Favourite "character actors"

Klingon Hamlet

I propose people suggest their favourite lesser-known but talented actors. I'd call them character actors, even though they've had lead or co-leading roles---they tend to inhabit their roles perfectly and leave you remembering their character, rather than themselves.

I'll start with:



Tom Hardy

Played two small but significant military roles in Band of Brothers and Black Hawk Down. Convincing enough US accent, solid acting.

Hammed it up as Shinzon in Star Trek Nemesis, squaring up to the equally well-spoken actor Patrick Stewart, and was IMHO the highlight of the otherwise murky and dreary end to the old Star Trek movie canon.

Came into his own in RockNRolla.

Absolutely blistering in Bronson, transforming his body and his whole demeanour.

Now part of the highly-anticipated 2010 film Inception, and will be in the long-mooted Mad Max 4---let's hope it elevates him rather than sinks him in Hollywood's growing cesspit of dullard remakes.



Garret Dillahunt

Made a huge impact in the great Western show Deadwood---as two distinctly grotesque characters, both twisted and dangerous but in entirely different ways. I forgot they were one and the same actor. Brought an interesting vibe to the second role of Mr Wolcott---I felt sorry for him, despite his taste for suffering.

That same twisted mesh of humanity and threat came in his role in The 4400---you never knew what to think of him, flipping between manipulative and benign.

Showing his comedic talents in No Country for Old Men as a deputy in over his head.

Then terrifying the sh!t outta me in Last House on the Left (an other wise cr@ppy film) and The Road. In both there's a strangeness to him that cant be described, like he's a good person gone very bad.

Would love to see him play Lex Luthor in some future Superman movie/show---he has the charisma, intelligence, and danger to him to put any superhero ill at ease. But would also like to see more of his funny side come out, like Hackman did.

Does anyone else have any favourites?

Karl Hungus

Interesting thread, and I'd definitely agree with you there about Dillahunt. Tom Hardy is exceptional as well.

I'll add Lance Henriksen:



He's a great actor and sci-fi/horror genre favourite, but he's usually terrific in any role. Millennium showed he could really carry a series as well, and he was just fantastic in that.

mike65

This thread can go no further without metion of Harry Dean Stanton, who was for years that guy third from left in the hat in many a western and crime drama before Alien suddenly catapulted him into the spotlight, he was of course wearing a hat.

krudler

Ted Levine, found fame/infamy as Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs, but hes had some good parts in Heat, The Fast and the Furious, Ali, American Gangster and the tv show Monk.

tricky D

Tracey Walter



35 TV shows and 63 Movies.

Here's some of the greatest hits:
Annie Hall
Rumble Fish
Conan the Destroyer
Repo Man (as Miller (film also has Harry Dean Stanton). His best imo with some diamond quotes including the lattice of coincidence I refer to in my Location)
Midnight Run
Batman
The Two Jakes
Wild at Heart
City Slickers
The Silence of the Lambs
Philadelphia
Independence Day
Matilda
Man on the Moon
Erin Brockovich
The Manchurian Candidate

Also not a particular favourite, but of note is Stephen Tobolowsky who played Ned Ryerson in Groundhog Day. He starred in the shedloads of movies in the 90's. Someone told me he had the most appearances in that period (20), but I'm not so sure.

krudler

tricky D wrote: »

Tracey Walter

"Bob....gun"

niallon

John Turturro

Every time he appears on screen he elevates even the worst (Transformers) of films to a better level. A true definition of a character actor in my opinion, perfect companion to a lead actor, except in Barton Fink of course. Lebowski, Oh Brother Where Arth Thou? even Collatteral Damage he's the absolute must watch in them all!

I'd say Kevin Bacon too, he may have grown into lead roles but his best performances remain his smaller roles, aside from The Woodsman.

On another note, what does everyone class as the criteria for a character actor? The obvious is someone not usually found in lead roles, principally playing a certain "type" of character but is there more? To me it can generally be actors that tend to excel as foils to the leads, the ones who appear to take ten minutes of screen time more seriously than most leads take an entire running time.

mike65

Character actor for me is rarely the lead and plays memorable roles, many peoples "I know the face but whats his/her name?" types.

rednik

Stanley Tucci for me. He has been in some great movies like Road to Perdition and just looks and acts so well.

krudler

Kurtwood Smith, because he's Clarence Boddicker, and hes a cop killer.

Basq

Ben Foster



An actor I first saw in the forgettable rom-com "Get Over It" but he's actually one of the more diverse and impressive actors out there.

Probably his most acclaimed role was in '3.10 to Yuma' or 'Alpha Dog', but he was even impressive in one of his first roles, albeit small - playing a mentally handicapped character named Eli in 'Freaks and Geeks'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqIwl3O_af4

Superb actor who tends to play characters you'll remember long after the credit rolls.

