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{{trope}}
There's an actor who is well-known for playing brave and courageous characters who are as good as it gets, or an actress whose characters are sweet and easy-going. [[Beneath the Mask|But off-camera]], it turns out that these people are not as nice as they appear to be when they start yelling at the rest of the cast, snapping at the director (in [[Cluster F -Bomb|the sort of language]] that their characters would never ''dare'' use), and proclaiming that [[It's All About Me|they alone have the talent]]. When meeting with fans, they'll usually take on their nice character persona, but when alone they'll complain loudly about how much they hate their annoying fans.
 
This trope is often used to give a message of not worshiping idols and raising false hopes. It is used to show the weaknesses and frivolities of show business and, funnily enough, considering the source, that just makes the message more interesting. People like to consider it knowledge from people who know what happens behind the curtain and take it as a knowing wink from the other side. Even if they're not really talking about their section of the industry.
 
Related to [[Hates the Job, Loves The Limelight]] and the [[Depraved Kids' Show Host]]; subtrope of [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing]] and [[The Prima Donna]]. The opposite of [[Mean Character, Nice Actor]]. Compare [[Funny Character Boring Actor]]. Also compare [[Small Name, Big Ego]].
 
'''[[No Real Life Examples Please|In-Universe Examples Only, Please!]]''' There are [[Eleventy -Zillion|scrillions]] of gossip magazines and websites that delve into this exact thing, and celebrities are held to higher standards of "nice" than normal people; having a short temper on a stressful day of work can be spun into making one sound like [[Ron the Death Eater|the most colossal bitch/douchebag on the planet]].
 
{{examples|Examples:}}
 
== Advertising ==
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== Films -- Live-Action ==
* ''[[Death to Smoochy]]'' focused on [[Depraved Kids' Show Host|the sordid private lives of children's TV performers]]. Most of the drama comes from most of the characters trying to prove that Smoochy is just as bad as the rest.
* ''America's Sweethearts'' was built around this trope. Gwen and Eddie always played sweethearts in the movies (see the film's title). In real life, Gwen left Eddie for another man, treated her sister/assistant like garbage, and was a general bitch to most people she met.
* ''[[My Name Is Bruce]]'', where [[Bruce Campbell]] [[Adam Westing|plays himself]] as this type of actor, mostly being compared to [[Evil Dead|Ash]].
* Averted in ''[[Harold and Kumar|Harold & Kumar go to White Castle]]'', Neil Patrick Harris (then still best-known for ''[[Doogie Howser, M.D.]]'') wanted to be credited "as Neil Patrick Harris" rather than "as himself" so people wouldn't think he was a crazy, coke-snorting womanizer in real life.
* Played brilliantly for comic effect in ''[[Pee WeesWee's Big Adventure (Film)|Pee Wees Big Adventure]]'' when child actor Kevin Morton (played by actual nice guy child actor [[The Wonder Years|Jason Hervey]]) acts like an arrogant prick toward the cast and crew in between takes on a film where he plays an orphan that all of the nuns and fellow orphans love dearly.
{{quote| ''"Doesn't it look like I'm ready? I am ALWAYS ready! I have BEEN ready since first call! I AM READY! Roll!"''}}
** One of the actresses playing one of the nuns so resents Morton's attitude that she threatens to quit.
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* Andy Griffith carries this off beautifully in 1957's ''A Face in the Crowd'' where he comes off as a folksy home-spun philosopher who somehow becomes a media success. Of course his downfall comes when his disillusioned girlfriend deliberately broadcasts what he ''really'' thinks of his audience during closing credits of his TV program.
* Neville Sinclair in ''[[The Rocketeer (Film)|The Rocketeer]]'', an Errol-Flynn-style '30s action hero actor who turns out to be a jerkass primadonna who "accidentally" ''stabs'' one of his costars for upstaging him. {{spoiler|Even worse, he turns out to be a Nazi spy, kills multiple people (enemy and ally alike) in his quest to steal the jetpack for his Nazi superiors so they can take over the world.}}
* In ''[[What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (Film)|What Ever Happened to Baby Jane]]'', Jane was a cutesy Shirley Temple-esque child star who became a horrible spoiled brat offstage. Her career was [[Role Ending Misdemeanor|ended]] when her fans witnessed her throwing a tantrum outside the theatre.
* ''[[The Purple Rose of Cairo (Film)|The Purple Rose of Cairo]]''.
* [[Peter Sellers]] plays the primary [[Villain Protagonist]] of ''Your Past is Showing'' and is a variant on [[The Krusty]]/[[Depraved Kids' Show Host]]. The public knows him as a kind [[Fun Personified]] variety show host, but in reality, he's cold and cynical and has made money by investing in/being the landlord of slum housing.
* In ''[[High School Musical|Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure]]'', Amber Lee Adams at first seems like she's quite a nice person. However, as the movie goes on, it turns out that Amber is planning to have the 'best friend' written out of the show. In doing so, she hires Sharpay as (unknown to Sharpay) her maid by making her do Amber's dirty work, so that she'll 'help' Sharpay's dog, Boi, get the role as the 'best friend' in the show. Of course, {{spoiler|Amber's karma catches up with her when she is exposed as a [[Jerkass]] onstage at dress rehearsal, and right in front of her own fanclub, too!}}
* Floop from ''[[Spy Kids]],'' though it's played with. His heart ultimately isn't in evil, and his softness allows his [[The Dragon|Dragon,]] Minion, to usurp him and become the [[Big Bad]] instead.
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** By the end of season 5, it's clear that Pierre isn't a bad guy at all, really.
* An episode of ''[[Family Matters]]'' has Carl forced to arrest an actor who plays a genial sitcom dad for assaulting him.
* Done in ''[[I CarlyICarly (TV)|I Carly]]'' with Wade Collins. {{spoiler|Turns out that he made up that whole 'my mother needs surgery' thing to gain sympathy from the audience.}} He's really an insensitive, nasty hobknocker!
** Carly Shay: quite a nice girl. Miranda Cosgrove in ''iBloop'': [[Adam Westing|hardass boss]].
** Don't forget Amanda Tate, from iCarly saves TV!
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* The owner of the ice cream factory in ''[[Grand Theft Auto Vice City (Video Game)|Grand Theft Auto Vice City]]'' is a gruff, mean, child-hating, poisonous hag. Although the ice cream factory is just a front for her drug-dealing business, so... No, hang on. She could have run bicycle couriers, or a taxi firm, or any other business that involved people going places at all hours of the day and night. So she picked the ice-cream business purely to mess with the minds of children. Yep; she's a witch.
** [[Hide Your Children|What children?]]
* Of course, one can never forget {{spoiler|Matt Engarde}} from ''[[Ace Attorney (Visual Novel)|Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney]]''. This is more a case of [[Complete Monster|Nice Character Completely Sociopathic Actor.]] Particularly ironic, since {{spoiler|Will Powers}}, his mentor/predecessor, {{spoiler|was the epitome of [[Mean Character, Nice Actor|Badass Character, Nice Actor]].}}
** {{spoiler|Juan Corrida}} wasn't a saint either, having {{spoiler|both rejected Celeste and faked her suicide note due to a petty rivalry with Matt.}}
** {{spoiler|The Pink Princess, aka Wendy Oldbag}} from ''Investigations.''
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== Web Originals ==
* In an alternate universe version of ''[[Survival of the Fittest (Roleplay)|Survival of the Fittest]]'', with the premise that it really ''was'' just a TV show, the actor portraying Adam Dodd, arguably [[The Hero]] ([[Anti -Hero]], at least) is depicted out of character as arrogant, selfish, womanising jackass - starkly contrasting with the character himself.
 
