Playing Santa

In the 2007 holiday film "Fred Claus," St. Nick, played by Giamatti, bails out his jail-bird brother, played by Vince Vaughn, who is forced to work off his debt at the North Pole. Giamatti is the latest in a small group of stars to sport the famous red and white suit on the big screen.

Tim Allen

Allen as Santa, and Martin Short as Jack Frost in a scene from the 2006 movie "The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause." Allen has starred as Scott Calvin, a man contractually obligated to become Santa, in the movie trilogy which began in 1994, with "The Santa Clause," and was followed in 2002, with "The Santa Clause 2: The Mrs. Clause."

Billy Bob Thornton

In 2003, Thornton was the anti-Claus in the expletive-laden "Bad Santa." The actor played a boozehound who uses his store Santa gigs to pull off Christmas Eve burglaries.

Ed Asner

Asner, of TV's "Lou Grant" and "Mary Tyler Moore" fame, played Santa to Will Ferrell's Buddy in the 2003 Christmas comedy "Elf."

Edmund Gwenn

Some say the movie mold for Santa was established by actor Edmund Gwenn, right, in 1947's "Miracle on 34th Street." Here he is shown in a scene from the film with John Payne and Natalie Wood. Sir Richard Attenbrough played the role in a 1994 remake of the holiday classic.