Neesoning

With the recent release of his newest action thriller, “A Walk Among the Tombstones,” Liam Neeson has starred in his fifth one-man-army movie in five years. Next year, the trend will continue with “Taken 3.” Clearly, Hollywood has been more than convinced by Neeson’s menacingly calm threat of “I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.” The new Liam is a bit of a departure from the character actor who was best-known for award-show darling performances in “Schindler’s List” and “Michael Collins” during the 1990s. The newest twist in the now 62-year old actor’s career brings an age-old actors’ grievance to the forefront.

The unfortunate phenomenon of typecasting is ironically a result of acclaim. If you do something well, someone is inevitably going to ask you to do it again. And again. And a few more times after that. Here are some of the most memorable pigeonholed actors of our time (other than Liam Neeson). We’ll take a look at the archetypes that have brought them iconic and redundant recognition.

Samuel L. Jackson as The One Who Won’t Take Anyone’s Sh*t

Most people trace Samuel L. Jackson’s exclusively badass characters to his iconic recitation of Ezekiel 25:17 in Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction.” Being typecast as the hardest man in the room predates the Quarantino classic, however, (see Jurassic Park) and has certainly pervaded since. We’ve seen Samuel L. Jackson as Sith-slicing Jedi Master Mace Windu, the house-slave who has more influence than his master, and the FBI agent who simply “had it with these motherf*cking snakes on this motherf*cking plane.” Needless to say, Samuel L. Jackson will never play a beta male.

Adam Sandler as The Man Child

In 1995’s “Billy Madison”, Adam Sandler plays a man who goes back to school. In the “Grown-Ups” franchise, he plays a character who attempts to relive his childhood as he enters middle age. While his other characters do not take the term “man-child” as literally, you will be hard pressed to find a film where Adam Sandler is not immature and irresponsible. Even in the movies where Sandler ventures into drama (ie: “Punch-Drunk Love,” “Funny People”), his characters are still grossly lacking in maturity and adult common sense.

Bruce Greenwood as the American President

You’ll be hard pressed to think of a movie where Bruce Greenwood didn’t play the U.S. president and the next time you recognize Bruce Greenwood on the screen, chances are he’ll be giving that Oval Office gig another try. Bruce Greenwood is not even American.

The Entire Cast of the Expendables

Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Jason Statham, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger… The cast of “The Expendables” epitomize the exhaustingly retreaded and invincible action hero. They all play this muscular and stoic caricature in “The Expendables” series and have all starred in their own deluge of similarly-themed action movies (see “First Blood,” “Rambo: First Blood Part II,” “Rambo III,” “The Transporter,” “The Transporter 2,” “The Transporter 3,”  “Die Hard,” “Die Hard 2,” “Die Hard with a Vengeance,” “Live Free or Die Hard,” “ A Good Day to Die Hard”... you get the point.)

Leo DiCaprio as Always the Nominee, Never the Winner

Not trying to knock DiCaprio’s skillset as an actor—it’s a powerful skillset…we just haven’t seen its breadth. Before and since his turn as Jack Dawson in “Titanic,” Leonardo DiCaprio has succeeded in being typecast as the severely tortured soul, whether he is literally crazy in “Shutter Island,” or just a sociopath (“The Wolf of Wall Street,” “Inception,” “J. Edgar,” etc.). There is even a characteristic “tortured Leo” look, which involves a tight-lipped frown and the concerned eyebrow furrow we see on the poster of “The Aviator,” “The Departed,” and about 30 other movies. Perhaps DiCaprio doesn’t mind being sad—troubled characters get Oscars, right?