"Don't think I'll be playing another villain for a while": Jamie Campbell Bower on toll Stranger Things role took on his mental health

What happens when the monster you play messes with your mind? Jamie Campbell Bower knew what he was getting into when he signed up to play Vecna in Stranger Things, a role that required hours of prosthetic makeup, a chilling vocal transformation, and a psychological descent into the mind of a terrifying TV show villain.

He was not prepared, though, for the degree to which gloom would permeate his mental state. He is now leaving evil roles and acknowledging that portraying Vecna changed him more than he expected. However, Bower is hardly the first actor to battle the psychological effects of assuming strong, evil roles.

Some parts of the article reflect the writer's opinion. Reader discretion is advised.

The weight of darkness: Jamie Campbell Bower's battle with Vecna

Villains like Vecna affect the people who bring them to life as well and they are frightening for viewers. Bower disclosed at a recent MegaCon Orlando session that playing Vecna started to take a huge toll on his mental health.

"I just don't think I'll be doing another bad guy for a minute", he said.

He recalled a particularly raw moment with his therapist:

"We were going through some stuff, and he was like, 'We really need to make sure that you carve out time for you whenever you're working next.' I turned around to him, and I was like, 'Yeah, to be honest with you, man, I ... Like, it f---s me up. I'm dead serious.'"

Bower didn’t just step into the role, he fully transformed. He spent up to eight hours in makeup, enduring prosthetics and layers of latex that trapped him in Vecna’s nightmarish skin.

But it wasn’t just the physical transformation that drained him. The emotional and mental strain of embodying such evil began creeping into his psyche, leading him to reconsider his career choices.

Many actors immerse themselves fully in their roles, but Bower’s experience highlights the danger of losing oneself in a character's darkness.

Actors facing such emotional weight often need professional help to navigate these challenges. Therapy, mindfulness practices, and structured decompression periods between projects are becoming increasingly recognized as essential tools for those who take on psychologically demanding roles.

Bower’s openness about seeking therapy not only destigmatizes mental health care but also sets a precedent for how actors can take care of themselves in an industry that often glorifies suffering for the sake of art.

Heath Ledger’s commitment to his craft remains one of the most well-known examples of how demanding roles can impact an actor's mental and physical well-being. His portrayal of the Joker in Batman: The Dark Knight was widely praised for its intensity, yes, but the emotional and psychological weight of the role took a toll on him.

Ledger himself spoke about his struggles with insomnia and the difficulty of disengaging from his performance. His passing was a devastating loss to the film industry and the world, serving as a reminder of the importance of mental health awareness in high-pressure creative fields.

Method acting or self-destruction? The Gary Oldman case

Jamie isn’t the first actor to go to dark places for a role and come out shaken. Gary Oldman, one of Hollywood’s most celebrated actors, took things even further when he played Count Dracula in Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992). He didn’t just act the part, he lived it.

Co-star Cary Elwes revealed that Oldman slept in a coffin every night during filming and isolated himself from the cast, making the set feel more like a horror movie than just another day at work.

Winona Ryder, who played Mina Harker, later described her experience working with Oldman as "traumatic," admitting that she felt an unsettling sense of "danger" during their scenes together. That level of immersion left its mark not just on his co-stars, but on Oldman himself.

Over the years, his deep dives into intense roles contributed to his struggles with alcoholism, a battle he has since overcome. He reflected on those years in a 2024 interview with the Spanish newspaper El País:

"There were moments when I preferred to be drunk over doing anything else. I'm not that guy anymore."

Eventually, Hollywood stopped casting him as the go-to villain. Whether it was a conscious shift on his part or an industry decision, Oldman moved into different kinds of roles, ones that wouldn’t consume him from the inside out. His experience serves as a cautionary tale of how far actors can push themselves for performance, sometimes at the cost of their well-being.

With increasing awareness, some productions are implementing on-set mental health professionals to support actors dealing with emotionally intense roles. Some actors have begun demanding mental health support as part of their contracts, ensuring they have resources available while working in heavy roles.

For example, Hugh Jackman revealed to BBC that while filming The Son, producers had brought on psychiatrists to help the cast and crew throughout filming. He went on to say,

“This was the first time I’d ever seen such a thing on a film,” Jackman said. “And people used it and it was necessary.”

Nijiro Murakami—from Alice in Borderland—and the silent toll of fame

Unlike Bower and Oldman, Nijiro Murakami isn’t known for playing villains, but he still represents a crucial side of this conversation—the suffocating effect of fame itself. Fans are eagerly awaiting his return as Chishiya in Alice in Borderland season 3. However, there’s been an air of uncertainty around whether he’ll be back.

Nijiro Murakami has stepped away from the public eye in recent years, fueling speculation that the relentless pressures of the industry are taking a toll on him.

While he hasn’t spoken out in the same way as Bower, his absence from the spotlight speaks volumes. Sometimes, the damage isn’t caused by the role itself, but by the industry’s demand for constant reinvention, performance, and exposure. Not every actor can—or wants to—navigate that without stepping back to preserve their well-being.

Murakami's situation highlights how even actors who don’t play sinister roles can still struggle with the weight of public attention and the expectations placed upon them.

Speaking up: Why mental health conversations in Hollywood matter

Jamie Campbell Bower’s decision to open up about his mental health isn’t just personal, it’s cultural. Mental health in Hollywood has been an unspoken burden, something actors were expected to "handle" on their own. When actors like Bower, Oldman, and even Heath Ledger take a step back and say: "This is too much," they are actively challenging the stigma around mental health.

And it matters. Fans connect deeply with these actors, not just their performances, but their personal stories. When someone like Bower openly discusses the toll of playing a villain, it sends a message: mental health struggles are real, they deserve attention, and no one, celebrity or not, should have to suffer in silence.

The more public figures use their platforms to discuss these issues, the more normalized it becomes for people everywhere to seek help and acknowledge their struggles.

The entertainment industry has long rewarded extreme dedication and suffering for the sake of art, but there is a growing recognition that no role should cost an actor their well-being. Some productions are beginning to offer decompression periods, similar to how stunt actors take physical recovery time after intense action sequences.

The bigger picture: Changing the narrative on mental health

Bower’s experience is part of a larger shift happening in the entertainment industry. As more actors and public figures speak openly about their mental health struggles, the conversation expands beyond Hollywood. When someone with influence shares their story, it can help break down long-standing stigmas and encourage fans to seek help when they need it.

Mental health advocacy in the entertainment industry is still in its early stages, but with each new voice that joins the discussion, the barriers start to crumble. No role, no performance, no accolade is worth sacrificing mental well-being.

Actors like Jamie Campbell Bower and Gary Oldman are showing that stepping back isn’t a failure, it’s a strength. And if Hollywood wants to support its talent, it needs to ensure that playing a villain doesn’t turn into a real-life battle for survival.