Famously funny folks like Robin Williams, Steve Carell, Whoopi Goldberg and Melissa McCarthy are known for making us crack up in the best TV sitcoms, comedy movies and stand-up specials around. But these performers are no one-trick ponies. Just because they made their name in and regularly dominate the comedy genre doesn't mean that they haven't flexed those serious thespian muscles over the years. Here are 32 great comic actors who have popped up in drama films and proven that they can do a lot more than just perfectly hit a punchline.
Jim Carrey (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)
A comedy icon thanks to beloved '90s films like The Mask, Dumb & Dumber and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, not to mention his time in the In Living Color cast, Jim Carrey made a surprising and seriously great addition to his filmography with this 2004 Michel Gondry-directed sci-fi romance, breaking hearts opposite Kate Winslet as a couple who undergoes a procedure to erase their memories of each other.
Steve Carell (Foxcatcher)
Arguably best known for his role as the always absurd and ever-quotable Michael Scott in the long-running workplace sitcom The Office, Steve Carell was nearly unrecognizable as the murderous multimillionaire heir and wrestling enthusiast John E. du Pont in the 2014 psychological thriller Foxcatcher. Carell's chilling transformation earned the actor his first Academy Award nomination.
Mo'Nique (Precious)
Known as one of the original Queens of Comedy, Mo'Nique was making audiences laugh for years on the stand-up circuit and in TV series like The Parkers before appearing in the 2009 Lee Daniels-directed drama Precious. Acting opposite newcomer Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique's devastating portrayal of an abusive mother was rightfully acclaimed, with the actress taking home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)
Melissa McCarthy is one of those rare performers who managed to score an Academy Award nomination playing a classic comedy role — as Megan Price in one of her best movies, Bridesmaids — but the actress proved her versatility by nabbing another Oscar nod, this time for a drama, as fraudulent scribe Lee Israel in the 2018 bio-drama Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Adam Sandler (Uncut Gems)
From Billy Madison to Big Daddy, Adam Sandler movies are practically a comedy genre in and of themselves, with plenty of hilarious quotes and one-liners throughout. But the Saturday Night Live alum has displayed his dramatic chops over the years, including this super-tense crime thriller from the Safdie Brothers. Though, no, he sadly didn't end up getting an Oscar nomination for his formidable performance, Sandler was named the Best Male Lead at the 2020 Independent Spirit Awards.
Whoopi Goldberg (Ghost)
Comedy legend and certified EGOT talent Whoopi Goldberg has given plenty of movie performances that deserved an Oscar but she took home her first little gold man for her role as eccentric psychic Oda Mae Brown in the beloved 1990 romantic drama Ghost. Goldberg certainly infused the tragic story with her signature humor ("Molly, you in danger, girl!") but also showed that she could also navigate pathos and poignance with aplomb.
Robin Williams (Dead Poets Society)
Thanks to classic TV characters like Mork, crowd-pleasing flicks like Mrs. Doubtfire, Aladdin and The Birdcage, and his genius improvisational skills, Robin Williams is widely and rightfully regarded as one of the greatest comedians of all time. But he also was one of Hollywood's most thoughtful dramatic actors, as seen in his Oscar-nominated turn as the prep-school teacher of your dreams, John Keating, in the 1989 coming-of-age drama Dead Poets Society.
Bette Midler (The Rose)
Prior to her starring film debut in the 1979 musical drama The Rose — one of her best performances, for which she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress — Bette Midler was arguably best known for her campy cabaret performances and her funny appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. She would, of course, go on to star in plenty of comedies in the decades after, from Hocus Pocus to The First Wives Club, but her portrayal of a rock diva battling her inner demons showed exceptional skill and vulnerability.
Richard Pryor (Blue Collar)
A pioneering comedy talent, Richard Pryor's keen observations and signature storytelling style made him a stand-up icon through the 1970s and '80s and earned him the very first Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 1998. And though he regularly popped up in films — especially comedic collaborations alongside Gene Wilder, such as Silver Streak and Stir Crazy — the famed comic played against type as the desperate and fierce Zeke Brown in Paul Schrader's directorial debut, the 1978 crime drama Blue Collar.
Jonah Hill (Moneyball)
By the time the sports drama Moneyball debuted in 2011, most moviegoers knew Jonah Hill best as the scene-stealer from big-budget comedies like The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Superbad, Knocked Up and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. However, Moneyball let audiences see a more subdued side of Hill as young economist Peter Brand, opposite Brat Pitt's more social Billy Beane, earning the young comedian his first Oscar nomination.
Whoopi Goldberg (The Color Purple)
Both lead actress Whoopi Goldberg and director Steven Spielberg made significant career departures with this 1985 period drama. Goldberg was mostly known as a stage comedy star, having taken home the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album for her one-woman show, and Spielberg was, of course, the filmmaker behind huge blockbusters like Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T. Together, the unlikely duo put forth an emotional exploration of racism, poverty and abuse that resonates to this day, with both talents earning Oscar nods for their efforts.
