Honestly, if you were alive in 1995, you remember the hair. You remember the glove. You remember the white Bronco. But when Ryan Murphy dropped The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story in 2016, we all had to re-learn what we thought we knew. It wasn't just a trial anymore; it was a character study. And the people vs oj simpson actors had the impossible job of playing humans who had become caricatures in the American psyche.
Some of them nailed it. Others? Well, let’s just say people have thoughts.
The Sarah Paulson Vindication
For twenty years, Marcia Clark was the punchline of a very mean joke. People hated her hair. They hated her voice. They called her "shrewish." Sarah Paulson changed that entire narrative in ten episodes.
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Paulson didn't just play a prosecutor; she played a woman drowning in a sea of 90s sexism. She actually wore the same perfume Clark used during the trial—Magie Noire by Lancôme. Talk about commitment. There’s a scene in the sixth episode, "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia," where Clark walks into the courtroom with a new haircut only to be met with snickers and a "good morning" from Judge Ito that felt more like an insult. Paulson has said in interviews that she felt her face turn bright red during filming. That wasn't makeup. That was real humiliation.
The real Marcia Clark later called the performance a "vindication." It's funny how a TV show can fix a reputation that the 24-hour news cycle destroyed decades ago.
Why David Schwimmer’s Robert Kardashian Still Divides Fans
You can’t talk about the people vs oj simpson actors without mentioning "Juice."
David Schwimmer played Robert Kardashian as the moral compass of the show. It’s a weird choice if you think about it. Kardashian was the guy who carried the garment bag that may or may not have contained the murder weapon. But Schwimmer played him with this constant, breathless bewilderment. He looked like he was about to burst into tears or throw up at any given moment.
A lot of people couldn't see past Ross Geller. They hated the way he said "Juice" every five seconds. But honestly? Kardashian was O.J.’s best friend for 20 years. Schwimmer spent hours on the phone with Kris Jenner to get the details right. He learned that Robert was a man of deep faith who carried a Bible in his briefcase everywhere. That "crisis of faith" you see on screen—where he slowly realizes his best friend might actually be a killer—is one of the most honest arcs in the series.
The Controversy Over Cuba Gooding Jr.
This is where the casting gets polarizing.
O.J. Simpson was a physical titan. He was charismatic, tall, and had a voice that could sell orange juice to a lemon. Cuba Gooding Jr. is an incredible actor, but he doesn't have O.J.’s stature. He played Simpson as high-strung, almost frantic.
- The Look: Cuba is noticeably shorter than the real O.J.
- The Vibe: The real Simpson had a polished, "American Hero" veneer. Cuba's version felt like a man on the verge of a nervous breakdown from frame one.
Some fans felt this made O.J. seem too vulnerable. Others argued it captured the internal reality of a man who knew the walls were closing in. Regardless of where you stand, it’s the one performance that feels the most like an "actor playing a role" rather than a transformation.
Courtney B. Vance and the Ghost of Johnnie Cochran
If Sarah Paulson was the heart of the show, Courtney B. Vance was the engine. Playing Johnnie Cochran is dangerous territory. You run the risk of becoming a Saturday Night Live sketch.
Vance avoided the trap. He captured the musicality of Cochran’s speech without making it a parody. He understood that Johnnie wasn't just a lawyer; he was a performer who understood that the trial wasn't about the facts—it was about the narrative. Vance actually has a history degree from Harvard, and he treated the role like a research project. He dug into Cochran’s history of fighting police brutality, which gave the character a layer of "why" that we never saw on Court TV.
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John Travolta’s Eyebrows and Robert Shapiro
Then there’s Robert Shapiro. John Travolta’s performance was... a choice.
With the thick eyebrows and the stiff posture, he looked a bit like a Madame Tussauds wax figure that had come to life. But if you watch the real footage of Shapiro, the guy was a bit of a character. Travolta focused on the ego. He played Shapiro as a man who was constantly terrified of losing his status.
There’s a scene where Shapiro gets demoted and Johnnie Cochran takes the lead. Travolta fought to keep a scene in where Shapiro is in a temple, holding the Torah, and feels the congregation judging him. He wanted to show the humanity of a man who realized he had sold his soul for a client he couldn't control.
The Stuff They Made Up (And the Stuff They Didn’t)
Look, it's a Ryan Murphy show. There’s going to be some dramatization.
The "Kardashian" kids—Kim, Khloe, and Kourtney—get way more screen time than they probably deserved. That scene where they're chanting their own last name while watching their dad on TV? Total fiction. Kim and Khloe have both said that never happened. It was clearly the show's way of winking at the audience about the "monster" of celebrity culture the trial helped create.
But other things were shockingly accurate:
- The Handgun: O.J. really did hold a gun to his head in Kim Kardashian’s bedroom.
- The N-Word: The battle over the Fuhrman tapes was just as ugly and racially charged as the show depicts.
- The Jury: The "jury jail" was a real thing. These people were locked in a hotel for months, losing their minds, which explains why they reached a verdict so fast. They just wanted to go home.
The Sterling K. Brown Breakthrough
We can't ignore Christopher Darden. Sterling K. Brown won an Emmy for this, and he deserved it. He played Darden as a man caught between two worlds—his identity as a Black man and his duty as a prosecutor. The chemistry between him and Paulson’s Clark was the "will-they-won't-they" that 1995 actually obsessed over.
His portrayal of the "glove moment" is painful to watch. You can see the exact second he realizes he just lost the case.
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Final Insights on the Cast
The people vs oj simpson actors didn't just recreate a trial. They re-contextualized a piece of American history. If you're looking to dive deeper into how these portrayals stack up against the real people, here is what you should do next:
- Watch the 1995 footage: Go to YouTube and watch a clip of the real Johnnie Cochran's closing argument. Then watch Courtney B. Vance. The mimicry is startling.
- Read "The Run of His Life": The show is based on Jeffrey Toobin’s book. It gives way more legal detail that the show had to trim for drama.
- Check out "O.J.: Made in America": If the actors made you curious about the real man, this documentary is the gold standard. It explains the Los Angeles racial tension that the show hints at but doesn't have time to fully explore.
The trial was a circus. The show was the autopsy. And the actors were the ones who finally made us feel empathy for people we spent twenty years judging.