It doesn't matter what else he or she does, they'll always be...

[Dyl Spinks]

I don't care what she does
She gon' be doin' just like she was

[RHX]

any time I see a movie with Rafe Spall in it, I always end up thinking "fuck me, it's Rafe Spall!" and it takes me right out of it.

[Small Man Big Horse]

He'll always be that snivelling little shit from Five Go Mad...

For me he's the dad from Teenage Health Freak, a series I loved as a kid but fear probably hasn't aged all that well.

[beanheadmcginty]

McLovin

[paddy72]

He'll always be that snivelling little shit from Five Go Mad...

For me, he's always the train ticket collector/head-butt recipient in A Fistful of Travellers' Cheques.

Brother of Ray Purchase, too.

[paddy72]

*half brother*

[rectorofstiffkey]

Don't expect anyone else in the world shares this one, but for me it's Benedict Cumberbatch.  If I'm looking at the TV it's OK, but if I'm not looking and just hearing his voice, he's instantly back to Martin from Cabin Pressure.

[TrenterPercenter]

Not sure if mentioned but obviously Tim McInnery is forever Percy from Blackadder and not whatever hard hitting police chief he is usually now cast in.

Also I'm not buying his partridge-esque LBC host creation, "Iain Dale" either.  Percy. mate.

[Brundle-Fly]

A more interesting question would be which actors who haven't played an iconic role (or a regular part in an Australian soap or popular British sit-com) do not fit this bill? The rare chameleons like Peter Sellers? Or 'the same in everything but dependable' like Clint Eastwood?

John Hurt perhaps? Meryl Streep?  Hugh Grant has really shaken off his stuttering toff schtick.

[mothman]

Yeah but the thread isn't about actors you associate with a time from before they were famous, it's about actors you'll always associate with one role, full stop. So Sellers's would be Clouseau, Eastwood's either Dirty Harry or The Man With No Name. And those are the obvious ones. Maybe for many, Sellers will always be Major Bloodnok, or Eastwood Rowdy Yates...

[Custard]

Three pages and no Peter Falk as Columbo?

To the point where I just call him Columbo now

[bgmnts]

Samuel L Jackson will always be Morpheus to me.

[Sebastian Cobb]

A more interesting question would be which actors who haven't played an iconic role (or a regular part in an Australian soap or popular British sit-com) do not fit this bill? The rare chameleons like Peter Sellers? Or 'the same in everything but dependable' like Clint Eastwood?

John Hurt perhaps? Meryl Streep?  Hugh Grant has really shaken off his stuttering toff schtick.

Harry Dean Stanton.

[phantom_power]

Ben Mendelsohn

Amy Adams

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Amy Adams will always be " A Woman" to me.

[chveik]

the pissing lady in Threads

[jamiefairlie]

the pissing lady in Threads

Ha! Perfect. I can just imagine her being introduced by Richard Herring "....and she's probably best known from her role as pissing woman in Threads..."

[Custard]

Wasn't her character actually called Woman Urinating In The Street? And her IMDB picture was her grimacing as she did said wee

[Sebastian Cobb]

On IMDB it's 'Woman Who Urinates on Herself (uncredited)'
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1856457/

[non capisco]

She now has a rival.

They should go on tour together.

[kalowski]

On IMDB it's 'Woman Who Urinates on Herself (uncredited)'
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1856457/

(D)RIP.

[Neville Chamberlain]

Not sure if mentioned but obviously Tim McInnery is forever Percy from Blackadder and not whatever hard hitting police chief he is usually now cast in.

Yes, came to post precisely this - mainly because I've just watched The Serpent in which Tim McInnerny plays a gruff employee of the Belgian Foreign Service.

[Keebleman]

Finchy from The Office

I think this is unfair.  When I was watching The Witch I never once thought, hey that's Finchy from The Office.  I regularly thought, Wow, that's the guy who played Finchy, but he is such a good actor that his presence was never incongruous.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

She now has a rival.

Paul Weller considers rewrite.

[Brundle-Fly]

I think this is unfair.  When I was watching The Witch I never once thought, hey that's Finchy from The Office.  I regularly thought, Wow, that's the guy who played Finchy, but he is such a good actor that his presence was never incongruous.

I agree. The only way around this previous character association dilemma is as soon as an actor lands a career-defining role they have to retire from the business afterward.

[jamiefairlie]

She now has a rival.

They should go on tour together.

But who'd headline? Or would they perform at the same time? WM would have to get some prep time in beforehand so their performances could finish together though.

[mothman]

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1856457/

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10083301/

[Keebleman]

In the movie you'll note that there is something weird about the delivery of that line.  Originally the city mentioned was Dallas, but the Kennedy assassination happened just before the movie was released so the line had to be hurriedly redubbed.

[Inspector Norse]

Pretty much any cast member from Band of Brothers, except for Ross from Friends and the aforementioned Spike from Press Gang and similarly aforementioned Son of Hanks.

(plus Simon Pegg and James McAvoy, who were in it for 2 minutes each)

Same goes for everyone who was in The Wire except Method Man and Aidan Gillen.

[ProvanFan]

Egg from Teachers
Egg from The Walking Dead