" Miller in Francis Ford Coppola's war film Apocalypse Now (1979), and "The Bowery King" in the John Wick film series (2017–present).
Kim Hunter was an American theatre, film, and television actress. She achieved prominence for portraying Stella Kowalski in the original production of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, which she reprised for the 1951 film adaptation, and won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Richard Mulligan was an American character actor. He was known for his roles in the sitcoms Soap (1977–1981) and Empty Nest (1988–1995). Mulligan was the winner of two Emmy Awards and one Golden Globe Award (1989). Mulligan was the younger brother of film director Robert Mulligan.
Joan Geraldine Bennett was an American stage, film, and television actress, one of three acting sisters from a show-business family. Beginning her career on the stage, Bennett appeared in more than 70 films from the era of silent films, well into the sound era. She is best remembered for her film noir femme fatale roles in director Fritz Lang's films—including Man Hunt (1941), The Woman in the Window (1944), and Scarlet Street (1945)—and for her television role as matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard in the gothic 1960s soap opera Dark Shadows, for which she received an Emmy nomination in 1968.
A crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters, settings, or universes into the context of a single story. They can arise from legal agreements between the relevant copyright holders, common corporate ownership or unofficial efforts by fans.
Laurence George Luckinbill is an American actor, playwright and director. He has worked in television, film, and theatre, doing triple duty in the theatre by writing, directing, and starring in stage productions. He is known for penning and starring in one-man shows based upon the lives of U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt, author Ernest Hemingway, and famous American defense attorney Clarence Darrow; starring in a one-man show based upon the life of U..S president Lyndon B. Johnson; and for his portrayal of Spock's half-brother Sybok in the film Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.
Amy Louise Acker is an American actress. She is best known for starring as Winifred Burkle and Illyria on the supernatural drama series Angel (2001–2004), as Kelly Peyton on the action drama series Alias (2005–2006), and as Root on the science-fiction drama series Person of Interest (2012–2016). From 2017 to 2019, she starred as Caitlin Strucker on the superhero drama series The Gifted, based on Marvel Comics' X-Men.
Gregory Ralph Evigan is an American film, stage, and television actor. He began his career in theater, appearing in the Broadway production of Jesus Christ Superstar, followed by a stage production of the musical Grease, in which he portrayed the lead, Danny Zuko. Evigan made his feature film debut in Scorchy (1976), then was cast as the lead in the comedy series B. J. and the Bear, in which he starred between 1979 and 1981.
Walter Slezak was an Austrian-born film and stage actor active between 1922 and 1976. He mainly appeared in German films before migrating to the United States in 1930 and performing in numerous Hollywood productions.
Robert Lansing was an American stage, film, and television actor.
Hope Davis is an American actress. She is known for her performances on stage and screen earning various awards including nominations for a Tony Award, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards.
Barbara Rush was an American actress of stage, screen, and television. In 1954, she won the Golden Globe Award for most promising female newcomer for her role in the 1953 American science-fiction film It Came from Outer Space. Later in her career, Rush became a regular performer in the television series Peyton Place, and appeared in TV movies, miniseries, and a variety of other programs, including the soap opera All My Children and the family drama 7th Heaven, as well as starring in films such as The Young Philadelphians, The Young Lions, Robin and the 7 Hoods, and Hombre.
Joel Fabiani is an American film, television and theater actor. Known for his leading role in the British TV series Department S, Fabiani has guest starred in The FBI, Barnaby Jones, The Streets of San Francisco, Banacek, Cannon, The Rockford Files and Starsky and Hutch.
Madeleine Sherwood was a Canadian actress of stage, film and television. She portrayed Mae/Sister Woman and Miss Lucy in both the Broadway and film versions of Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Sweet Bird of Youth, and starred or featured in 18 original Broadway productions including Arturo Ui, Do I Hear a Waltz? and The Crucible. In 1963 she won an Obie Award for Best Actress for her performance in Hey You, Light Man! Off-Broadway. In television, she played Reverend Mother Placido to Sally Field's Sister Bertrille in The Flying Nun (1967–70).
Otto Kruger was an American actor, originally a Broadway matinee idol, who established a niche as a charming villain in films, such as Hitchcock's Saboteur. He also appeared in CBS's Perry Mason and other TV series. He was the grandnephew of South African president Paul Kruger.
Margo Martindale is an American character actress who has appeared on television, film, and stage. In 2011, she won a Primetime Emmy Award and a Critics' Choice Television Award for her recurring role as Mags Bennett on Justified. She was nominated for an Emmy Award four times for her recurring role as Claudia on The Americans, winning it in 2015 and 2016.
A shared universe or shared world is a fictional universe from a set of creative works where one or more writers independently contribute works that can stand alone but fits into the joint development of the storyline, characters, or world of the overall project. It is common in genres like science fiction. It differs from collaborative writing in which multiple artists are working together on the same work and from crossovers where the works and characters are independent except for a single meeting.
Patricia Barry was an American stage, film, and television actress.
Eva Elizabeth "Eve" McVeagh was an American actress of film, television, stage, and radio. Her career spanned 52 years from her first stage role through her last stage appearance. Her roles included leading and supporting parts as well as smaller character roles in which she proved a gifted character actress.