Joffrey Baratheon from “Game of Thrones,” or Mrs. Umbridge from “Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix” (and later books and films) are all examples of characters so detested that they make readers and viewers’ blood boil. Sometimes this emotion transcends the screen and we begin to forget where the character ends and the actor begins.
One internet user wanted to know what actors portrayed a villain so effectively that people could no longer see them as anything else. The results were illuminating, so sit down and be sure to upvote your favorites as you read through people’s answers. Remember to comment your own examples if you didn’t see it here.
#1
For me, it’s Joffrey Baratheon played by Jack Gleeson.
poopface41217 replied:
The ironic thing is I read Jack Gleeson is one of the kindest people and is active in volunteer efforts. I watched an interview where his co-star Sophie Turner said he was the greatest guy.
Image source: Dense-Philosopher824
#2
Imelda Staunton, Mrs Umbridge in Harry Potter.
forbiddenmemeories replied:
Honestly the biggest challenge for any new HP series is going to be matching the casting of the movies. Imelda Staunton is one of many who was absolutely perfect for her character and it’s going to be hard to buy anyone else in the role.
Lunavixen15 replied:
I can’t unsee Umbridge as her, even after reading the books again. She encapsulated Umbridge so well.
Image source: JAM88CAM
#3
John Lithgow was so terrifying in Dexter that I kept expecting him to murder somebody in The Great British Bake Off.
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#4
Giancarlo Esposito as Gus Fring in Breaking Bad and as Moff Gideon in The Mandalorian. When I saw Giancarlo Esposito in Community, I just about sh*t myself in fear.
Image source: RatCatSlim
#5
Sam Rockwell in Green Mile was so disgusting and off-putting and perfect in his role that I still don’t like to look at him.
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#6
Iwan Rheon as Ramsay Bolton. I tell a lie as he was so cute in Vicious as Ash Weston.
sporkabork replied:
He freaked me out so much as Ramsay Bolton that I’m pretty sure I’d cross the street if I happened to see him out walking around. That’s a good actor.
Image source: cherrycokelemon
#7
Ralph Fiennes in Schindler’s List.
Milkweedhugger replied:
Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort also!
anotherkeebler replied:
I’ve been scared of him all my life. I was so happy to see him play such a different character in The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Image source: TuPacSchwartz411
#8
Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Bastards.
crateofkate replied:
See his role on Basterds influenced my perspective of him so much I spent the entire movie waiting for him to betray Django and when the credits rolled and he hadn’t my mind was in denial
DeannaZone replied:
I loved that movie because of him, but unfortunately if I ever see or hear him in something I am like this is the bad guy … he did is sooo good!
Image source: Prime_Rib_6969
#9
Jack Nicholson did such a good job as Jack Torrance that he gives me the creeps every time I see his face now.
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#10
How is Joaquin Phoenix not on here for Commodus in Gladiator?
Mud_Landry added:
Took me quite a while to watch Joaquin Phoenix in anything after Gladiator, his Commodus was so f*****g evil I couldn’t stand him in anything for years
Image source: nom_of_your_business
#11
Charles Dance in well everything… Golden Child, GOT.
He could cure cancer tomorrow and he would still ring villain to me.
Image source: leroyp33
#12
Tom Felton reportedly gets a ton of hate for his portrayal of Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter series.
trisharae_88 replied:
But also a super chill dude in real life.
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#13
I’ve never forgiven Jeffrey Dean Morgan for killing Glenn. I used to really like him.
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#14
Louise Fletcher as Nurse Ratched in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and as Kai Winn in “Deep Space Nine”.
LitherLily replied:
She is excellent at playing the villain. You are helpless against the tide of hate that washes over you.
Image source: ZiggerTheNaut
#15
Lena Headey in GOT. She’s actually super nice when I’ve seen interviews but damn she was too perfect as Cersei.
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#16
Rosamund Pike played a sociopath so perfectly in *Gone Girl* that I have only recently been able to watch shows or movies that she is in.
Image source: EvilTodd1970
#17
I don’t hate him but after watching Primal Fear and American History X if I saw Edward Norton in a dark alley I’d turn around and walk the other way.
Image source: TrendyDogs
#18
Billy Zane in Titanic.
Fly_By_Orchestra added:
It’s too bad; he’s a cool dude.
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#19
Pam Ferris as Agatha Trunchbull in Matilda.
Image source: combustion_assaulter
#20
Kathy Bates in Misery. It makes me sad because she is a great actress, but I can’t get past it.
Image source: lifehappenedwhatnow
#21
Samuel L Jackson in Django Unchained. DiCaprio had a certain insane charisma to him in that movie, not Jackson. Perfectly portrays someone who sold out their own.
Image source: Anomaly4D89
#22
Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men. I watched No Country for Old Men in the theater and studiously avoided Javier Bardem until last year when I watched Dune. He’s a great actor; otherwise, Anton Chigurh wouldn’t have mentally scarred me for a decade.
Image source: Jill1974
#23
I will never ever forgive Paul Reiser for betraying those Colonial Marines on LV426.
daddyvs replied:
I have hated Paul Reiser since the 80s because of Aliens.
billions_of_stars replied:
I remember Paul Reiser being on a talk show many years ago after he was in the movie Aliens. He talked to Jay Lemon or whoever it was about how he was doing standup once and before he even started people were booing him because they hated that character so much. He said something to the host along the lines of “they realize I’m not actually that guy, right?”
Image source: ATM1L0
#24
Tobias Menzies who played Capt Randall on Outlander. Every movie and film he is in, I always hope his character dies. I think I would spit on him if I saw him in real life. He’s actually really nice guy but was so good in his role that I just hate him.
