“You Know, That One Guy…”: A Celebration of Character Actors

You know that one guy who played D-Day in National Lampoon’s Animal House and he’s been in like 100 movies since then? That’s Bruce McGill, an actor whose become a personal favorite of great director Michael Mann and appeared in his movies The Insider, Ali, and Collateral. He’s also shown up in The Last Boy Scout The Sum of All Fears, and Cinderella Man, among many others. Here he is making the absolute most of his screen time in a fantastic courtroom scene in The Insider.

Mr. McGill is a perfect example of a “Character Actor”, those performers who seem to pop up in about three or four high-profile pictures a year. While a lot of us may go to the theater to see the actor whose name is above the title, it’s these character actors that often put a smile on our faces. Their presence is like comfort food. We may not even know their names, but we know their work. And we’re often left saying, “You Know That One Guy…” from “so and so”… “he/she is great!!”.

I certainly have my group of favorite character actors and here is just a small sampling. You may not know the name James Rebhorn, but I bet you know him. He’s been in everything from Independence Day to Scent of a Woman to The Game to Meet the Parents to Baby Mama. Here he is alongside Gwyneth Paltow in 1999’s The Talented Mr. Ripley.

There’s the late, great J.T. Walsh, who you may know as Jack Nicholson’s right-hand man in A Few Good Men. You know, the one that killed himself and screwed up Tom Cruise’s whole case. You may also know him from Backdraft. Or Pleasantville. Or Hoffa. Or The Negotiator. Or Sling Blade. Here he is in one of the few decent scenes in 1995’s Outbreak.

Then there’s Alfred Molina. He’s been in everything from Raiders of the Lost Ark to Spider-Man 2, in which he had a breakout role playing the main villain. You may also know him from The Da Vinci Code. Or Chocolat. My favorite Molina role is unquestionably his role as a coked-up weirdo in 1997’s brilliant Boogie Nights. He had only one scene, but he killed it and that sequence in the film is one of my favorite movie scenes of all time. Molina’s contribution had a lot to do with that.

Another one of my beloved character actors was also in Boogie Nights. Luis Guzman is definitely a face you’ll recognize. If not from Boogie Nights, how about Carlito’s Way, Out of Sight, or Traffic. Here he is alongside Jack Nicholson in 2003’s Anger Management.

The late Paul Gleason is also a personal favorite. He always tended to show up as a prick in many famous 1980s pictures, namely Trading Places, The Breakfast Club, and Die Hard. Here is a wonderful tribute to his work:

William Fichtner is that guy who’s been in everything from Heat to Armageddon to Black Hawk Down to Crash to The Dark Knight. He also absolutely kills in every scene from 1999’s Go. Fichtner pretty much steals that movie.

How about Richard Jenkins? Burn After Reading. Friends with Benefits. The Kingdom. Eat Pray Love. The Cabin in the Woods. You know… that guy. Here he is as John C. Reilly’s dad in Step Brothers.

And there’s no way I could do a post on fabulous character actors without mentioning Gary Cole. From his perfect comedic portrayal of Mike in The Brady Bunch movies to Will Ferrell’s absentee dad in Talladega Nights to sportscaster Cotton McKnight in Dodgeball, Cole has brilliantly turned a career that started in TV drama (he was the star of the series “Midnight Caller”) to a comedic gold mine of roles. Oh yeah. There’s also his role as Bill Lumbergh in a little 1999 comedy called Office Space.

Sometimes performers known as character actors become household names. Think Christopher Walken. Or John C. Reilly. Or Paul Giamatti. Or William H. Macy. Or Steve Buscemi. Or Gary Oldman and Kevin Spacey. I could go on pontificating on the greatness of many more character actors, from Joe Pantoliano to Frances McDormand to Philip Baker Hall to Dennis Farina to Brian Cox to J.K. Simmons (you know, that guy who’s Peter Parker’s boss and Juno’s dad…).

However, I’ll end on this note, giving you two character actors to keep an eye on. First up: Lucy Punch, a talented comedic actress who has made the most of her roles in Dinner for Schmucks and Bad Teacher. 

By the way, that scene in Bad Teacher features another wonderful character actor, John Michael Higgins or “that guy from all the Christopher Guest movies who also played Jennifer Aniston’s brother in The Break-Up“.

And remember the name Brett Gelman. He’s been in such comedies as 30 Minutes or Less and A Very Harold&Kumar 3D Christmas. Gelman caught my attention in the 2010 Will Ferrell/Mark Wahlberg picture The Other Guys, in which he owned the scene he got to appear in. Pay attention to about :56 seconds into this clip. This dude’s awesome!

I could obviously go on with many more examples, but you get the idea. We may talk about the big movie stars and their filmographies on a more regular basis. It is often those character actors that we remember the most though. Even if we can’t always recall their names off-hand.