The mustache-twirling villain dates back to the early vaudeville days, but many movie experts point to 1913’sBarney Oldfield’s Race for a Lifeas the first film to popularize a malevolent mustache man. Hilariously credited as Villainous Rival, the bad guy’s character arc in the 13-minute silent comedy short is about what you’d expect from a film during that time period: he ties a helpless damsel to train tracks and maniacally twirls his mustache, only to have his plot foiled at the last moment by the daring hero.
Villains have evolved a little bit since then, but there’s something about an antagonist sporting an unshaven upper lip that makes for such aclassic cinematic tropethat it’s hard to move away from it completely. Over the years, many modern actors have fully embraced the cliché and taken it to incredibly effective lengths. Here are 10 actors who have played mustachioed villains on the big screen.
Jeffrey Jones – Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
In the John Hughes-directed teen comedyFerris Bueller’s Day Off,Jeffrey Jonesplays the smug and slimy Ed Rooney, the dean of students who becomes determined to catch the school-skipping Ferris (Matthew Broderick) red-handed.
Jones’s performance is almost cartoonish in nature, with aNew York Timesreview from 1986 even comparing his rivalry with Ferris to Wile E. Coyote’s constant one-sided skirmishes with The Road Runner. It may not be completely necessary, but Rooney’s mustache does help exemplify his cartoonish-ness (particularly during the scenes when he lets his anger get the better of him), and while you never really take him seriously (like Wile E. Coyote), you’re constantly cheering for his downfall.
Michael Biehn – Tombstone (1993)
Tombstoneincludes a who’s who of iconic mustaches, including Kurt Russell’s Wyatt Earp and Val Kilmer’s Doc Holliday. But, probably the most villainous of the bunch belongs toMichael Biehn’s Johnny Ringo.
Based on an actual outlaw of the same name who had several run-ins with Earp and his posse in the late 1800s, the Johnny Ringo in the 1993 western film is particularly known for his ruthlessness towards the Earp clan and his rivalry with Doc Holliday. He finally gets what’s coming to him during his final duel with Holliday, but not before taking out a few good guys along the way.
Danny Trejo – Desperado (1995)
After a little over 10 years in the movie business,Danny Trejogot his first big-screen break in the 1995 Robert Rodriguez filmDesperado, where he rocked his now-signature mustache. Trejo plays a hitman named Navajas, who is hired by a Colombian cartel to kill Antonio Banderas’s El Mariachi. Navajas’s existence actually ends up paying off for our guitar case-carrying protagonist, as the knives-wielding assassin is mistaken for El Mariachi and killed during an intense firefight, giving the hero some breathing room from the main bad guys.
Desperadowould mark the first time, but not the last, that Danny Trejo and Robert Rodriguez would team up. While filming the neo-Western action flick, Trejo and Rodriguez discovered that they are actually second cousins. Rodriguez went on to cast Trejo in several of his subsequent films, includingFrom Dusk Till Dawnand theSpy Kidsmovies, where he popularized the franchise-spawning Machete character.
Related:Movies Where the Villain Falls to Their Death
Alfred Molina – Dudley Do-Right (1999)
Remember the stereotypical silent movie villain mentioned earlier? Well, Snidely Whiplash, who was the main antagonist in theDudley Do-Right of the Mountiessegments of the 1950s animated seriesThe Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, was a homage to this style of bad guy, sporting a top hat, a handlebar mustache, and a sinister ear-to-ear grin.
In the 1999live-action feature-film adaptationof these segments calledDudley Do-Right,Alfred Molinaplays Whiplash, the foil to Brendan Fraser’s titular hero, the kindhearted-yet-dimwitted Canadian Mounted Police Officer with a horse named Horse. Throughout the film, Whiplash engages in all sorts of stereotypical villainous behavior, like robbing a bank, trying to blow Dudley up with a bomb, and yes, tying a helpless citizen to train tracks.
Ben Stiller – Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004)
We all loveBen Stilleras the likable good guy, but the longtimeactor and directorpractically jumps off the screen whenever he gets the rare chance to play an over-the-top villain. A perfect example of this is his turn inDodgeball: A True Underdog Storyas White Goodman, the founder of Globo Gym and the leader of the Purple Cobras dodgeball team.
