Do you want each child as a separate credit so the character would be listed twice in each episode? Or should the credit be Name1/Name2 in one credit so the chracter is only listd once?
Surely we'd add the same character to both actors/actresses in this instance, if they are been played simultaneously by the same person
This is why I'm asking. There's going to be some measure of confusion either way: the character listed in the cast page twice or the actors combined under one credit. Just want to understand the house rules on this one before adding something someone else will need to fix.
Since TVMaze manages cast by character, and each character may have different photos and and different biographies, twins would arguably have to be listed separately.
For instance the character that Tom Cavanaugh plays on Season 1 of The Flash is a totally different character from the character of the same name and appearance that he plays in Season 2. (Parallel worlds and body swapping, don't ask. ) But I'd list him as a guest star for the original character in next week's episode, since Cavanaugh is reprising that season 1 character. (It's time travel, don't ask. ;) ) Even though Cavanaugh won't be on-screen credited as a guest star as well as a show star for that episode.
Are we talking about show stars, or guest stars, though? Or show stars playing one-time evil doppelgangers? And how are they credited at the end? For instance, on House, both of the "actors" playing Cuddy's baby daughters were credited separately.Although they were playing the same character. That's a common practice with Hollywood baby "actors."
On the other other hand, I wouldn't credit Joe Mantell twice for the Twilight Zone episode "Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room", even though he played both the main character, Jackie, and his alternate mirror self, James
Some other evil duplicates are iffy, though. Nimoy playing Mirror-Spock on Star Trek, for instance... it was a one-shot appearance. But any photo of the character would be different than the "normal" Spock, and the character has a fairly detailed biography of his own. Or William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton playing evil counterparts on various episodes of Doctor Who. And Troughton kinda is listed for both parts even when they appeared in the same episode.
For actors playing evil twins as counterparts, I'd say it's up to whoever is generating the entry. If they're willing to find a separate photo and cut-n-paste or write up a biography, and there's enough there to justify the work... why not? It makes the database more "accurate".
That's sort of two different issues though. If the same actor is playing two characters it's easy to list him twice and have him play different characters. The character profile will show info on the character and it's easy to keep separate.
But if it's a case of two people playing the same character then it gets confusing if the character profile gets filled out. I had a similar question come up with a recast.
For example: In the Fosters, the main cast lists two actors as the character of Jesus. But since the character profile has been filled out, both entries have a picture of only the current actor displaying. http://www.tvmaze.com/shows/198/the-fosters/cast..... I had wondered in that case if maybe the characters shouldn't be named something like "Jesus Foster (1)" and "Jesus Foster (2)". So that they have separate profiles.
In the case of twins sharing a role, I would think it's better to have them listed individually. But at least in that case the pic on character profile should look like the same person. Here this is how I added "Emma" to "Baby Daddy" http://www.tvmaze.com/episodes/610480/baby-daddy-5...
Well, it was a pretty broad question... :)
If twins are playing the same character, I'd use the same photo for both versions of the characters. Unless you can actually distinguish which twin played the character at which moment and use separate photos of each.
I'd definitely list them as two separate actors. You can have two actors share the same character, so just have them both "belong" to the same character.
This isn't an evil twin (or parallel worlds) situation. The character is a three year old child; as a result two twin girls play the role (Fiona Lewiston in Boston Legal if you want to look at it). Right now I have
April Rios -- Fiona Lewiston
Ashley Rios -- Fiona Lewiston
listed on the cast page for the episode "Live Big". The girls appear in at least 2 maybe 3 more episodes.
Conversely I can see the character listing being
April and Ashley Rios -- Fiona Lewiston
just so the character page and cast listings page for those episodes are a bit cleaner.
They're not one actress, so I wouldn't list them in the database as one actress. What if one of them retires or dies, or they appear separately in future projects? You'd either have to create entries for each of them separately on top of their "paired" actress entry, or list any appearance by either of them as April and Ashley.
Are they credited on-screen as one person or two? (I'd consider "April and Ashley Rios" being two separate credits, even if they're combined on one line.)
Hi Guys,
The system was built to accomodate multiple actors playing the same character.
If you check the character pages you'll see that it will list who played which episodes. And if both played the same character in the same episode, that's totally fine.
Example: http://www.tvmaze.com/characters/92551/full-house-michelle-elizabeth-tanner
Which is what I said. :)
Although I had a related issue that came up. What happens when different actors play the same character, but it's not quite the same character. For instance, you'll have a kid actor played XXX as a kid, and then the main actor playing XXX as an adult. The kid actor is often listed by character name in the co-starring end credits. Because it's just a minor role in a flashback.
Do you list them as two separate characters, or the same character?
Gadfly wrote:
Which is what I said. :)
Although I had a related issue that came up. What happens when different actors play the same character, but it's not quite the same character. For instance, you'll have a kid actor played XXX as a kid, and then the main actor playing XXX as an adult. The kid actor is often listed by character name in the co-starring end credits. Because it's just a minor role in a flashback.
Do you list them as two separate characters, or the same character?
I had the issue with The Dresden Files many times. The young actor was credited as "Young Harry Dresden" which is how he was listed in the series credits.
Gadfly wrote:
Which is what I said. :)
Although I had a related issue that came up. What happens when different actors play the same character, but it's not quite the same character. For instance, you'll have a kid actor played XXX as a kid, and then the main actor playing XXX as an adult. The kid actor is often listed by character name in the co-starring end credits. Because it's just a minor role in a flashback.
Do you list them as two separate characters, or the same character?
I think we decided on separate characters when we discussed Fargo as the characters were different enough (i.e. child Molly, Deputy Molly). It wasn't the case of an actor taking over the character in the same time frame kinda deal (like Darren in Bewitched).
IMO the only time you should create a separate character record for a character played by multiple actors is when it's another actor playing the same character in a different timeframe. Such as a child playing the part of a young character. The reason is because when this happens the younger actor will always be credited in the same show and will be credited as "young version" so it's a separate credit. I don't see an official policy for this, but this is what I'd do. In all other cases you should not make two separate character records for the same character even if there are different actors playing that role. Just make one character record and add both actors to the same character.
So in summary, if two different actors are in the same episode playing the same character at a different age, then add the character twice. Otherwise add the character only once and add the two actors to the same character record.
Special case: In Good Witch, Grace goes from being 7 years old to 15 years old in the next episode. Because the actress who played Grace was recast that would work better as being the same character record.
I'd be interested to know from admins if there is a formal policy on this.
Yes, if for example Alyson Hannigan plays a character named "Sabine" and Shirley Pratt plays a character named "Young Sabine",
you need to add them as separated characters.