Actors who have played God on screen

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Religious believers put their faith in an unseen higher power, but leave it to Hollywood to try to fill in the gaps. With no official divine headshot on file, casting is wide open — you could go with the classic white-haired, bearded sky patriarch in the clouds; flip tradition by switching genders; or, well…just go with Steve Buscemi or Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf (because everyone’s made in His image!).

For these roles, actors step into the Creator’s shoes, offering their own — or the script’s — interpretation of how God might act in the flesh. See the stars who got a taste of omnipotence on screen.

Rex Ingram in The Green Pastures (1936)

Rex Ingram in ‘The Green Pastures’.

Warner Bros.

In one of the most successful classic films with an all-Black cast, Rex Ingram plays God, Adam, and more in a set of stories that combine the Bible and Black folklore. —Marcus Jones

Groucho Marx in Skidoo (1968)

Groucho Marx and Donyale Luna in ‘Skidoo’.
Everett Collection

Groucho Marx called his final silver screen performance — in which he plays the deity in the heavily LSD-influenced experimental film — “God-awful” in his 1976 book, The Groucho Phile: An Illustrated Life. —M.J.

George Burns in Oh, God! (1977), Oh, God! Book II (1980), and Oh, God! You Devil (1984)

George Burns in ‘Oh, God!’.
Everett Collection

Through the Oh, God! film franchise, veteran entertainer George Burns found new wind in his career playing Lord and Savior to a different character in each movie. —M.J.

Ralph Richardson in Time Bandits (1981)

The cast of ‘Time Bandits’.
Everett Collection

In director Terry Gilliam’s first film in his Trilogy of Imagination, Ralph Richardson plays a Supreme Being who employs little people to fix holes in the space-time continuum. —M.J.

Robert Morley in Second Time Lucky (1984)

Robert Morley in ‘Second Time Lucky’.
Broadbank Investments

British actor Robert Morley plays God making a wager with Satan on whether or not Adam (Roger Wilson) and Eve (Diane Franklin) can stay moral through a series of different time periods, and save humanity from eternal damnation. —M.J.

Ferdy Mayne in Night Train to Terror (1985)

Ferdy Mayne and Lu Sifer in ‘Night Train to Terror’.
Everett Collection

European actor Ferdy Mayne plays another version of God making a wager with Satan on whether a sample size of humans deserve heaven or hell. —M.J.

George Plimpton in A Fool and His Money (1989)

The cast of ‘A Fool and His Money’.
Blossom Pictures

Writer and media personality George Plimpton makes a quick appearance as God in this religious satire starring a young Sandra Bullock. —M.J.

Charlton Heston in Almost an Angel (1990)

Charlton Heston in ‘Almost an Angel’.
Paramount Pictures

While we actually see Charlton Heston play God in this box office bomb starring Paul Hogan, the late actor was much more known for voicing the deity (and portraying Moses) in The Ten Commandments. —M.J.

Robert Mitchum in Les Sept Péchés Capitaux (1992)

Robert Mitchum in ‘Portrait Session’.
Aaron Rapoport/Corbis/Getty Images

Classic film actor Robert Mitchum somehow found his way into playing Dieu in an obscure Belgian comedy. —M.J.

Scott Bairstow on Touched by an Angel (1994)

Scott Bairstow and Roma Downey on ‘Touched by an Angel’.
CBS

The long-running CBS drama Touched by an Angel concluded with Monica (Roma Downey) finally meeting God in the body of a young man, played by Scott Bairstow. —M.J.

Emily Watson in Breaking the Waves (1996)

Emily Watson in ‘Breaking the Waves’.

Evergreen Entertainment

Provocative filmmaker Lars von Trier made God a woman in the form of Emily Watson. The role earned her a Best Actress nomination at the 1997 Oscars. —M.J.

Maurice Roëves in The Acid House (1998)

Maurice Roëves and Stephen McCole in ‘The Acid House’.
Everett Collection

As is common with many of these projects, actor Maurice Roëves is another person woven into several interconnecting stories who turns out to be God himself. —M.J.

Whoopi Goldberg in It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002)

(Clockwise from upper left) Fozzie Bear, Whoopi Goldberg, Gonzo, Miss Piggy, Pepe the Prawn, and Kermit the Frog in ‘It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie’.
Everett Collection

Yes, there’s a Muppet movie where God is a character, and, of course, they are played by Oscar winner Whoopi Goldberg. —M.J.

Alanis Morissette in Dogma (1999)

Alanis Morisette and Kevin Smith in ‘Dogma’.
Everett Collection

Alanis Morissette appeared as God in Kevin Smith’s cult classic film that came out around five years after the release of the Canadian “You Oughta Know” singer’s groundbreaking Jagged Little Pill album. —M.J.

Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf in Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV (2000)

Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf in ‘Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV’.

Troma Entertainment

Henry Nasiff Jr. — mostly known as Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf from radio personality Howard Stern’s Wack Pack — has a cameo as God in this B-movie sequel that came out in New York shortly after his death. —M.J.

Morgan Freeman in Bruce Almighty (2003), Evan Almighty (2007)

Morgan Freeman and Jim Carrey in ‘Bruce Almighty’.
Everett Collection

Morgan Freeman put his velvety voice to good use as the entity reigning over Heaven in the Jim Carrey-lead comedy Bruce Almighty. He even returned in the lesser sequel Evan Almighty, where Steve Carell plays a modern Noah. —M.J.

Antônio Fagundes in God Is Brazilian (2003)

Bruce Gomlevsky and Antônio Fagundes in ‘God Is Brazilian’.
Everett Collection

Brazilian dramedy God Is Brazilian lives up to its name by casting Brazilian actor Antônio Fagundes as the all-seeing and all-knowing God. —M.J.

Will.i.am, Zachary Quinto, and more on Joan of Arcadia (2003)

Amber Tamblyn and Will.i.am. on ‘Joan of Arcadia’.
Gale M. Adler/CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images

Short-lived network dramedy Joan of Arcadia had multiple actors play God throughout its two seasons, including Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas and Zachary Quinto. —M.J.

Rodney Dangerfield in Angels With Angles (2005)

Rodney Dangerfield in ‘Angels With Angels’.
Sierra Mar Pictures

Like comedy legend Groucho Marx before him, stand-up icon Rodney Dangerfield’s last film role was that of God. Ironically, the film also has an actor playing fellow former onscreen God George Burns. —M.J.

Rob Benedict on Supernatural (2005)

Rob Benedict on ‘Supernatural’.
Katie Yu/The CW

Seven seasons after the character Chuck Shurley (Rob Benedict) is introduced as a prophet of the Lord on Supernatural, the eleventh season of the long-running show revealed (confirmed) him to actually be God. The final season also revealed he’d been manipulating events around the Winchesters all along. —M.J.

Whoopi Goldberg in A Little Bit of Heaven (2011)

Kate Hudson and Whoopi Goldberg in ‘A Little Bit of Heaven’.
Everett Collection

Goldberg falls back into the role of God, trading Muppets for Kate Hudson in this rom-com. —M.J.

Paul Sorvino in Alleluia! The Devil’s Carnival (2012)

Paul Sorvino in ‘ Alleluia! The Devil’s Carnival’.

Execution Style Entertainment/Empire Film & Entertainment Group

The late Goodfellas actor Paul Sorvino plays God among sinners in a twisted musical horror film. —M.J.

Isaac Andrews in Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)

Isaac Andrews in ‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’.
20th Century Fox

In Ridley Scott’s controversial adaptation of the story of Moses, young British actor Isaac Andrews plays Malak, the boy God possesses to get a message across to the prophet. —M.J.

Mark Harelik on Preacher (2016)

Mark Harelik on ‘Preacher’.
Everett Collection

Veteran TV actor Mark Harelik dazed and confused the cast of the edgy AMC series Preacher through four seasons as the elusive God. —M.J.

Octavia Spencer in The Shack (2017)

Octavia Spencer in ‘The Shack’.
Jake Giles Netter/Lionsgate

In an adaptation of the popular 2007 Christian novel, Oscar winner Octavia Spencer plays Papa, who’s actually God, living in a mystical shack with Jesus (Avraham Aviv Alush) and the Holy Spirit (Sumire). —M.J.

Steve Buscemi on Miracle Workers (2019)

Steve Buscemi on ‘Miracle Workers’.
Curtis Baker/TBS

Steve Buscemi offers another oddball take on God, bored and ready to end humanity in the first season of this TBS anthology series. Buscemi returned for the next seasons, with new settings of the Dark Ages and the Oregon Trail. —M.J.

Jodie Turner Smith on Sex Education (2023)

Jodie Turner Smith on ‘Sex Education’.

Netflix

Jodie Turner-Smith appears in season 4 of Sex Education as several figures crossing Eric’s (Ncuti Gatwa) path — until it’s ultimately revealed that she is God, descending to earth to remind him of her unconditional love for everyone and to steer him toward his true calling. —James Mercadante

Frances McDormand on Good Omens (2019, 2023)

Frances McDormand; David Tennant and Michael Sheen on ‘Good Omens’.

Michael Tullberg/FilmMagic; Christopher Raphael/Amazon Studios

In this show about angels and demons that stretches from the dawn of time to the world’s preordained end, it was only fitting that God (voiced by Frances McDormand) served as the narrator — because isn’t every all-knowing storyteller just a deity with a script? —J.M.

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