Any actor who has ever played a villain in a movie will tell you that there is a lot more fun to be had when you are playing a bad person. There are sides of one’s personality you can explore; you can dive further beneath the surface of the character, more than you could by playing a likable hero. Many actors are born to play villains or just highly unlikable characters, and they’ve gone on to have successful careers doing it.
However, there are those major A-listers who just don’t fit the bill of playing a villain. Maybe they have walked the fine line of playing an anti-hero of sorts, but they have never gone full-on bad. Let this list not discredit the remarkable achievements of these actors, but rather just point out an interesting fact about how they never went to the dark side to play a role in a movie.
10 Meg Ryan
Meg Ryan rose to stardom in the 1980s. One of her first big on-screen roles was in 1986’s Top Gun, playing the wife of Anthony Edwards’ character, “Goose.” Top Gun was one of those films that felt like a springboard to bigger things for the lead, and even the supporting cast. Meg Ryan would then go on to a decades-long run of being a rom-com queen in the 1990s.
How Could You Hate Meg Ryan?
Ryan was one of the most likable on-screen performers of the 1990s. She was funny, smart, and relatable in every performance she gave us. She does have some overlooked versatility in dramas like Courage Under Fire and When a Man Loves a Woman, but she has never played the role of a vindictive villain. With this being a new stage of her career, don’t be surprised if she doesn’t try something new down the road at some point.
9 Emily Blunt
Emily Blunt is one of the most successful and prolific actresses who’s working right now. Her versatility shows in anything from Oscar-worthy dramas to horror films that are directed by her husband, John Krasinski, and sci-fi films that hit it big at the box office. With an outstanding resume, she still has never taken a turn to play a villain.
Emily Blunt in the MCU or DCEU?
As mentioned above, there are a few on this list who walk up to the line of playing a villain, but never cross it. Blunt does play a bit of an anti-hero in The Huntsman: Winter’s War and a bit of a cutthroat assistant in The Devil Wears Prada, but she never fully goes there. It has to be only a matter of time, though, as she would fit perfectly as a villain in somewhere like the MCU or James Gunn’s rebooted DC Universe.
8 Michael Cera
Michael Cera hit the scene on the hit show Arrested Development and played one of the greatest lovable losers of all time in Superbad. He would eventually get typecast in the years that followed and then walk away from roles like that to pursue other passions in life, like acting on stage and showing his versatility in other kinds of roles.
Michael Cera Should Play a Serial Killer
Despite a resurgence as of late in a small role in 2023’s mega-hit, Barbie, as well as playing opposite Amy Schumer in the Hulu original comedy, Life & Beth, Cera has yet to play an evildoer of sorts. As we notice the career trajectory he has gone on as of late, one must wonder if he can give us a bit of a darker performance in something. Just picture Cera as a deranged murderer in a dark crime thriller. As he takes on more serious roles that still have comedic themes, it could be possible.
7 Jennifer Lawrence
Who has had a better career in the last 10 years than Jennifer Lawrence? She’s an Oscar winner, an X-Men character, and led one of the biggest adaptations of the decade with The Hunger Games, and more recently, she made us laugh hysterically in this summer’s comedy hit, No Hard Feelings.
She Toed the Line in American Hustle
Still, she has never played a villain before. Lawrence played the plotting, cast-aside wife of Christian Bale’s character in American Hustle, a role that also got her an Oscar nomination. If you were to pick a villain for that film (outside all the gangsters in it), it would be Lawrence’s portrayal of Rosalyn Rosenfeld. Although technically not the villain in the movies, we can see the inner workings of how she could play a perfect antagonist. She’s got a long career ahead of her, and time will tell.
6 Clint Eastwood
When you think about the tough guys on the silver screen, Clint Eastwood is one of the first that comes to mind. The actor and director has a career that dates back to the 1950s. He has played some of the most iconic characters in the history of movies, and they were usually roles that had a bit of an edge to them.
“Do You Feel Lucky, Punk?”
