Throughout the Friday the 13th series, many actors have played the iconic killer, Jason Voorhees, some better than others. Jason Voorhees cycled through looks and costumes across the years, as well as actors, many of whom only played the character once. The films sometimes brought in different actors in each movie to stand in for Jason when he wasn’t wholly on screen, but each movie generally has one or, in some cases, two actors associated with the role. Many shots of the killer remain faceless, mirroring Jason’s menacing yet sneaky killing style.
Jason Voorhees typically wears a hockey mask when his face is shown, which has become synonymous with the killer. The character design allowed him to be played solely by stuntmen since throughout the Friday the 13th franchise, Jason kills but doesn’t speak. With a series that is over 40 years old with many film and television installments, fans are often divided on who they believe to be the best portrayer of Jason.
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| Film | Jason Voorhees’ Actor |
|---|---|
| Friday the 13th (1980) | Ari Lehman |
| Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) | Warrington Gillette & Steve Dash |
| Friday the 13th Part III (1982) | Richard Brooker |
| Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) | Ted White |
| Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985) | Tom Morga |
| Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986) | CJ Graham |
| Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988) | Kane Hodder |
| Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989) | Kane Hodder |
| Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993) | Kane Hodder |
| Jason X (2002) | Kane Hodder |
| Freddy vs. Jason (2003) | Ken Kirzinger |
| Friday the 13th (2009) | Derek Mears |
10 Tom Morga
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)
Morga played Jason in a character’s flashbacks in Friday the 13th: A New Beginning. The plot of the franchise’s film installment revolves less around Jason and becomes more of a mystery film, trying to figure out who is killing all the teens. The killer walks around in a mask similar to Jason’s, although it has blue accents instead of Jason’s classic red.
Morga was the only actor to play Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, and Michael Myers.
Though Jason is not a significant character in this installment, Morga plays him like the hulking and intimidating character from the rest of the franchise. He also plays the other killer, who many assume to be Jason. Morga based his performance off other iterations of the famous killer, keeping him true to form. Ultimately, his role had little impact on the franchise as a whole.
9 Warrington Gillette
Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
Gillette was the first actor to play Jason in Friday the 13th Part 2. After shooting several scenes, he left the film’s cast, reportedly due to the difficulty of the stunts performed. Gillette was a younger and less experienced stuntman than his successor, Steve Dash, who played Jason for the rest of the movie.
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However, Gillette plays the unmasked Jason, who attacks the new final girl, Ginny. Gillette crashes through the window behind her in a style similar to Lehman’s Jason. The stunt was filmed early in the production since Gillette was still playing Jason. Though he gave an important performance as Jason, overall, Gillette’s contribution to the franchise was much less significant than other actors.
8 Ari Lehman
Friday the 13th (1980)
Lehman acted as the original Jason before he turned into a murderous adult. In the franchise’s first film, the killer isn’t actually Jason, but his mother, Pamela Voorhees, played by Betsy Palmer. Throughout the film, Jason is thought to be dead, having drowned in the lake as a child. But at the end of the first film, a dirty young child jumps out of the lake and pulls Alice into the lake, suggesting the boy survived and was preserved as a child in the lake.
Evidently, this is a dream sequence, as Alice is alive at the beginning of the next film. Much of the film’s crew thought there would be no sequel since the killer, Pamela, was dead, as was Jason. However, the success of the first film prompted them to make another installment, with the chronically adult Jason looking to avenge his mother. Though Lehman’s performance as young Jason is only a dream, it was essential to sparking Jason’s return for the rest of the franchise.
7 Ken Kirzinger
Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
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Kirzinger was a longtime stuntman and coordinator before playing Jason. He had previously appeared in the series, playing a line cook in Jason Takes Manhattan. He had also done a few stunts for Hodder in the film as well. However, Freddy vs. Jason‘s director, Ronny Yu, tried to limit Kirzinger’s stunts in the movie, with Kirzinger having his own stuntman, Glenn Ennis.
Kirzinger tried to create a new personality for Jason, distancing him from the iconic performance Kane Hodder had made in previous films. Kirzinger’s Jason even had a new, more distinct mask. His menacing height of six feet and five inches also played a significant factor in his part in the role, towering over Robert Englund’s Freddy Krueger. Though some fans don’t support Jason’s recasting, Kirzinger brings life to the role, taking the character in yet another new direction.
6 Steve Dash
Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
After Gillette left the project, Dash, also known as Steve Daskewisz, played the masked version of Jason in Friday the 13th Part 2. Dash was credited as “Jason Stunt Double,” while Gillette earned the official credit of Jason. Since Jason has yet to find his iconic hockey mask, Dash plays the role while wearing a cloth bag on his head with one eye hole cut out. This was before the hockey mask became an important part of Jason’s identity, and is a look often forgotten by viewers.
Jason’s look with the bag on his head was instead by the villain in the 1976 film,
The Town That Dreaded Sundown.
Dash’s performance as Jason was significant to the franchise, with it being the first time that adult Jason was seen on screen. He gave Jason a sense of grief and vengeance for his recently passed mother, helping to define the character’s motives early in the series. Aside from Friday the 13th Part 2, Dash worked as a stuntman and coordinator on other horror films including Mr. Hush, Night Shift, and Alone in the Dark. He passed away in 2018 due to health issues.
5 Richard Brooker
Friday the 13th Part III (1982)
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When Dash did not return to reprise the role from Part 2, Brooker, a British acrobat was cast for the role. Brooker did his own stunts in the film. He was infamous for his nonchalant portrayal of Jason. When shown on screen, Jason seems indifferent to his kills. He meanders in his walking and seems ultimately unmotivated to speed his murdering spree along. This helped paint Jason as an unstoppable killing machine for the rest of the series.
Notably, Brooker was the first Jason actor to don the infamous hockey mask, which he takes from one of his victims. When not wearing the mask, Brooker endured hours in the makeup department as they applied prosthetics to his face. Jason became his most famous role, only appearing in more minor roles after the film. He later became a producer and businessman, leaving the film industry. Brooker died in 2013.
4 Derek Mears
Friday the 13th (2009)
In the 2009 series reboot, Jason is once again rewritten and recast, this time played by the menacing Mears. In the film, Jason is given more awareness and motivation, as opposed to being a mindless killer. He’s played as a survivalist who becomes an agile hunter when disturbed. His fighting techniques are also elevated, making him a more compelling villain, though there are cool kills throughout the series.
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Mears is often lauded for his attempt to give Jason more depth, taking the character as an acting role, instead of a stunt opportunity. Many find Mears’ Jason to be the most intimidating and scary, given his upgraded abilities and skills. By this point, the film wasn’t restricted to the confines of the campy 1980s slashers from which it originated, and it was used as an opportunity to change the movie’s tone, leaning more towards horror.
3 Ted White
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
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White became the next Jason in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, which was assumed to be the fourth and last installment in the series. White was 58 when he played Jason and already had an established career as a stuntman long before taking the role. Since he’d already had industry success before the film, White requested that his name not be included in the credits, though it is still one of his most notable roles.
White had done stunts for John Wayne, Rock Hudson, and Clark Gable.
White’s portrayal of Jason drastically changed the character from Brooker’s interpretation. White decided to make the character faster and kill more swiftly. This was in direct contrast to Brooker’s nonchalant but animalistic killer. White does a good job showing Jason’s anger and making him a more motivated character. White was offered the role of Jason for Friday the 13th: A New Beginning and Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, but ultimately turned it down. White died in 2022 at the age of 96.
2 CJ Graham
Friday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives
Friday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives became an homage to Jason’s unstoppable killing, with him being much more central to the plot than in the previous films. Graham was chosen to replace the original stuntman Dan Bradley, who was reportedly recast because he lacked the menace necessary to play Jason. Graham’s intimidating physical prowess helped him secure the role. He also portrayed the undead nature of the film’s resurrected Jason well. Overall, the film is considered one of the franchise’s best, partly due to Graham’s performance.
This was Graham’s film debut, having been a nightclub owner prior to the film. He went on to explore other roles in aspects of the Friday the 13th property, though Jason Lives was the only time he played the killer. He did reprise his role in an Alice Cooper music video for the song “He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask),” which was written for the film.
1 Kane Hodder
Friday the 13th Part 7: The New Blood, Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan, Jason Goes to Hell, and Jason X
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Hodder’s characterization of Jason has become synonymous with the franchise, making him the most meaningful and larger-than-life murderer of the series. He turned Jason into the unbridled rage machine that many think of. The use of deep breathing, strict posture, and purposeful head movements all made Hodder’s Jason so memorable. While some of the other actors portray Jason as meandering, Hodder is purposeful and driven to kill.
Hodder was hired for his willingness to go full out for stunts, which helped bring Jason to life. Because of this, Jason was able to engage in more exciting and theatrical skills and situations. This appreciation is expressed in Hodder’s roles in four of the Friday the 13th films, making him the only actor to do more than one film as the killer. Among the many actors who played Jason in Friday the 13th, Hodder’s performance stood out in over a decade’s worth of films.
Friday the 13th
The Friday the 13th film franchise is a chilling saga centered around the cursed Camp Crystal Lake and the supernatural serial killer Jason Voorhees. Known for his iconic hockey mask and relentless brutality, Jason is a nigh-indestructible force driven by vengeance. The series follows different groups of teenagers who encounter Jason, leading to gruesome fates. Spanning several decades and various settings, from Camp Crystal Lake to the bustling streets of Manhattan, the franchise combines supernatural elements with slasher horror,
Movie(s) Friday the 13th (1980) , Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) , Friday the 13th Part 3 (1982) , Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) , Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985) , Friday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives , Friday the 13th Part 7: The New Blood , Friday the 13th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan , Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993) , Jason X (2001) , Freddy vs. Jason (2003) , Friday the 13th (2009) TV Show(s) Friday the 13th: The Series (1987) Character(s) Pamela Voorhees , Alice Hardy , Jack Burrell , Jason Voorhees , Tommy Jarvis , Megan Garris , Ginny Field , Steven Freeman , Rennie Wickham Expand