KevArno

Barry Pepper for me... he steels so many scenes, mostly plays supporting roles, has that "ah whats his name" kinda quality also. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001608/

Also Danny Trejo. He's a grand lad in this category Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Desperado, Con Air etc... http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001803/

Ah Basquille, Ben Foster, great choice. I thought he was great in 3:10 to Yuma and 30 Days of Night.

Basq

Agreed on Barry Pepper..

Another one is Nathan Fillion - while I don't think he'll ever escape the role of Captain Mal Reynolds, he impressed me greatly in 'Slither' too.

krudler

Vincent Shiavelli is (well, was) a cool character actor, Batman Returns, Ghost to name but a few:



he was great in Man on the Moon as well

Blue850

Need a Triad boss and henchman??


James Hong


Al Leong

mike65

Here's a few more I like Warren Oates, Bruce Dern, Geoffrey Lewis, Michael Ironside, John Vernon.

KevArno

Blue850 wrote: »

Al Leong

Ah I had his face imblazoned in my mind before I posted... good call!

I think Paul Giamatti http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0316079/ should get a mention here. God love the man but he doesnt have the looks for a leading man, but this little guy has charisma in spades.

Kintarō Hattori

KevArno wrote: »

I think Paul Giamatti http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0316079/ should get a mention here. God love the man but he doesnt have the looks for a leading man, but this little guy has charisma in spades.

In fairness I wouldn't have called him as a character/B movie actor. He's had some really great roles in the last few years.

KevArno

Yup, had great roles, as has John Tuturro. As has Steve Buscemi, yet he is still a character actor. I never really thought of character actors as being B movie actors.

foxyboxer

Tom Hollander is a great 'journeyman' actor.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0390903/

MrSir

Steve Buscemi,Ciarán Hinds,Sam Rockwell instantly come to my mind.

Klingon Hamlet

MrSir wrote: »

Steve Buscemi,Ciarán Hinds,Sam Rockwell instantly come to my mind.

Hell yeah, saw him in a few films recently and he was great in all of them: Moon, Choke, Matchstick Men...

I think he woulda made a more convincing Narrator in Fight Club.

Hank_Jones

Kevin Bacon.



I used to think of Bacon as just another good actor, but then I saw him in The Woodsman and he completely changed my view point on pretty much all of his performances.
He's probably one of the best, if not the best, character actor out there.

Frances McDormand



She's probably the best actress on the planet (in my opinion anyway) and I honestly think her character acting skills aren't surpassed by any other actress.

enda1

Daniel Day Lewis deserves to be mentioned.
Every character he plays is so interesting and intense, its almost painful to watch.

marwelie

David Strathairn, goes unnoticed (I even had to google his name after I saw him in Good Night and Good Luck) but brilliant in everything he does. I didn't even realise he was in LA Confidential until last week (and I've seen it loads of times ;o()

norrie rugger

basquille wrote: »

Agreed on Barry Pepper..

Another one is Nathan Fillion - while I don't think he'll ever escape the role of Captain Mal Reynolds, he impressed me greatly in 'Slither' too.

Not really sure that he wants to either.

Great in Slither and I am loving Castle.

norrie rugger

Klingon Hamlet wrote: »

I propose people suggest their favourite lesser-known but talented actors. I'd call them character actors, even though they've had lead or co-leading roles---they tend to inhabit their roles perfectly and leave you remembering their character, rather than themselves.

I'll start with:



Tom Hardy

Played two small but significant military roles in Band of Brothers and Black Hawk Down. Convincing enough US accent, solid acting.

Hammed it up as Shinzon in Star Trek Insurrection, squaring up to the equally well-spoken actor Patrick Stewart, and was IMHO the highlight of the otherwise murky and dreary end to the old Star Trek movie canon.

Cough Cough

Mr. K

He was the only part of Prison Break I cared about by the end. He appeared in Heat, Armageddon and Black Hawk Down. He also had a small but memorable part in The Dark Knight.

Beruthiel

Gary Oldman

True Romance
Romeo Is Bleeding
Leon
The Fifth Element
to name but a few.

niallon

enda1 wrote: »

Daniel Day Lewis deserves to be mentioned.
Every character he plays is so interesting and intense, its almost painful to watch.

He's more of a method actor than a character actor though, in his few roles he's played a boxer, a wrongly imprisoned man, a gang leader, an oil tycoon, a cerebral palsy sufferer. Generally he's selected as a lead too. Still one of the finest actors on the planet though.