Awkwafina (The Farewell)
The actress-slash-comedian-slash rapper Nora Lum was already known as a multi-talented star before her starring role in Lulu Wang's 2019 familial drama The Farewell. Playing a fictionalized version of Wang herself and winning the Golden Globe for her excellent work here, Awkwafina is understated yet heart-wrenching as a young woman grieving the impending loss of her beloved grandmother Nai Nai (Shuzhen Zhou) and navigating the complicated fact that Nai Nai is the only one who doesn't know about her diagnosis.
Bill Murray (Lost in Translation)
From the historic sketch series Saturday Night Live to classic, quotable studio comedies like Caddyshack, Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day, Bill Murray was a veritable comedy legend for the better part of four decades by the time Sofia Coppola cast him in 2003's Lost in Translation. As Bob Harris, a fading American movie star who is having a midlife crisis in Tokyo, Murray still sports that deadpan detachment but with a devastating undercurrent of melancholy, a combination that earned the comedian his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor.
Lily Tomlin (Nashville)
In the 1960s and early '70s, the comedian-actor-writer Lily Tomlin kickstarted her career in stand-up and sketch comedy before transitioning to acting across stage and screen. In '75, the famous funnywoman made her film debut in Robert Altman's Nashville as gospel singer Linnea Reese, standing out in the large ensemble cast with an Oscar-nominated performance that is far less broad or eccentric than the characters Tomlin would later whip up onscreen in various films and TV series.
Steve Carell (Little Miss Sunshine)
Sure, there are definitely funny moments to be found in this 2006 road film by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, but Steve Carell's character — a dejected Proust scholar who is living with his sister (Toni Collette) following a recent suicide attempt — adds a sobering dose of tragedy to the family dramedy. It was a surprising performance from the comedian, who at that time was mostly known as a correspondent on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
Maya Rudolph (Away We Go)
One of the most versatile talents in comedy, Saturday Night Live great Maya Rudolph can quip, sing, impersonate and get silly with the best of them. But she can also get serious, sensitive and soulful, as she demonstrated in the Sam Mendes-directed 2009 romantic drama Away We Go, playing a thirtysomething wife and mom-to-be opposite a similarly stealthily dramatic John Krasinski.
Eddie Murphy (Dreamgirls)
After shooting to fame on SNL, Eddie Murphy became a global comedy giant in 1980s films like Trading Places, Coming to America and the Beverly Hills Cop trilogy. But after years of big, broad comedies, Murphy dug into the dramatic role of soul singer Jimmy Early in the 2006 movie adaptation of the Broadway musical Dreamgirls. Chronicling the fade of Jimmy's stardom and the rise of his drug abuse and depression in response, Murphy received an Academy Award nomination for his work. (Funnily enough, he doesn't consider it his best acting performance.)
Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line)
Through Legally Blonde, Election and fan-favorite rom-coms like Sweet Home Alabama and Just Like Heaven, Reese Witherspoon is an A-list comedy queen. But she skillfully parlays that energy and charisma into dramas, too, especially as June Carter Cash in James Mangold's Walk the Line. Her acting opposite Joaquin Phoenix's Johnny was near-universally acclaimed: she took home the Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild award for her performance as the country music icon.
Steve Martin (Shopgirl)
From his beginnings as an Emmy-winning writer for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in the 1960s to more recent roles like Charles-Haden Savage in Hulu's Only Murders in the Building, Steve Martin has been an enduring and revered figure in American comedy for six decades. However, one of the best Steve Martin roles was actually in a drama: as the sophisticated yet reserved Ray Porter in 2005's Shopgirl, based on the comedian's own novella of the same name.
Danny DeVito (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)
Long before he was cracking all of us up as Louie De Palma in the classic ABC comedy series Taxi or as Frank Reynolds in the FXX sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, a young Danny DeVito was devastating as the childlike and schizophrenic Martini in the cast of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, reprising his role from the 1971 off-Broadway play of the same title, both of which were based on a character from the book by Ken Kesey.
Adam Sandler (Punch-Drunk Love)
Though largely populated by big studio comedies, Adam Sandler's filmography is also dotted with more restrained dramas like Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love, an absurdist romance that sees the comedian play Barry Egan, an unmarried entrepreneur with social anxiety who falls for his sister's coworker (Emily Watson). Anderson specifically wrote the role with Sandler in mind, and it shows: it's certainly still funny, but with an added depth and tenderness.
Jason Segel (The End of the Tour)
The casting of Jason Segel as the late author David Foster Wallace might have come as a surprise for moviegoers who mostly knew the actor from the Judd Apatow comedic universe, including series like Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared and movies including Knocked Up and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. However, Segel proved any naysayers wrong with his dramatic performance in 2015's A24-produced film The End of the Tour, earning an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Male Lead.
