15 Actors Who Are Basically Their Own Genre

Martial arts movies have been around for a long time, but Jackie Chan put his own distinct stamp on them. Whereas most stars of the genre, like Bruce Lee, played tough guys, Chan made it clear that he was inspired by silent comedians such as Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. His Hong Kong films, from Drunken Master to Rumble in the Bronx, are filled with action sequences that incorporate humor among their electrifying moves and dazzling fight choreography.

Chan is also famed for doing wild stunts. In Police Story, he hangs by an umbrella from the back of a speeding bus. In Armour of God, he sky-dives and lands on top of a hot air balloon. In Project A, he tips his hat to Harold Lloyd's silent classic Safety First, dangling from the arm of a clock tower before falling, tearing through two awnings, and smashing into the ground. Montages of the star getting hurt always end his movies. Audiences walking into a Jackie Chan flick know to expect insane action laced with physical comedy. 

Leslie Nielsen was a dramatic actor for a long time. He was never an A-list star, but he was a dependable presence, whether in film or on television. During his decades-long career, he appeared in notable films like Forbidden Planet and The Poseidon Adventure. On the small screen, he popped up on everything from Bonanza to Colombo. He was the definition of a journeyman actor.

That changed in 1980 when Nielsen landed a role in the goofy comedy Airplane! The movie intentionally cast actors known for drama, then had them play the ridiculous material completely straight. It turned out that Nielsen excelled at this style, saying and doing the most absurd things while looking very serious. Suddenly, he was an in-demand comedian. The remainder of his career was spent making deadpan comedies. The Naked Gun, Spy Hard, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, and the third and fourth entries in the Scary Movie series are just a few examples. It's one of the most significant and successful career switches in Hollywood history. 

Rowan Atkinson is a master of physical comedy. Few actors these days pull off the skill as inventively as he does. Whether it's a supporting role in Four Weddings and a Funeral or a lead in Bean and Mr. Bean's Holiday, he can always be counted on to bring a dose of unrepentant silliness.

With the Bean movies and his Johnny English spy series, Atkinson has taken an old formula and made it his own. His inspirations are clearly the silent comedians Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, and Buster Keaton, all of whom specialized in creating a funny situation, then adding layer upon layer to it until things became almost hopelessly complicated for their characters. Atkinson retains that, then includes his own rubbery facial expressions for emphasis. If you want to laugh yourself silly without thinking too much, one of his films will always hit the spot. 

Adam Sandler successfully made the jump from Saturday Night Live to movie stardom with 1995's Billy Madison. Whereas the previous generation of comedians - Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, etc. - typically played characters who were the most intelligent people in the story, Sandler went a different way, specializing in characters either on the dim side or just impossibly weird. The Waterboy, Big Daddy, and Mr. Deeds continued the trend.

These days, the actor occasionally makes inroads into more dramatic fare, like his acclaimed turn in Uncut Gems. He repeatedly returns to his wheelhouse, though. Recent movies Hubie Halloween, Sandy Wexler, and The Ridiculous 6 continue offering up weirdo characters, an abundance of juvenile humor, unapologetic silliness, and cameos from his friends. Put on an Adam Sandler film, and you know you'll get a couple hours of mindless laughter. 

While he was still a bodybuilder, Arnold Schwarzenegger set a goal for himself: to become the biggest movie star in the world. That dream came true during the 1980s and early 1990s, thanks to a string of hits like Predator, Total Recall, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. 

Although he makes movies a little less often these days, the hallmarks of a Schwarzenegger flick remain the same. There's always a high concept to pique the audience's interest. There's frantic action - including brawls, shootouts, and chases - with the star saving the day through heroic feats. Last but not least, there will definitely be humorous one-liners, especially before his character dispatches a bad guy. This formula has helped the star remain a favorite for decades. 

Clint Eastwood is known for his minimalist acting approach and concise directing style. Those things exemplify his persona. He'd rather pull audiences in by showing restraint than forcibly suck them in through flamboyance. Given that he's been an A-list movie star since the 1960s, it's impossible to question his method.

The veteran actor often plays cops, but even when he doesn't, there are certain essentials. First and foremost, he will play a laconic character who sizes up situations before he acts. That's true, whether as a detective in Dirty Harry or a boxing trainer in Million Dollar Baby. Second, there will almost always be violence. Eastwood has made films that both indulge in it and criticize it. Finally, in his most recent works like Gran Torino, The Mule, and Cry Macho, he'll portray a cranky guy with a heart of gold underneath. The man knows what works for him, and he sticks with it.

John Wayne is synonymous with the Western genre. That's not just because he starred in many of the greatest Westerns ever made, including True Grit, Stagecoach, and The Searchers. It's also because he embodied the spirit of the Western like no actor before or since. 

Audiences knew what to expect when venturing into one of his pictures. They were simple good-versus-evil stories, and he almost always played a stoic hero in them. Wayne's films had respect and reverence for the Old West. In fact, they glamorized it, even when unpleasant things occurred within their plots. The star repeatedly offered an old-fashioned patriotic vibe, making him an American cinematic icon. 

Ryan Reynolds is a very good actor. He is not, however, a chameleonic presence like Daniel Day-Lewis. Every character he plays has a distinct Ryan Reynolds-y quality, exemplified by a quick wit and a penchant for sarcastic remarks. Even in his action movies, there's a heavy element of wisecracking comedy.

