How theDumb Money Cast Compares to Their Real Life Counterparts

As the movie’s de facto lead, Paul Dano plays Keith Gill, also known as Roaring Kitty on his YouTube channel. Dano may just be the most underrated actor in the business: in 2022 he stunned audiences in both The Fabelmans and The Batman, and has been fantastic in movies like Little Miss Sunshine, There Will Be Blood, Prisoners, Swiss Army Man, and more.

While MLB fans likely know Steve Cohen as the (relatively new) owner of the New York Mets, he figures into Dumb Money as a a (very wealthy) investor who helped back Gabe Plotkin’s Melvin Capital. Viewers likely recognize his performer, Vincent D’Onofrio, most recently as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin in both the Netflix/Disney+ series Daredevil and Hawkeye. He’s got a long resume apart from that, though, playing memorable and fantastic parts in movies like Full Metal Jacket, Men In Black, and Jurassic World. He also led Law and Order: Criminal Intent for 141 episodes on NBC.

Ken Griffin, who owns most of the hedge fund known as Citadel LLC, was also a major player in the 2021 GameStop short squeeze, and, thus, a major player in Dumb Money. Here he’s played by Nick Offerman, who you likely recognize first and foremost as Ron Swanson from Parks & Recreation. Offerman has proven his range in recent years, though, playing a great role in Alex Garland’s underrated FX/Hulu sci-fi series Devs and Peacock’s The Resort. Next year, he’ll appear in both the final season of The Umbrella Academy and Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part Two.

Vlad Tenev is the co-founder and CEO of stock trading app Robinhood who became part of the Dumb Money saga when he made the (bad) choice to side with the wealthy power players in the squeeze rather than the people fighting to take their scraps. Did he live up to his app’s name? Does not seem like it. Tenev is played in Dumb Money by Sebastian Stan, who audiences likely know best for his many appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as James “Bucky” Barnes, aka The Winter Soldier. He’s played plenty of other great roles, though, including in I, Tonya and Pam and Tommy (both also from Dumb Money director Craig Gillespie).

Baiju Bhatt is Tenev’s co-founder and the Chief Creative Officer of the Robinhood app who also sided with the rich guys during the GameStop short squeeze. He’s played by Rushi Kota, who’s known for roles in Grey’s Anatomy and Never Have I Ever.

When the GameStop squeeze at the center of Dumb Money was operating at full power, it was taking somewhere in the range of a billion dollars a day out of the pocket of wealthy investors like Gabe Plotkin—operator at the time of Melvin Capital. Plotkin is played in Dumb Money by Seth Rogen, who audiences know first and foremost for his comedic work—in movies like Superbad, This Is The End, Knocked Up, etc, but also for his work as a producer (on movies like Joy Ride and shows like Invincible and The Boys universe) and, of course, his pottery.