There's no business like monkey business. 10 best monkey and ape actors in Hollywood

There's no business like monkey business.

10 best monkey and ape actors in Hollywood

There's no business like monkey business.

By Gary Susman

Gary Susman is a former senior writer at **. He left EW in 2009.

EW's editorial guidelines

on September 27, 2025 9:00 a.m. ET

Bradley Cooper as Phil and Crystal the capuchin as a drug-dealing monkey in 'The Hangover Part II'; Binks the capuchin as Monkey and Brendan Fraser as George of the Jungle in 'George of the Jungle'; David Schwimmer as Ross Geller and Monkey/Katy the capuchin as Marcel on 'Friends'. Credit:

Hollywood has employed quite a few actors of the simian variety over the years, and for numerous purposes, too. Whether playing the loyal sidekick as in the classic *Tarzan* movies or the central menace like in 1996's *Dunston Checks In*, most of these monkeys, apes, orangutans, chimps, and capuchins end up stealing the show regardless.

Here are our picks for the 10 best monkey/ape actors in Hollywood history — many of whom have their own IMDb pages! — examining their most memorable roles and what happened in the aftermath of their brush with success.

10. Peggy the chimp

Diana Lynn as Jane Linden, Peggy the chimp as Bonzo, Walter Slezak as Professor Hans Neumann (standing) and Ronald Reagan as Professor Peter Boyd in 'Bedtime for Bonzo'. Everett Collection

**Key role:** Bonzo in *Bedtime for Bonzo* (1951)

**Oscar-worthy moment:** Playing a chimp raised as a human child by an anthropologist (Ronald Reagan), Peggy gives a surprisingly understated performance that doesn't upstage the future president.

**After the limelight:** Peggy starred in a sequel, *Bonzo Goes to College* (1953). But, unlike other California cronies of Reagan's, she failed to land a White House job in 1981.

9. "Sieg Heil" the capuchin

Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones and 'Sieg Heil' the capuchin in 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'.

Paramount Pictures/Lucasfilm

**Key role:** The perfidious monkey spy in *Raiders of the Lost Ark *(1981)

**Oscar-worthy moment:** The primate offers a convincing Nazi salute. And it dies memorably after eating a poisoned date meant for Indy (Harrison Ford).

**After the limelight:** The capuchin (whose real name has been lost to history) earned the ire of producer Frank Marshall, who complained that it didn't get along with the human actors — and that it had to be tied to wires to get it to run in the right direction. No wonder it's never eaten dates in this town again.

8. Sam the orangutan

Sam the orangutan as Dunston in 'Dunston Checks In'. Everett Collection

**Key role:** Dunston, the jewel-snatching simian who wreaks havoc in a luxury hotel in *Dunston Checks In* (1996)

**Oscar-worthy moment:** For a slapstick comedy performance, Sam has a surprising number of emotional, dramatic moments — having a painful shard of glass yanked from his hand, or looking mournfully at a photo of himself with his dead brother.

**After the limelight:** Let's put it this way: *Dunston Checks In *costar Rupert Everett admits to hate-watching a beloved TV comedy, but he's never uttered an unkind word about Sam.

7. Bernie, Mac, and Louie the chimps

Jack (played by Bernie, Mac, and Louie the chimps) in 'MVP: Most Valuable Primate'. Everett Collection

**Key role:** The trio plays Jack, the hockey prodigy in *MVP: Most Valuable Primate* (2000)

**Oscar-worthy moment:** They convincingly skate and handle a puck — isn't that enough?

**After the limelight:** All three starred in the 2001 sequel, *MVP: Most Vertical Primate*, in which Jack takes up skateboarding. Reportedly, Louie became the first chimp to fly through the air by successfully performing a basic ramp ollie, and he also befriended pro skateboarder Bob Burnquist.

6. Finster the capuchin

Thora Birch as Eva Gregory and Finster the capuchin as Fingers/Dodger in 'Monkey Trouble'. Everett Collection

**Key role:** Fingers/Dodger, a monkey pickpocket who bonds with a little girl (Thora Birch) in *Monkey Trouble* (1994)

**Oscar-worthy moment:** Finster seems poignantly torn between his old life of crime and his desire to go straight. Think James Cagney, only fuzzier.

