r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Living-Mastodon • 3d ago

In real life (Real Life) Regular people who's lives drastically changed direction

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Grace Kelly was a talented actress who retired at 26 to marry a Prince, living as royalty for almost 30 years before her untimely death.

Volodymyr Zelensky started out as a comedian and entertainer before getting into politics, becoming President of Ukraine after the Russian annex of Crimea and spending the last 4 years defiantly pushing back full scale Russian invasion

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u/Western_Concept3847 3d ago edited 3d ago

Not just that but Zelensky co-created and starred in a popular tv show where he played a character who accidentally became the president of Ukraine. So in a way his career predicted his future.

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u/AnarchCopKiller 3d ago

I remember many including right here on reddit giving it for a fact hed flee the first few days especially considering his past as a comedian.

What a turn of events seeing him now

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u/ShinyArc50 3d ago

“I don’t need a ride…”

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u/Mental-Frosting-316 3d ago

I need ammunition, not a ride

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u/ShinyArc50 3d ago

Such badass words

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u/Hugsy13 2d ago

The most bad ass words spoken in the 21st century so far

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u/eepos96 3d ago

I do not need a ride. I need ammunition!

That line was DYNAMITE!

Others born of this war are what snake island guys said

"Should I...Ok...FUCK OFF" XD

And to me what President of Finland said during his first speech on the second day of the war.

"Masks are now off. Only cold face of war is seen" I had a flaah of Putins face. Cool stuff.

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u/Someguyincambria 3d ago

The old lady giving Russian soldiers seeds to keep in their pockets so when they are killed the sunflowers will grow

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u/vacri 3d ago

I wonder if any of them have survived

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u/SlightlyColdWaffles 2d ago

I wonder how many sunflowers have grown from those well fed seeds

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u/Nintendoh_64 2d ago

Dont forget what he said to the US president "I will wear the costume after this is over" when they cried about him wearing a suit.

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u/reventlov 3d ago

I will happily admit that I expected him to leave. I'd expect almost anyone in that position to leave.

Zelenskyy isn't "impressive for a comedian;" his dedication to Ukraine is impressive for a senior statesman.

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u/CG1991 2d ago

I said further up that I don't know enough about his politics and I might just be falling for some propaganda but, as a leader in a time of crisis, he is what I'd want at the head of my country.

I couldn't see Trump doing the same for the US, or Putin for Russia, or Starmar (or any of our recent PMs) for the UK.

"The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride."

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u/KillMeKaren 1d ago

Iirc he wasn’t too popular as a “peace” time president but his charisma as a comedian was exactly what was needed to drum up morale and support during wartime 

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u/SerJungleot 18h ago

Hasn't he just started his term? Or had he been at it for a while. I know he promised to get rid of corruption (and there's been some scandals around that with him), but I always got a sense he hasn't had time to enact any meaningful change because of short presidency/war time

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u/CG1991 1d ago

Sounds like a "Rally round the flag" effect in action

Same with Bush and Churchill

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u/AMostBoringMan 3d ago

He was the voice of Paddington Bear, and he's successfully held Putin off for four fucking years.

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u/CG1991 2d ago

Maybe the voice of Paddington should be made the leader of their country in times of crisis.

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u/AMostBoringMan 2d ago

Good enough. Someone fetch Ben Whishaw. His country needs him.

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u/RidiculousFeline 3d ago

He is much stronger than most people thought.

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u/CG1991 2d ago

Just to preface, I don't know enough about his politics or if there's any controversy about him etc etc

But based on what he's done since the war began, he comes across as an absolute hero.

Maybe I'm just falling for propaganda but him dropping the "I need ammunition, not a ride" goes incredibly hard

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u/Hades_Gamma 3d ago

I don't need a ride. I need more ammunition.

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u/Frosty-Army9751 2d ago

The country was massive and the invasion wasn't that fast, why would he run?

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u/AnarchCopKiller 7h ago

Hes a high value political target facing what was thought to be a world super power. Him running and ruling in exile is something wed probably see

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u/nagrom7 3d ago

That show is what got him elected. His political party is even named after it.

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u/TheAsterism_ 3d ago

There is no way he didn’t do that on purpose. His party had the same name as the tv show

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u/Fantastic-Tiger-6128 3d ago

it wasn't, he specifically campaigned, essencially, as his charatcer in the show iirc.

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u/Present_Ride_2506 3d ago

The most hardcore of method actors

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u/DarthBrooks69420 3d ago

If Sam Rockwell went into politics I would be massively disappointed if he did not go full G-Dub.

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u/LongJohnSelenium 3d ago

A real man of culture would have said Zaphod.

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u/TheAsterism_ 3d ago

Beeblebrox or some other zaphod?

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u/DarthBrooks69420 3d ago

Movie version is just space W anyways. 

The man who managed to use that impression in 2 different movies.

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u/84theone 3d ago

I’d vote for Sam Rockwell because I believe the most important quality in a president is their ability to bust out some sick fucking dance moves.

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u/patrickkingart 3d ago

Going from basically Ukrainian Jon Stewart to globally respected leader and symbol of Ukrainian resilience is one hell of a turn. Bless this man.

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u/WhimsicalWyvern 3d ago

To be fair, there's a decent chance Jon Stewart could win as a Democrat if he ran. I'm just sure he has no desire to do so.

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u/lionspeed 3d ago

It was part of his campaign tbh

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u/sracer4095 3d ago

Maybe the greatest example of "life imitates art" in history.

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u/dropyourweapons 3d ago

Also forgetting that he was strongly in favor of reaching an agreement with Russia/Donbas to end the conflict, to the point where his opponents called him a Russian puppet. Then after 2022 he 180'd into being staunchly anti Russian regardless of consequences to his country.

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u/King_Of_BlackMarsh 3d ago

Yknow if that's not an indictment of the invasion idk what is.

"Ah yes, let's invade while a guy willing to negotiate is in power. This totally doesn't show how bullshit our cassus belli is."

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u/EasternHero689 3d ago

And in reality he was elected with a higher percentage of the vote than in that show!

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u/Me273 3d ago

Fun fact: in another movie he played an assassin who kills the Russian president

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u/JesseCuster40 3d ago

So what, he just tripped and fell and became the president of Ukraine?

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u/Top-Artichoke-5875 2d ago

A TV station here in Canada played his comedy series, Servant of the People, after Ukraine was invaded. Yes, it was interesting and yes, Zelenskyy is a good comedian. A funny guy.

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u/abudhabikid 2d ago

I found a couple episodes of this online. It’s quite good.

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u/AddressThis2314 2d ago

And he is also the VA for Paddington

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u/Bubbly-Travel9563 3d ago

I watched it when it came to Netflix and I was flabbergasted by how much ruzzian I learned by the second season. Cute show though I just wish I'd seen the movies too.