(left) in real life was a "sweet, gentle woman" who even taught kindergarten prior to working on Broadway and Hollywood, which was different from her on-screen persona of the
Wicked Witch in the 1939 film
The Wizard of Oz. In contrast to
leading actors, they are generally seen as less glamorous. While a leading actor often has the conventional
physical attractiveness considered necessary to play the
love interest, Generally, the names of character actors are not featured prominently in movie and television advertising on the
marquee, since a character actor's name is not expected to attract film audiences. Some character actors have been described as instantly recognizable despite their names being little known. They are colloquially referred to as "that guy", as in the 2014 documentary
That Guy Dick Miller; with a prime example of a "that guy" actor being
John Carroll Lynch. Over the course of an acting career, an actor can sometimes shift between leading roles and supporting roles. Some leading actors, as they get older, find that access to leading roles is limited by their age. Sometimes character actors have developed careers based on specific talents needed in genre films, such as dancing, horsemanship, acrobatics, swimming ability, or boxing. Many up-and-coming actors find themselves
typecast in character roles due to an early success with a particular part or in a certain genre, such that the actor becomes so strongly identified with a particular type of role that casting directors and theatrical agents steer the actor to similar roles. Some character actors are known as "chameleons", able to play roles that vary wildly, such as
Gary Oldman and
Christian Bale. is an example of a character actress. Many character actors tend to play the same type of role throughout their careers,
Fairuza Balk as moody
goth girls;
Doug Jones as non-human creatures; and
Forest Whitaker as composed characters with underlying volatility. Character actors can play a variety of types, such as the
femme fatale,
gunslinger,
sidekick,
town drunk,
villain,
hooker with a heart of gold, and many others. ==See also==