South Park's complex Satan character.

When actors talk about “the role of a lifetime,” they’re usually referring to a charismatic, morally conflicted and psychologically intricate personality. They rarely think of someone so uncompromisingly evil as Satan, but if Paradise Lost taught us anything it was that Lucifer had way more going on upstairs than Adam, Eve and God combined.

Not surprisingly, the performances chronicled in this listicle of 12 Actors Who’ve Played The Devil from Unreality range from flatly evil (Al Pacino in The Devil’s Advocate) to morally fraught (Trey Parker in South Park: Bigger Longer and Uncut, at right). Of course, they left out one of our favorite Satanic performances by a truly outstanding actor (in an Arnold Schwarzenegger film!).

Gabriel Byrne plays The Devil in 1999’s campy Y2K horror thriller End of Days, and you can tell he’s having a great time: