One of the more interesting nitpicks of TV shows is when an actor doubles up on roles for TV shows. Generally legal, crime and medical dramas are the worse offenders. There was a website once dedicated to all of the actors for doubled up roles for Law & Order which does have more than it's fair share through the years.

Personally, it never bothers me, as you will meet people in life that will "kind of, sort of" look familiar even though you never met the person before in your life.

As well, this practice isn't all that bad when one considers one of TV's greatest characters, Andy Sipowicz, was essentially created this way. Dennis Franz does several third season episodes of Hill Street Blues as a dirty cop, but Franz comes back during the last two seasons to play Lt. Norman Buntz who would serve as a prototype for the NYPD Blue character.

By the way, this is not counting those who don makeup and garb for sci-fi, fantasy and horror shows, unless you can say for example, that Vulcans and Romluans are so simillar that Mark Lenard's performances as the first Romulan ever on Star Trek and the Vulcan Ambassador Sarek should be included. This also is not counting regular (or semi-regular) characters in obvious dual roles, such as David Schwimmer (using a peusedoymn Snaro and a Jay Leno-esque fake chin) as "Russ" a boyfriend of Rachel on Friends who has a passing resemblance, and same personaility traits as Ross.

Didn't Jerry Orbach initially appear on Law & Order playing a defense attorney?

This happened a lot on the X-Files. Terry Quinn played 3 different roles. Nick Lea had a guest spot in the first season before becoming Krycek. It seemed to happen less once the show moved to LA--I assume because there's a larger pool of actors than in Vancouver.

Sherilyn Fenn played a guest star on Gilmore Girls in Season 3 and then re-appeared as a different character in Season 6. Though my theory is that it was the same character with a new ID.

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen played double roles sometimes... but it was more playing on them being twins and the viewers knowing it. Like when one of them played the Greek cousin Melina(?) who looked exactly like Michelle. Or Michelle's conscience/bad side.

Who was the first character Sherilyn Fenn played? Was it a Luke-related character? I remember she was the significant other of someone's relative, and had a weird daughter, but I forget what she had to do with the overall plot. She had bleached hair then, though, so she didn't look THAT similar.

My favorite two or more characters, same series actress is Eileen Davidson. She played FOUR characters on Days, and for a stretch of many months, she played the four characters SIMULTANEOUSLY. She ended up getting burnout.

Yes, in season 2; he joined as Lennie in season 3. S. Epatha Merkerson played a mom whose child is killed in a drive by in season 1, joins the show in season 3. Over on SVU, the actress who plays Casey played one of the perps in an earlier episode.

Diana Muldaur played two roles on Star Trek, and later had a recurring role as Doctor Katherine Pulaski on the first - oops, second - season of TNG. Her first appearance was in an episode which, if I recall, was called "Is There In Truth No Beauty?" where she played the blind telepath Dr. Miranda Jones, who literally goes head to head with Spock in a big psychic freakout (good times...), and then she played a scientist called Ann Mulhall, who gets smoochy with Kirk (of course) when she and the Captain play host to some ancient alien minds.

Edited because VersesBatman's on the case.

The second season.

One that sticks out is David Gail: he played a bellhop in the episode when Brenda was stuck at a hotel in season...2? of 90210 then came back as Stuart Carson during the 4th season.

Garret Dillahunt played The Coward Jack McCall on the first season of Deadwood (squinty-eyed, extremely dirty, bad teeth, stupid and drunk) and then on the second season he played Francis Wollcott (psycho murderous dandy). If I hadn't known it was the same guy, I would never have guessed.

She played Sasha, the girlfriend of Jess' father, when Jess moved to California for what was an ill-conceived spin-off idea (which ultimately went nowhere, and became just another episode of Gilmore Girls, albeit Jess-heavy).

I'm guessing none of the Cylon's count? *shrugs*

Jonathan M. Woodward had a one episode role on Buffy. He then played the recurring character Knox on Angel, season five. Technically, these shows are in the same 'verse. So I think it qualifies as a double dip. (Trivia: He was also Tracey if Firefly's "The Message." Yeah, Joss Whedon just loves him for some reason.)

On Gilmore Girls Marion Ross has played both Richard's mother Trix and his cousin Marilyn. As well, Alex Borstein has played the cranky harpist Drella as well as the senior Gilmores' fashion consultant Miss Celine.

Law & Order owns this thread, and not just for the biggies (Jerry Orback, S. Epatha Merkerson) - they love to recycle their favorite character actors and actresses in completely different, one-episode roles. The one that always jumps out at me is Mary-Joan Negro, who first appeared as a woman (Julie Atkinson) who recovers a repressed memory of her father killing a neighborhood boy, and later as Susan Forest, a fugitive who ends up on trial for a 1960s-era murder of a cop. Negro has such a distinctive face that I recognized her right away, even though both characters were one-offs.

