The Substance: Full list of cast in the movie

Coralie Fargeat's twisted body-horror comedy The Substance promises to leave audiences wincing, gasping, and laughing when it releases in theaters on September 20, 2024.

The 92% score on Rotten Tomatoes only adds to the anticipation of the movie, which follows Demi Moore starring as 50-year-old Elisabeth Sparkle. She's ironically a celebrity who has long lost her sparkle, a former A-list actress who decides to use a black-market drug to stay relevant after getting fired from her fitness TV show.

The drug helps her create a younger, much better version of herself, but it's only temporary. One injection and she's reborn as a gorgeous 20-something Sue (played by Margaret Qualley), but there's one rule. She has to split living in two bodies—one week as Elisabeth and one week as Sue—for the substance to remain stable. But, even with just one rule, a lot of things could go wrong.

Besides Moore and Qualley, The Substance also stars Dennis Quaid, Hugo Diego Garcia, Gore Abrams, and more.

The main cast and characters in The Substance

1) Demi Moore as Elisabeth Sparkle

Demi Moore as Elisabeth (Image via MUBI)

Demi Moore's Elisabeth Sparkle is a 50-year-old former A-list celebrity in The Substance. However, she went from a famous celeb, who had her face plastered all over billboards, to a bygone because she's now older.

The veteran actress has a wide-ranging filmography, although she's best known for starring in G.I. Jane, Indecent Proposal, and Ghost. More recently, she's worked on TV projects like Empire, Brave New World, and Feud. She also voiced Diana in the podcast series Dirty Diana.

2) Margaret Qualley as Sue

Margaret Qualley as Sue (Image via MUBI)

The Montana-born actress plays the younger manifestation of Demi Moore's character in The Substance. Her name is Sue, and she's a 20-something gorgeous woman who appears whenever Elisabeth injects herself with "the substance."

Qualley became a household name for her role as Jill Garvey in HBO's The Leftovers, which ran from 2014 to 2017. She's worked in a mix of TV projects and Hollywood blockbusters since she debuted in Palo Alto in 2013. She was in shows Novitiate and Maid and films like Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood, Poor Thinks, and Kinds of Kindness.

3) Dennis Quaid as Harvey

The Houston, Texas-born actor joins The Substance cast as Elisabeth's creepy, piggish boss Harvey. He was the one who broke the news to Elisabeth that her time with the TV show was finished.

Quaid is another veteran in the acting scene who has amassed over a hundred titles in his filmography. He's known as Jack Hall in The Day After Tomorrow and Nick Parker in The Parent Trap. He also starred in Vegas, The Art of More, and Goliath. More recently, Dennies Quaid played Ronald Reagan in the docudrama Reagan.

4) Hugo Diego Garcia as Diego

Hugo Diego Garcia as Diego (Image via Hulu)

The French-Spanish actor, who won Best Actor for the short film Tony, joins Coralie Fargeat's The Substance cast as Diego.

Tony was Garcia's first acting project, but he's been in several TV shows and films since. He played Jules in Death and Other Details and was also in Sentinelles and Touchees. He also joins 2024's The Killer, the action film directed by The Crossing's John Woo.

5) Oscar Lesage as Troy

The French actor, who played Chartres in Marie Antoinette for 14 episodes, returned to the silver screen as Troy in The Substance.

Lesage has worked on both French and English projects on television and the big screen. He was in The Room, Bardot, Monsieur Spade, and Le Choix du pianiste. He was also a guest star in The Crown, playing the character of Guy Pelly in Season 6 Episode 10.

6) Gore Abrams as Oliver

Gore Abrams as Oliver (Image via Shudder)

Marinette's Mark Krikorian, Gore Abrams, joins the cast of The Substance to play the character of Oliver.

The latest movie is an addition to Abrams' over 25 mostly film projects. He's best known for the Hell House LLC movies Welcome Home and Run With the Hunted. He also briefly appeared in the TV series Mercy Mistress.

7) Joseph Balderrama as Craig Silver

Joseph Balderrama as Craig (Image via Netflix)

The Mexican actor, who was the lead detective in The Batman, returns on the screen to play Craig Silver in The Substance.

Balderrama's best works on television are The Makery, The Creature Cases, Heartstopper, and Avenue 5. He also briefly appeared in Hotel Portofino, Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, and Jagged Alliance 3. Fans will also see him as Rico Fazio in the highly-awaited F1 movie coming in 2025.

Supporting cast and characters in the movie

Below are the rest of the cast and characters in the upcoming horror comedy.

Alexandra Papoulias Barton as the encourager
Tiffany Hofstetter as the stylist
Vincent Colombe as Suit
Robin Greer, as the nurse
Jordan Ford Silver as the assistant director
Oscar Salem as the 2nd assistant director
Tom Morton, as the doctor
Matthew Gaaczy as Bob Haswell
Gregory Defleur as the Happy Birthday person
Philip Schurer as Mr. Scream
Jiselle Henderkott as the girl

Catch The Substance in US movie theaters starting September 20.

Edited by Shreya Das