Who Plays Frankenstein’s Monster? The Actors Who’ve Portrayed The Creature Over The Years

The Creature in Frankenstein remains one of the most iconic monsters in both literary and cinematic history. Guillermo del Toro’s critically acclaimed reimagining of Frankenstein, now streaming on Netflix as of Nov. 7, offers a new take on Frankenstein’s monster.

Frankenstein (2025) follows the classic tale of Victor Frankenstein, “a brilliant but egotistical scientist who brings a creature to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation,” Netflix’s synopsis reads.

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The Oscar-winning director was inspired to adapt the story, introduced in Mary Shelley’s gothic horror novel, after seeing Boris Karloff’s portrayal of the monster in James Whale’s 1931 film.

Del Toro told Deadline that when he saw Karloff on screen, “I understood what a saint or a messiah looked like. So I’ve been following the creature since I was a kid, and I always waited for the movie to be done in the right conditions, both creatively in terms of achieving the scope that it needed for me to make it different, to make it at a scale that you could reconstruct the whole world.”

Who Plays Frankenstein’s Monster In 2025?

Jacob Elordi, the 28-year-old Australian actor, plays the Creature in del Toro’s adaptation of Frankenstein for Netflix.

Elordi’s previous roles include portraying Elvis Presley in Sofia Coppola’s film Priscilla and Felix Catton in the comedy thriller Saltburn. He also currently stars in HBO’s drama series Euphoria and rose to fame from Netflix’s The Kissing Booth franchise.

How Did Jacob Elordi Transform Into The Creature?

After saying “yes” to Frankenstein, Elordi had only four weeks to prepare for production.

“I needed to completely re-set and rebuild as a new sort of person, which is the exact journey the Creature goes on,” told Netflix’s Tudum. “I didn’t realize there was this whole world behind monster films outside of them being horror films. There is a religion based around it almost. I have a deep reverence for those films.”

To prepare for the role, Elordi told the streamer that he studied the avant-garde Japanese dance form of butoh, as well as the movements of his golden retriever, Layla, to capture the Creature’s physicality.

“The way Jacob plays him like a baby in the beginning is just wonderful, and then the way he moves like a man is so moving, and it’s all Jacob,” del Toro added. “Jacob came in fully formed with that.”

The Australian actor also endured hours of prosthetic application, requiring 42 separate pieces to transform into the monster. Putting his look together took 10 hours a day in the makeup trailer.

“From the moment I got into the makeup trailer [the performance] began, and it was alive,” Elordi says. “Guillermo said this would be not just a meditation, but a metamorphosis.” Now, the actor takes you inside his Frankenstein transformation.

As for how Elordi developed the Creature’s voice, he explained that the fake dentures he wore guided the sound.

“I would go into my room and start doing these throat chants in the mirror,” he said. “Then I put the teeth in, and the Creature just started speaking. There’s a composition of lots of different voices. He learns language from the blind man. It’s hard to articulate a singular thing.”

Who Else Has Played Frankenstein’s Monster?

Starting with the first adaptation of Shelley’s classic novel in 1931, numerous actors over the last nine decades have brought the Creature to life in their own ways, from Boris Karloff to Robert De Niro.

Boris Karloff

Karloff was the first actor to play Frankenstein’s creature in the 1931 film Frankenstein, which marked the first adaptation of Shelley’s novel. Karloff reprised his role in Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Son of Frankenstein (1939).

Lon Chaney Jr.

Chaney Jr. replaced Karloff as Frankenstein’s monster in the sequel The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942). Chaney Jr. also played the Creature in the sci-fi series Tales of Tomorrow: Frankenstein and in an episode of Route 66.

Bela Lugosi

Lugosi took over as the Creature in 1943’s Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, while Chaney Jr. moved on to play the Wolf Man.

Glenn Strange

In Universal’s The House of Frankenstein (1944), Strange portrayed the Creature, a role he reprised in House of Dracula (1945) and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948).

Boyle played the monster in the 1974 comedy-horror film Young Frankenstein, directed by Mel Brooks and starring Gene Wilder as Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, the grandson of Victor Frankenstein.

Christopher Lee

The English actor portrayed the sympathetic Creature in the 1957 British sci-fi adaptation The Curse of Frankenstein. The film’s success led to several sequels in the Hammer Horror series.

Robert De Niro

Before Elordi, De Niro took on the famous monster in the 1994 film Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, directed by Kenneth Branagh.

Frankenstein is streaming on Netflix. Watch the official trailer below.