Who played Beetlejuice in Tim Burton’s 1988 film Beetlejuice?

Michael Keaton played Beetlejuice in Tim Burton’s 1988 film Beetlejuice.

Keaton’s performance presents the character as a fast-talking, striped-suited supernatural troublemaker who offers to remove the living occupants from the Maitlands’ house. The role combines broad comedy, grotesque makeup, and improvised energy.

The part was a major departure from Keaton’s earlier screen image and became one of his signature performances. The character’s name is spelled “Beetlejuice” in the film’s title, although the fictional character is also known as Betelgeuse, a spelling used within the story and in some related material.

Keaton returned to the role decades later in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, released in 2024. That sequel also reunited Burton with several members of the original cast, including Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara.