The Joker is one of the most diverse characters in comic book history. This makes the character extremely difficult to play. The top actors to play the Joker in movies are Joaquin Phoenix, Heath Ledger, Jack Nicholson and Cesar Romeo.
To understand how hard it is to play the Joker and properly appreciate these actors, we must delve into his history first. The normal story for Joker is that he was completing his final heist when suddenly, Batman confronted him, causing him to jump into an acid bath to get away from him. This, sadly, resulted in him losing his mind and getting green hair and white skin. We must keep in mind that this is the original story; most of the actors on this list played a different version, such as not going insane slowly, being a hypnotizer before taking crime, or not even knowing his past.
(I will not be reviewing Joaquin Phoenix in this article as his film was for audiences that are 18+)
Heath Ledger:
Movie: The Dark Knight. (2008)
Heath Ledger was a method actor. This means he would change his entire lifestyle just to play a role in a movie. He first did this by locking himself in a hotel room for six weeks to see what it would be like to go crazy. During this time, he practiced different voices, wrote a journal and practiced the iconic Joker laugh. Heath wanted the Joker in this movie to be different from the others.
During the filming process, Heath wanted the Joker to look as real as possible. One of the things he did was put the Joker make-up on himself. A famous make-up artist came to the set to apply the make-up, but it looked too professional. Heath wanted the Joker to look like an average man who wanted to make a change. Another thing he did was improvise most of the scenes during the movie. As said before, he wanted the Joker to seem as real as possible. He was given the basic idea of what was supposed to happen in every scene, and then he made up most of the lines.
Heath Ledger won an Oscar for best-supporting actor. Sadly, he passed away a few months after the film was made.
Jack Nicholson:
Movie: Batman ’89. (1989)
Jack Nicholson played Joker in a very difficult way. This Joker was part of the mafia until he fell into a pit of acid when trying to get away from Batman. This meant he played Joker before Joker became the crown prince of crime. This movie is what you’d expect if you read the original Batman comics, just that this movie is much darker.
Jack perfected the laugh of this Joker and it was easy to tell that he understood this Joker. Jack played this Joker so well that even the audience had no idea what he would do next. He never took the show either, even though he had a real abundance of screen time.
The thing about Nicholson was that he was never a big fan of comic books. He has confirmed this fact. When Tim Burton, the director, approached him to play the role initially, Jack refused. But since Jack had a reputation as a very good actor, Tim offered a percentage of the movie revenue. Jack couldn’t refuse this offer. Tim made the right choice, and because of this, the movie was a massive hit.
Cesar Romero:
TV Show: Batman ’66. (1966)
Cesar Romeo is exactly what the original comic book Joker was. Funny, dumb and able to come up with the most insane plots. He was born into a wealthy family on February 15th, 1907. He is what a person would expect as the Joker.
Though he was the first actor to play a live action Joker, he may not have been the best. All the other actors who played Joker went to extreme measures to almost become the Joker but wouldn’t even shave his mustache for the part. This version of Joker isn’t violent at all and is quite amusing. Although he may not have been the best, he still portrayed the original Joker very well.
