Ranking the five best actors who have played God
Characters playing God in a figurative sense have been a recurring theme of cinema for as long as the medium has existed, but there isn’t an exhaustive list of actors to have done it quite literally and played the man upstairs in a feature film or TV series.
There’s always going to be the potential to cause wide-ranging offence and upset, which might explain why so many talents are reluctant to take on the role. Then again, Whoopi Goldberg did it twice in It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie and A Little Bit of Heaven, although she may be the exception to the rule.
In his live-action form, God has appeared in everything from obvious biblically-indebted stories like Exodus: Gods and Kings and Almost an Angel to decidedly less religiously-orientated offerings including Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Time Bandits.
As a spiritual entity there’s no right or wrong way to approach the performance, and it would be an understatement to say the following five names all brought the part to life in very different ways.
Five actors who played God:
5. Rob Zombie (Super, 2010)
An R-rated and nihilistic street-level superhero comedy written and directed by James Gunn hardly sounds like it would be the sort of place where God would show up, but that’s precisely what happened in Super, with Rob Zombie of all people playing the part in a voice-only role.
Rainn Wilson’s Frank Darbo experiences a vision that convinces him he’s been personally selected by God to become a costumed crimefighter. Having fittingly taken it as gospel, the short order cook seeks to fulfil his pre-ordained destiny as the Crimson Bolt after being given the okay by the heaven-dweller.
4. Alanis Morissette (Dogma, 1999)
Kevin Smith’s fantasy comedy came under fire from various religious groups from the second it was announced, with protests and calls for a boycott generating headlines. Presumably, having Alanis Morissette as God in the movie didn’t do anything to quiet the discontent.
She doesn’t even speak a word of dialogue in the film, either, although her thousand-yard stare makes it abundantly clear what she thinks of Ben Affleck’s Bartleby and his antics, with Alan Rickman’s angel Metatron doing the heavy lifting by sharing her thoughts relating to the mortal realm’s goings-on.
3. George Burns (Oh God! trilogy, 1977-1984)
George Burns turned out to be so popular as God that he got to do it three times, even if sequels Oh, God! Book II and Oh, God! You Devil didn’t fare anywhere near as the opening instalment, which recouped its production budget 25 times over at the box office.
First enlisting a put-upon supermarket worker to spread his message, before tasking an 11-year-old to do the same in the sequel prior to pulling double duty as both God and the Devil in the sequel, Burns made for a kindly and charismatic deity, even if three movies was stretching the premise a little thin.
2. Steve Buscemi (Miracle Workers, 2019)
The first episode of Miracle Workers‘ first season sees Steve Buscemi’s God make the bold call to destroy Earth, with his energies being better focused on a new restaurant instead. Thankfully, Geraldine Viswanathan’s Eliza of the prayer-answering department places a bet that the planet will be spared if one “impossible” prayer can be answered within the next two weeks.
Buscemi brought serious slacker energy to the part, telling Collider that he saw his spin on God as being “overwhelmed”: “I think he thought it would be fun to have his own planet and realizes that it’s a lot harder than it looks.” The offbeat anthology series has been a treat across its four-season run, but Buscemi’s inspired casting got things off to a fantastic start.
1. Morgan Freeman (Bruce Almighty, 2003)
While Morgan Freeman did reprise the role of God in follow-up Evan Almighty, the fact it came as part of a critical flop and money-losing disaster of ironically biblical proportions made it clear that lightning had not struck twice when he lent his dulcet tones to the role.
Generating crackling chemistry with Jim Carrey in the opening chapter, Freeman’s casting was as obvious as it was ingenious, with no other actor in the business capable of imbuing the man upstairs with such syrupy gravitas, all wrapped up in a mischievous streak that saw the twinkle never leave his eye anytime he was on-screen.
