Characters Based On Celebs, Really

Turns out writers aren't as original as you thought.
Characters Based On Celebs, Really
Add Cracked to Google

It's no shock that a ton of movie and TV stories are based on true stories and real people. They're called biopics. The thing is, sometimes fictional characters are also based on real people. And not just randos, either. Some writers use well-known celebrities as the inspiration for their fictional characters.

It makes sense when you see the character and the famous person side-by-side. So much sense that it's hard to unsee. For example ...

CRACKED CO COM Clarence Worley, the main character of one of Quentin Tarantino's first screenwriting credits, TRUE romance is 100% based on Tarantino

Superman

Clark Kent draws on silent film star Harold Lloyd's signature bespectacled look. Horn-rimmed glasses were big with young people in the 1920s, and Lloy

Bugs Bunny

Bugs Bunny was modelled after Clark Gable. In It Happened One Night, Gable's character chomped down a carrot in a way that inspired FriZ Freleng to cr

The DeCavalcante Crime Family

The DiMeo crime family, from The Sopranos... ...is based on New Jersey's real-life DeCavalcante crime family.
The iconic Main character from Br 35 eaking Bad 56 was inspired by a real notorious dealer called Walter Eddie White. He CRAOT was knowi ii Alabama fo

Mr. Burns

CRACKED CON Mr. Burns' look was inspired by Barry Diller, former chief executive of Fox Broadcasting. Meanwhile, his body language especially the famo

Miss Piggy

CRACKEDCON Miss Piggy was inspired by jazz singer and actress Peggy Lee. The Muppet was even originally named Miss Piggy Lee, but that was changed s

Maybe it would have been offensive at first, but surely now it would be considered an honor!

HITCHHIKERS THE GUIDE TO THE GALAXY Sam Rockwell says his Zaphod Beeblebrox is a combination of Freddie Mercury, Elvis Presley and a little Brad Pit

The Little Mermaid

The Little Mermaid's Ursula is a mashup of Bea Arthur, drag queen Divine, and Joan collins' Dynasty character. Bea Arthur Bea Arthur's cutting wit is

Inception

Tom Hardy likes to think he played Christopher Nolan in Inception. CRACKED.COM He tried to imitate the director's mannerisms for his character Eames.

The Fonz

Henry Winkler channeled his inner Sylvester Stallone to bring out the Fonz from Happy Days. CRACKED COM

Richard Petty

CRACKEDCON The King Dinoco, from Cars... 43 ...is based on and voiced by Richard Petty, and designed to look like Richard Petty's 1970 Plymouth Superb
Sacha Baron Cohen's Ali G persona was inspired by English DJ Tim Westwood. Jurreme League CRACKED COM

The Hateful 8

CRACKEDCO THE HATEFUL 8 Quentin Tarantino asked Kurt Russell to base his 0-nonsense lawman character, John Ruth, on John Wayne Russell even got the ch

Lady Bird

Lady Bitd According to Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird's quirky movements are based on the film's director, Greta Gerwig. CRACKEID OONI

The Walking Dead

CRACKEDcO COM Artist Charlie Adlard based Negan from The Walking Dead on Henry Rollins. Rollins even auditioned for the part but didn't get it.
Larry Thomas said that his performance as The Soup Nazi on Seinfeld is an impression of Omar Sharif.

Speed Racer

CRACL In the original Japanese version of Speed Racer, Speed's name is... Go Mifune. His name was an homage to veteran actor Toshiro Mifune. The 'M' o
EMPIRE'S PROTAGONIST LUCIOUS LYON Was INSPIRED BY JAY Z'S LIFE. CRACKED CON
Eli Gold is based on Rahm Emanuel. The writers of The Good Wife, based the fan favourite sketchy political strategist on former Chicago mayor Rahm Ema
Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder was a big inspiration for Bradley Cooper's character Jack in A Star Is Born. Vedder and Cooper's friendship meant the

Rugrats

RuGrats Chuckie Finster's look and characteristics are inspired by Devo keyboardist Mark Mothersbaugh, who also composed the show's opening theme. CRA

Elvis Presley

Prometheus' Engineers are partly based on Elvis Presley. Ridley Scott asked the character designer to draw on Presley, Michelangelo's David, and the S
JONAH RYAN FROM VEEP IS BASICALLY TED-CRUZ. JO EC Actor Timothy Simons says that once Jonah started running for Congress, he was basing the character

Venom

TOM HARDY'S VENOM IS A COMBINATION OF WOODY ALLEN, CONOR MCGREGOR AND REDMAN. ENOM The character has all of McGregor's violence and Redman's freewheel

Francis Ford Coppola

Han Solo was partly inspired by a young, smooth-talking Francis Ford Coppola. George Lucas, Coppola's old friend, was impressed by how he talked his w
Scroll down for the next article

Must Read

VIRAL ON CRACKED

A WEEKLY
NEWSLETTER OF
JOKES + TRIVIA

Forgot Password?