Roleplaying (you know, AD&D, Star Wars, like that) is like acting without the pressure. It's not about devil-worship or acting out aggression like some bad movies and press might say. It's a chance to be someone else for a while, to explore parts of yourself that may not normally come out. Only psychos take it too far. And unlike stage or screen, no one will care if you screw up. You're playing with friends, after all. They may laugh, but they're laughing with you rather than at you (usually), and there's no multi-million dollar career on the line. No pressure.
My longest-running character (aside from myself) was Karyx of Golotha, who won't ever win any beauty or personality contests, but who can kick ass with the best of 'em. He's a thug, pure and simple, albeit a thug with delusions of grandeur. He's firmly convinced that the world will bow down and worship him. Very soon. As soon as he gets around to subjugating it, anyhow. And that'll be any day. OK, so he's a punk, but he's damn fun to play. Just don't throw any goblets at his head unless you really know how to defend yourself. It's unhealthy at best.
A fantasy character I played in a very non-traditional game was Cyrian Dragonfriend (a.k.a. Cyrian Hornpaw), a wannabe mage with a rather eclectic background. He was, at one time or another, an apprentice clothmaker, apprentice blacksmith, apprentice mage, thief-in-training, and finally vagabond mercenary with pretensions of magedom.
I'm currently playing a dwarf rat shaman named Runt in Stormhammer's Shadowrun campaign and running a high fantasy campaign loosely based on AD&D 3E.