Tim Burton’s 10 best characters of all time
As auteur filmmakers go, is there anyone with a more immediately distinct aesthetic than the dark prince, Tim Burton? Since his early days as an animator, he’s forged a singular visual style that can be identified within a few seconds of the movie or just by a film still alone. Before Wes Anderson, there was Burton — if only ‘accidentally Tim Burton’ caught on as a trend.
Deftly navigating both worlds of live-action and animation, Burton has consistently proved he can tackle any medium and make it Burtonesque. Few other directors have the vision, confidence and clout to stamp such a brand on anything they touch. Even pre-existing franchises, like the Adams Family, Batman or the Mars Attacks trading cards, have been scooped up and assimilated into the expansive universe of Burton.
With a career spanning nearly 40 years and a catalogue of 19 films, the critically acclaimed director will give us his 20th movie in the form of Beetlejuice 2 in 2024. His legacy is both cemented in history and still growing, the tendrils of Burton’s world seeping into film, cartoons and TV series.
Beyond his distinct desaturated colour palettes, his twisted play on 1950s suburbia and his affinity for spindly, gothic buildings (and hair), what else makes a Burton film so Burton? Why, it’s his characters, of course. Burton’s catalogue is filled to the brim with wonderful, zany and peculiar characters, from the sharp-fingered anti-hero in Edward Scissorhands to the mischievous, malevolent spirit of Beetlejuice. Let’s celebrate…
Tim Burton’s 10 best characters:
10. The Dog-headed Woman – Mars Attacks! (Tim Burton, 1996)
There are so many colourful characters in Mars Attacks! that it’s impossible to single it down to just one. From Jack Black’s buzzcut red-neck patriot to Jack Nicholson’s idiotic president, the whole film is teeming with vibrant personalities. Such as it is, we’ve picked something that could barely constitute a character – but it’s a figment of Burton’s most disturbing imagination.
Watching this film as a child perhaps wasn’t the greatest idea, particularly during a moment where the Martins conduct an unholy experiment whereby they remove Sarah Jessica Parker’s head, then fuse the head of her chihuahua onto her body. It’s pure nightmare fuel, and for the sheer sensory overload it induced, it remains a Burton character we can’t get out of our heads.
9. The Mayor of Halloween Town – The Nightmare Before Christmas (Henry Selick, 1993)
Truthfully, we could’ve picked out pretty much any of the creatively designed characters of Halloween Town to fill the spot on this list, but our favourite has got to be the head-spinning mayor. Trying to lead the hellish town of gothic chaos, the mayor, voiced by Glenn Shadix, is the overly enthusiastic political figurehead of the community, known for his wild mood swings, which switch his face from a kind-hearted soul to a ghoulish villain.
The character works perfectly for Henry Selick’s Nightmare Before Christmas, figuratively representing the two-faced nature of career politicians whilst also being one of the town’s most playful figures.
8. Willy Wonka – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Tim Burton, 2005)
Yes, we’re well aware that Tim Burton wasn’t the one who created Willy Wonka as a character; this accolade goes to the iconic British author Roald Dahl, but the director certainly added his own spice. Previously, the complexity of Wonka’s character had never been explored before, and Burton made a pretty great crack at shining a light on his mysterious past.
Creating the idea that his father was a dentist, Burton gave the character a tangible history, even allowing us to relate and sympathise with his past. He might not have created the character, but we’ve got to give Burton some credit for reinventing him.
7. Emily – Corpse Bride (Tim Burton, Mike Johnson, 2005)
The release of 2005’s Corpse Bride was somewhat overshadowed by the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory of the same name, but Burton’s stop-motion animation feat is well worth the watch. A spin on the classic tale of Frankenstein, the gothic kids flick tells the story of a shy groom named Victor Van Dort (voiced by Johnny Depp) who mistakenly resurrects a dead young woman, Emily, (Helena Bonham Carter), who assumes they are now both married.
