Oscar Wilde, the cheeky Irish writer, and lover of alcohol himself, once said: "Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life". This certainly seems to be the case with many celebrities these days. They're cast in roles that compliment, so to speak, their current lifestyles. Is this purposeful by the studios and casting directors? Who knows, maybe the actors just gravitate towards roles they can understand. Or maybe, you'll be hard pressed to find an actor in Hollywood that hasn't, at some time, or another, struggled with addiction. Regardless of motivations, it would seem that many of the characters we love to watch on-screen are a lot more like the actors that play them than you'd think.

Even Oscar Wild said:"Too much of anything is bad, but too much Champagne is just right." ... "My only regret in life is that I did not drink more Champagne."

15 John Hamm

If your day job involved booze-swilling, cigarette smoking and sexy, yet submissive, women you might, at some point, start to confuse fantasy and reality. If John Hamm walked into the role of Don Draper with an alcohol problem than it's no surprise that it became exacerbated after the sexy actor was encouraged to live an alcohol fuelled lifestyle on the small screen. In fact, just before the final season of Mad Men's premiere, John Hamm completed a thirty day stint in rehab. Maybe now that the show has ended for good the impossibly good-looking and debonair Hamm can get that monkey off his back once and for all.

14 David Duchovny

Who can resist the outrageous antics of writer Hank Moody in Showtime's Californication. According to the show's premise, no one can; especially those of the female variety. Duchovny nails it as this character, so to speak, and it's clear that's because he shares many of Moody's traits. The former X Files actor has been in rehab for sex addiction. This may be the straw that broke the camel's back to end his seventeen year marriage to actress Tea Leoni.

13 Robert Downey Jr.

This is not going to read the way you might expect. Sure, the stylish actor served his time in rehab for multiple addictions and even spent some time in prison for his antics but those aren't the kind of characters he plays. He plays swank, suave and sexy playboys and that is art imitating life if we've ever seen it. He may not have the super suit like his character Iron Man, Tony Stark, but he does have the swagger, the wit and the sexy as hell attitude just like the character he portrays.

12 Chris Hemsworth

Just look at the man. Can you even cope for a minute? All the women reading this have to admit that he must have been carved by Michelangelo himself. Just like the character he plays in the film (Thor) this man is a god. If you're still not convinced, check out how much the Aussie actor made this year: 27 Million U.S. dollars making him the highest paid Australian actor in the business. You might be wondering how this is a problem for the young actor. When you're this golden there is no where else to go but down. Be careful out there, handsome.

11 Charlie Sheen

Sheen is no stranger to being in the media for extremely bad behaviour much like the character he is most famous for, Two and Half Men's Charlie Harper. Sheen was even fired from the show for his erratic behaviour. Sheen shares many traits with his character on the hit show, he enjoys to drink, and has been known as quite the womanizer. Both his character and real life feature him as a wealthy but hot tempered man, we just hope he can get his life together.

10 Adam Sandler

Sandler has a case of 'playing the same character in every movie' and he's got it bad. Maybe that's because that character is just a version of himself. Although when you think about it, goofy, and mildly funny has helped Sandler earn a net worth of over $200 million .In reality he is his characters, carefree, rich and he gets to hang out with his best friends on every movie set. Just like his real life, Sandler gets to do as he pleases, when you are that rich, why not!

9 Natasha Lyonne

On the show Orange is the New Black, Lyonne plays the character of Nicky Nichols who struggles with drug addiction. What some people might not know is that Lyonne has struggled with the same issues as her character on the show. During season one you can see a scar across her chest which is real, the scar is from heart surgery which she had due to a past heart infection brought on by drug use. Lyonne had a few dark years while partying hard and heavy drug use, with other famous celebs such as Lindsay Lohan and Tara Reid, but is now sober and enjoying a successful career.  We hope she continues down this great path.

8 Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp has professed to have based his Pirates of Caribbean character, Jack Sparrow, on Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. However, it isn't Richards that we see wandering around in loads of jewelry and even more scarves, it's Depp himself. If anyone embodies all that is Captain Jack Sparrow, it is Johnny Depp and no one else. It's rumoured that Depp is battling alcohol addiction currently, which has his portrayal of Captain Jack (a rum lover himself) in the 5th Pirates of the Caribbean movie on hold.

7 Courteney Cox

In 2009, Cougar Town began airing, and was well liked by viewers. The show featured Cox's character, a recently divorced mom who was learning how to date again. At the time of the show's airing Cox was married to David Arquette. About a year after the show first aired, Cox and Arquette split up after 11 years together. Cox was now going through the same process as her character, a recently divorced mother learning to date again.

6 Edie Falco

Edie Falco found life after The Soprano's in Nurse Jackie. She plays an Emergency Room nurse who has found the merits of self-medicating and Ms. Falco might know a little something about that. Having attended her own twelve-step program, Falco knows all too well the trials and tribulations of addiction. It could be why the veteran actor plays her role so well. The breast cancer survivor has seen more than her share of heartache and here's to hoping  she'll continue to have great success in her career and her sobriety.

5 Ed Harris

Remember Ed Harris in Pollock? Us either, but apparently it was a very important art film about the controversial artist and gifted alcoholic Jackson Pollock. Ed Harris was a perfect fit for many reasons. The actor bears a physical resemblance to the artist and he has a past that involves alcohol abuse. Does this somehow make the actor a better fit for the role? Probably, but since the film is relatively obscure at this point we might never know. He's actually much better in Gone Baby Gone, or at least we think so.

4 Brittany Murphy

As the troubled "Daisy" in Girl Interrupted, Brittany Murphy was heartbreakingly realistic. Her portrayal of the troubled girl who committed suicide is haunting now that Murphy herself lost her life at just 32 years old. The reports state that a lethal combination of prescription drugs led to a pneumonia that Murphy couldn't defeat. Even more shocking is that her husband mysteriously died just six months later, of the very same cause. Did Brittany have some of the same issues as the character she played so genuinely? We might never know.

3 Ewan McGregor

The Trainspotting actor admits in an interview with People Magazine ( that he was shocked that people didn't call him on his alcohol abuse."None of my directors ever said, 'You know, I'd rather you didn't drink at work.' None of them. And they must have known," he says. "I was reeking of (alcohol)." It seems that McGregor has kicked his old habit just in time to film a sequel to Trainspotting. Well, at least that's the current rumour. Can Ewan do the film justice as a sober actor twenty years later? There is no doubt he'll kill it.

2 Russell Brand

Russell Brand is a strange and fascinating man, indeed. He's played a number of foolish and strange characters in recent years. Many with seeming addictions to drug and drink. Brand admits freely that he, himself, has been addicted to many things, including drugs, alcohol and even chocolate. The British actor is clean and free of addictions at the moment and can you really tell. Every time he opens his mouth, out pours some genius commentary on the way of the world today. Seriously, who would have though that Russell Brand was a brilliant humanitarian. No joke, look it up.

1 Philip Seymour Hoffman

Philip Seymour Hoffman; a name we should have been hearing for years to come. The talented actor would own every film he worked on until his untimely death in February, 2014. PSH suffered greatly with addiction that would hurt is family but seemingly never his career. His addictions would soon consume him. Did his life resemble the rich and spoiled playboy, Freddie Miles in The Talented Mr. Ripley? It's only fair to say that drugs ended this prolific actors life and we all continue to mourn his loss.

Sources:biography.com, people.com, huffpost.com, vanityfair.com, npr.org

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