Dual role

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Dual role (also known as Double role) refers to one actor playing two or more roles, which may be deliberately scripted in a play or film, or merely be a by-product of a low budget in one particular production.

In theater, such as in the works of absurdists such as Tom Stoppard, characters played by the same actor may be of thematic significance. A good example of this is Tony Kushner's Angels in America, which has a cast of eight despite having many roles. Debate exists over William Shakespeare's use of such, with a famous example being whether the characters of Cordelia and the Fool in King Lear are one and the same. In stage productions of Peter Pan, it is a tradition for Mr. Darling and Captain Hook to be played by the same actor, a tradition often continued in film adaptations.

In film, this technique has often been used for comic effect (though not always, as were Nicolas Cage's Academy Award-nominated roles in the film Adaptation.), examples being Peter Sellers in movies such as Dr. Strangelove and Mike Myers in the Austin Powers films. Indian actor Dr.Kamal Hassan played a world record 10 roles for the Magnum-Opus movie Dasavatharam. The movie will be released worldwide on Jun 2, 2008. Buster Keaton infamously played nearly every part in his 1921 film The Playhouse. Alec Guinness played all eight members of one family in Kind Hearts and Coronets. In The Nutty Professor and its sequel, Eddie Murphy played the title character and almost every member of his family.

In some cases of low-budget films, or community theater, actors may play more than one role to save money. In one of Peter Jackson's early films, Bad Taste, he played two characters; in one scene, one of them tortures the other.

In television, soap operas will commonly use the technique to either portray twins (or even similar looking relatives), or to bring an actor back whose character has been killed. This technique is uncommon, although not unheard of, in primetime television. In Friends, Lisa Kudrow plays Phoebe and her twin sister Ursula, which both were on the same camera shots for certain parts thanks to digital effects. David Schwimmer played another character in heavy make-up named Russ, which is a parody of Ross (played by Schwimmer) and both of them also confront together.

Notable soap opera examples include: