Actors in more than one recurring role in a series

[caj]

I'm more interested in the T.V. shows where the actors (and especially the stars) had to play both parts on screen at the same time.

Julianne Moore played both Frannie Hughes and her half-sister/cousin Sabrina Fullerton on As The World Turns
David Canary played Adam Chandler and his twin brother Stuart for years on All My Children
Finola Hughes plays Anna Devane and has played her twin sister Alex on General Hospital

[Jim Kelly]

I remember those soap roles where actors played their twins (it's actually quite common on soaps), but this sparked a memory of an actress who had a real life twin and I had to track it down--turns out it was Deidre Hall (Electra Woman herself) who has a twin sister that appeared on DAYS OF OUR LIVES (Andrea Hall who played Samantha Evans).

[j9ac9k]

The Wayans Bros, Jim Carrey-In Living Color.

That was a sketch show - everyone played multiple characters.

[CliffHanger2]

That was a sketch show - everyone played multiple characters.

Okay..and...your point is? Those were the ones who stood out to me.

[Batgrayson]

Melissa Joan Hart, besides playing the main character on Sabrina the teenage witch, also played her twin evil sister on a couple of episodes, like those examples from Elizabeth Montgomery and Barbara Eden (P.S. Eden played the evil great great great... aunt of Sabrina in 3 episodes)

Same for Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe and her twin sister on Friends.

And 3 actors from mexican comedy series El Chavo del 8 played dual roles in the series (aunt/niece, father/son, great grandmother/ great grandauther ), but by limitations from the time (1970's) they didn't share more than a couple of seconds when both characters were in the same episode.

[Malvolio]

American Horror Story has used the same cast to play different characters each season.

Then there is the season of Smallville where Tom Welling played both Clark Kent and Bizarro.

[Batgrayson]

American Horror Story has used the same cast to play different characters each season.

Then there is the season of Smallville where Tom Welling played both Clark Kent and Bizarro.

And he also played Jor-El in one episode.

[Jim Kelly]

Same for Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe and her twin sister on Friends.

Of course, Kudrow played Ursula (the really bad waitress) first on MAD ABOUT YOU. Then when she was cast as Phoebe on FRIENDS, the writers decided to lean into it by making her Ursula's identical twin sister.

[Batgrayson]

Of course, Kudrow played Ursula (the really bad waitress) first on MAD ABOUT YOU. Then when she was cast as Phoebe on FRIENDS, the writers decided to lean into it by making her Ursula's identical twin sister.

Right.

When I first read the thread's title , I thought it was about actors who were regulars in two different shows at the same time, and I was like is that possible (and legal)? And then I remember, wasn't Jennifer Aniston cast as Rachel on Friends while she was a also regular in another tv series? And she was going to be in both series but Friends writers and producers were scared of what would happen with her; luckily for them, the other show was soon cancelled.

[Sutekh]

Right.

When I first read the thread's title , I thought it was about actors who were regulars in two different shows at the same time, and I was like is that possible (and legal)? And then I remember, wasn't Jennifer Aniston cast as Rachel on Friends while she was a also regular in another tv series? And she was going to be in both series but Friends writers and producers were scared of what would happen with her; luckily for them, the other show was soon cancelled.

Armin Shimmerman was working at the same time as Principal Skinner on Buffy, and as Quark on Deep Space 9, which sounds like a lot of work! (And, IIRC, both shows ended at the same time, so he went from double-booked to looking-for-work-actor in the same year!)

But pretty much any episode where a character has to fight an imposter of themself seems to loosely fit the OP. In Agents of SHIELD, Melinda May had to fight an enemy agent who used some sort of face-distorting mask to appear to be her, and it was pretty much May vs. her stunt-double for all their fight scenes, switching her clothes back and forth as the actress is whichever of the two characters is speaking at the time (while the stunt-double has her back to the camera). The agent-pretending-to-be-May was in a half-dozen or so episodes that season, but I'm not sure if she would really count as 'recurring.' (Certainly Xander's double, from an episode of Buffy where he got split in two, or Kirk's 'transporter clone' or Mirror Universe self, from old Star Trek episodes, don't count, but maybe Tom Ryker, who appeared more than once, does? Or maybe not, since, IIRC, his first appearance was in Next Generation, and his second was in Deep Space 9...)

