2011 Oscars: Recasting ‘Inception’

DOM COBB

Played by Leonardo DiCaprio, 36, in the film

Recasting: Nestor Carbonell, 43

Why He’s Right for the Part: For the complex role of Dom Cobb, a thief who specializes in entering the human mind through dream invasion and stealing people’s secrets—we like Nestor Carbonell. As Richard Alpert on ABC’s Lost, Nestor proved that he could play a man whose heart (and loyalty) were torn in a million different directions—which makes him the ideal choice to replace DiCaprio as the redemption-seeking Dom Cobb.