**After the limelight:** The capuchin appeared in the pirate flop *Cutthroat Island* (1995) alongside Geena Davis and Matthew Modine.

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5. Binks the capuchin

Binks the capuchin as Monkey and Brendan Fraser as George of the Jungle in 'George of the Jungle'. Everett Collection

**Key Role:** Monkey, a pal of the title character (Brendan Fraser) in *George of the Jungle* (1997)

**Oscar-worthy moment:** He mockingly imitates Fraser's sweetly blockheaded George.

**After the limelight:** Fraser had high praise for Binks (who also appeared in 1995's *Outbreak* and the *Ace Ventura* movies), though he noted the capuchin's temperamental perfectionism. "He's a bit impatient and wants to get everything right," Fraser said. "He has every intention of entertaining and expects to be rewarded instantly — kind of like George." No doubt a VH1 celeb-reality comeback show is imminent.

4. Crystal the capuchin

Ed Helms as Stu, Zach Galifianakis as Alan, Bradley Cooper as Phil, and Crystal the capuchin as a drug-dealing monkey in 'The Hangover Part II'. Melinda Sue Gordon

**Key Role:** Dexter, the mischievous monkey in *Night at the Museum* (2006)

**Oscar-worthy moment:** Crystal's big scene offers catharsis; after all, who doesn't want to slap Ben Stiller?

**After the Limelight:** After Crystal's central role in 2011's *The Hangover Part II*, she had a bright future as a comic leading lady, going on to star on the short-lived NBC comedy *Animal Practice*.

3. Manis the orangutan

Beverly D'Angelo as Echo, Geoffrey Lewis as Orville, Manis the orangutan as Clyde, and Clint Eastwood as Philo Beddoe in 'Every Which Way but Loose'. Everett Collection

**Key role:** Clyde, brawler Clint Eastwood's simian sidekick in *Every Which Way but Loose* (1978)

**Oscar-worthy moment:** He punches someone out with an extended right fist whenever Eastwood says, "Right turn, Clyde" — a running gag that never gets old.

**After the limelight:** Manis grew too big to star in the 1980 sequel, *Any Which Way You Can*, so another ape was used. Still, Eastwood said of Manis' performance, "Clyde was one of the most natural actors I ever worked with! But you had to get him on the first take because his boredom level was very limited."

2. Monkey and Katy the capuchins

David Schwimmer as Ross Geller and Monkey/Katy the capuchins as Marcel on 'Friends'. Everett Collection

**Key Role:** Beyond doubling as Betsy, the primate Patient Zero of *Outbreak*, and as Marcel on *Friends*, they had a cameo in *Showgirls* (1995).

**Oscar-worthy moment:** Betsy displays pathos as the hunted source of the *Outbreak* virus that has nearly wiped out humanity through no fault of her own.

**After the limelight:** Katy reportedly had an onset romance with an *Outbreak* costar, a capuchin named Freddy, and they moved in together. As for her double, her trainer said, "If Monkey were human, she'd be Meryl Streep." Of course, *Showgirls* might have killed even Streep's career, and it certainly didn't help Monkey's or Katy's.

1. Jiggs the chimp

Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane Parker, Johnny Weissmuller, as Tarzan and Jiggs as Cheeta in 'Tarzan the Ape Man'. Everett Collection

**Key Role:** Cheeta, Tarzan's helpful companion, in several Johnny Weissmuller and Lex Barker *Tarzan* movies

**Oscar-worthy moment:** He proves his indispensability by nursing a wounded Tarzan (Weissmuller) back to health in *Tarzan and His Mate* (1934).

**After the limelight:** There were numerous apes that played Cheeta over the years, despite a claim by one chimp's owner that he was not only the original Cheeta but also (at age seventysomething) the oldest living chimp in the world. In 2008, a journalist who had planned to write a biography of Cheeta found that the chimp's tale had little merit, and that he may never have acted in movies at all. In addition to his work in the *Tarzan* films, Jiggs appeared in a handful of other motion pictures in the 1930s before his death in 1938.

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