When performers are "known" for a particular performance or type of character, it's easy to brush them off as someone whose work you don't like. So you just don't watch most of the rest of their stuff, going about your life not even thinking about them.
Sometimes, that same actor turns out a performance that shakes up everything you thought you thought about them - and honestly it's one of my favorite things to happen. Having a performance show you someone in a totally different light opens up whole new worlds for you!
Reddit user HollynMagruder asked:
What role caused you to sit up and realize you underestimated an actor? And why?
So let's talk about those performances - the ones that shake up preconceptions, shake off old reputations, and flat out change people's minds.
Not Edward
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"Robert Pattinson in The Lighthouse. Going toe to toe with Willem Defoe is no small feat. Especially with no other supporting cast." - Justice-Gorsch
"Robert Pattinson is a treasure of an actor. Ignore the Twilight sh*t (or not if that's your thing) but what really turned me over to his work was Lost City of Z. I know it wasn't a huge part but it was that moment that I saw him and said 'That's the dude from Twilight?' " - NyetRifleIsFine47
"Came to say Robert as well, for me it was "Remember Me". I never saw Twilight but thought the role reflected his skill so wrote him off. I'm really excited for the new Batman." - Bolteus
"Aw, yeh...totally. Check out "The Devil All the Time". He was postively Earth shattering in that." - planetstarbux
"Just" Sketch Show Comedians
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"Bryan Cranston and Bob Odenkirk both blew me away in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, I previously thought of them as "just" sitcom/sketch show comedians but they did an amazing job there" - cunacademy
"I think it's a lot easier to go from comedy to drama than vice versa. A good comedian is usually trying to make light of some great pains." - tmmzc85
"I saw Bob Odenkirk in Better Call Saul and then I saw him in the Tim and Eric Awesome Show: Great Job. I was both in belief and disbelief. Just an astounding actor." - spicedshrub
Scared Of Her
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"Mo'Nique in Precious. I always loved her comedy and was curious to see her to a serious role. After watching it, I was actually afraid of her, not just the character." - xandrenia
Well Alright
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"Matthew McConaughey in True Detective. He was always in such lame romcoms, I didn't think he had it in him." - parodyofsincerity
"I thought his performance in Interstellar was absolutely amazing and heartbreaking." - jokiccheeseburgerclub
"Dallas Buyer's Club was even more of a revelation. Such a complex and conflicted character." - Robmox
"Do yourself a favor and watch his closing argument in A Time to Kill. He's incredible there." - AnnieAbattoir
"That Guy Can Really Act"
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"Bill Hader in Barry (the TV series). I was just used to seeing him as a funny man on SNL but damn that guy can really act." - greentofu402
"This was my answer too! Also, if you haven't seen Skeleton Twins, he's great in that as well. And Kirsten Wiig is amazing in it."
"I feel like comedians usually get underestimated, but honestly I think being genuinely funny and good at comedy (especially sketch comedy) is really difficult and it's probably easier for an actor who can do that well to also do drama well, whereas I feel like dramatic actors might have a harder time nailing comedy." - knm20
"The thing is that I didn't even think he was funny before! Barry was a real surprise." - SeniorBeing
Steve
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"Steve Carrel in Fox Catcher and the Big Short, never knew he could make anything other than comedy (which he did pretty well)" - MuchCommittee_9355
"The Way Way Back made me really fall in love with Steve as an actor, because of how much I despised him in that movie."
"He plays that role with perfection. It's a movie that stays with you a long time after watching it." - thenutcracker_78
"I didn't even realize it was Steve Carrel in Fox Catcher until like halfway through the movie, because he walked, talked, and just overall acted different than other roles."
"I just thought 'huh, I wonder who that actor is, he looks so much like Steve Carrel! Wait... Man the resemblance is uncanny... Oh sh*t hold up thats him!' " - sSommy
Heath's Joker
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"Heath Ledger as the Joker. I really didn't enjoy his previous rom coms and I didn't find anything particularly amazing about his performances in them."