 
== Western Animation ==
* Darla Dimple, the villain of ''[[Cats Don't Dance (Animation)|Cats Don't Dance]]''
* Baby Herman of ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (Film)|Who Framed Roger Rabbit]]''. When the cameras stop rolling, he turns from a cute baby to a foul-mouthed, cigar-smoking, womanizing [[Jerkass]]. We later learn he is actually a [[Jerk With a Heart of Gold]] when he offers to hire Eddie Valiant to clear Roger's name, explaining that he and Roger are actually close friends. In all fairness, he is stricken with a [[Can't Grow Up|"fifty-year-old lust and a three-year-old dinky."]]
* In ''[[Kangaroo Jack (Film)|Kangaroo Jack]]: G'Day U.S.A.!'', the star of a children's zoology show is actually a smuggler of exotic animals.
* One episode of ''[[Rugrats (Animation)|Rugrats]]'' featured a children's show hostess who absolutely hated her target audience. Angelica overheard her swearing, which led to Angelica repeating it on the show.
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* In ''[[Kappa Mikey (Animation)|Kappa Mikey]]'s'' [[Show Within a Show]], ''Lilymu!'', female lead Lily is to act as a warm, caring, [[Implied Love Interest]] to our titular Mikey. When the cameras stop rolling, she goes back to being her [[Jerkass]] [[Attention Whore]] who hates the main character for stealing her thunder as Japan's most famous anime star. By the same token, Mikey Simon plays the heroic and totally competent Kappa Mikey, but is in fact a total well-meaning but inept [[Cloudcuckoolander]] who's inability to effectively meld into Japanese society drives most of the show's plot.
* Subverted in the ''[[Hey Arnold (Animation)|Hey Arnold]]'' episode "Eugene Goes Bad." Eugene is obsessed with TV superhero The Abdicator, but things go sour when he visits the set and sees the actor acting like a spoiled diva [[The Ahnold|("Where is mah ahpreecot joose?").]] After calling the guy out, Eugene decides there's no reason to be good anymore and starts to misbehave. Meanwhile, Maurice, the actor, has his own personal crisis as he can't stop feeling guilty about the incident and letting his fans down. Eventually he helps snap Eugene out of his rebellious phase.
* Baby Doll teeter-totters between this and [[Mean Character, Nice Actor]] in ''[[Batman: theThe Animated Series (Animation)|Batman the Animated Series]]''. Unlike most actors, whose excuses were drugs and scandals, she was a very sympathetic character; all she wanted to do was play a serious role but due to her disorder she couldn't, and last of all she wanted her old show back. However some things she does tend to cause sympathy levels to teeter totter. Although one of her co-stars that she kidnapped mentioned she was difficult to work with on the set, always making extreme demands and throwing tantrums if she didn't get her way.
* ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures How I Spent My Vacation (Animation)|Tiny Toon Adventures How I Spent My Vacation]]'' had a [[Johnny Depp]] parody (Johnny Pew the skunk) who turned out to be much less friendly than his screen presence would suggest.
* Mom from ''[[Futurama (Animation)|Futurama]]'' has the public image of a sweet, kindly old grandmother, but offstage is a malevolent [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] who routinely beats her three sons into submission.
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