Summary
- Pete Davidson’s characters in films often reflect exaggerated parts of his own personality, including his struggles with motivation, mental health, and the loss of his father.
- Davidson’s roles frequently draw on his real-life experiences, such as having Crohn’s disease, using medical marijuana, and being born and raised on Staten Island.
- While some of Davidson’s characters have similarities to himself, they often have a humorous or quirky twist, highlighting his unique style of comedy.
Some actors manage to be characters without even trying, such as comedian Pete Davidson, who appeared in several movies as essentially himself. Pete Davidson made a name for himself when he officially joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in 2014 at just 20 years old. After gaining success on SNL, he turned his attention to writing comedy in longer-form mediums such as film, with a collaboration with Judd Apatow to write a feature film he would go on to star in.
Davidson is highly regarded for his comedy abilities, as reflected by his career trajectory and his ability to form relationships with industry giants. His characters for SNL typically played on exaggerated parts of his own personality, which continued to be how Davidson went on to play characters in film roles. Often, he plays a stoner who struggles with motivation and a number of mental health issues, frequently references the loss of his father early on in his life, and pulls all of these things together to become a lovable goofball.
10 The King Of Staten Island (2020)
Pete Davidson Plays Scott Carlin
Pete Davidson’s first writing credit on a feature film, The King of Staten Island, is a story about a high school dropout struggling to figure out what’s next in life, while his mother gets into a new relationship. This movie was written as a comical look at what Davidson’s life may have looked like if he never found comedy, so the story is based on him. Like Davidson, Scott Carlin’s father died at a young age and was a firefighter. Davidson and Carlin also have Crohn’s disease, use medical marijuana for pain management and recreation, and share several mental health diagnoses in common. They were also born and raised on Staten Island.
9 Meet Cute (2022)
Pete Davidson Plays Gary
Meet Cute is a quirky sci-fi rom-com starring Kaley Cuoco with Davidson as the awkward and extremely accommodating love interest, Gary. No matter how weird Cuoco’s character gets, Davidson is afraid of being rejected and hopes to continue their spontaneous date. Gary is revealed to have lost his father at a young age, which has severely impacted his confidence throughout the rest of his life. In addition, he is very funny, genuine in his conversation, and not afraid to share personal things, just like Davidson.
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8 Bupkis (2023 – Present)
Pete Davidson Plays Pete Davidson
Bupkis began streaming on Peacock in 2023 and has since been renewed for another season. Despite being a TV series, it is worth including here as Davidson literally plays himself. However, the character is an exaggerated version. Davidson takes control of the narrative around him and his unique style of comedy by creating this meta series which unpacks the reality behind the headlines and sensationalized ideas about his life. The show features many parts of Davidson’s own life to provide a clearer look at who he is behind the camera, by placing a camera in front of him and dialing things up to 11.
7 Dumb Money (2023)
Pete Davidson Plays Kevin Gill
Dumb Money is a film that depicts the true events that took place in 2021 around the GameStop stocks. Davidson’s role in the film is smaller than the previous entries, but he continues to be cast as a character that very much resembles himself. The foul-mouthed funny man is portrayed as goofy, quirky, and struggling to find direction. While Davidson has clearly found success and purpose, like in his previous roles, he often creates characters based on the alternative version of himself who was less fortunate.
6 Good Mourning (2022)
Pete Davidson Plays Berry
Machine Gun Kelly’s critically panned film, Good Mourning features a small cameo role from Davidson which again sees him playing a hyped up version of himself. Davidson plays Berry, a car valet who shares the same speech, quirks of movement, and style of communication as Davidson. While the movie struggles from one scene to the next, having Davidson in what was essentially a cameo role was a small bright spot for the film.
5 Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)
Pete Davidson Plays David
Bodies Bodies Bodies is a comedy horror movie where Davidson plays a wealthy young man who hosts a party at his family home. David appears to be somewhat erratic, paranoid, and highly energetic, which are all traits that Davidson has displayed in the past. The character is also the first in the group to be killed during the film, but as is later revealed, David accidentally killed himself by trying to open a champagne bottle with a kukri knife. The role is clearly hammed up, but it continues to be Davidson, just with a twist.
Bodies Bodies Bodies: Pete Davidson’s 10 Best Movies, According To IMDb
Pete Davidson’s recent venture into horror with Bodies Bodies Bodies just illustrates his wide filmography with some movies doing better than others.
4 The Jesus Rolls (2019)
Pete Davidson Plays Jack Bersome
The Jesus Rolls is a spin-off focused on John Torturro’s character, Jesus Quintana, from The Big Lebowski. A crime comedy with wacky and outlandish humor, and when Davidson appears as a man who is just released from prison, the movie wastes no time in portraying him as somewhat of a dim-witted ladies’ man. In recent years, Davidson has been in several high-profile relationships with incredibly talented and beautiful women, so seeing this idea perpetuated in this role is a sort of nod to his real life.
3 Big Time Adolescence (2019)
Pete Davidson Plays Isaac “Zeke” Presanti
Pete Davidson plays the older brother figure to the central protagonist, Mo (Griffin Gluck), in Big Time Adolescence. Once again, Davidson plays a lovable stoner who is not necessarily the best influence for his younger friend, but because of how charismatic and energetic he is, he continues to be a guiding light in his life. Zeke struggles to pull his life together and chooses to continue his party lifestyle, which is similar to Davidson’s before his decision to severely reduce his drug use and take more control of his life.
2 Set It Up (2018)
Pete Davidson Plays Duncan
Davidson’s character in Set It Up is potentially one of the biggest departures from himself in any project he has worked on so far, but it still just feels like Davidson being Davidson with a twist. His character, Duncan, is an upstanding teacher, who is also the roommate of Glen Powell’s character, Charlie. He is a confident gay man who appears to have his act together, but the performance is still just comedian Davidson being used to add comical moments.
1 I Want You Back (2022)
Pete Davidson Plays Jase
The romantic comedy, I Want You Back, features Pete Davidson briefly, with his character being a representation of an earlier version of himself. Jase arrives at a party with alcohol and drugs and goes on to inspire the entire group to partake in dangerous stunts while under the influence. His character also appears paranoid and longs to get back together with his ex. While not all of these points align with Davidson and where he is currently in his life, the character reflects an early version, which appears to be how he is universally cast in projects.