What's impressive is how Reynolds has been able to put variations on his carefully-honed screen persona. He was a natural fit for the self-referential Deadpool pictures. He balances out Dwayne Johnson's tough-guy schtick in the action-heavy Red Notice. The sci-fi/time travel flick The Adam Project uses his riffing in an emotional way so that when his character matures a bit, the smart-aleck comments decrease. Even in the musical Spirited, he can indulge in his style of humor, often doing so through song and dance. Reynolds is savvy enough to modulate his comedy to fit comfortably into different genres while still keeping it a consistent element for his fans. 

Every major comedy star has their own specific persona. Will Ferrell is no different. As a cast member on Saturday Night Live, he had two specialties. One was creating hilariously weird characters viewers could nevertheless come to love. The other was making angry or blustery characters funny. 

Knowing full well what his wheelhouse is, Ferrell has effectively transferred his skills to cinema. Many of his movies - from Elf to Anchorman to Talladega Nights - have seen him disappearing into colorful characters who often possess a charming level of cluelessness. Other films, notably Step Brothers and The Campaign, have seen him play slightly edgy people whose frustration is hysterical. Over the years, Ferrell has perfected a style of screen comedy that mixes intelligent satire with lowbrow hijinks. 

Liam Neeson has had two dramatically different careers. He started off making serious, heavy dramas like The Mission and Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List. He was not a box office star, per se, but everyone respected him as an actor, thanks to his nuanced performances and commanding presence.

In 2008, he made an action movie called Taken, in which he played a man with “a very particular set of skills” that he employed to rescue his kidnapped daughter. The film was a hit, spawning two sequels. Neeson was suddenly box office gold. His career of late has become a series of pictures that all look and feel very similar to Taken. Among them are Memory, Blacklight, The Marksman, and Honest Thief. In every case, he portrays a guy who utilizes his very particular set of skills to foil bad guys. The movies are so similar, in fact, that Neeson has earned some criticism for making seemingly endless carbon copies of his '08 hit. 

You can't say Dwayne Johnson doesn't know what works for him. He's become one of the biggest stars in the world by making some of the biggest movies in the world. The actor has openly admitted in interviews that he wants to be a continual franchise starter, so every film he makes sets its sights accordingly. Whether action or comedy - and he's good at both - he aims to deliver a worldwide hit.

The Jumanji franchise and Jungle Cruise are special effects extravaganzas. Black Adam put him into the massive DC Extended Universe. San Andreas is one of the most realistically destructive disaster movies ever produced. Rampage has a gigantic gorilla fighting an equally enormous crocodile. And, of course, the actor helped turn the Fast & Furious saga into one of the biggest global franchises ever. A Dwayne Johnson movie promises action and thrills on the grandest possible scale. He does it like no one else.

Tyler Perry's movies are like no others. He has a distinct form of storytelling that combines broad comedy, melodrama, and a religious message. The writer/actor/director started on the stage, then burst onto the movie scene with 2005's Diary of a Mad Black Woman. It was a hit, and he immediately cranked out one film after another. In many of them, he appears as Medea, a feisty old lady.

In Madea's Family Reunion, Meet the Browns, I Can Do Bad All by Myself, and everything in between, he starts by tackling a societal issue, particularly one most relevant to the Black community. Those issues are explored in an intentionally didactic way, with a strong message delivered at the end. That message generally has Christian overtones, as Perry's characters rely on faith to get through. Wild comedy is tossed in to help the subject matter go down a little more smoothly. This formula has proven to be one his fans never get tired of. 

Tom Cruise's movies do not necessarily look like one another. Yes, he has the Mission: Impossible, Top Gun, and Jack Reacher franchises to his name, but he's also made comedies, dramas, and even a musical. Despite that, something about his body of work feels connected, regardless of genre.

The best explanation is the intensity he brings to everything he does. Cruise has performed insane stunts in the M:I series, not the least of which was dangling from the side of an airplane as it took off. He piloted a jet plane for real in Top Gun: Maverick. He learned to sing in order to play a heavy metal star for Rock of Ages. He made himself unrecognizable in a bald wig and fat suit, then did hip-hop dance moves in Tropic Thunder. A Tom Cruise movie guarantees seeing the star totally, unwaveringly commit himself to something risky, all for the audience's enjoyment. 

Milla Jovovich started her film career as a lead actress with 1991's Return to the Blue Lagoon. Not exactly an auspicious debut. Nevertheless, she got the attention of Richard Linklater, who cast her in Dazed and Confused, and Spike Lee, who gave her a role in He Got Game. Her breakout role came with 1997's The Fifth Element, a sci-fi adventure that made use of her athleticism and offbeat personality. 

That movie's success paved the way for the 2002 video game adaptation Resident Evil. As Alice, Jovovich suddenly found herself in a franchise that would give her six more installments to develop the character. Her presence in the RE series was so potent that she was brought in to headline the similar action/sci-fi/horror hybrids Ultraviolet, Monster Hunter, and The Fourth Kind. The actress has become a modern-day B-movie queen whose name on a poster promises furious action delivered with an unpretentious approach. 

Melissa McCarthy got her start in the improv troupe The Groundlings, where she learned to think on her feet and create off-the-wall characters. It's a skill that has served her well, leading to box office hits The Heat, Identity Theft, and Bridesmaids, among others. Her abilities have made her one of the top screen comedians of her generation.

The plots may be different, but the formula is always the same. You rarely see Melissa McCarthy in a Melissa McCarthy movie. She uses wigs, costumes, and accents to transform herself into a unique comic creation. The brash and vulgar Megan from Bridesmaids looks, feels, and sounds totally different from the egomaniacal Michelle Darnell from The Boss or the hopelessly old-fashioned Deanna from Life of the Party. McCarthy's movies are always built around a new persona she's invented from scratch.