Image source: Pand0ra30_
#25
Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy in Harry Potter and as Colonel William Tavington in The Patriot.
Gotta say, he excels at portraying despicable villains.
Image source: MilleniumPelican
#26
Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith in The Matrix.
Krampsport replied:
This!!! Agent Smith and he was forever a sinister and scary mf.
Image source: AKOWPOSIA
#27
This is gonna be a throwback but Robert Knepper as T-Bag in Prison Break. He played that character EXTREMELY well…like jeez. I’ve never been able to see him the same way since watching Prison Break.
Image source: ClandestineDG
#28
I’ve never seen her in anything but The Office, but it’s always such a mind‐f**k when I see an interview or something with Angela Kinsey and she’s smiling and seems somewhat likeable.
I got to meet her at a convention once, and she is incredibly sweet IRL. So are Oscar Nuñez and Brian Baumgartner.
I went to the convention dressed as Dwight and, when it was time for my picture with Angela, she exclaimed “Dwight!” Then she told me she was going to go “full Angela” for the photo, and she did.
GonzoThompson replied:
Brian was extra careful to make sure I got all the photos I wanted with him. We had already taken three or so when he asked me if I was sure I got everything I wanted with him.
All three of them are super nice people.
Image source: LaurenYpsum
#29
Jesse Plemons (poor man’s Matt Damon) as Todd in Breaking Bad.
overmonk replied:
Same. It took years for me to see past his dead-fish sociopathic Todd and recognize his immense acting talent. He’s really very good.
Image source: westicular
#30
Chace Crawford as The Deep in The Boys. I see him in actor interviews and get the heebie-jeebies even though I know it’s just a character.
Image source: PoorCorrelation
#31
Doug Hutchison (Percy Wetmore in The Green Mile). Although I haven’t seen him in much since, Lost being the only thing that comes to mind. He has some real-life issues though as well, having married a 16-year-old when he was 51.
Image source: SirDrexl
#32
Adam Scott could play the sweetest guy ever but I would still wanta punch his face in because all I’d be able to see was Trevor from the Good Place.
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#33
Mo’Nique when she played the mom in Precious.
SmellyCheeseDiseass replied:
Oh this is a good answer. Funnily enough Mo’Nique is apparently one of the biggest sweethearts in the world.
Image source: lillthmoon
#34
Kiefer Sutherland in Stand By Me.
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#35
Antony Starr Homelander in The Boys.
ballplayer0025 replied:
100% He is so good at it that initially I was like “holy s**t where his this guy been hiding?” But ultimately because of it I will never be able to see him as anything but homelander.
Image source: MutantGodfreaky
#36
Bryce Dallas Howard as Hilly Holbrook in The Help, after that I can’t stand her in anything else…
Image source: SweatinInTennessee
#37
For me, Matt Damon in The Departed was so absolutely hateable that even when I see him in things like The Martian, for example, I’m still like “oh, absolutely not. Just leave him there.”
Image source: TheToughestHang
#38
The Mist (2007) has a character named Mrs Carmody who was a religious nut they were all trapped in the grocery store with. She was played by actress Marcia Gay Harden, who I still can’t stand to this day because of that character.
Image source: unittwentyfive
#39
David Schwimmer as Cpt Sobel in Band of Brothers. I swear his O3 character caused me to have flashbacks of bad company commanders.
Image source: gwem00
#40
Kirsten Dunst as Amy in 1994’s Little Women. I will never forgive her for burning that manuscript. Then her character grew up married Laurie?! What. A. B***h.
Image source: IntrovertedSnark
#41
Major Frank Burns from M*A*S*H, His lack of empathy and overall ego made me hate the guy. They tried a couple of times expressing on why he came out the way he did…but it just wasn’t enough. Always getting in the way of Hawkeye treating patients, leading on Hotlips, and just being an overall shithead the way he treated the locals in Korea. That being said Robert Duvall did a great job.
Image source: jaymanz818
#42
I actually had this issue this morning. I was watching Breaking Bad and Jesse’s AA leader was on. Perfectly softly spoken gentle man. Hate him on sight. Had to Google him. Turns out he was a character in Sabrina the Teenage Witch that I watched as a child (Zelda’s husband) and he was such a bastard I’ve apparently carried a dormant instinctual hatred for him ever since.
Image source: Publandlady
#43
Kevin Bacon in Sleepers, when he played [character] who killed Magneto’s family I was like, ‘that was good casting’.
_Goose_ replied:
Haven’t been able to enjoy him in anything since.
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#44
Shooter McGavin.
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#45
JK Simmons after watching him in Whiplash.
mrstonewallin replied:
‘Not quite my tempo’ just echoes through the head.
Image source: aroused_axlotl007
#46
Jamie Dornan, Fifty Shades of Grey as Christian Grey.
Image source: MolassesReef
#47
Michael Fassbender’s role in 12 Years a Slave made me want to punch him. Had to remind myself hes just a great actor. Where is he though? After the X Men films he doesn’t seem to be doing much.
Image source: TheBklynGuy
#48
Billy Bob Thornton as Lorne Malvo in the Fargo TV show. He actually played him *too* well, do much so in anything else he does I can’t get past it.
Image source: llcucf80
#49
Idris Elba as Charles Minor.
kiwimag5 replied:
God he was so good in this role. The period of time when Charles thought Dwight was a reasonable person was perfect. So well done.
Image source: Emilayday
#50
I always hated Steve Zahn, but I couldn’t put my finger on why. It was because he was such a convincing s**t in “Riding in Cars with Boys.” I almost forgot about the movie entirely and him being in it, but my impression of him stayed.
Image source: DarrenEdwards
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