List of Individual Apes - Ape Actors

Ape Actors

• Bam (orangutan) played Precious on the soap opera Passions.
• Bill Hutson, a gorilla originating from the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, was known to be brought to various pubs in the local area by its owner.
• Çarli, a chimp, starred in the live-action movie The Jungle Book (1994) and in the Turkish television series Çarli before retiring to Monkey World in Dorset, UK.
• C.J. (or Manis; sources differ), an orangutan, played Clyde in the Clint Eastwood action-comedy film Every Which Way But Loose (1978).
• Clair, a chimp, played Livingston in the movie comedy Delicatessen (1991).
• Evie (short for Evolution), a chimp, played robot dog Daggit in the original 1979 Battlestar Galactica television series.
• J. Fred Muggs (a chimp born 1952) was a "co-host" with Dave Garroway on NBC's Today Show in the 1950s.
• Judy, a pet chimp of the family, was depicted in the 1960s CBS series, Daktari. She also played the Penny Robinson character's pet chimp, Debbie, in the simultaneously running Lost in Space.
• Kwanza (aka Kwan), a gorilla, played "Sidney" in the romance movie Return to Me (2000) with Minnie Driver and David Duchovny. Kwan currently lives at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.
• Mowgli, a chimp, was a guest on CNBC's Dennis Miller Live and on Monk
• Oscar, a child ape, was the subject of a 2012 Disney documentary, Chimpanzee.
• Pankun, a chimp, was featured in Japanese TV shows "Tensai! Shimura Dobutsu-en" (Genius! Shimura Zoo) and the TBS program "Dobutsu Kiso Tengai!" (Unbelievable Animals!) with bulldog James.
• Peggy, a chimp, played Bonzo in the 1951 movie comedy Bedtime for Bonzo, costarring Ronald Reagan, and a sequel, Bonzo Goes to College.
• Project X, a 1987 science fiction suspense-drama film about military animal experimentation, directed by Jonathan Kaplan, starred Matthew Broderick, Helen Hunt, and a multitude of chimpanzee actors:
  • Arthur — Winston
  • Clafu — Spike
  • Harry — Ginger
  • Karanja — Goliath
  • Lucy — Razzberry
  • Luke — Bluebeard
  • Lulu — Ethel
  • Mousie — New Recruit
  • Okko — Goofy
  • Willie — Virgil (film's animal star)
• Sam (born December 23, 1989, died December 24, 2010), an orangutan, played Dunston in the 1995 movie comedy Dunston Checks In; he was trained by Larry Madrid.
• Zippie, a chimp, rollerskated on U.S. television in the 1950s.
• Tango, an orangutan, played Suzanne in Kevin Smith's Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001).
• Jonah and his twin, Jacob, both appeared as the chimp Pericles in Planet of the Apes (2001 film), Trunk Monkey, and with Tango in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
• Mikey, a chimpanzee appeared in the film Manchurian Candidate (2005), and on "Saturday Night Live" (2005) and the "World Series of Poker" (2006).
• Travis the Chimp gained fame through parts he had in commercials (Old Navy, Coca-Cola) in the 2000s, but was shot by police following a brutal attack on a 55-year-old woman in Stamford, Connecticut.
• Tanga, a chimpanzee, played Inga in Dario Argento's horror film "Phenomena (film)" (1985).

Ape actors also appeared in the movies Going Ape! (1981), Ed (1996), and MVP: Most Valuable Primate (2000).