The ability to make an audience laugh is not something that every actor possess. While some actors have always been moving smoothly between various genres, others have gained a reputation as primarily comedy actors. Sometimes it takes several movies, sometimes a single career-defining role, to earn this reputation.

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Whatever the case, sometimes an actor chooses to break out of the box that made them famous. Those on the list below eventually decided to take on more dramatic roles and expend their horizons. They nailed their roles and surprised viewers with their serious dramatic talent. So even though it's still so easy to laugh when watching their comedy work, everybody now knows that these comedy actors can also excel in more dramatic roles.

7 Jonah Hill

Moneyball

Just like many actors, Jonah Hill became famous thanks to his comedic talent. He starred in movies such as 21 Jump Street (2012), and This Is The End (2013). Yet despite his common appearances in comedies, Hill is a serious dramatic actor as well. He proved it when he took on the role in Moneyball (2011) for which he was nominated for an Oscar, and in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013).

Hill realized it was important to switch the types of roles he was making if he didn't want to end up pigeonholed in one category. And to this day, he successfully continues to move between drama and comedy roles.

6 Steve Carell

Foxcatcher Steve Carell

Steve Carell became a well-known name when he starred in the hit sitcom The Office and his break-out movie role The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005). Yet even though Carell gives unforgettable performances in comedic roles, he's just as excellent in the dramatic ones.

Carell did a complete one-eighty when he starred in the 2014 drama Foxcatcher. It's difficult to even recognize him in this movie, both physically, and thanks to the role so different from his other work. Just like Hill, Carell was nominated for multiple prestigious awards for this role, including an Academy Award. To this day, Foxcatcher remains one of his best movies.

5 Tom Holland

Tom Holland sitting in a car in The Devil All the Time

Spider-Man remains Tom Holland's most famous role, and many people haven't seen his other movies. While it's true that the Spider-Man MCU movies combine both drama and humor, they're still mostly light-hearted, and Peter Parker is ultimately an optimistic person. Holland's Spider-Man cracks plenty of jokes, but Holland also does an excellent job in movies that contain little or no humor.

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He has taken on multiple challenging roles in drama movies in the recent years, such as the psychological thriller The Devil All The Time that's available on Netflix. Holland also excelled in the drama Cherry, about a young soldier with PTSD and a drug habit.

4 Robin Williams

Good Will Hunting

Robin Williams starred in many comedy movies that made him a fan-favorite. His roles in Jumanji, Mrs. Doubtfire, and Hook all belong among the classics, and endeared him to millions of fans. Yet Williams gave just as amazing performances, if not better, when he took on dramatic roles. He was unforgettable in the movies The Fisher King, Good Will Hunting, and Dead Poets Society.

He earned well-deserved nominations for Academy Awards for all three of the above movies, and even won an Oscar for Good Will Hunting. Williams continued to switch effortlessly between dramatic and comedy movies, up until his untimely unfortunate death in 2014.

3 Bill Murray

Lost In Translation Screenshot Of Bill Muphy as Bob and Scarlett Johansson as Charlotte

Nowadays, it might be difficult to imagine that Bill Murray once had a reputation primarily for comedy. His roles in 1980s and 1990s hit movies such as Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day ensured that every fan of comedies knew Murray's name. However, then came 2003 and Murray's iconic movie Lost in Translation, in which he grew much more serious and co-starred alongside Scarlett Johansson.

Murray got his only Academy Award nomination for this role, and proved to everyone that he was excellent at both comedy and drama. To this day Murray continues to mix genres, and in addition to doing drama roles (such as in The Limits of Control), he also isn't afraid to make fun of himself in his movies (such as in Zombieland, where he portrayed a fictionalized version of himself).

2 Jim Carrey

Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004)

Jim Carrey was the ultimate funny man of the 1990s, and fans loved him for it. He starred in multiple memorable comedies, such as The Mask with its villainous anti-hero, Ace Ventura, and even the critically mostly shunned Batman Forever. Like many actors, Carrey decided to later change genres, and show he could more than just comedy.

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An excellent example is the 1998 drama movie The Truman Show, which earned Carrey his Golden Globe Award. Though the film had its comedic elements, the dramatic scenes helped Carrey show off a different side of his acting talent. Another unforgettable drama movie in which Carrey stars alongside Kate Winslet is the unusual sci-fi romance Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. That doesn't mean Carrey is no longer doing comedy, though, as his recent fun performance as the main villain Dr. Robotnik in Sonic the Hedgehog proved.

1 Will Ferrell

The Shrink Next Door

Just like his The Office co-star Steve Carell, Will Ferrell was once primarily known for his comedy work. He had several successful roles in comedy movies such as the Christmas classic Elf, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, and the romcom Wedding Crashers where he starred opposite Vince Vaughn.

Ferrell offered something new in the 2006 movie Stranger Than Fiction, and got a Golden Globe for the role. Even though Will Ferrell doesn't have as many purely dramatic roles as other actors, some of his best work combines both comedy and drama. That includes the 2021 dark comedy series The Shrink Next Door with Paul Rudd.

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