'The People v. O.J. Simpson' Characters, Ranked by Accuracy

One reasonFX’sThe People v. O.J. Simpson : American Crime Storyis so damn compellingis that most viewer are already very familiar with the fiber . For someone my age – I was in middle school during the trial – watching the show palpate like some sorting of a unknown reunification . But which of the series ' actors are doing a practiced job capturing the essence of these veridical - life people , and which are just roleplay ?

To classify it out , I spent hr watching old trial tapes and post - trial interviews with all of the major fictional character , and bear special attention to the way of life they lecture and moved and jest . And then I rewatched the show with those thing in judgement . It ’s also important to note that I ’m not judge the actors on how much they look like the characters ( they ca n’t control that ) , but by their pose and inflections and all the little thing they can control . I ’ll be updating and re - ranking the character as more are enter or set about to play larger roles ; I ’ve except a few characters that do n’t factor in in much .

20. Larry King (Larry King)

I do n’t buy it .

19. Jeffrey Toobin (Chris Conner)

regrettably for journalism , no one worry whether Conner nails the role of theNew Yorkerjournalist who wrote the book the serial publication is based on . Or peradventure fortuitously for journalism . Anyway , SPOTLIGHTWON BEST PICTURE !

18. Alan Dershowitz (Evan Handler)

Sure , Harry fromSex and the City , you may be Dershowitz with a porn moustache .

17. Barry Scheck (Rob Morrow)

The fact that they let the clotheshorse fromNorthern picture , which was big in the ' 90 , to play Barry Scheck , who was also big in the ' 90s , is not lost on me . Unfortunately , he say no more than 50 words in the first four installment .

16. Jason Simpson (Tye White)

He does n’t play a big enough function to really contribute much here , but in the cognitive operation of trying to find clips of him in veridical life , I came acrossmanytheoriesabout how Jason is actually the material killer , and it ’s making me nervous .

15. The Kardashian kids (Veronica Galvez, Isabella Balbi, Morgan E. Bastin, and Nicolas Bechtel)

I have it away they ’re refuse it , but I ’d have to think that the most existent part of the entire Kardashian kid cameo serial came when they all set forth intone their own name . Even if that never really happen , it whole happened .

14. Al Cowlings (Malcolm-Jamal Warner)

Theo Huxtable really only has one giving line , but it ’s one of the most iconic : " My name is A.C. You know who I am , goddammit ! ” And though he delivers it a small bit more harried than the actual recording , Theo ’s version is perfectly executable .

13. F. Lee Bailey (Nathan Lane)

I ’m 87 % certain Nathan Lane did not observe any footage of F. Lee Bailey before doing this . He might ’ve readhis Wikipedia entryand then skip over the part where he ’s from Waltham , MA , or maybe he misread it as “ Anywhere in North Jersey . ” He is quite good at playing Lawyer Nathan Lane with a gray dye job , though !

12. Gil Garcetti (Bruce Greenwood)

His son is currently the city manager of LA ! And he ’s played by the main character fromJohn From Cincinnati , who does a very serviceable job getting his slightly hoarse spokesperson and strengthen down . Also , might be the first clock time the person being portrayed is well - looking than the actor . ' 90s Garcetti already looked like an player playing a DA .

11. Judge Lance Ito (Kenneth Choi)

Ito always had a eldritch , quirky signified of humor that seemed mistily unfitting for his government agency , and an unmistakable voice : form of nerdy - sounding , and with a foreign quality . Choi , who played Henry Lin onSons of Anarchyand one of Leo ’s lackeys inThe Wolf of Wall Street , does a strong job capturing what seems like Ito ’s primal thesis , which is a moderately incredulous and at time worsen person trying to figure out how to contain a legal and medium clusterfuck .

10. Robert Kardashian (David Schwimmer)

It is very absolved that Ross want everyone to screw Robert Kardashian is lamentable and confused about his friendUncle Juice . It is not yet light what else he want us to get from this function .

9. Faye Resnick (Connie Britton)

Britton is all camp , fundamentally a cantonment counselor , for this role , but in a grand elbow room , firing off lascivious detail about Nicole andher interest in “ Brentwood Hellos”and her fake pinhead while love a phonograph record of crudités . And then in her next scene , she ’s drinking Champagne and smoke and pacing the elbow room , talking about O.J. watching Nicole have sex with other hoi polloi from the bushes . And then she ’s onLarry King , loopy and possibly on Xanax . It ’s ludicrous and over the top and stupid , but is n’t that in reality the utter plus of who Faye Resnick is ?

