If you can't convince yourself that the events in a movie are actually happening, there's a ceiling on how much you can enjoy the film. Some movies are entirely believable because the actors feel authentic in their roles. Here are 15 movie roles that feel like they were tailor-made for the actor.

1. The Dark Knight (2008): Heath Ledger

Heath Ledger's depiction of The Joker is the performance that launched a million Halloween costumes, cringy TikTok impressions, and a couple of failed attempts to play a more compelling Joker (are you listening, Jared Leto?). 

When your performance makes Jack Nicholson's attempt feel hacky, you know you've done something special. 

2. Sicario (2015): Benicio del Toro

Benicio del Toro is one of Hollywood's go-to men when casting calls for a Latin menace who can claim a life with a single stare. While del Toro is also convincing as a tripping madman burning Vegas down alongside Johnny Depp, his role as a hitman in Sicario felt way more authentic than it should have (you know, because he was playing a hitman). 

3. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001): Elijah Wood

No, Elijah Wood did not make this list simply because he's short. Wood's hobbit-like features extend beyond his 5'6″ frame. His natural joviality and ability to play a budding addict with a crippling desire for one more hit of The Ring were prerequisites to his portrayal of Frodo Baggins. 

4. Barbie (2023): Margot Robbie

Blonde? Check. Bubbly? Check. The stunning looks of an A-list actress? Check. Enough acting chops to make the Barbie role feel sufficiently plastic but not over the top? Check and check.

Margot Robbie was basically born to play Barbie in Barbie.

5. Casino (1995): Robert DeNiro

Prime-age Robert DeNiro treated every role like the mafia treats a stool pigeon (he killed it). However, his role as Sam “Ace” Rothstein, a Jewish casino tycoon surrounded by Italian mobsters in Las Vegas, may have been his most convincing.

The role of the husband scorned by a conniving, substance-abusing wife seemed especially convincing, which tracks with DeNiro's own troubled love life.

6. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013): Jonah Hill 

Jonah Hill was a perfect fit as one of the countless pathetic, foul-mouthed teenagers he played in his early acting days. As he matured, though, the audience realized that Hill was truly placed on this earth to play an amoral, drug-loving, veneer-flashing investment banker alongside his real-life pal Leo DiCaprio.

7. Deadpool (2016): Ryan Reynolds

Few actors are as synonymous with a single character as Ryan Reynolds is with Deadpool. The irreverent superhero truly feels like Ryan Reynolds in a skintight suit (and it works), and that's a testament to the casting director.

8. Midnight Cowboy (1969): Jon Voight

By the end of Midnight Cowboy, you'd truly forgotten that Jon Voight was an A-list actor. To the audience, he was merely Joe Buck, a naive Texan who takes a bus to New York City and makes a living in the oldest profession known to man (or cowboy). His partnership with Dustin Hoffman's con artist Ratso Rizzo felt as natural as peanut butter and jelly.

9. Pineapple Express (2008): Seth Rogen

Seth Rogen didn't have to do any Daniel Day-Lewis-like method acting to prepare for Pineapple Express. Based on what we know about Seth Rogen, preparation for the Cheech and Chong-inspired movie probably involved living his life as he usually lives it.

10. Mean Girls (2004): Rachel McAdams

Is it a compliment to say that Rachel McAdams was entirely believable as a Machiavellian queen bee pulling the strings of her high school's social scene? Regina George was the hot girl that every high schooler knows and crushes on, and McAdams put an aesthetically pleasing face to the archetype.

11. The Witches (1990): Anjelica Huston

Let's face it, Anjelica Huston looks like a witch. As much as a human being can look like she belongs in Salem, Massachusetts, Anjelica is it. Just ask the casting director for The Witches, who probably took about two milliseconds to offer her a leading role.

12. Cool Hand Luke (1967): Paul Newman

Always a convincing leader of men, Paul Newman's role as rabble-rousing prisoner Luke Jackson is one of many roles he seemed destined to play. Though to be fair, Newman was so believable in so many roles that he even convinced us he was a credible peddler of salad dressing. Impressive, Paulie Blue Eyes.

13. The Dark Knight Rises (2012): Tom Hardy

He was born in the dark, molded by the dark. He took a city by storm and gave Batman one of the fights of his life. He's Tom Hardy. Or was he Bane? Hardy became so ensnared in the role that it is honestly tough to tell where Bane ends, and Tom starts. 

14. Billy Madison (1995): Adam Sandler

If there is one common critique of Adam Sandler's comedic style, it's that he has the sense of humor of an eighth-grader. So, how fitting was it that Billy Madison saw a full-grown Sandler return to eighth grade (where his critics would say he belongs)?

15. Harry Potter (2001): Daniel Radcliffe

Perhaps if someone else had been cast as Harry Potter, we'd say that they were born to play the kid with a lightning bolt on his forehead. But Daniel Radcliffe was cast as Potter, so he gets the distinction of being Harry Potter for life.

Source: Reddit.