Bill Hader's 9 Best Celebrity Impressions

Bill Hader is a gifted comedic actor, but in addition to Hader's natural comedic timing and hilarious delivery, he is also a gifted mimic. His impressions are top tier, earning him notice and acclaim for how spot-on they can be.

Whether it be from his time on Saturday Night Live or on his many talk show appearances, Hader always delivers a flawless impersonation of whoever he chooses to imitate. Given his massive success in films and his wildly popular television series, Barry, the fantastic celebrity impressions Hader does only further proves his exceptional talent.

Harvey Fierstein

Many may not recognize the name Harvey Fierstein but that did not stop Bill Hader from showing off his exemplary Harvey Fierstein impression on SNL in the Top Gun audition sketch. Fans of Fierstein know that the acclaimed playwright and actor has a very distinct, gravelly voice.

Hader can impersonate this voice fantastically. In the sketch, Hader's Fierstein points out all the homoerotic elements of Top Gun inherent in the film's script. He even makes Fierstein's pointed facial expressions when pointing out the film's innuendos.

Henry Winkler

The beloved Henry Winkler gave life to the infamous Fonzie character on the classic television series, Happy Days. While Fonzie is an extremely imitable character, Winkler is not so much. Yet, Hader pulled off a great Winkler impression on Conan.

As Hader spends a lot of time with Winkler given their co-star status on Barry, he has had ample time to study Winkler in order to pull off a pitch-perfect impression. Hader perfectly imitated Winkler's soft-spoken voice and his sincere, passionate expressions.

John Malkovich

When John Malkovich was a host on Saturday Night Live, he was able to witness Bill Hader's impression of him right in front of his eyes. Anyone who has ever seen John Malkovich speak knows that he has a very marked way of speaking.

Hader was able to pull off Malkovich's voice perfectly, stunning the renowned actor himself. In the sketch, Hader plays an Italian TV host and John Malkovich plays a fictional version of himself, and it was a sight to see the impression occur while simultaneously seeing Malkovich's reaction.

Jack Nicholson

The iconic Jack Nicholson has some mannerisms and facial expressions that even the most casual viewers of his can recognize as belonging to Nicholson. The raised eyebrows and slow nasal drawl he speaks with make Nicholson an actor ripe for impersonation. Bill Hader did just so on an episode of Ellen in a game that required Hader to impersonate an actor doing a certain activity.

In this case, Hader had to act like Jack Nicholson running a lemonade stand. Hader was the perfect man for the job, as he did Nicholson's trademark eyebrow movement while replicating The Shining star's voice and speech patterns.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger is highly imitable and so pretty much every comedian has done an impression of him in their lifetime, which tend to include his many notable quotes and catchphrases, like Predator's "Get to the choppah!" or The Terminator's "I'll be back".

However, Hader added a unique spin to his impression: he used a Schwarzenegger impression to poke fun at his toddler daughter's bossiness. On his appearance on Conan, Hader was relating a story of his young daughter and tried to imitate the way she spoke. However, Conan found that Hader's "daughter voice" sounded more like Arnold Schwarzenegger. This lead to Hader riffing on his toddler having the personality and accent of the action-hero-turned-politician.

James Mason

Hader originally delivered his faultless James Mason impression during his SNL audition. The audition consisted of Bill as James Mason trying to redeem a coupon for donuts, as explained to Conan O'Brien. The facial expressions he makes are pure Mason.

Even the mannerisms of the late Lolita actor are completely up to snuff in Bill Hader's masterful impression. Seeing Hader do his James Mason on Conan makes fans wish that he would have done it more on SNL. Here's to hoping that Hader brings it out again if he hosts SNL in the future.

Jason Sudeikis

On another episode of Conan, Hader was talking about his friends and SNL castmates and then doing impressions of them. The best of the impersonations was Hader's impression of his close friend, Ted Lasso star, Jason Sudeikis.

Hader associates Sudeikis with his constant gum chewing and it's so strong in Hader's mind that after receiving a heartfelt text from Sudeikis congratulating him on his film The Skeleton Twins, Hader admitted he could not take the text seriously, as he just imagined Sudeikis chewing gum while relaying the sweet message.

Clint Eastwood

Bill Hader impersonated screen icon, Clint Eastwood, many times during his SNL days. Hader nail's Eastwood's cold eye staredown that he's perfected in movies like Dirty Harry and Gran Torino. But what sends this impression over the top is that Hader's pants are under his chin to make fun of Eastwood's habit of his pants being too high, as is somewhat typical for elderly men.

Hader brilliantly mimics Eastwood's grizzled voice. The celebrated actor and director is not the most ostentatious person and apart from his voice, his mannerisms are somewhat subtle, so an impression of him could be difficult. However, Hader and his talent for nuance in his impressions make this Eastwood impression golden.

Al Pacino

Hader can easily replicate Pacino's very distinct voice and way of speaking and Pacino's love of expletives is used to hilarious effect in Hader's impression of the Oscar winner.

Whether Pacino is in a Charlie Brown special or auditioning for the role of Doc Brown in Back to the Future in an SNL sketch, Hader never fails to drop an F-Bomb like only Pacino can do. Likewise, Hader infuses Pacino's tough-talking, New York persona in his impersonations. Hader's impression of Pacino is one of his best, leading to repeated appearances as the legendary Scarface actor.

NEXT: 10 Best Celebrity Impersonations In The SNL Family Feud Sketches