Frankenstein’s Monster has been stomping around pop culture for nearly a century. The lineup of actors who’ve played the Creature is long enough to fill a horror-themed reunion. The first big-screen version arrived in 1931 with Boris Karloff. Since then, the Monster has popped up many times.
Now, Jacob Elordi has stepped into the role in Guillermo del Toro’s 2025 adaptation. Hence, the ranking gets interesting again. His take is impressive, but he isn’t the top name on this list. That honor still goes to the man who shaped the Monster forever.
Below is a look at seven actors who’ve worn the bolts, shuffled through sets, groaned through prosthetics, and left their own flavor on this iconic creature.
8. Bela Lugosi
Bela Lugosi turning up as Frankenstein’s Monster was like musical chairs. We are not kidding. That’s genuinely how it happened. Universal needed the Creature again after Boris Karloff stepped away from the role, and the studio suddenly found itself in a scheduling maze.
Lon Chaney Jr. had played the Monster right before Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, but Chaney also happened to be Universal’s go-to Wolf Man — and that film obviously needed both characters. That left an empty seat for the Monster. And Lugosi ended up filling it.
It’s a funny twist! At that time, Lugosi was already famous as Dracula. So watching him lumber around as the Monster almost feels like a crossover no one planned for. And in the very next movie featuring all the major monsters, Lugosi wasn’t used at all — not as Dracula, not as the Wolf Man, not as the Monster. Universal just… benched him.
7. Lon Chaney Jr.
Hollywood loved to put Lon Chaney Jr. in prosthetics, latex, or any kind of transformation. Chaney slipped into the Monster’s boots for The Ghost of Frankenstein.
Chaney didn’t stay the Monster for long, not because he wasn’t good at it, but because he already had the Wolf Man locked down. Universal wasn’t about to recast its most tortured werewolf just so he could keep playing the Monster, too. Once Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man came around, it was clear he couldn’t do double duty. So he handed the role over to Bela Lugosi and later Glenn Strange.
Even if Chaney wasn’t the Creature for many films, his reputation as a man who could vanish under makeup made him an ideal fit. He brought physicality to the Monster even when the scripts around him were getting thinner.
6. Glenn Strange
Glenn Strange is the kind of actor people recognise without realizing they recognize him. You see the face, the height, the shoulders, and you go, “Oh right… that guy.” He stepped into the Monster’s role in House of Frankenstein. He then stuck around for House of Dracula, and ended with Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.
That comedy ended up being one of the best monster movies Universal ever made. The creatures act seriously, the humans panic, and the whole thing somehow clicks.
Strange had the perfect build for the Monster. He was tall and blocky. Universal leaned on that look a lot. He brought a kind of steady, dependable vibe to the Creature, even when the franchise itself was wobbling a little.
The only downside? He arrived right when the budgets were shrinking. Sets got cheaper. Scripts got thinner. Sometimes it felt like Strange was holding the entire production together with just his posture. But his Monster in the Abbott and Costello film is still a standout.
5. Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee walked into the Hammer era like he was built for it. He was also tall with sharp features. When Hammer decided to bring back the old Universal monsters in the ’50s, Lee was the obvious choice to play Frankenstein’s Monster in The Curse of Frankenstein. He had that instant horror aura. He didn’t need fancy effects to be unsettling.
He only played the Monster once. Lee’s Monster wasn’t gentle or misunderstood. He felt like something put together in a panic and then thrown into the world. And now he is forced to survive with pure instinct.
People mostly remember Lee as Dracula, and fair enough. He made the cape look stylish. But his Monster was amazing too. He gave the Creature a rawness and made him less tragic, more dangerous.
4. Robert De Niro
In 1994, Kenneth Branagh decided to take his own swing at the Frankenstein myth. He called it Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, though the film wandered off the novel’s path more often than it stayed on it. But it did have one very big, very unexpected thing going for it. The movie had Robert De Niro as the Creature. That casting alone made people pause.
Some viewers thought the movie was bold. Others thought it was doing too much at once. But even the critics admitted one thing. De Niro was amazing in it. His Creature wasn’t a clumsy giant or a mindless monster. He played him with intensity.
He didn’t look like the classic stitched-up giant. He didn’t have the iconic silhouette. But the emotion fit him perfectly. You could see the anger. The confusion. The grief sits just under the skin. There was a rawness to it that made the whole character feel bruised and human.
De Niro brought something new to the Monster. It wasn’t the Creature from the book. But it was powerful in its own way, and memorable in a way most versions never quite manage.
3. Jacob Elordi
Jacob Elordi stepping in as Frankenstein’s Monster felt like a surprising move at first. Most people still picture him as the too-tall heartthrob. But in Guillermo del Toro’s version, he turns into something completely different. He becomes something closer to what Mary Shelley actually wrote. His Creature thinks. He feels. He questions everything around him.
Del Toro’s Monster isn’t the usual smashing figure. He is quieter in nature. He is more observant. He looks at the world like someone trying to understand why he exists at all. And Elordi plays that role with gentle heaviness. But he never makes the Monster look weak. He is massive. He is intimidating. But there’s emotion under every movement.
In the film, every scene feels anchored around him. Even Dr Frankenstein starts fading into the background, suddenly looking like the true villain. While the Creature becomes the one you root for.
Elordi gives the Monster a kind of humanity that hasn’t been seen before in this character’s long history. It’s raw. It’s sad. It’s strangely beautiful.
2. Peter Boyle
If anyone ever doubted that Frankenstein’s Monster could be hilarious, then go and watch Peter Boyle. The man will erase all your doubts in five seconds of Young Frankenstein. Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder built the perfect parody. And Boyle delivered the perfect Monster to match it. He had the lumbering physicality and just enough deadpan energy to make every scene land.
Boyle kept the Monster sincere even when everything around him was so very ridiculous. This is exactly why the humor worked wonders. The film plays like both a tribute and the perfect roast. Boyle manages to be the butt of that joke without ever making it feel like a cheap comedy. That balance is tricky, and he nails it.
For a lot of fans, Boyle’s Monster is the version they grew up always quoting. He’s the Creature who made kids laugh, and he made the adults appreciate parody.
1. Boris Karloff
Boris Karloff sits at the top of this list without even trying. His 1931 Creature wasn’t just the first big-screen take — it became the face of the character for the entire planet. The half-closed eyes. The heavy walk. The quiet reaching of the hands. That’s all, Karloff. He essentially set the template that everyone else continues to borrow from.
He didn’t stop with one movie, either. He came back for The Bride of Frankenstein and Son of Frankenstein. And each time, he slipped in more emotion or more sadness. Karloff never played him like a mindless brute. He played him like someone trapped in a body he never asked for.
Even after his Monster years, Karloff became a giant of Gothic horror. But this role stayed his crown jewel. Directors today still look back at what he did. Actors still try to capture that quiet heartbreak. He didn’t just portray the Monster. He shaped the entire mythology.
Special Mentions
Many other actors have stepped into the role in smaller productions, short films, and limited-run series.
According to you, which actor has absolutely nailed the Monster’s role? Let us know in the comments.