Another great character actor:

Christopher Walken


Again, like Bacon he's had his fair share of lead roles but his minor parts always shine through, playing the cooky, slightly unhinged companion to a usually confused lead. Pulp Fiction, True Romance, Envy, even Click, he's so goddam watchable it's criminal!

enda1

niallon wrote: »

He's more of a method actor than a character actor though, in his few roles he's played a boxer, a wrongly imprisoned man, a gang leader, an oil tycoon, a cerebral palsy sufferer. Generally he's selected as a lead too. Still one of the finest actors on the planet though.

Another great character actor:

Christopher Walken


Again, like Bacon he's had his fair share of lead roles but his minor parts always shine through, playing the cooky, slightly unhinged companion to a usually confused lead. Pulp Fiction, True Romance, Envy, even Click, he's so goddam watchable it's criminal!

Seems like I mixed up the meaning.

What's a "character actor" though. Seems like a tautology?

Wikipedia's definition smells a lot like a typecast actor?

MrSir

enda1 wrote: »

Seems like I mixed up the meaning.

What's a "character actor" though. Seems like a tautology?

Wikipedia's definition smells a lot like a typecast actor?

Well I think there's lead actors and then character actors.It's hard to explain.Just good actors who usually are supporting actors rather then leads.

niallon

MrSir wrote: »

Well I think there's lead actors and then character actors.It's hard to explain.Just good actors who usually are supporting actors rather then leads.

Yeah it can be a hard one to define. Generally speaking though, the common sense description would be "that actor you always recognise but don't know". Basically someone who will crop up in films mainly in secondary roles or even cameos and often times will tend to steal the show. The afformentioned Sam Rockwell in The Green Mile for example or Steve Buscemi in practiacally everything he's in!

A lot of the time too these actor's will have started their careers with a role that define's them and so end up mildly typecast as a result. Like how every time Ray Liotta appears on screen you're gonna expect him to be a bit of a nut and possibly a villain or when Gary Oldman walks on screen and you just no he's about to go ape **** on somebody! Typecast is not necessarily correct to describe these actors as somebody typecast will mostly tend to get lazy in these roles and phone it in whereas character actors will tend to relish the roles and embrace their position.

MrSir

niallon wrote: »

Yeah it can be a hard one to define. Generally speaking though, the common sense description would be "that actor you always recognise but don't know". Basically someone who will crop up in films mainly in secondary roles or even cameos and often times will tend to steal the show. The afformentioned Sam Rockwell in The Green Mile for example or Steve Buscemi in practiacally everything he's in!

That is a pretty good description but since I'm a film fan (kinda I try my best) I know these actors most of the time like Sam Rockwell or Steve Buscemi.Character actors just have a different style to leading actors that's hard to pinpoint or explain.

PeterIanStaker

R. Lee Ermey - often cast as an authority figure, has a great screen prescence in my opinion.

"Private Pile, you climb obstacles like old people f*ck!"

mike65

I already gave the definitive definition on the first page.

Klingon Hamlet

IMHO Character actors purposely avoid the stereotypical Hollywood archetypes. Sometimes even when they get lead characters, those characters would more than likely be supporting characters, had they been transplanted into a mainstream film.

Another top pick:



Bruce Greenwood

First saw him in Nowhere Man when I was young. Great show, but only lasted a season. Paranoid tale of a dude whose life literally falls apart. He made the unbeleivable quite credible.

Popped up in I, Robot as a goodie?/baddie? type role. Is likeable but also not entirely trustworthy.

Loved him in Star Trek as Captain Christopher Pike. Yeah he;s older than the original canon's Pike would've been, but he plays an excellent father-type role, and gives a great impression of what a veteran Starfleet captain should be like.

Just bought John from Cincinatti so I'm curious to see what he's like in that.

faceman

Seeing as the OP asked for lesser known actors, here's a few of my favs:

Chris Penn (RIP)


Quite an extensive CV and a fantastic actor. Unfortunately his looks and weight never got him in the big roles.

Also, Elias Koteas. Fancies himself as a bit of a De Niro Mk II, but can pull of a decent performance too.

JP Liz V1

Some of the greats have been mentioned already so I'd add who I think

Tom Wilkinson

Paul Giamatti

John C. Reilly

Robert Patrick

M. Emmet Walsh

William H. Macy

Stellan Skarsgård

Frank Whaley

JT Walsh (RIP)

Dylan Baker

Miguel_Sanchez

enda1 wrote: »

Daniel Day Lewis deserves to be mentioned.
Every character he plays is so interesting and intense, its almost painful to watch.

I don't know if you can class Day Lewis as a 'character actor'. He's generally in a lead role and you never hear people say "oh there's that guy, what's his name?"

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

JT Walsh (RIP)

J.T. Walsh was always great. He was in 73 movies in 16 years. That's an impressive work rate.