Dirty Harry, The Man with No Name, and Walt in Gran Torino were all thick-skinned tough guys who had no issue settling a dispute the old-fashioned way. A lot of Eastwood’s performances usually consisted of him shooting down someone who tried to do harm, thus making you always root for him. It’s crazy to think that, despite all the outlaws he played, or a cop who may have gone a little too far at times, he never played a villain.
5 Gwyneth Paltrow
We’re sure Gwyneth Paltrow is a very nice woman, even on a bad day. However, a lot of the roles she’s played could be labeled as just another smug, upper-class woman, even though none of them are unsympathetic roles. In her earlier films, she had a look about her that just reminded you of the girl who came from a wealthy family and whom you instantly had a distaste for, but once you got to know her, she seemed pretty cool.
She Always Plays Sympathetic Characters
Paltrow has taken some hits in public as of late, but on screen, she has never used that persona of appearing to be a snobby upper-class woman to her advantage. Paltrow has always played fairly sympathetic characters in the movies she’s been in. She’s a fan favorite in the MCU; she shows her comedic vulnerability in comedies like Shallow Hal, and some may hate it, but Mortdecai is an underrated film!
4 Jackie Chan
Jackie Chan will go down as one of the greatest action stars of all time. A legend who kept pushing the boundaries of what you could achieve in an action film. From his overseas’ hits like Police Story and Drunken Master to his big jump to America in the Rush Hour franchise and Shanghai Noon, Chan has become an icon of martial arts cinema, but he still has never played a bad guy.
He Came Close in Shinjuku Incident
The man who does all his own stunts has come close to playing a bad guy only once in his career. 2009’s Shinjuku Incident is one of Chan’s darkest roles that he has ever played. He’s a bit of a criminal of sorts in the film and plays against the grain of a kid-friendly character who can kick some butt.
Chan usually brings a lighthearted quality to his roles, thus making it hard for him to go down a dark path. He’s shown signs of it at his older age now, so maybe he can pop up as an older gangster of sorts down the road at some point. Either way, since bad guys usually get killed off at the end of a film, one must ask: would he still do his own stunts in his death scene?
3 Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Aniston will go down as one of the best actresses to cross back and forth between television and movies. From Leprechaun to Friends, to the long list of romantic comedies of the early 2000s, Aniston has never had a dull moment in her career, and she has also never played a villain.
Jennifer Aniston Could Never Play a Villain
It’s far too difficult to picture Jennifer Aniston playing the role of someone intending to do physical, mental, or emotional harm to someone. More recently, Anniston played the role of Alex Levy on The Morning Show. In no way is the character a dark-spirited person, but she’s a woman in the world of broadcast television.
She has her guard up at all times and can get cutthroat if need be. All in all, her career has a long track record of playing some of the more highly likable characters over the last 30 years, and that’s why we love her.
2 Sandra Bullock
Sandra Bullock has had a career that has lasted more than three decades now, and not once has she ever played a villain. Bullock has gone from romantic comedies to big-budget action movies to an Oscar-winning performance as a caring adoptive mother in The Blind Side.
The Darker Side of Sandra Bullock
Bullock will still give us a good comedy occasionally, but in the last few years, she has given us some darker performances. Netflix’s Birdbox felt like a change of pace, as did The Unforgivable, where she plays a woman getting out of prison and adjusting to society. Bullock is almost too likable to see her go full bad on us, but she is an Oscar winner who never disappoints in any role she’s in. Don’t be surprised if the right offer comes one day, and she gets evil on us.
1 Adam Sandler
If you’re noticing a trend by now with this list, it is that it is full of actors who have broken free of the type of characters they have been cast as and tried something new. Adam Sandler has definitely been one of the actors in the last few years to do just that. Although it has worked out great for him as of late, with roles like Uncut Gems, he still has yet to play a full-on bad guy.
Punch-Drunk Love Walked so Uncut Gems Could Run
Many like to reference Uncut Gems and Sandler’s anxiety-filled performance in it as jeweler Howard Ratner, but if you go back further to a film like Paul Thomas Anderson’sPunch Drunk Love, you’ll see Sandler stick to his comic roots while getting kind of dark. Sandler plays Barry Egan, a shy man who can occasionally have outbursts of terrifying rage. Again, Sandler is not playing the villain, but he catches you off guard a bit.