While we could opt for Victor as the greatest character of the film, the personality and energy Burton’s script gives to Emily is irresistible, becoming the most enduring figure in this largely underrated animation.
6. Sally – The Nightmare Before Christmas (Henry Selick, 1993)
Only Burton could create a freakish, crudely sewed-together rag doll and make us fall in love with her. The character of Sally has resonated with audiences on such a huge level that even pop queen Billie Eilish, who wasn’t even born when this film came out, sang ‘Sally’s Song’ at a live performance of The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Oppressed by the hideous Dr. Finkelstein, who acts as her literal creator and a weird father/husband figure, Sally is desperate for independence. Fiercely intelligent but too gentle for her own good, her run-in with the charismatic Jack Skellington sets her on a path to freedom.
5. The Penguin – Batman Returns (Tim Burton, 1992)
Just like how Burton reimagined the character of Willy Wonka in his 2005 remake Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the director did another impressive redesign of the villain Penguin in 1992’s Batman Returns. Perfect for the director’s own gothic take on the caped crusader, Danny DeVito’s character was a short, stocky figure stripped straight out of the pages of classic horror literature.
With a top hat, long pointy nose and filthy fur coat, the beauty of the Penguin as a character is in his physical design, but Burton gives DeVito plenty to play with, too, even if it’s all pretty frivolous cartoonish fun.
4. Bela Lugosi – Ed Wood (Tim Burton, 1994)
Bela Lugosi holds a special title on this list as the only character in Burton’s expansive universe that is based on an actual person. The real Lugosi was an acclaimed Hungarian actor known for playing the original Count Dracula in the 1931 film and countless other horror classics.
Played by Martin Landau in this, Burton’s version of Lugosi is a washed-up and fading star, a relic of a glorious time gone by. Only through the unfiltered passion and infectious joy of director Ed Wood does Lugosi rise again, appearing in the B-movie revolution of the 1950s. Melodramatic, filled with both sorrow and rage and yet unbelievably tender at the same time, Lugosi is one of Burton’s most three-dimensional characters.
3. Jack Skellington – The Nightmare Before Christmas (Henry Selick, 1993)
The top three greatest Tim Burton characters are pretty predictable for a reason: each one is iconic in its own right. We start with the protagonist Jack Skellington from Henry Selick’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, a character devised straight from the mind of Burton, whose striking physical design fits perfectly in the world of the film whilst also being branded into the minds of each and every person who’s seen the movie.
With a white pea-head, slim figure and neat pinstriped suit, Skellington’s design is simple yet undoubtedly iconic. What’s more, the voice performance from Chris Sarandon is delightfully fitting.
2. Edward – Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton, 1990)
After nearly 15 years of flexing his creativity and honing his style through animation, Edward in Edward Scissorhands proved beyond reasonable doubt how translatable Burton’s aesthetic was to the big screen. With glinting blades for fingers and wiry black hair like a birds-nest, the character, played by Johnny Depp, truly looked like a cartoon come to life.
His journey sees him grow from a cowering sub-human outcast into a self-assured and confident hedge trimmer who manages to cinch a blossoming romance with Winona Ryder along the way. Edward is pure, distilled Burton creativity at its most refined, and 33 years later, we still love him just as dearly.
1. Betelgeuse – Beetlejuice (Tim Burton, 1988)
There’s a reason why a sequel is planned for 2024 — Beetlejuice is the ultimate hybrid of a twisted dreamscape with commercial, A-lister comedy appeal. Burton’s 1988 story follows a young couple (played by Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) who die in a car accident, only to return to their house as ghosts and find their home is already occupied by a new family.
At the centre of this existential crisis is Betelgeuse, the demented, hilarious and frankly terrifying ‘bio-exorcist’ who is summoned from the hellish Netherworld to aid the young couple come to terms with their own demise and frighten the wits out of the new occupants. With a career-best performance by Michael Keaton and an indistinguishable striped black-and-white suit, Betelgeuse is the definitive Tim Burton character.