"So I was completely blown away by him in the dark knight (?). Like glued to the screen, utterly mesmerized by how compelling he made that character." - AnnieAbattoir
"Came to post this. He was a b-class pretty boy, although I did enjoy A Knights Tale."
"But specifically because of his casting as the joker, I had super low expectations for the Dark Knight and then HOLY F*CK IT WAS THE BEST BATMAN MOVIE EVER MADE and a huge part of that was Heath Ledger absolutely stunting the role in a way we'd never seen on the screen before" - Method8888
Split
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"James McAvoy, Split. I liked him but didn't know how brilliant he was until Split." - charlie_wonka
"My wife and I have always enjoyed movies with him, but when we saw Split, we were both just slack jawed the entire time. He should have won an Oscar for that role." - Frankensteins_Friend
A Strawberry In A Bald Cap
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"Elizabeth Olson in Marvel movies because she really had to look tenderly and cry over a man who, behind the scenes, was dressed like a strawberry in a bald cap without laughing." - Loaf-Memes
"Oh yes, she totally knocked out out of the park in Wandavision. Not only in the early episodes, playing the perfect 50s/onwards housewife, but then all the later episodes as the reality and reasons for it all become clear." - Suisanahta
Mayfield
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"Bill Burr in his second appearance as Mayfeld on the Mandalorian. Motherf*cker can act."
"Mayfeld's initial nonchalance and flippancy towards his situation, the Empire, everything, shown to be nothing more than his shield against the trauma he endured, the PTSD he still suffers from, thanks to Operation Cinder."
"And that moment where the facade cracks in the face of the stark reality that it could happen again, confronted by a man who is the personification of everything Mayfeld thought he was too jaded to hate. And all conveyed with tone of voice and mannerisms. F*cking blew me away." - Peregrine2976
Tombstone Should Have Been Called Doc Holiday
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"While Val Kilmer was a 'good' actor, when I went to watch Tombstone and saw he was playing Doc Holiday, I almost turned it off."
"I told myself 'he can't play Doc!' I thought for sure he didn't have the chops. By the time the movie was over I was screaming that they should have called it Doc Holiday!" - ecdolphins
Generic White Actress
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"Emma Stone in Cruella. I've disliked her for so many years (always thought she was just kind of a generic white actress) but she was absolutely incredible in Cruella" - EssenceOfEspresso
Now that you've seen what Reddit has to say, it's your turn. What performances absolutely blew your mind and changed how you saw someone?
***WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SENSITIVE MATERIAL. PROCEED WITH CAUTION!***
I can't think of anything hilarious at the moment. Make us LOL.
Lady
Shocked Oh No GIF by Yêu LuGiphy"I have this friend, love him to bits, but his wife has a tendency of just constantly showing everyone pictures of their son at every social event. At the start it was understandable, but now I'm just like 'Lady, it's been two years; they're not going to find him.'"
UnoriginalUse
at 9am...
"Not the most morbid but I love Anthony Jeselnik’s story about his neighbor who has Alzheimer’s. 'One of my next door neighbors is a 90 year old man suffering from Alzheimer’s. And every single morning at 9am he knocks on my door and asks me if I have seen his wife.'"
"'Which means that every single morning at 9am I have to explain to a 90 year old man suffering from Alzheimer’s that his wife has been dead for quite some time. Now I’ve thought about moving. I have thought about just not answering my door in the morning. But to be honest, it’s worth it… just to see the smile on his face.”
dreagan021
Comedy?
"Why can't orphans play baseball? They don't know where home is."
GW2RNGR
"Why can't orphans play tennis? They get confused when they hear love."
JayDub506
People who make comedy are evil. LOL.
The Darkness
That 70S Show Reaction GIF by LaffGiphy"Dark humor is like food; not everyone gets it."
storm_the_castle
God Laughs?
"A Holocaust survivor dies and goes to heaven, where she meets God. To break the tension she tells God a joke about the Holocaust, but God doesn’t laugh. The lady shrugs and says 'I guess you had to be there.'"
