Vampires have always been a favorite topic for literature, movies and TV. Sometimes novels are made into movies or TV series or sometimes original material is created for the audiences. The popularity of these blood-sucking creatures has only increased in the last few years- with the help of Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Buffy The Vampire Slayer and later the Twilight saga, with the current vampire epidemic The Vampire Diaries. Below are the names of some actors who played vampires either on the big or small screen. This list is not meant to cover all actors.

The Movie Vampires

Queen of the Damned starring Stuart Townsend, Aaliyah, Vincent Perez

Lestat and the Queen from Queen of the Damned

These three actors played vampires in the horror/romance/thriller Queen of the Damned. Irish actor Stuart Townsend played Lestat. His sire was Vincent Perez and the later singer Aaliyah played the ultimate vampire queen. She wanted Lestat as a mate, but Lestat seemed interested in a human girl, who was fascinated with the lifestyle. The movie starts as Lestat wakes up and decides to take a rock band under his wing.

Interview with the Vampire starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas, Kristen Dunst

Kristen Dunst, Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise from Interview with the Vampire

Tom Cruise decides he wants a mate, so he turns Brad Pitt into a vampire. The movie also has another famous vampire - Antonio Banderas. Kristen Dunst was turned into a vampire as kid and was raised by Pitt and Cruise.

Dracula starring  Gary Oldman,  Dracula 2000 starring Gerard Butler

Gary Oldman as Dracula

Both Gerard Butler and Gary Oldman played Dracula in different movies. Detailed information about the four movies above can be found in “Lestat, Dracula and Other Vampires featuring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Gerard Butler, Stuart Townsend and More” an article dedicated to the movie worlds’ Lestats and Draculas.

Gerard Butler as Dracula in Dracula 2000.

The Twilight Saga: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse

The Twilight Saga’s last two installments, Breaking Dawn 1 & 2 will hit the theaters later. With three movies that already left the theaters, quite many actors got to play nice or evil vampires. The good ones include The Cullen Family played by Robert Pattinson, Jackson Rathbone, Kellan Lutz, Peter Facinelli, Ashley Greene, Elizbath Reaser and Nikki Reed

The evil vampires were played by Edi Gathegi, Cam Gigandet, Rachelle Lefevre (she played Victoria in the first two movies), Bryce Dallas Howard (she took over the role Victoria in Eclipse) and Xavier Samuel.

There are also two remarkable actors in the grey area that is called The Volturi, the ancient vampire family. Dakota Fanning and Michael Sheen were among the Volturi actors.

Underworld, Underworld Evolution - Kate Beckinsale, Billy Nighy, Shane Brolly, Scott Speedman

image via filmsy.com

Kate Beckinsale was raised by her vampire sires and was led into thinking that werewolves were the bad guys. War breaks out and she will eventually be forced to face reality, especially after human Scott Speedman comes into her life. Speedman later turns out into a hybrid in the film; half-werewolf, half-vampire.