The festive season is upon us, and with it, the time to watch all our favourite Christmas-themed films! The definition of what makes a movie a ‘Christmas’ movie has changed and expanded over the years, meaning the range of actors appearing in them has also grown. However, even the most traditional Christmas movies sometimes star actors whom we wouldn’t expect.

Here are just a few of the most unexpected actors to appear in Christmas movies.

TIM ALLEN IN ‘THE SANTA CLAUSE’

When Disney’s now classic The Santa Clause trilogy airs each holiday season, it often comes with a tagline claiming it isn’t Christmas without Tim Allen as Santa. However, this was not always the case. In his early career, Allen was best known for stand-up comedy, and then as TV handyman and family patriarch Tim ‘The Tool Man’ Taylor in the long-running sitcom Home Improvement.

So, his casting in The Santa Clause as Scott Calvin, a divorced marketing executive legally bound to become the new Santa Claus after accidentally causing the previous one to fall off his roof on Christmas Eve, came as a surprise to some fans. Allen wasn’t even the first choice, only cast after Chevy Chase and Bill Murray turned it down.

Allen ultimately made the role his own, and the film became an instant Christmas classic, spawning two sequels and a Disney+ series. The role also contributed to the decision to induct Allen as a Disney Legend in 1999.

JODIE WHITTAKER IN ‘GET SANTA’

Melbourne 2024 Supa-Star Jodie Whittaker is best known today for her tenure as Doctor Who’s Thirteenth Doctor, but prior to this she appeared in a number of film and TV roles in her native England, including the 2014 festive flick Get Santa. Whittaker plays a supporting role in the film, mostly in pursuit of her ex-husband Steve and son Tom, on their own mission to break Santa Claus out of prison in time for Christmas.

Get Santa has gained a new following in recent years, thanks to catalogue-trawling Heartstopper fans watching for a very young Kit Connor’s early role as Tom Anderson, with Whovians being surprised to find Whittaker hiding there too!

KURT RUSSELL IN ‘THE CHRISTMAS CHRONICLES’

While Kurt Russell’s early acting appearances came in Disney films such as The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, he has spent the bulk of his career as an action/sci-fi star, in iconic films such as The Thing and Escape From New York. He definitely would not have been the first actor that comes to mind to play Santa Claus, and yet, he was cast in exactly that role for Netflix’s 2018 film The Christmas Chronicles.

In the film, Russell’s Santa teams up with the Pierce siblings to find his missing hat and reindeer after a sleigh crash. After a brief cameo in the first film, Russell’s real-life wife Goldie Hawn joined him in the 2020 sequel, playing Mrs. Claus.

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH IN ‘THE GRINCH’ (2018)

For many kids growing up in the ‘90s to early 2000s, the 2000 live-action adaptation of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, starring Jim Carrey in the titular role, is a festive season staple, beloved in equal parts for its Christmas cheer and nightmare horror façade. So, whoever ended up following Carrey’s fuzzy green footsteps was already going to face an uphill battle bringing the mean one to life.

Enter Benedict Cumberbatch, who voiced the title character in Illumination’s 2018 animated film The Grinch. While not an expected choice, Cumberbatch is quite the voice actor, and he struck a perfect balance of keeping the Grinch both grouchy and endearing, making the film a classic for its generation just as the live-action film and original animated short were for 00s kids.

WILL FERRELL AND JAMES CAAN IN ‘ELF’

For most of his career, Will Ferrell was best known for raunchy comedies, so his turn as Buddy, a human raised by Santa’s elves in the family-friendly 2003 film Elf was a very different kind of role for him. The late James Caan, who played Buddy’s Scrooge-ish biological Father, was also playing against type, having previously been best known as Sonny Corleone in the Godfather films, amongst other, more serious roles. Despite its unlikely cast, Elf is now a classic, with fans still clamouring for a sequel two decades later.

CHRIS EVANS IN ‘RED ONE’

The recently released Christmas action-comedy Red One stars Chris Evans as Jack O’Malley, a hacker/bounty hunter reluctantly recruited by the North Pole’s head of security (played by Dwayne Johnson) to help find and rescue ‘Red One’, aka Santa Claus, after the big man in red has been kidnapped by unknown enemies in the lead-up to Christmas.

The surprise here is not necessarily Evans being in a Christmas film. He has exactly the kind of wholesome reputation you would expect from one appearing in a movie set during the holidays. Instead, the unexpected part comes for fans used to seeing Evans as the strait-laced Captain America now having to accept him as a less than wholesome character. After all, cinematic bounty hunters usually exist a little outside the law, even if they are loveable rogues more often than straight bad guys.

In all these great movies, unexpected and daring casting choices helped make them what they are, so don’t be afraid to play outside the box, and embrace something you didn’t expect! You may find something that you didn’t even you know you needed yet!