The Christmas holiday season is the perfect time to unwind with family, share gifts, eat your body weight in Turkey, and feast your eyes on as many movies as possible. There's always something on at the cinema that's perfect escapism during the holidays, and the streaming services will also be churning out their latest Christmas offering, like Dwayne Johnson's Red One. However, audiences also get movies with star actors who are not usually associated with festive films.

The holiday season would definitely feel like it's lacking something if there weren't numerous festive offerings to consume. Whether it's a family ritual, like sitting down to watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, or catching a festive horror like Terrifier 3. However, what's so wonderful about Christmas movies is how they often subvert audience expectations by casting actors not usually associated with the genre.

10 Love Actually (2003)

Starring Liam Neeson

Love Actually is one of the most sickeningly sweet, absurd Christmas movies that simply had to get a mention due to one of its cast playing a role far removed from their usual butt-kicking parts. Liam Neeson has been utilizing his particular set of skills ever since he landed roles in movies like Excalibur from 1981, The Taken series, and as fan-favorite Jedi Knight, Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace.

However, when Curtis cast him in the yuletide favorite, Love Actually in 2003, it was against type for the Irish actor. He'd played romantic roles in the past, and had often had a love interest in a lot of his roles. The quotable Love Actually was a significant departure for Neeson, and it was jarring to see him in such a schmaltzy movie.

9 I Come in Peace (1990)

Starring Dolph Lundgren

Better known as Dark Angel, 1990s I Come in Piece is a Christmas movie starring one of the '80s and '90s most iconic action stars, Dolph Lundgren. The action thriller, that also manages to add a touch of sci-fi and horror, is one of the best movies of its kind to come from the '90s. Its star was most known for fighting Rocky Balboa in cheesy sequels, so to see him in a Christmas set movie is fun.

The plot centers on an alien drug dealer who's committed a series of grisly murders around Christmastime, and Lundgren's cop, Detective Jack Caine, who must hunt the alien down. Caine is a loose cannon, which leads to a series of surprisingly funny set-pieces. The best, and most festive, is when the alien antagonist blows up another bad guy at a Christmas tree store.

8 The Grinch (2018)

Starring Benedict Cumberbatch

Christmas is the perfect time for animated movies to bring classic stories to life, and Dr. Seuss' The Grinch is certainly a festive holiday favorite. There had already been several adaptations of The Grinch before Benedict Cumberbatch voiced the character in Illumination Entertainment's animated movie in 2018.

Jim Carrey's live-action film from 2000 was delightfully mischievous, but it was Cumberbatch's voice role in the animated movie that was a departure for the star. Cumberbatch is a very versatile actor, but to most audiences, he's best known for more action-oriented roles, such as Dr Strange in the MCU, or even as Sherlock in the clever, action-filled BBC drama series that began in 2010.

His voice work in The Grinch captures the cheeky, Christmas-hating Grinch perfectly.

His voice work in The Grinch captures the cheeky, Christmas-hating Grinch perfectly, and while the movie plays to a younger audience, Cumberbatch sells the title character's grumpiness well.

7 Daddy's Home 2 (2017)

Starring Mel Gibson And Mark Wahlberg

When Daddy's Home was released in 2015, it was a hit with audiences, and also at the box office, where it grossed $243 million against a budget of $69 million. This subsequently led to a sequel being greenlit, and this time another action star was cast alongside Mark Wahlberg and comedy veteran Will Ferrell; the legendary Lethal Weapon star, Mel Gibson.

Daddy's Home 2's reviews were brutal, but in all fairness, nobody was expecting a masterpiece following the fun but flawed first movie. Also, all everybody wanted to see was how the two dads would adjust to life when their own fathers arrived for the Christmas holidays, played by Mel Gibson and John Lithgow. Both Wahlberg and Gibson riff on their action personas with some fun set pieces in a movie that is a decent sequel.

6 Rise Of The Guardians (2012)

Starring Hugh Jackman And Alec Baldwin

The premise for Rise of the Guardians is a lot of fun, and very festive. When the evil spirit Pitch launches an assault on Earth, the Immortal Guardians team up to protect the innocence of children all around the world. The team just so happens to consist of the Easter Bunny, played by Hugh Jackman, Alec Baldwin's North, who's actually Santa Claus, plus The Tooth Fairy, The Sandman, and Jack Frost.

