Reverse typecasting

In movies and television, typecasting is the phenomenon that sometimes happens that a certain actor is strongly identified with a certain kind of role, and gets typically hired for such roles. And, in fact, most often the public outright expects them to be in that kind of role.

Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger are typical examples, where they have been frequently typecasted as the tough protagonist of an action movie. Many comedians get often typecasted in comedies, and can have a hard time breaking through other, more serious roles. Actors like Morgan Freeman often get cast in authority figure roles (such as the President of the United States).

I have noticed, however, that there exists another, much less talked about phenomenon, which is pretty much the polar opposite of typecasting. I don't think this even has a name. I'm calling it "reverse typecasting".

This is when an actor is so famous for a certain role that it becomes almost unthinkable to hire him or her in another similar role, because of the strong association with that one particular character.

For example, David Caruso is the lead actor in CSI: Miami, as Horatio Caine. He is best known for this role.

This, in my opinion, pretty much excludes him from being cast in another police procedural. Just imagine the confusion of the audience if he were to be cast in another such TV show. "Hey, that's the guy from CSI Miami! Is he supposed to be the same character?" It would be highly distracting because of this. It would be hard to not think about him as Horatio Caine, no matter how much the other show tries to portray him, and the show, as completely unrelated.