In The Prestige, who played the role of inventor Nikola Tesla?

David Bowie played the inventor Nikola Tesla in Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige. Bowie’s Tesla is a fictionalized version of the real Serbian-American inventor, placed in the film’s late-19th-century rivalry between magicians Robert Angier and Alfred Borden.

Angier travels to Colorado Springs because he believes Tesla can explain Borden’s seemingly impossible version of “The Transported Man.” Tesla builds a machine that appears to transport objects, but the device actually creates a duplicate of whatever enters it. That invention becomes the dangerous foundation of Angier’s stage act and deepens the film’s themes of sacrifice, identity, and obsession.

The real Nikola Tesla was known for major contributions to alternating-current power systems, electrical engineering, and wireless technology. The film does not present a literal biography of Tesla; instead, it uses his reputation as an eccentric and visionary inventor to support its speculative plot. Bowie initially turned down the role, but Nolan personally approached him because he felt Bowie was uniquely suited to the part. The Prestige was released in 2006 and also starred Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, and Michael Caine.