Fictional alter egos add flavor to pandemic life

Streamable movies and TV shows can pull out personality quirks lying beneath the drudgery of quarantine

Let’s be frank: Being ourselves is quite dull these days. With no social outings, work drama or real personal news, everyday life boils down to bingewatching TV, playing games and solving puzzles, child care (for many), or — bestcase scenario — virtual happy hours.

What’s more, in a time like this, reinventing yourself professionally is too risky. Love life changes can be tricky, too, with all this sheltering. But what if you could be someone else? Live another life? The alter ego is a neat trick that guarantees action and interest in movies and TV shows. Sinister, entertaining or both, an alter ego infuses the plot with layers. It is the very concept that makes or breaks a superhero. To mere mortals, it’s an opportunity to experiment.

In real life — well, at least on social media, the hotbed of all things inspirational — there is already a microtrend of people creating alter egos: dressing up like vintage fortune tellers, impersonating cats, experimenting with wigs and new accents. Surely, one is lurking inside each of us.

To help bring out your best alter ego, here are a few wellmeaning characters from films and TV shows you can stream now.

Mrs. Doubtfire: Robin Williams’ combustible, feisty female nanny in the iconic 1993 film — set in San Francisco — is the perfect alter ego for the times. The story is simple: An estranged husband and father creates an elaborate plot, which includes prosthetic breasts, to get closer to his children. Featuring a lovely, neurotic personality, Mrs. Doubtfire can do it all: vacuum, dance, play soccer and intercept a very handsome Pierce Brosnan making a move for his exwife played by Sally Field. Mrs. Doubtfire’s kindness is the opposite of her male creator’s sulking, and her optimism is infectious.

Before COVID19 started flooding the headlines, a Broadway remake was announced to open on April 5, but it never came to fruition. Too bad. Catching herself on fire in the kitchen and frantically running around Crissy Field, Mrs. Doubtfire is all of us during quarantine.

Watch it: HBO, Amazon Prime, Hulu

Nikki Fre$h: Ever since her big break in the early aughts with the reality TV series “The Simple Life,” Nicole Richie’s ability to make fun of herself has given her celebrity bonus points. Now, with a new bitesized show on the new streaming service Quibi, she’s back to the magical formula. Playing a slightly altered version of herself, Richie makes light of her starry pedigree, of celebrity career aspirations and of “wellness.”

Richie is surrounded by reallife husband Joel Madden and brotherinlaw Benji Madden (both of the rock band Good Charlotte) and father Lionel Richie, but she is also joined by a quirky fictional assistant. As Nikki Fresh, a selfdeclared trap icon and wellness goddess, we find Richie rapping about the environment. Each fiveminute episode packs plenty of giggles and provides a virtual fashion show of great costumes. Nikki’s ideas are properly wacky, and the lyrics to her songs (every episode ends with one) are dedicated to avocados, bees and fertilizer.

Watch it: Quibi

Ashley O: Trust “Black Mirror” to reinvent the alter ego game altogether, with the episode “Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too” from the series’ fifth season. It flirts with reality, delivering a pink basket of Easter eggs to pop culture devotees.

In the episode, Miley Cyrus (who shot to fame thanks to her Disney alter ego Hannah Montana) plays Ashley O. With a purple wig and approachable charm, she’s an “empowering” pop star and teen idol who has just released a “smart” doll modeled after her personality. Bubbly and marketable like Cyrus on the surface, Ashley O has many parallels to the megatalent’s own stardom, with a bittersweet underlying message best not spoiled here.

Fully adopting her latest onscreen alter ego, Cyrus has taken to dressing like Ashley O for her social media followers, and she even hosted an Instagram Live show in full costume.

Watch it: Netflix

Everyone in “Parks and Recreation”: The beloved TV show, which aired an emotional COVID19 fundraiser reunion on April 30, has no shortage of spectacular alter egos to be inspired by.

There’s Duke Silver, the smoothtalking, saxophoneplaying, afterhours alter ego of the deadpan Ron Swanson (played by Nick Offerman). There’s Burt Macklin, the highenergy FBI agent who occasionally comes out of Andy (Chris Pratt). There’s throwback Janet Snakehole, played to perfection by April (Aubrey Plaza) — and a hilarious episode in which Andy and April’s alter egos meet, taking the script into a questionable roleplay zone.

Choose a character, any character. There’s a plethora of choices befitting any quarantine day. Watch it: Amazon Prime, Hulu

Stefan Urquelle: “Family Matters” may have had the alter ego formula down before everyone else. The dashing, sweettalking, wellpostured Stefan Urquelle is the exact opposite of Steve Urkel’s geeky persona in the sitcom, which aired from 1989 to 1998. The alter ego emerges after Urkel drinks a blue potion in the hopes of becoming more attractive and finally getting the attention of his love interest Laura. Soon, it turns out that better posture and deeper vocals come with a selfabsorbed, vain personality. Played onpoint by Jaleel White, Urquelle is the perfect lesson in symmetry — your smoother, hotter self is also the less lovable one. Watch it: Hulu

20th Century Fox 1993 There may not exist a better alter ego than Robin Williams’ spunky character in “Mrs. Doubtfire,” a 1993 film set in San Francisco.

Graham Bartholomew / Netflix Miley Cyrus plays Ashley O. in an episode of “Black Mirror.”

Quibi Nicole Richie plays a version of herself in a new series.

Chris Haston / NBC Alter egos run rampant in “Parks and Recreation.”

Monty Brinton / CBS Jaleel White wasn’t just the geeky Steve Urkel on “Family Matters.”