Favorite Unheralded Character Actor

[Bloozcat]

OK, so who's your favorite supporting character actor who sort of flies by under the radar?

My Favorite is Peter Stormare, the Swedish actor who played the psycho murderer Gaear Grimsrud in Fargo.

He also played the crazy Russian Cosmonaut Lev Andropov on the space station MIR in Armageddon.

He was Satan in Constatine with Keanu Reeves.

And one of my favorites was in the off the wall movie The Million Dollar Hotel, where he played a character named Dixie who thought he was the fifth Beatle that no one remembers. His John Lennon-like Liverpool accent in that role was hilarious.

And, he's a guitar player as well...

 

[Katastrophe]

Al Leong. He's been a character actor in about 57 films, according to IMDB, and a stunt man in 30 others.

You'd know him if you saw him...

I also like Clint Howard.

 

[R_of_G]

John Turturro

I think he's the greatest actor of his (or any other) generation. He can play such a wide variety of roles from slapstick to dead serious and he plays them all perfectly.

Some notable roles of his which stand out to me are:

Oh Brother! Where Art Thou - Pete
The Bronx is Burning - Billy Martin
The Big Lebowski - Jesus Quintana
Barton Fink - Barton Fink
The Good Shepherd - Ray Brocco
He Got Game - Coach Sunday
Clockers - Det. Larry Mazilli
Quiz Show - Herb Stempel
Do The Right Thing - Pino
Mo Better Blues - Moe Flatbush
Illuminata - Tuccio (I think he wrote and directed this one as well)

Here's a link to his imdb page where you can see his entire filmography.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001806/

 

[evenkeel]

Turturro is a great choice. terrific actor.

Couple more.
Harry Dean Stanton. One of my favorite roles was his turn in Repo Man.

Strother Martin. No not because of his last name. Cool Hand Luke, "What we have here is a failure to communicate"

 

[R_of_G]

Harry Dean Stanton is an amazing actor. He and Turturro were both excellent in The Man Who Cried.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

In addition to some of the above, I like John C. Reilly.

 

[Blaze]

Philip Seymour Hoffman is a class actor ......

View attachment 1675

Filmography

1991 - 1999 [modifier]

* 1991 : Triple Bogey on a Par Five Hole d'Amos Poe: Klutch
* 1992 : Szuler d'Adek Drabinski
* 1992 : My New Gun de Stacy Cochran : Chris
* 1992 : (Leap of Faith) de Richard Pearce : Matt
* 1992 : (Scent of a Woman) de Martin Brest : George Willis Jr
* 1993 : Joey Breaker : Wiley McCall
* 1993 : My Boyfriend's Back : Chuck Bronski
* 1993 : Money for Nothing : Cochran
* 1994 : (The Getaway) : Frank Hansen
* 1994 : The Yearling (TV) : Buck
* 1994 : Pour l'amour d'une femme (When a Man Loves a Woman) : Gary
* 1994 : (Nobody's Fool) de Robert Benton : Officier Raymer
* 1995 : The Fifteen Minute Hamlet : Bernardo, Horatio & Laertes
* 1996 : Double mise (Sydney) de Paul Thomas Anderson : jeune joueur de craps
* 1996 : Twister de Jan de Bont : Dustin Davis
* 1997 : Boogie Nights de Paul Thomas Anderson : Scotty J.
* 1998 : Culture : Bill
* 1998 : Montana : Duncan
* 1998 : (Next Stop Wonderland) : Sean
* 1998 : The Big Lebowski de Joel Coen: Brandt
* 1998 : Happiness de Todd Solondz : Allen
* 1998 : (Patch Adams) de Tom Shadyac : Mitch Roman
* 1999 : (Flawless) de Joel Schumacher: Rusty Zimmerman
* 1999 : Magnolia de Paul Thomas Anderson: Phil Parma
* 1999 : (The Talented Mr. Ripley) d'Anthony Minghella: Freddie Miles

2000-2008

* 2000 : (State and Main) : Joseph Turner White
* 2000 : (Almost Famous) : Lester Bangs
* 2002 : Love Liza : Wilson Joel
* 2002 : Punch-drunk love - Ivre d'amour (Punch-Drunk Love) de Paul Thomas Anderson : Dean Trumbell
* 2002 : (Red Dragon) de Brett Ratner: Freddy Lounds
* 2002 : (25th Hour) de Spike Lee): Jacob Elinsky
* 2003 : Mister Cash (Owning Mahowny) : Dan Mahowny
* 2003 : Mattress Man Commercial (vidéo) de Paul Thomas Anderson: Dean Trumbell
* 2003 : (Cold Mountain) d'Anthony Minghella : Révérend Veasey
* 2004 : (Along Came Polly) de John Hamburg: Sandy Lyle
* 2005 : Strangers with Candy : Henry
* 2005 : Empire Falls (TV) de Fred Schepisi : C.B. Whiting / Charlie Mayne
* 2005 : Truman Capote (Capote) de Bennett Miller : Truman Capote
* 2006 : Mission Impossible III de J.J. Abrams : Owen Davian
* 2007 : (Before The Devil Knows You're Dead) de Sidney Lumet
* 2007 : (The Savages) de Tamara Jenkins : Jon Savage
* 2008 : (Charlie Wilson's War) de Mike Nichols : Gust Avrock

 

[ted s]

How about William H. Macy ?

 

[Robert]

+10000 on Peter Stormare! He is a great actor. He also worked with the legendary Ingmar Bergman in Sweden.

My favourite under the radar actor...hmmm, besides Stormare I would also want to mention Benicio del Toro and Robert Downey Jr.

 

[just strum]

John Turturro

I think he's the greatest actor of his (or any other) generation. He can play such a wide variety of roles from slapstick to dead serious and he plays them all perfectly.

