The Substance cast and character guide: Who plays whom in Demi Moore's award-winning horror film?

Coralie Fargeat's The Substance brings back colorful splashes of red with Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) trying to 'play Avatar' with Sue (Margaret Qualley) to keep her legacy alive. The body horror film that also includes some laughter won Best Motion Picture—Comedy or Musical in the latest Golden Globe Awards ceremony.

Sparkle is in her 50s and was hosting an aerobics TV show up until now. Harvey (Dennis Quaid), the producer of that show, bids her adieu while he chomps and gulps the tasty shrimp. Panicked, she finds The Substance which claims to give her a new youthful life—literally.

This film sort of resonates with Pamela Anderson's The Last Showgirl, in which she performed for a lifetime. It is just that her character in the film doesn't resort to a serum that will keep her legacy alive. However, Demi Moore's anxious Sparkle did manage the audience before melting into a puddle of blood.

The Substance cast and character guide

There are a bunch of people the audience will see come and go throughout the film, but three characters lead the whole story: Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, and Dennis Quaid. We will further dive deeper into their characters and the roles they played in the Coralie Fargeat film.

Demi Moore as Elisabeth Sparkle

Elisabeth Sparkle is why the story exists. Demi Moore plays the lead character who is suffering from this disease we all come to hate after a certain point in time, aging. And owing to that, her career is at stake now given that she isn't likely to get work in an industry where youth is always given priority.

The actress has been active since 1981 and has appeared in films like Ghost (1990), A Few Good Men (1992), Disclosure (1994), and more. Apart from being an actress, she is actively involved in charities, supporting organizations like Artists for Peace and Justice, The Art of Elysium, UNICEF, and more.

Margaret Qualley as Sue

Margaret Qualley plays Sue in The Substance, who is literally Elisabeth Sparkle, just with a different face and younger, a lot. While Sue is important to keep Sparkle's legacy alive, the original one begins hating her, and chaos follows. However, they do understand it is necessary to keep the understanding between them alive to stay alive.

Before she was an actress, Margaret Qualley trained as a ballet dancer. Though she made her acting debut with the 2013 film, Palo Alto, it was the HBO series, The Leftovers, through which she came to the limelight. Her portrayal of Sue in The Substance landed her in the Best Supporting Actress—Motion Picture category in the Golden Globe Awards.

Dennis Quaid as Harvey

Harvey is essentially the villain of The Substance, who is all for young girls, which is also good for his business, and the reason for coercing Elisabeth to take severe measures to save her career in the story. Ray Liotta was going to play this role first but Coralie chose Dennis Quaid after the Goodfellas (1990) actor took his last breath in May 2022.

Dennis Quaid was named by The Guardian as one of the best actors who weren't nominated for the Oscars. In 2016, he was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Houston Film Critics Society.