Familiar Faces

I've written a blog post in the past about how running into familiar actors in a new movie is like running into an old friend. (Sometimes at least)

But it also has a different side. If you run into a familiar actor, you're not meeting a new character. It kind of colors your impression of the new character. For better or worse. 

For example, I hate Professor Umbridge. Every time I see the actress somewhere else, I just cannot take her seriously. 

And watching the new Beauty and the Beast, I occasionally burst out laughing because I picture Beast as a certain crazy monkey (That's not really an example though, because I had no idea that the two were the same actor when I first saw them - he's really good at changing his voice).

That being said, some actors aren't recognizable in some roles. I've had many mind-blown instances where I realized that a character was played by an actor I knew, and I had no idea (sometimes for years).