Philip Seymour Hoffman was a great character actor but I think he's become a name these days so not sure if you could still call him one.

Cookie33

Dont know if he would be classified as a character actor, all i know is the movies i've watched he wasn't the lead but played an excellent character


Richard Jenkins

ReacherCreature

+1 on John Tuturro.

Luis Guzman:



Classic guy, think he's hilarious, especially liked him in Anger Management and Waiting among others.

Extensive list too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Guzm%C3%A1n#Filmography

MayoForSam

My vote would go to Timothy Spall:



He will never get any awards based on looks, but I've been a fan of his since 'Auf Wiedersen Pet' and he's got a new generation of fans after his recent appearances in the Harry Potter movies.

KevArno

Cookie33 wrote: »

Dont know if he would be classified as a character actor, all i know is the movies i've watched he wasn't the lead but played an excellent character


Richard Jenkins

I think he was excellent in Burn After Reading, really understated, played very well even if it was a smaller role.

And speaking of Burn After Reading, this guy...


http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0799777/
JK Simmons, he was excellent as the out of the loop CIA boss, and as Jameson in Spiderman, and as the loving dad in Juno. Very likeable guy.

And another one to throw into the hat, is this dude...


Giovanni Ribisi
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000610/
Also known as Phoebes brother from friends. He is great at playing whiney little characters that you really should hate. He recently played the corporate boss on Pandora in Avatar. Did great hamming it up as the creepy aircraft designer in the very dodgy Flight of the Phoenix remake.

Ribisi especially I feel is a very underrated actor.

arsenallegend

Sam Rockwell- The best Amercian actor at the moment and how the hell he didn't get a oscar nom for moon was crazy. But he's probably going to be a character actor for the rest of his life and he's certainly the best so far.

take everything

Jeff_Lebowski wrote: »

J.T. Walsh was always great. He was in 73 movies in 16 years. That's an impressive work rate.

^Such an underrated actor.
Great example IMO.
Always remember his performance opposite Kurt Russell in the otherwise pedestrian "Breakdown". He seemed to excel at "normal sinister".

Going on the definition above, i'd suggest Peter Greene.
Better known maybe as Zed from Pulp Fiction.
He has an instantly recognisable face and tends to play these sleazy, shady characters.
He was in The Usual Suspects and The Mask as well.

Bruce McGill (aka MacGuyver's sidekick) is probably another one of those guys that crops up everywhere, typically in a cowardly role.

Kevin Pollack is probably another that deserves mention- often (wisecracking) supporting roles- cf The Usual Suspects, A Few Good Men.

Edit: Throw in Ron Livingston as well (The Cooler, Office Space)- one of those faces that makes you go "what else was that guy in".
Gary Cole probably does the same tbh (also Office Space, American Gothic).

I'm starting to think my interpretation of "character actor" is too broad- seems like they're all over the place.

Another one might be James Rebhorn who typically plays uptight, well-to-do WASP-ish characters (eg Dr. Bob in Meet the Parents).

/goes off to revise meaning of character actor.

take everything

How could i forget the great Peter Stormare.

Might be best remembered from Fargo- monosyllabic, chain-smoking nut that wouldn't talk to poor Steve Buscemi.

take everything

KevArno wrote: »

I think he was excellent in Burn After Reading, really understated, played very well even if it was a smaller role.

And speaking of Burn After Reading, this guy...


http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0799777/
JK Simmons, he was excellent as the out of the loop CIA boss, and as Jameson in Spiderman, and as the loving dad in Juno. Very likeable guy.

A "very likeable guy"?
That's Vern ****ing Schillinger man :eek:

Good example.
Good actor.

Vinny-Chase

I may have missed it but SURELY someone mentioned Philip Seymour Hoffman?



As obvious a character actor as Sam Rockwell.

thebullkf

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001315/


Millers Crossing.

The Mist

Pollock

Mystic River

Meet joe black



this is on top of alraedy mentioned class actors......


Gabriel Byrne.
Christian Bale.
Chris Walken
Ph.Seym.Hoffman.
gary Oldman
Kevin Bacon
Javier Bardem
Ron Pearlman
Denzel Wash.
Daniel Day lewis..(screen titan)
and the younger versions of

Bob deniro
Pacino
Liotta
Garcia
Pesci
Keitel







Back to Marcia....great actress.-Trivia-.....Her father, brother, and husband are all named Thaddaeus:eek:

Vinny-Chase

People who ask my fave actors I always go to men. The Sean Penn, Pacino, Day Lewis etc.

But the first "actress" that always springs to mind is Marica Gay Harden. Loved her in Meet Joe Black & Mystic River.