Actors who Played a Different Character on Same Show

[Samus Aran]

Dennis Franz played Sal Benedetto on Hill Street Blues. Because of his popularity, they brought him back as Norman Buntz, which also resulted in a short-lived spinoff.

On Roseanne, Lecy Goranson and Sarah Chalke both played Becky. In the revival, Goranson is back as Becky and Chalke played someone else.

Soap operas are notorious for this. Actor leaves, role gets recast or character is killed off, actor returns in a different role.

[Naiera]

Sherilyn Fenn played two different characters on Gilmore Girls.

[bdmckinl]

Since two different posters have mentioned Mark Lenard, I will also add that in addition to playing a Romulan commander and Vulcan ambassador he also played a Klingon ship commander in the opening moments of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. At the time, he was the only actor to have played all three of these major alien races - not sure if anyone else has done so since.

[DuaneB]

If I am remembering correctly, Brad Pitt had two different roles as a guest star of ABC's Growing Pains.

[Arawn]

Martin Ferrero played Trini DeSoto and then Izzy Moreno on Miami Vice.

[tuffy]

And speaking of Doctor Who, Ian Marter played Lt Andrews in "Carnival of Monsters" before returning nearly two years later as a new companion in "Robot".

Or how onetime companion Jacqueline Hill came back many years later to play a different character in "Meglos".

But it's hard to top Peter Purves who played both hayseed Morton Dill and new companion Steven Taylor in different episodes of the same story, "The Chase".

[Batmon77]

Farah Fawcett played 3 different characters on The Six Million Dollar Man.

Major Kelly Wood (2 episodes)
Trish Hollander
Victoria Webster

[XanderAE]

I'll always remember Tim Guinee playing two different killers in CSI: NY.

- Cavallino Rampante (2011) ... Nathan Purdue
- Fare Game (2006) ... Chris Matthews

[JamesKurtovich]

Jeffrey Combs on Star Trek. He's portrayed multiple races and characters in DS9 and Enterprise.

[David Vincent Kimble]

Gerald McRaney played four different characters on "The Incredible Hulk"

Episodes : Death In The Family - Denny Kayle

Ricky - Sam Roberts

The Disciple - Colin Roark

Death Mask - Chief Frank Rhodes

[yanksno1]

Heather Langenkamp on Growing Pains/Just the Ten of Us. She first appeared on Growing Pains as Marie, then came back later as a 1 arc character as Amy Boutilier. I never actually looked up the air dates on her before, always thought Amy came first and Marie after but it was the opposite. Guess the directors really liked working with her!

[JamesOttoSweetHeart]

I am a big fan of the Walker Texas Ranger show and there are several actors on there who have played more than one character on the show.

God bless you and them always!!!

Holly

P.S. Actually one of them guys isn't here anymore. The guy who played Bud Baxter from the recently wrapped up Last Man Standing TV show did two episodes of Walker, Texas Ranger and he was a different character for each. Robert Forster is his name. He went forward two years ago. Brain cancer is what got him. May he rest in peace.

[Lee A Stewart]

Diane Neal, who played Senior ADA Casey Novak for four seasons (and who appeared in later seasons in recurring and guest roles), might be one of SVU's most beloved and memorable ADAs, but even the most loyal SVU fans may not know that Neal appeared on the show as a suspect years before joining the squad. Two years before she took on the role of Casey Novak, Neal played lawyer Amelia Chase in the 2001 episode "Ridicule." In an unlikely turn, she is ultimately convicted of sexually assaulting a man with a group of her girlfriends.

[Samus Aran]

Terry O'Quinn played both a cop and an NSA super soldier on The X-Files, an FBI special agent in the first X-Files movie, and Peter Watts on Millennium.

[BluRayTim]

Jack Riley played several different characters on Diff’rent Strokes. And Jeffrey Tambor played a few different characters on Three’s Company.

[punisher]

Jennifer Taylor played two different girls on Two and Half Men..so did Judy Greer and Brooke D'orsay...

[JamesG.]

Big Sky

John Carroll Lynch played Rick Legarski on Season 1. After he was killed off, Lynch came back on Season 2 as Rick's twin brother Wolfgang "Wolf" Legarski.

[JamesG.]

Maura Tierney had a one-off guest spot on "Law & Order" back in 1991.
She returned in 2024 as Lt. Jessica Brady.

[Spootnek]

The third season episode of M*A*S*H ''The General Flipped At Dawn'' featured Harry Morgan as Major General Bartford Hamilton Steele.
The next season he started playing Colonel Potter for the rest of the series and it's spinoff AfterMASH.

[Samus Aran]

Jeffrey Donovan was both a video game reviewer and a religious zealot on Law & Order, and now he's going to be one of the lead detectives.