Believe it or not, the pipeline from comedian to actor is more intuitive than you might expect. Improv and standup have strong performance art undertones, and comedians generally have a strong sense of tragedy (it's often what makes them so funny). Sometimes comic performers stumble into film and TV roles, and sometimes they're crafting projects that trade on their specific brand of humor. Sometimes they start their on-screen career thanks to Saturday Night Live or another comedy show, and then, once they're known as performers, they take their brand of funny elsewhere.
Either way, some of our very best actors started life as comedians. There are literally Oscar-winning actors on this list, whfo were probably always going to be great dramatic actors but initially charmed us with their humor. But there are also actors who've never deviated from their particular brand of funny, regardless of how it's being used.
