I’ve seen this a lot on IMDB, and this was just an example using more well-known names. For a direct example, I was looking up the cast for the 1999 film, DragonHeart: A New Beginning, and the lead actor, Chris Masterson, is listed as “Christopher Masterson – Geoff (as Christopher Masterson)”, and another character is ” Vladimir ‘Furdo’ Furdik – Sentry (as Vladimir Furdik)”, but only those 2 actors were listed that way. What does it mean that their character is “as the actor”, but it’s only true for them and not anyone else in the cast?
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I think you’re missing that there *are* differences. I looked up Dragonheart: A New Beginning, and it says Christopher Masterson – Geoff (as CHRIS Masterson). If there’s any difference between the name in IMDB and the name in the credit (Christoper vs. Chris) it will amend the entry like this.
The two names which are listed are the one the actor is commonly known as and the other is how the credit in the film is given. The movie may list him with one name, IMDb or other sources May refer to them by another name. This is especially common for actors who have changed their screen names during their career.
Laurence Fishburne was credited in his earlier films as “Larry Fishburne”.
If you’re watching Boyz n the Hood you’ll see the spelling as Larry in the credits as it was when it was released whereas he is now credited and known as Laurence.
Generally these are for actors who have been officially credited under different names.
E.g., Ian McKellen is usually credited as “Ian McKellen” but other times as “Sir Ian McKellen”.
Chris Masterson has been officially credited as “Chris Masterson”, “Christopher Masterson”, and “Christopher Kennedy Masterson” in the past.
another good example is the imdb page for Inception.
Some films use variations on an actors name, and some actors develop a stage name after they first appear in a tracked film (perhaps moving from student films or bit parts into bigger roles). Regardless, the same person can appear in the credits of films with different names.
When IMDB has a record for an actor that has been credited using more than one name, then it makes sure you know which one was used for that particular film).
In your example, “Ian McKellan” has also been credited under the names “**Sir** Ian McKellan”, “**Sir** Ian McKell**e**n”, and “Ian McKelle**r**n”. Same person, different names in the credits.
Some cases it’s for special characters in the name. Hélène Joy is in IMDB as Helen Joy but normally listed as Helen Joy (as Hélène Joy)
In the final credits of the movie, the department of redundancy department credits the actor with the most credentials in the credits by crediting them twice in the final credits.
It is almost always due to typographical errors or when the name in the credits is different from their “official name” in SAG or whatever union. Sometimes it is because their name has changed during their career, or sometimes it is because their nickname or better known as name.
When actors join SAG-AFTRA, which is the actor’s union, they register a professional name. The professional name must be unique as they cannot perform under the same name as another SAG member. That can be a challenge since there are more than 100,000 members.
For example, the actor Micheal B. Jordan cannot perform under his given name, Micheal Jordan because the athlete (and actor) Micheal Jordan registered the professional name Michael Jordan with SAG first.
Sometimes actors have non-union performances that are credited in IMDB and they later have to select a different professional name when joining SAG. Sometimes actors are better known by a name that they are not allowed to perform with because it is already registered.
What you are seeing is a workaround for the actor to be able to use their common name in credits by listing both their professional and common name.
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