Great actor, love his appearances as Adrian's brother on Monk.

However, he's no Bugs Bunny.

 

[R_of_G]

If Robert Downey Jr. is "under the radar" then the radar needs to be re-calibrated. He's an excellent actor, always has been, but he's not exactly unheralded. Still, I like his work. Benicio is also good, he just needs to take some better roles. He's always excellent, but many of the movies he's in are terrible.

 

[Robert]

Fair enough Roland. I always thought of Downey Jr as a supporting actor, but maybe those days are past (Ironman). As for del Toro, well Traffic, Sin City, 21 Grams, The Usual Suspects, The Pledge weren't bad movies.

 

[Blaze]

I heard that Del Toro is fantastic in his new film in wich he plays ''The Che"" Gevara ..Comin soon at .....



Blazes

 

[R_of_G]

As for del Toro, well Traffic, Sin City, 21 Grams, The Usual Suspects, The Pledge weren't bad movies.

I agree, except about Traffic which I didn't care for (though Benicio was good). He was also great in Snatch (albeit a very small role) and let's not overlook his fantastic performance in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, probably the best film he's been in overall. One film he was in that I hated was The Fan. How you can have Del Toro and DeNiro in the same film and have it suck is a mystery to me. Well, ok, not so mysterious since it was directed by Tony Scott who I think is a total hack.

As for Downey Jr., he's definitely getting leading roles now. Even before that though, he's never quite been what I'd call "unheralded." Before his legal/drug troubles he was one of the more respected and lauded actors of his generation and once he got his act together (pun intended) he was right back getting critical acclaim. He deserves it, I think he is a very talented actor, just not under the radar.

 

[tunghaichuan]

I heard that Del Toro is fantastic in his new film in wich he plays ''The Che"" Gevara ..Comin soon at .....

I liked him in The Hunted with Tommy Lee Jones. It had knife fighting in it :AOK:

tung

 

[piebaldpython]

Unheralded Actor

I liked him in The Hunted with Tommy Lee Jones. It had knife fighting in it :AOK:

Yeah, pretty good knife fighting scene in there. Only to be bested by the fight scene in BOURNE: THE ULTIMATUM. :bravo: Since I had studied knife fighting, it was a pleasure to see.

Downey Jr was never unheralded as an actor. He was the tops of his class. The only thing that took him off the radar was his drug/legal troubles.

William H. Macy gets my vote. Fabulous actor plus....the dude got Felicity Huffman (Lynette on Desperate Housewives) to marry him. :master:

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Harry Dean Stanton has already been mentioned, but he's a fave. He has that world-weariness down great. In addition to Repo Man, he was very good in Alien.

Speaking of Repo Man, another very good character actor was in that, the guy who played Miller (I love how all their names are beers), Tracey Walter:

The guy who played the speaking brother Larry in "Newhart," was also very good in Blade Runner, William Sanderson:

Both these guys have more credits than you could shake a stick at.

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Oh, and how did we leave out Steve Buscemi:

Everyone's fave annoying weasel.

 

[R_of_G]

Oh, and how did we leave out Steve Buscemi:

Only because I was going one at a time or I'd surely have gotten to Buscemi. Like Turturro, Buscemi's versatility is unlimited. He'll probably never make a greater impact on me than he did as Mr. Pink in Reservoir Dogs, but he has certainly had a lot of other great performances.

 

[Robert]

Great picks, Brian! All those guys are excellent. Fargo has both Buscemi and Stormare, both in great roles!

 

[Tone2TheBone]

Oh, and how did we leave out Steve Buscemi:

Everyone's fave annoying weasel.

Yeah I was going to say that guy with the crazy teeth was a good one. He gets my vote too.

 

[Glacies]

Peter Krausse

He played Nate in Six Feet Under and now plays Nick George in Dirty Sexy Money. He is one of the most real actors I've ever seen and really drags me into his part.

 

[Bloozcat]

Another one...Chris Cooper...

He's another actor who, like Peter Stormare, just about everyone has seen, but most don't know his name.

Just a few movies Chris Cooper's been in:
The Bourne Identity
The Bourne Supremacy
Sea Biscuit
The Patriot
The Horse Whisperer
American Beauty
Adaptation
Capote

TV-
Lonesome Dove
Law & Order

 

[Gil Janus]

Peter Krausse

He played Nate in Six Feet Under and now plays Nick George in Dirty Sexy Money. He is one of the most real actors I've ever seen and really drags me into his part.

I really liked him in "Sports Night"

Gil

 

[Robert]

Chris Cooper is awesome.... agree with you fully.

William Fichtner is another great actor most have seen, but hardly anyone would know his name.

 

[Bloozcat]

William Fichtner is another good one.
Black Hawk Down
The Perfect Storm
Armageddon

Just a few off the top of my head...

I remember seeing an interview with Jack Elam, one of the westerns most famous character actors. In it he described the progression of a character actor.
(Paraphrased) First, you struggle to get a part, any part. Then if they like you, the next time they'll say, "Get that strange guy with the weird eyes. You know who I mean." Then the next time they say, "Get Jack Elam for the part." And finally once you're known and making good money they say, "Get a Jack Elam kind of guy for the part."

 

[ShortBuSX]

I find that the uglier the actor the better character actor he is.
For example: Forrest Whitaker, John Malkovich or even Steve Buscemi
I dunno if Id call any of them "unheralded"...but they are excellent "character actors".
But in my book John Malkovich is the best.

 

[Glacies]

But in my book John Malkovich is the best.

I still have his SNL episode on DVR. Will have to watch that this week. Got hancock in from netflix tonight though, gonna give that a whirl.