With the release of Can You Ever Forgive Me, we will be witness to Melissa McCarthy making a leap to a significant dramatic role. There have been numerous other instances of this comedian turned serious actor formula – so in honour of McCarthy’s new forray, here are my 5 favourite examples of funny actors in serious roles (in no particular order).
While Jason Bourne and Ethan Hunt may be the more prominent names when it comes to fictional American spies, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan is the equivalent of MI6’s James Bond. After five films over 24 years and four separate actors taking on the role, Amazon thought in this golden age of TV that these stories might fare better on a streaming service and surprisingly they are not wrong.