Molly Price (late of Third Watch) is listed in IMDb as having played four different characters in four L&O eps spanning 15 years - I wonder if that's some kind of record...

Harry Morgan played a general who turned out to be nuts in one of the early seasons of MASH, then returned in a later season as Col. Potter.

Annie Parisse also appeared as a stripper/hooker/conspirator to murder (I think) before she joined the cast.

And as Veronica Mars fans know, James Jordan played Lucky in two episodes last season, and then was brought back this season as Tim (with a really bad wig) because TPTB liked him so much.

Holy shit, you just blew my mind. I had no idea.

Word to L&O. It seems like every time I look up a guest actor on some TV show that's piqued my interest, s/he's been on L&O multiple times. Not to mention SVU and CI, which are supposed to take place in the same universe. It's even funnier when people go from playing crook of the week to sleazy defense attorney to apartment landlord.

On Buffy, Kali Rocha played Halfrek (Anya's vengeance demon friend) and Cecily (William (Spike)'s youthful crush). I'm fairly certain they weren't intended to be the same character, but when she was cast in the role of Halfrek the writers used the opportunity to have a bit of fun, so they had her notice Spike and say "William?" in her Cecily voice, before glossing completely over it.

Also on Buffy, Tom Lenk played one of Harmony's minions and was later brought back as Andrew.

Hugh Laurie played Simon Partridge and Prince Ludvig the Indestructable on episodes of the second series of Blackadder before he joined the cast as a regular playing Prince George IV in the third series and then Lieutenant George in the fourth. And Tim McInnerny was a regular on all of the series except for the third, when he guest-starred as the Scarlet Pimpernel in one ep.

Boy can act, is my guess. Woodward has a lot of stage experience, I believe. I'm not sure if playing multiple characters in the same universe does count, but Carlos Jacott has also played in all three of Whedon's shows.

I miss Drella.

Joseph C. Phillips was on The Cosby Show as one of Sondra's dates (Cliff preferred him to the sexist dimwit Elvin), then turned up a few years later as Denise's husband.

Denis O'Hare has played about fifty skillion roles on L & O, mostly on the original.

The wonderful Leslie Jordan played two different guest roles in Lois & Clark. In season 1, he was a sweet scientist who had invented an invisibility suit. In season 2, he played a different guy who gained Superman's powers when they were struck by lightening. I was so excited when he won an Emmy in 2006 for his stint on Will & Grace. He is fantastic and adorable.

In the Law and Order reuse category, Sam Rockwell (and geez, this is my second Sam Rockwell post in the past week) played different characters during the beginning of the show's run. He was in the one where the Chinese honor student was killed and the one where the cop was killed for being gay.

As mentioned, Denis O'Hare
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0641354/ has played a number of creepy guys. And don't click on the picture if you never want to be spoiled for a rerun :) I swear, if you even see him in the background of scene, you know he's the murderer. I've seen him as a mentally ill man off his meds and the leader of a right-wing gun group in back-to-back episodes during an A&E marathon.

Another Law and Order one:

On SVU, Diane Neal played a woman who raped a male stripper, didn't she? And now she's Casey Novak.

Yeah, she did. I was just thinking about that episode.

Hercules & Xena had numerous actors playing various roles, since the shows were shot in New Zealand, and they only had a certain amount of actors to pick from, at times. The ones I remember right now is a pre-Lord of the Rings Karl Urban playing both Cupid and Caesar on Xena. And when he wasn't Iolaus, Michael Hurst played various other characters on Hercules. Also, Kevin Smith played both Ares and Iphicles.

Lucy Lawless showed up on Hercules as a character named Lilah before she was Xena.

I believe Craig Parker(Haldir from LotR) played three different characters on Xena. One of them was a prince who was turned into a baby and another was the son of Artemis looking for revenge. I don't remember the third character.

Ted McGinley appeared on Married with Children in "It's a Bundyful Life" as Peg's husband in Al's alternate world. A year later, he was Marcy's husband Jefferson.

Newsradio recycled Jon Lovitz a few times. In S3, when Bill was committed to the asylum, he played a fellow patient. They brought him back in S4 as a suicidal man on the ledge of the Criterion building. He came on in the final season as the new newscaster at WNYX.

Oh, Newsradio. Good times, good times...

The Fresh Prince of Bel Air used Sherman Hemsley twice, once as a judge and once as George Jefferson.