8. O.J. Simpson (Cuba Gooding, Jr.)

I know I ’ve already explicitly say that these rankings have very little to do with physical appearance , because that would be unfair . But dammit , O.J. was a large man , with a giant Bonk - in - TurboGrafx-16 - size psyche . Cuba , God love him , has a normal - person head and just kind of looks average - size , and that find strange . As for actual things he can control , he misses a few : there is a bass in O.J. Simpson ’s voice . Cuba has the nervous get-up-and-go down , the paranoid speed - talk and chortle he does that give the impression that he ’s being ego - deprecating . There is a certain full stop when O.J. is imitating or when he ’s delirious about something where his voice go high . you may hear it inthat 2004 Fox News interview he did with Greta Van Susteren , right around the 4:05 mark . Cuba has all of that down . But the emergence is : O.J. only sounds like that some of the fourth dimension , and Cuba is fundamentally only doing that , making him sound like his part fromJerry Maguirewhen he feels like Jerry ’s not take him his contract or paying tending to him .

7. Fred Goldman (Joseph Siravo)

One of the hardest - to - see scenes so far in the show comes in Marcia Clark ’s situation , when she meets with Fred and Kim Goldman as elbow room of introduction . When she says she get laid what they ’re going through , Goldman loses it and gives a heartrending monologue about his Word ’s final moments and how he ’s just a footnote in this trial . Siravo ( who plays Johnny Boy Soprano , aka Tony ’s dad onThe Sopranos ) is a picture of gloominess with a Chicago inflection , and a honking emotional cadence that gets restrained and then gimcrack as he release his anger and progress it back up .

6. Christopher Darden (Sterling K. Brown)

If you ’re the eccentric of person who feel awkward for other people when they ’re speaking in public and not doing a very dependable job , I pass on that you endeavor to get throughDarden ’s literal closing argumenton YouTube . His pauses are unnatural and unlogical , he shuffles back and forth with scattered reminder for the jury , and he ’s got just enough of a slight lisp that it becomes cark . chocolate-brown complete most of this – Darden ’s methodical way of talking , his deficiency of intonation – but loses the lisp . Nevertheless , you get a sense from Brown that he interpret how to show Darden being pushed into something he both wants and definitely ca n’t handle .

5. Kris Jenner (Selma Blair)

If you ignore her phonation and that signature tune somewhat - pouty saying she ’s been hone sinceCruel intent , I ’d be almost 100 % sure Selma Blair actually is ' 90s Kris Jenner .

4. Kato Kaelin (Billy Magnussen)

Magnussen plays Kaelin utterly , as a good - natured , goofy guy who does n’t even really realize he ’s a pawn on O.J. and Nicole ’s fucked - up chessboard of married discord until much later . They might ’ve overdone the highs and the lows of being Kato in the jog scene , in which girls show him their knocker and then guy rope imperil to beat him up , but Magnussen is weirdly exceptional in a persona he did n’t really have to nail .

3. Bob Shapiro (John Travolta)

Before I even watched the show , everyone was talking about Travolta ’s performance . How he had fundamentally become Shapiro . Really owned the role . Got really big , bushy brow . Orange cutis . purse his rim a muckle . And I totally bought in . But then I watched the real test , andShapiro ’s interview with Barbara Walters , and , um , Travolta is doing a consummate line at playing a character of sorts , but that adult male is n’t quite Bob Shapiro . An effeminate sendup of Shapiro , possibly , but not the X - Men Mystique soaking up of the use everyone had originally pegged . Still , it is something to behold .

Travolta ’s best business line so far comes when they ’re reading through Resnick’strash book of garbage callsand dissect whether or not it will be prejudicious . After all the other attorney have read their pieces , Travolta looks up : “ sapphic sexuality , 197 . ”

2. Marcia Clark (Sarah Paulson)

Sarah Paulson gets it . Though no one could ever 100 % accurately capture Clark ’s frizz game , particularly in the bangs , Paulson does her pretty - actress well . But the real biz Paulson brings to Clark is that smoulder intelligence information that tips into arrogance and blinds her better judgments . Clark is a good , wise lawyer who gets guess for all of the things that have almost nothing to do with her ability to seek a case , but that shakes her , and ironically ends up affecting the way she try a showcase . Paulson gets that dry humor with Darden , the quick , scathing glance when she feels she ’s being wrong , the fatigue , the long puff on cigarettes – all of it .

1. Johnnie Cochran (Courtney B. Vance)

Courtney B. Vance is the man . At one breaker point in the show , all the lawyers are in Judge Ito ’s office argue about whether O.J. can get a fair trial , and Cochran talks about race and says , “ Now , if that is playing the race card , ” and then break for several seconds to do this modest shiver of his head before finish his cable . “ So be it . ” The shingle of the head is the thing here , friends . He has all of Cochran ’s little movements down . The preacher modulations in his voice . His expressive use of his hands . The way he can get very quiet and make you lean in , and then boom out something unexpected to be memorable . Johnnie Cochran had the reputation of being a showman , all rhyming phrases and empty words , but one of the strengths of the show ( thanks to Courtney B. Vance and the writers ) is seeing that this guy is n’t fume and mirror , he ’s an alpha bounder , a cold - blooded sound bravo . And that go for have to take out members of his own legal team , too .

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Kevin Alexanderis Thrillist ’s national writer - at - large and require to be a legal assassinator . See videos of him practice karate:@KAlexander03 .

The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story starring Cuba Gooding Jr., John Travolta, and Courtney B. Vance