[Jim Kelly]

Right.

When I first read the thread's title , I thought it was about actors who were regulars in two different shows at the same time, and I was like is that possible (and legal)?

Not the topic, but for actors who played roles on two series at the same time, there's Richard Anderson who played Oscar Goldman on both THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN and THE BIONIC WOMAN at the same time. I think he was in every episode of both. Then there's Nancy Walker who was the MacMillans' housekeeper, Mildred, on MACMILLAN & WIFE--one of the NBC Mystery Movies, so it wasn't every week--and at the same time first appeared as Ida Morgenstern on THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW before following her T.V. daughter over to the RHODA show on CBS. A bid for her own ABC series in 1976--THE NANCY WALKER SHOW (what else?)--took her away from both shows.

I think several actors have appeared across the LAW & ORDER franchise in the same roles.

[Malvolio]

Armin Shimmerman was working at the same time as Principal Skinner on Buffy, and as Quark on Deep Space 9, which sounds like a lot of work! (And, IIRC, both shows ended at the same time, so he went from double-booked to looking-for-work-actor in the same year!)

But pretty much any episode where a character has to fight an imposter of themself seems to loosely fit the OP. In Agents of SHIELD, Melinda May had to fight an enemy agent who used some sort of face-distorting mask to appear to be her, and it was pretty much May vs. her stunt-double for all their fight scenes, switching her clothes back and forth as the actress is whichever of the two characters is speaking at the time (while the stunt-double has her back to the camera). The agent-pretending-to-be-May was in a half-dozen or so episodes that season, but I'm not sure if she would really count as 'recurring.' (Certainly Xander's double, from an episode of Buffy where he got split in two, or Kirk's 'transporter clone' or Mirror Universe self, from old Star Trek episodes, don't count, but maybe Tom Ryker, who appeared more than once, does? Or maybe not, since, IIRC, his first appearance was in Next Generation, and his second was in Deep Space 9...)

That principal was killed off at the end of season 4 or 5, so Shimerman was only working on DS9 for the next two years or so.

[ChrisIII]

Warwick Davis has played many Star Wars roles, but he did play Wicket in both ROTJ and ROS *and* his SOLO character is intended to be the same one who witnessed the Pod Race in TPM (Weazel).

Weazel is mostly a cameo but still counts since he appeared in two films.

[Malvolio]

Not the topic, but for actors who played roles on two series at the same time, there's Richard Anderson who played Oscar Goldman on both THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN and THE BIONIC WOMAN at the same time. I think he was in every episode of both. Then there's Nancy Walker who was the MacMillans' housekeeper, Mildred, on MACMILLAN & WIFE--one of the NBC Mystery Movies, so it wasn't every week--and at the same time first appeared as Ida Morgenstern on THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW before following her T.V. daughter over to the RHODA show on CBS. A bid for her own ABC series in 1976--THE NANCY WALKER SHOW (what else?)--took her away from both shows.

I think several actors have appeared across the LAW & ORDER franchise in the same roles.

Richard Belzer appeared as Detective Munch on 5 different shows. First he was a regular on Homicide. Then he appeared on Law and Order when Homicide crossed over. Then when Homicide was canceled, he became a regular on Law and Order: SVU. But he also had a cameo in an episode of the X-Files spinoff Lone Gunman and there was a documentary on conspiracy theories that Belzer hosted in character as Munch.

[CaptCleghorn]

Vince Van Patton played Salami on the White Shadow. He played a patient's family member on St. Elsewhere as well. Warren Coolidge (who played on bother shows as the same character) confused the two. Tommy Westphall's snowglobe says this counts.