With a mustache that pretty much takes over half of his face, the egotistical and scum-baggy Goodman is devoid of any good qualities. That said, he is still responsible for some of the funniest quotes in the movie, including “Nobody makes me bleed my own blood!”, “Joanie loves Chachi!”, and “F**king Chuck Norris!”
Mel Brooks – Spaceballs (1987)
Given his predilection for making fun of Adolf Hitler and Nazism inmost of his films, it’s not all that surprising thatMel Brooksrocked an equally-ridiculous mustache for his role as President Skroob in the classic comedy flickSpaceballs.
Skroob, which you may notice is an anagram of Brooks’s last name, is meant to be a parody of Emperor Palpatine from theStar Warsmovies. Unlike the sinister leader from the George Lucas films, the president of Planet Spaceball is grossly incompetent and spends most of the movie breathing in canned air.
Jim Carrey – Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022)
WhileJim Carreyplayed the role of Dr. Robotnik in the first live-action Sonicfilm in 2020, he sported a much more outlandish mustache as the evil mad scientist inSonic the Hedgehog 2, so we’d be remiss if we didn’t specifically call out Carrey’s villainous performance in the 2022 sequel. Carrey himself mentioned this upgraded look and more souped-up powers in an interview withDigital Spyin March 2022.
“The second time, I just got to ratchet it up,” Carrey said.
“I go, OK, he’s been on the mushroom planet, obviously he didn’t find the right mushrooms because if he had, he would have stayed there.
“He’s coming back, full of vengeance and wanting to settle the score. Now he’s got a power that makes him a demigod which is really what we’re all after.”
Sonic the Hedgehog 3is set for a late 2024 release, though Carrey announced his impending retirement following the sequel’s release. With that in mind, it’s unclear as to who will reprise the Robotnik role for the third film.
Dustin Hoffman – Hook (1991)
Dustin Hoffmanwas virtually unrecognizable as Peter Pan’s archenemy in the Steven Spielberg-directedHook, donning a hairpiece, bushy eyebrows, a waxed mustache, and, of course, a hook for his role as Captain James T. Hook. The two-time Oscar winner rightfully received critical praise for his villainous turn, earning a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.
WhileHookwas panned by Spielberg himself and remains one of his least-favorite movies in his filmography, the 1991 fantasy adventure film, which was nominated for five Academy Awards, has gained a cult following among audience members who watched the movie as kids. Hoffman’s portrayal of the title villain is particularly a fan favorite more than 30 years later, which was made especially apparent duringa red-carpet interaction with a reporter back in 2017, during which Hoffman treated the diehardHookfan to an impromptu line recitation.
Related:15 Best Villain Roles From Actors Who Almost Always Play Good Heroes
Tom Hardy – Bronson (2008)
In 1987, a British man named Michael Peterson became immortalized as a violent criminal named Charles Bronson, taking his name from the famous American actor. Bronson’s life got the Hollywood treatment, albeit a heavily-stylized, darkly-comedic one, in the form of the 2008Nicolas Winding RefnfilmBronson.
Aside from the shaved head and signature mustache,Tom Hardy’s transformation into Bronson included gaining a considerable amount of weight. The real-life Bronson, who is still in prison to this day, got a chance to watchBronsonin 2011. He praised Hardy’s performance in the film, which he described as “theatrical, creative, and brilliant.”
Daniel Day-Lewis – Gangs of New York (2002)
Daniel Day-Lewisreceived his third Academy Award nomination (of an eventual six nominations) for playing Bill “The Butcher” Cutting in Martin Scorsese’sGangs of New York. Day-Lewis’s Cutting is a fictionalized version of an actual criminal from the mid-1800s named William Poole, who led a gang called the Bowery Boys and later became a local leader of the Know Nothing political movement in New York City.
Poole was known for his intense brutality and waxed handlebar mustaches, and Cutting has striking similarities on that front. Like most of his roles,Day-Lewis went full method forGangs of New York. On top of speaking in a distinct 19th-century New York accent throughout the entirety of the shoot, Day-Lewis had his nose broken during a fight scene with Leonardo DiCaprio (he kept going) and wore prosthetic glass over his eye to mimic his character’s trademark glass eye. Talk about commitment!
