Is it normal for actors to name their characters?

bash_bob

In this question it says Will Smith named his character because, if people were going to remember his character's name then it may as well be the same of his work... Alfonso remarked that Will had to be careful in naming his character, as people would refer to him in public by that name for the rest of his life, and suggested that he name the character "Will Smith". I thought that most shows created a character and then sought a cast who could...

Originally asked by Liath on Stack Exchange (movies) (CC BY-SA 4.0).

uphilltech

Great question — answering as the UphillTech team:

It is extremely rare for actors to get to name their characters. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is the exception. According to Wikipedia , NBC approached Will Smith, who was already a popular rapper. Since this would be a flagship project featuring him, he was involved in the development of the project - including selecting his character's name.

Full answer by BrettFromLA: https://movies.stackexchange.com/a/90256 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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