More than four dozen actors have portrayed Santa Claus, aka Kris Kringle, St. Nicholas, St. Nick, Father Christmas, etc., in movies.
Some have played the part multiple times. Charles Durning put on the red suit and white beard for a record five movies.
The latest actors to play Santa Claus include action movie stars Kurt Russell and Mel Gibson.
What follows is a list of actors who have portrayed the “jolly old elf” in live-action theatrical and TV films. It doesn’t include times actors have played dress-up as Santa Claus in the movies.
Actors who have portrayed Santa Claus in live-action movies, ordered by date of performance:
- Leedham Bantock, “Santa Claus” (1912)
- Ferdinand Munier, “March of the Wooden Soldiers” (1934), “Lake Placid Serenade” (1944) and “Road to Utopia” (1945)
- Edmund Gwenn, “Miracle on 34th Street” (1947)
- John Call, “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians” (1964)
- Alberto Rabagliati, “The Christmas That Almost Wasn’t” (1966)
- Sebastian Cabot, “Miracle on 34th Street” (1973)
- Fred Astaire, “The Man in the Santa Claus Suit” (1979)
- Armand Meffre, “I Believe in Santa Claus” (1984)
- Art Carney, “The Night They Saved Christmas” (1984)
- David Huddleston, “Santa Claus: The Movie” (1985)
- Jan Rubes, “One Magic Christmas” (1985)
- Douglas Seale, “Ernest Saves Christmas” (1988)
- Charles Durning, “It Nearly Wasn’t Christmas” (1989), “Mrs. Santa Claus” (1996), “Mr. St. Nick” (2002), “A Boyfriend for Christmas” (2004) and “Three Chris’s” (2010)
- Lloyd Bridges, “In the Nick of Time” (1991)
- Leslie Nielsen, “All I Want for Christmas” (1991) and “Santa Who?” (2000)
- Richard Attenborough, “Miracle on 34th Street” (1994)
- Tim Allen, “The Santa Clause (1994), “The Santa Clause 2: The Mrs. Clause” (2002) and “The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause” (2006)
- William Hootkins, “Like Father, Like Santa” (1998)
- Arnold Pinnock, “Must Be Santa” (1999)
- Hume Cronyn, “Santa and Pete” (1999)
- Beau Bridges, “The Christmas Secret” (2000)
- Douglas Campbell, “Once Upon a Christmas” (2000)
- Matthew Walker, “Twice Upon a Christmas” (2001)
- Nigel Hawthorne, “Call Me Claus” (2001)
- Dick Van Patten, “The Santa Trap” (2002)
- Ed Asner, “Elf” (2003) and “Santa Stole Our Dog: A Merry Doggone Christmas!” (2017)
- Christopher Plummer, “Blizzard” (2003)
- John Wheeler, “Single Santa Seeks Mrs. Claus” (2004) and “Meet the Santas” (2005)
- Steve Bacic, “Deck the Halls” (2005)
- Bill Goldberg, “Santa’s Slay” (2005)
- James Cosmo, “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” (2005) and “The Santa Incident” (2010)
- George Wendt, “Santa Baby” (2006) and “Santa Buddies” (2009)
- John Goodman, “The Year Without a Santa Claus” (2006)
- Paul Giamatti, “Fred Claus” (2007)
- Paul Sorvino, “Santa Baby 2: Christmas Maybe” (2009)
- R.D. Reid, “The Night Before the Night Before Christmas” (2010)
- William Morgan Sheppard, “Farewell Mr. Kringle” (2010)
- Richard Riehle, “The Search for Santa Paws” (2010)
- Pat Finn, “Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups” (2012)
- Jack Hoke, “Elf-Man” (2012)
- Will Sasso, “Finding Mrs. Claus” (2012)
- Donavon Stinson, “A Fairly Odd Christmas” (2012) and “Santa Hunters” (2014)
- Bill Lewis, “Defending Santa” (2013)
- Jim Broadbent, “Get Santa” (2014)
- Robert Wagner, “Northpole” (2014)
- Donovan Scott, “Northpole: Open for Christmas” (2015)
- Michael Gross, “Becoming Santa” (2015)
- Doug Kaye, “Santa’s Boot Camp” (2016)
- Kari Väänänen, “Kiwi Christmas” (2017)
- Kurt Russell, “The Christmas Chronicles” (2018) and “The Christmas Chronicles 2” (2020)
- Mel Gibson, “Fatman” (2020)
Resources:
List of actors who played Santa Claus (Wikipedia)
Santa @ the Movies: The Timeline (KringleQuest)
Photos: Movie posters for “The Christmas Chronicles” and “Fatman.”