It's quite the Festive team-up, but it's Hugh Jackman who makes the biggest impression, as the Easter Bunny. He's obviously better known for playing Wolverine in the X-Men series, his standalone films, and, of course, the very popular Deadpool & Wolverine. Hugh Jackman has made a career out of a variety of different roles, whether it's musicals, comedy, drama, and romantic parts. Playing the Easter Bunny is one of the most unexpected parts he's taken on.

5 The Christmas Chronicles (2018)

Starring Kurt Russell

One of the best action icons from the 1980s is undoubtedly Snake Plissken. The eye-patch-wearing, gun-toting war hero turned outlaw, is one of Kurt Russell's greatest action roles, and it launched his career into similar territory. Russell has been known as an action star for much of his career, and when the chance came to play Santa Claus in The Christmas Chronicles arose, he was a great choice.

The Christmas Chronicles is a modern classic. Russell was a sprightly 67 when he took the role of Santa Claus, and it was the perfect time for him to step into the shoes of such an iconic figure. There are moments in the movie where you can tell that director Clay Kaytis is well aware of Russell's action pedigree, and while he may have been slightly too old to recapture his earlier fight scenes, he still manages to bring some gravitas to the role.

4 Violent Night (2022)

Starring David Harbour

Every so often, a Christmas movie comes along, and subverts the genre in wonderful, and in the case of Violent Night, savage ways. David Harbour's killer Santa movie is a brutally effective departure for the Stranger Things star. The movie follows Harbour's disillusioned Santa Claus as he delivers gifts for all the children who've been good.

He stumbles into a Die Hard-esq hostage situation at a rich family's house, and communicates via walkie-talkie with their daughter, Trudy. It sees Harbor kicking all kinds of festive butt, and his Santa is seen as an action star, only killing those on Santa's naughty list. Harbour has been an action star numerous times before, but not like this.

3 Fatman (2020)

Starring Mel Gibson

It's widely known, and understood, that Santa Claus is a portly chap. Yet, the title Fatman is a pretty harsh way of describing Mel Gibson's titular character in this festive movie with a twist. The title does make sense once you've seen the movie, and it's great to see Mel Gibson tackle a different kind of Christmas film as Chris Cringle, AKA Santa Claus.

The Lethal Weapon and Mad Max star made a name for himself in the aforementioned action franchises, but he's also carved a hugely successful career out of different cinematic ventures. Gibson's rowdy, unorthodox Santa is fighting to save his declining business, while a 12-year-old tries to kill him. Despite its low rating of 5.9/10 on IMDb, Fatman is an instant classic Christmas revenge movie. Stick it on during the holidays for some violence to counter the usual tinsel-wrapped offerings.

2 Die Hard (1988)

Starring Bruce Willis

Die Hard is quite simply not just one of the best action movies of all time, it's also one of the best Christmas movies, and is essential viewing during the holiday season. The Bruce Willis-starring film is so iconic, and has a formula that has been copied repeatedly.

Die Hard is quite simply not just one of the best action movies of all time, it's also one of the best Christmas movies, and is essential viewing during the holiday season.

Whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie is a debate that still rages on. However, the fact that it's set on Christmas Eve at a Christmas party in the Nakatomi Tower, and also features many Christmas quips, should settle the debate.

Before Die Hard, Bruce Willis found fame in the TV show Moonlighting, opposite Cybill Shepherd. It was his trip to the coast to have a few laughs in Die Hard that began his action-hero career. The iconic shot of John McClane jumping off the top of the Nakatomi Tower is forever etched in movie history.

1 Jingle All The Way (1997)

Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger

Jingle All the Way, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, is the best example of an actor going so far out of his comfort zone, which makes it so memorable. Jingle All the Way wouldn't work today for various reasons, but it's become a staple of the holiday season, and Schwarzenegger was clearly having a great time when making it.

Schwarzenegger was no stranger to making comedies by the time Jingle All the Way arrived in 1996, so it wasn't a surprise to see him in a lighter role than usual. The movie was a relative success financially, making $129 million worldwide on a reported budget of $75 million.

Schwarzenegger's star power played a large part in its success, and although it was a critical failure, it's still regarded as a fun, if over-the-top Christmas film with the world's biggest action star, at the time, making a fool of himself, and loving every moment.