It’s not hyperbole to say Batman’s archenemy, the Joker, is one of the most significant figures in modern media. He’s become akin to Hamlet or Macbeth, as new actors put their own spin on interpreting the character’s genius and madness.
Joker is the antithesis of Batman: He’s bright, colorful, and boasts a sadistic sense of humor. He believes in anarchy at all costs, butting heads with Batman’s mission of justice and order. The duo has been battling it out since the “Batman #1” comic first hit shelves in 1940, so any actor who takes on the role must find new ways to embody the Clown Prince of Crime.
Here, we’ll look at eight actors who’ve portrayed the Joker over the years, digging into the wide range of ways you can play within a single character.
Cesar Romero in “Batman” (1966–1968) and “Batman: The Movie” (1966)
Romero famously didn’t shave his mustache to play Joker on Batman’s first TV series, created by William Dozier. What could be seen as a lack of commitment was actually a refreshing take on the madman. While modern writers, directors, and actors portray the Joker as a tortured soul, Romero wasn’t hampered by such darkness. Instead, the actor had a blast chewing the scenery throughout the show’s three seasons, giving the exact performance the campy setting called for.
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In an interview with the Texas Archive of the Moving Image, he explained, “You can do everything you’ve always been told not to do as an actor. In other words, you can get as hammy as you like.”
Romero understood the assignment, putting the “clown” in “Clown Prince of Crime.” As an actor, it’s key that you read the room and understand tone. If the story calls for something grand, put your self-consciousness aside and go big.
Jack Nicholson in “Batman” (1989)
The Oscar winner’s interpretation of the Joker in Tim Burton’s film adaptation owes a debt to Romero. Nicholson still delivers a manic energy and high-pitched laugh as he deploys a cavalcade of silly gadgets, but this film arrived in the aftermath of writer Alan Moore and artist Brian Bolland’s seminal “Batman: The Killing Joke,” an unsettling story that pushed the Joker into darker, more overtly menacing territory. Already known for his intensity and unnervingly elastic facial expressions, Nicholson threads that needle. He makes the Joker feel both playful and downright scary.
A crucial aspect of his performance came down to makeup and costuming. Michael Keaton, who played Batman opposite Nicholson’s Joker, told David Letterman: “One day, [Nicholson] looked over at me and we’re both being made up in our suits, and he just looks at me and says, ‘Well, we just gotta let the wardrobe do the acting, kid.’ ”
It’s a good reminder that every performance is a collaborative effort between the actor, director, screenwriter, costume department, editor, and the many other individuals who make the project come to life. Lean in to the way your clothes, props, and surroundings make you feel—even if it’s a bit unhinged.
Mark Hamill on “Batman: The Animated Series” (1992–1994)
You can’t talk about Joker actors without discussing animation, and you definitely can’t talk about animation without mentioning Hamill. If you read any Batman comic, there’s a good chance you’ll hear Hamill’s voice in your head whenever the Joker shows up.
In the iconic animated series created by Eric Radomski and Bruce Timm, Hamill utilizes every single scale of his vocal range to create a Joker who feels thrillingly unpredictable. He goes low to be menacing and jumps high when he cracks a joke, often within the same line delivery. For a lesson in all the ways an actor can interpret one character, read this list, yes, but you could also just listen to the many different vocal choices Hamill uses to make his Joker as erratic as possible.
Hamill’s audition story can also serve as a lesson to aspiring actors. He once explained how he felt there was no chance he’d be cast since he was most famous for playing the heroic Luke Skywalker in the “Star Wars” franchise. But his lack of expectations actually helped. “I knew I couldn’t get the part, so who cares?” Hamill told Wired. “And I drove out of the parking lot thinking, That’s the best Joker they’ll ever hear, and it’s too bad they can’t cast me.”
Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight” (2008)
Ledger’s Oscar-winning turn in Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” is probably the most praised iteration, held up as one of the best performances of the 21st century. His casting—seen as a surprise at the time—coincided with the public’s growing interest in the ways movie stars utilized Lee Strasberg’s Method acting.
Ledger infamously locked himself in a hotel room to dig into the Joker’s tormented psyche, keeping a diary filled with scribbles and ramblings. The result is a performance that feels entirely lived in and charged with a very recognizable danger. The tics Ledger developed for his Joker—most notably the constant licking of his lips—never read like a performance. This grounds the character in reality, despite the fact he’s a comic book supervillain. If Nicholson’s version is scary in a cartoonish way, Ledger’s is frightening because it could be real. (Which is, in its purest form, the goal of Strasberg’s teachings.)
In an interview with Empire, Ledger stated, “There is no real limit on the boundaries to what he’d say or how you would say something or what he would do.” In a way, this harkens back to Romero’s take on the Joker, but in the opposite direction. Whereas Romero went hammy, Ledger turned Joker into a serious threat. While they’re very different performances, they’re rooted in the idea that this is a character who is impossible to play too large.
Jared Leto in “Suicide Squad” (2016)
Leto had massive shoes to fill in David Ayer’s “Suicide Squad” as the first person to portray the Joker in live-action after Ledger won the Academy Award. To his credit, he did seem to go all out—but it quickly became a lesson in playing the part and not letting the part play you.
Like Ledger, Leto is a Method actor. But his preparation process soon became the entire story of the film. “I did a lot of things to create a dynamic, to create an element of surprise, of spontaneity, and to really break down any kind of walls that may be there. The Joker is somebody who doesn’t really respect things like personal space or boundaries,” Leto said in an interview with E! News. This included sending what costar Viola Davis called “really horrific gifts” to the cast, such as a live rat to Margot Robbie, bullets to Will Smith, and—as he himself put it—“anal beads” and “used condoms.”
In the end, those efforts never quite translated to his performance onscreen, which is largely a clashing mishmash of the Jokers that came before. It’s proof of how fine the line is between doing what it takes to get in the right headspace and getting carried away.
Joaquin Phoenix in “Joker” (2019) and “Joker: Folie à Deux” (2024)
In 2020, Phoenix became the second person to win an Oscar for playing the character, in Todd Phillips’ “Joker,” a role he reprised in the sequel, “Joker: Folie à Deux.” Like many of the actors before him, Phoenix dived headfirst into a twisted mental state, reportedly taking many cues from a book on political assassins. But what makes his internal process special is how it then informed his physicality.
The actor (with the help of a nutritionist) lost 52 pounds to embody the loneliness and neglect felt by Arthur Fleck, a comedian who takes on the Joker mantle. The physical transformation brought a new element to the character for Phoenix, especially in the moments he loosens up his tightly wound body and starts to dance.
“[The weight loss] lent itself to the dance and the movement,” Phoenix told IndieWire. “You notice a lot of dancers have very little body fat. It made me hyperaware of my body. I think that was part of why I felt I could move in the way I did.”
Alan Tudyk in “Harley Quinn” (2019–present)
When it comes to a character as ubiquitous as the Joker (which has been voiced by 80 actors), it can be easy to get caught up in what came before. In that case, follow in the footsteps of Tudyk, costar of Justin Halpern, Patrick Schumacker, and Dean Lorey’s animated series “Harley Quinn.” The actor didn’t study his predecessors—not even the most famous one. “Knowing I can’t be Mark Hamill, I haven’t listened to Mark Hamill. I have heard him, but I didn’t watch it so I couldn’t recreate it,” Tudyk told Comic Book.
Instead, he found a funny personal connection. “Joker was created by an acid bath,” Tudyk told Variety. “If I eat spicy foods and I get acid reflux, it aggravates my voice, so I started with a voice that’s been completely washed in acid.”
Tudyk’s approach is a good reminder that coming in completely fresh can reap benefits. In this case, we get arguably the most overtly funny take on the character, with Tudyk’s piercing voice providing exactly what this particular show needs.
Vera Drew in “The People’s Joker” (2024)
Joker has gone through countless transformations over the past 85 years, changing and evolving as different creatives see fit. Proving that the character is as malleable as ever, Drew’s “The People’s Joker” reimagines the classic villain (played by Drew) as a transgender woman who goes by Joker the Harlequin.
Drew explained to the Fader that her interpretation was inspired by seeing “Joker.”
“I saw this movie about a person who was struggling to get the mental healthcare they needed, struggling inside their family system and the class system,” she said. “That resonated with me just as a trans woman. I constantly feel like my government’s left me behind and I don’t have really good access to mental healthcare.”
The maniacal, no-rules energy is still there in Drew’s madcap performance, but it’s grounded in a trans woman’s sense of identity and the search for where she belongs. No matter how old or well-worn a character is, it can still mean something new and offer surprising angles.
