Tropic Thunder - Cast

Cast

• Ben Stiller as Tugg Speedman: compared to a young Sylvester Stallone, he was the highest-paid, highest-grossing action film star ever due to his Scorcher franchise. His career has stalled, and he now has a reputation for appearing in nothing but box office bombs. After a failed attempt at portraying a serious role in Simple Jack, he takes the role of Four Leaf Tayback in an attempt to save his career. The first faux trailer at the film's start is a preview for Scorcher VI: Global Meltdown, the latest in his series.
• Robert Downey, Jr. as Kirk Lazarus: compared to Russell Crowe, an immensely talented Australian method actor, Lazarus had a controversial "pigmentation alteration" surgery to darken his skin for his portrayal of the black character Sergeant Lincoln Osiris. Lazarus refuses to break character while filming and only speaks in his character's Black English. Lazarus's faux trailer, Satan's Alley, is about two gay monks in a 12th-century Irish monastery, parodying films such as Brokeback Mountain and Downey's own scenes with Tobey Maguire (who in a cameo portrays the other monk) in Wonder Boys.
• Jack Black as Jeff Portnoy: compared to Chris Farley, he is a drug-addicted comedian-actor well known for portraying multiple parts in films that rely on toilet humor, particularly jokes about flatulence. In the film-within-a-film, he plays a raspy-voiced soldier named Fats. Portnoy's faux trailer for The Fatties: Fart 2, about a family (with each member played by Portnoy) which enjoys passing gas, spoofs Eddie Murphy's portrayal of multiple characters in films such as Nutty Professor II: The Klumps.
• Brandon T. Jackson as Alpa Chino: a closeted homosexual rapper who is attempting to cross over into acting, portraying a soldier named Motown, while promoting his "Bust-A-Nut" candy bar and energy drink, "Booty Sweat". His name is a play on Al Pacino. Before the faux trailers, a faux commercial for "Booty Sweat" and "Bust-A-Nut" appears, accompanied by the song "I Love Tha Pussy".
• Jay Baruchel as Kevin Sandusky: a respectful novice actor, he is the only cast member to have read the script and book and attended the assigned boot camp before the film. Sandusky plays a young soldier named Brooklyn in the film-within-a-film. Brooklyn and Sandusky each occupy the position of straight man in character in the film-within-a-film and its cast, being the only actor without an internal conflict or deep-seated insecurity.
• Nick Nolte as John "Four Leaf" Tayback: the author of Tropic Thunder, a fake memoir of his war experiences on which the film-within-a-film is based. He suggests the idea of dropping the actors in the middle of the jungle to get them looking and feeling like soldiers lost in a foreign land.
• Steve Coogan as Damien Cockburn: the inexperienced British film director who is unable to control the actors in the film.
• Danny McBride as Cody Underwood: the film's explosives expert and helicopter pilot. He is a pyromaniac.
• Matthew McConaughey as Rick "Pecker" Peck: Tugg Speedman's extremely devoted agent and best friend.
• Bill Hader as Rob Slolom: assistant and right-hand man to Les Grossman.
• Brandon Soo Hoo as Tran: the young leader of the Flaming Dragon gang and the film's main antagonist. The character was compared to Karen National Union guerrilla leaders Johnny and Luther Htoo.
• Reggie Lee as Byong: the second-in-command of the Flaming Dragon gang.
• Tom Cruise as Les Grossman: the foul-mouthed, hot-headed studio executive producing Tropic Thunder.

Various actors and celebrities portray themselves, including Tobey Maguire, Tyra Banks, Maria Menounos, Martin Lawrence, The Mooney Suzuki, Tom Hanks, Sean Penn, Jason Bateman, Lance Bass, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Alicia Silverstone, and Jon Voight. Christine Taylor, Mini Anden, Anthony Ruivivar, Rachel Avery, and Yvette Nicole Brown have roles as minor characters in the film. Justin Theroux, the writer of the film, appears in two brief roles as a helicopter gunner and a disc jockey (shown in a deleted scene).