“'I guess you had to be there' is a common expression used when someone doesn’t laugh at a joke. It means that the comedy may not translate without the context of the situation."
"In this case the Holocaust survivor is saying it, meaning that during the Holocaust God was nowhere to be found. It’s not really a joke about the Holocaust, but the absurdity of belief in a benevolent God. Hilarious right?"
semimillennial
Oh Baby
"How many dead babies does it take to fix a light bulb? More than 3 cause my garage is still dark."
sirnibs3
I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Because I don't know what it says about us as people if we laugh. Oye.
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Curious to hear from strangers online, Redditor Liam_Tang asked:
"People who've divorced, aside from adultery, what were the irreconcilable differences that ended the marriage?"
You think you know a person when you walk down the aisle.
These Redditors were in for a rude awakening.
Pet Neglect
"My wife divorced her ex for many reasons, but the final straw was when she went out of town for a few days, and when she got back he had not fed or given water to the dog. The dog lived a long and happy life after that."
– StrangeCrimes
Obsessed With A Crush
"Not me, but I had an old coworker that divorced his wife for spending their entire savings on candy crush and games of the same type."
– Hexis40
Compatibility Musts
"ITT: Intimacy (sex/romance), beliefs (religion/spirituality/politics), kids, and I haven’t seen it yet but it’s coming: finances."
"The big four. You REALLY need to discuss these things in detail BEFORE getting married."
– rabbiskittles
Physical violence is a legit reason for people to peace out of a relationship.
The Flattening
"She threatened to hit me with a hammer."
– michaelrohansmith
Hitting The Bottle
"She became an abusive alcoholic. It was sad but I had to get out."
– diegojones4
Emotional pain is too damaging to recover from.
Truth Hurts
"She told me as we stood in front of the judge ending our 7 year marriage, 'I never loved you, I just wanted kids.'"
– Pinch_Dogs
Can't Fix Angry
"She was beautiful/smart but an angry angry person. I thought I could be sweet to her and 'fix' that. Heh. She kicked the crap out of me emotionally. Wife II has been a walk in the roses for 32 years now :)"
– lowlandr
A change of heart is worthless if comes too late.
"We Could've Had A Nice Marriage
"He could not understand that my wants and needs were as important as his wants and needs. We tried to make it work for 7 years. During that time, for things that were really important to me, I tried explaining logically, asking nicely, begging, crying, yelling, passive aggressiveness... cycled back through all of these options multiple times."
"(If I knew something was important to him, I would do that. For example, he was really into sports, so I went to all his events, even though that is not at all my thing.) When I finally threw up my hands and told him it was time to get a divorce, he suddenly panicked and said 'What can I do? Do you want me to do half the chores? I'll do it! Do you want me to get a job? I'll do it! Do you want me to buy you presents for your birthday? I'll do it!'"
"So, in other words, he could have been doing that all along, but just couldn't be bothered. That made me so angry. We could have had a nice marriage that we both enjoyed, but no, by the time he saw the light, that ship had sailed."
"We are both happily remarried now (to different people) and I joke that his new wife owes me a thank you note. It was his experience with me that taught him to listen to her and take her needs seriously."
– Bluebird-True
"What Can I Do?"
"My ex was exactly like this. I didn't marry him but when I told him let's break up, he went all like, what can I do? Let's get engaged, let's look at houses, etc. Basically all the pre-marriage topics that we should be discussing about after being together for 7 years."
"I got so angry and straight up told him it's too late... I don't need you anymore."
– gudetarako
As much as a couple wants to stay together, unforeseen circumstances can eventually tear people apart.
Very few people can maintain healthy long-distance relationships.
When a new job opportunity takes a significant other away, would you begrudge them for wanting a better position to earn more money? Or is it better for them to reluctantly turn down the opportunity so they could stay with you? Do either scenarios breed resentment?
These were questions I've often asked myself with past relationships, and my answers varied depending on the person I was with.
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