30 Rock is deliberately and blatantly reusing Rachel Dratch. She's appeared a few times as a cat trainer, and as Barbara Walters, Elizabeth Taylor, a hyper protester, and as The Blue Dude.

Don't forget the prostitute, Shelwood!

As much as I'd like to...

Freema Agyeman played a fairly minor role in the two-part season finale of season 2 of Doctor Who, and (I think) it was because TPTB liked her so much that she's the new Companion, Martha, for S3.

Alex Borstein isn't the only double up on Gilmore Girls. Sherilyn Fenn played Jess' dad's girlfriend in one episode (which was supposed to set up the spin-off series) and, of course, Anna, Luke's baby mama.

Bethany Joy Lenz (I forget her married name) from One Tree Hill played Reva's teenaged clone, then came back as Michelle Santos on Guiding Light.

Jensen Ackles had a guest spot in S1 Dark Angel before coming back as a regular in S2.

Jeffrey Tambor played no fewer than four roles on Three's Company -- most notably Jeffrey Brookes, who was also a main character on The Ropers.

Nothing will ever be squickier than Brynn Thayer on Matlock. She played a sexy widow in one of the earlier seasons whom Matlock is attracted to and kisses at one point... then she came back the next season to play his daughter for the rest of the series. I stumbled across the rerun one afternoon and found myself shrieking at the TV, "what are you doing with your daughter!?!"

I'm embarrassed that I even know this. Seriously, I'm not 102 years old.

Little House on the Prairie recycled actors all the time. I couldn’t even begin to list them. But Leslie Landon (Mike’s daughter) played at least 3 or 4 different characters.

Hee. [ferris]"Do you have a kiss for Daddy?"[/ferris]

Exactly. "So that's how it is in their family." [/Principal Rooney]

This one old man comes to my mind. He played the former owner of the Ingalls farm, the crazy old prospector Laura befriends and the uncle of the orphans the Ingalls adopt.

In the days before VCRs and the internet, series would often have one or two favorite small-part actors that they'd use again and again, for any new little role that came up, because they were good and (presumably) easy to work with.

The Dick Van Dyke Show had Alvy Moore, The Bob Newhart Show had Bobby Ramsen, Lou Grant had Barbara Jane Edelman. (I don't think the IMDb has caught all their appearances on those shows, by the way.) It's one of those pleasant little oddities, and maybe was even intended as a kind of casual in-joke with the audience. Sort of like a stock or repertory company. Barney Miller had a whole collection of eccentric actors that they re-used repeatedly in different roles.

Days of our Lives reused Josh Taylor as Roman and as Chris Kosicheck and Wayne Northrup also played Roman and came back as another character, the name is escapng me at the moment.... I hope I have those two Romans in the right spot.

Including Farmer Hoggett and Daddy Bauer himself, James Cromwell.

on Another World back in the day they had Robert Kelker Kelly play Sam and then come back later as Shane.

And DAYS not only did the many Romans, but the same woman who played Adriane Johnson came back to play Bonnie Lockhart later.

And it was just announced a few days ago that now that Bonnie is gone she will once again be playing Adrienne.

Nia Long was one of Will's numerous dates in the early seasons of "Fresh Prince", then turned up to play his girlfriend/fiancee in the 1994/1995 season.

Night Court had a history of casting the same actors for different roles during its run. Timothy Stack played Christine's fiance in one ep, and in another played a city official when the city workers went on strike. Phil Utay played Phil the Wino for several seasons, then his brother Will later on. Florence Stanley first appeared as a woman who confessed to killing her husband, then later appeared as the same judge who was a regular character on the show My Two Dads with Paul Reiser and Greg Evigan.

"Dragnet" had the Mighty Jack Webb Art Players, led by Anthony Eisley, Virginia Gregg, and the guy who played Chet Kelly on "Emergency!"

This has to be a record, but The OC had one guy (Craig Susser) playing four different parts in a single episode, "The Chrismukk-huh?". Granted, it was an alternate reality based episode, but it was a bit much even for "alt-world", as they called it. In the real world, he is the Ham Guy (the Ham is very important in this episode, for some reason). In "alt-world", he was a caterer, a journalist, and a mall Santa. He showed up a few times later in the real world, but we can always assume that he was meant to be the same guy, despite the fact that he was a cop in two episodes of the prior season.

Friends has also used this trick a few times. Cynthia Mann played the waitress in the pilot, and then later turned up as Phoebe's coworker at the massage parlor, Jasmine (whose first appearance was later that same season). Giovanni Ribisi made his first appearance as a guy who accidentally drops a condom in Phoebe's guitar case before becoming her half brother, later that same season.