Jamie Foxx (Ray)
A true triple threat, Jamie Foxx first made a name for himself as a featured player in the sketch comedy show In Living Color, whose success led to the comedian getting his own sitcom The Jamie Foxx Show from 1996 to 2001. Three years after that series ended, Foxx showed off the variety of his talents in a major way, becoming only the third male in history to receive acting Oscar nominations in the same year for two different films: the action-thriller Collateral and the Ray Charles biopic Ray, bringing home the Best Actor statue for his stunning performance as the soul singer.
Seth Rogen (Steve Jobs)
On paper, it's quite the acting challenge: portraying a real-life person — in this case, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak — opposite awards heavyweights like Michael Fassbender and Kate Winslet, in a brainy bio-drama directed by Danny Boyle and with dialogue from the famously verbose Aaron Sorkin. But Seth Rogen more than held his own as Wozniak, going toe-to-toe with Fassbender's Steve Jobs in some of the film's most emotionally charged scenes.
Jennifer Aniston (Cake)
Jennifer Aniston is known worldwide for her iconic role as Rachel Green from Friends, as well as for successful comedy films like Office Space, Bruce Almighty and Horrible Bosses. However, she's also starred in gritty indie dramas such as 2014's Cake, playing a former attorney who abuses pain medication to deal with both physical injuries from a car accident and the enormous grief of losing her son in the wreck. Her raw and heartbreaking acting scored Aniston Best Actress nods at the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Steve Coogan (Philomena)
Both in his native Britain and across the pond, English comedian Steve Coogan is best known for his politically incorrect character Alan Partridge from the BBC sitcom I'm Alan Partridge. But the world got to see a completely different side of the comic with the 2013 drama film Philomena, which Coogan also co-wrote: he starred as a journalist who helps an elderly former nun (played by Judi Dench) find her son after a 50-year absence. Coogan's screenplay was awarded at the BAFTAs but his acting performance was equally affecting.
Mary Tyler Moore (Ordinary People)
With The Dick Van Dyke Show and her own titular CBS sitcom, Mary Tyler Moore is a television icon and comedy royalty, winning seven Primetime Emmy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards for her comedic acting over the years. However, she made a major category switch-up with the 1980 drama Ordinary People, which saw the beloved TV star in a very different role from the plucky small-screen characters she was known for. Her nuanced work as Beth Jarrett won MTM the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama, as well as an Oscar nomination.
Will Ferrell (Stranger Than Fiction)
Will Ferrell cemented his status as the leader of the "Frat Pack" (a.k.a. 2000s-era comedians like Vince Vaughn, Paul Rudd, and the Wilson brothers) with big-name comedies like Elf, Anchorman and Step Brothers. But in between his comedic domination, he's fit in smaller, subtler works like the quirky 2006 drama Stranger Than Fiction, in which he received a Golden Globe nomination for his decidedly un-goofy portrayal of an IRS agent who suddenly hears a narrator chronicling his days and, worryingly, his death.
Drew Barrymore (Grey Gardens)
Much of Drew Barrymore's best-known and most-loved movies are of the comedic sort, from rom-coms like Never Been Kissed and 50 First Dates to the fierce-and-funny Charlie's Angels films. However, Barrymore memorably shed her famously bubbly public persona to portray one-half of mother-daughter socialites, "Big Edie" (Jessica Lange) and "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale, in the TV biopic Grey Gardens. Transformed in both looks and voice, Drew was unrecognizable as Little Edie, a show-stopping performance that earned her a Golden Globe and SAG award.
Sasha Baron Cohen (The Trial of the Chicago 7)
English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen is known for his fictional satirical characters Ali G, Borat Sagdiyev, Brüno Gehard and Admiral General Haffaz Aladeen, but one of his best performances is when he played a real-life person: Abbie Hoffman, a founding member of the Youth International Party, in the 2020 Aaron Sorkin masterpiece The Trial of the Chicago 7. Cohen's fast-and-loose dramatic performance garnered him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Robin Williams (Good Will Hunting)
Robin Williams earned three Oscar nominations for dramatic performances (Good Morning, Vietnam, Dead Poets Society and The Fisher King) before finally taking home the coveted statue for his iconic turn in the 1997 Gus Van Sant drama Good Will Hunting. And the win was definitely earned: Williams' Dr. Sean Maguire is the aching heart of the movie.
Jim Carrey (The Truman Show)
Regularly ranked as one of the best Jim Carrey movies (and with all of these iconic moments, it's not hard to see why), The Truman Show features the comedian in one of his most soulful performances put to screen as married insurance salesman Truman Burbank, who is already desperate to escape his humdrum existence when he realizes that that very existence might not be exactly what it seems.
