It’s That Guy Again: 18 Great Character Actors

You might not know their name but you’ll almost certainly know their faces. While Hollywood superstars, famous directors and dazzling special effects are the big box office appeal for many cinema-goers, these are the unsung heroes who provide the cinematic glue that holds the whole enterprise together…

... and usually turn in memorable performances along the way.

Wayne Knight

We start with Wayne Knight because his presence in Jurassic Park really sums up what a great character actor can do with a relatively small part. He’s a long way from top-billing in a movie where all the human actors are competing with Spielberg’s dazzling CGI dinos, but Knight creates such a memorable (and now meme-worthy) impression as Dennis Nedry, the greedy computer nerd whose get-rich-quick scheme results in calamity on Isla Nublar. 

Apparently, he was the first person Spielberg cast in the movie, and Knight carries this crucial plot thread brilliantly, giving us a loathsome character who we enjoy every moment he’s on screen. And equally relish when he gets his grisly comeuppance.

Aside from Jurassic Park, Knight has over 120 acting credits and appeared in a string of high-profile movies in the ‘90s including JFK, Dead Again, Basic Instinct, To Die For and Space Jam.

James Finlayson

If you grew up watching Laurel and Hardy movies, you’ll be very familiar with James Finlayson, the spindly Scot with the balding head and giant moustache who was constantly the butt of the boys’ hapless schemes. Playing second fiddle as Stan and Ollie’s foil/nemesis was no mean feat, yet Finlayson managed to create a distinctive screen persona to match the stars with his trademark hard squint, exasperated double-take, and cry of “D’oh!” The latter is said to be the inspiration for Homer Simpson’s iconic exclamation.

After working as a tinsmith in his native Scotland, Finlayson headed to the United States after the death of his parents and got his big break in Broadway in 1912. While he is best known for his appearances in 33 Laurel and Hardy films, he notched up over 250 screen credits from the silent era up until the early ‘50s before he passed away in 1953.

Tracey Walter

Tracey Walter started his acting career in the early ‘70s and carved out a niche playing sidekicks, bottom-feeders, henchmen, and lowlifes, but always managed to put a slightly leftfield spin on even the most generic part. He started getting bigger and better roles in the ‘80s, such as deadbeat philosopher Miller in Repo Man and arguably his most high-profile part, Bob the Goon in Tim Burton’s Batman. Sadly, his knife fight with the Dark Knight was cut from the final film. 

Also in the ‘80s, he started a profitable relationship with director Jonathan Demme, who cast him in six of his films including The Silence of the Lambs. In total, Walter clocked up almost 180 screen credits before he retired from acting in 2016.

J.T. Walsh

J.T. Walsh was the classic character actor, owning every small role he appeared in before his untimely death aged just 54. By that time, he had already racked up almost 80 screen credits, often playing pompous authority figures or hollering bureaucrats. Although he is probably best known for his villainous roles, Walsh had such great technique. Even in the most rote bad guy part, he always gave the impression that there were inner complexities and insecurities driving his character’s behaviour. 

From around Good Morning, Vietnam to his untimely death in 1998, Walsh put together a string of juicy roles in A Few Good Men, Outbreak, Executive Decision, The Client and many others. Perhaps his best part came in Breakdown as Red Barr, the trucker who abducts Kurt Russell’s wife in Jonathan Mostow’s knuckle-chewing thriller.

R. Lee Ermey

R. Lee Ermey served as a drill instructor in the U.S. Marine Corps before making his way into Hollywood in the late 1970s. He started out with small roles as similar military types and acted as technical advisor on Apocalypse Now, in which he also played a helicopter pilot. 

His big break came with Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket. Originally, he was helping out as technical advisor again, recording sessions of abusive yelling on VHS with the director’s first-choice for the role, Tim Colceri. Ermey’s imaginative berating landed him the gig as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman and earned himself a Golden Globe nomination in the process.

After that, Ermey’s acting career spanned 120 screen appearances, most often playing blustering blowhards, stern military figures, and making cameos sending up his most famous role (See: The Frighteners and his cameo as Colonel Hapablap in The Simpsons as just two examples).

M. Emmet Walsh

With his high nasal twang, bulky frame, and slovenly demeanour, M. Emmet Walsh regularly played sleazy cops, dishevelled detectives, down-at-heel crooks, and a variety of hicks, rednecks, and good ole boys. In his villainous roles, he often deployed a cunning folksiness to mask a deeper threat. However, with over 230 screen credits to his name, that was far from the full scope of his acting abilities. He also had a neat comic touch, making him a safe pair of hands for supporting roles in movies like Back to School, My Best Friend’s Wedding and Christmas with the Kranks. 

Walsh’s career started out in the late ‘60s and was in reliable form until the ‘80s when his career kicked up a notch. During that decade, he received some of his most memorable parts such as Bryant in Blade Runner and the deadly double-crossing private eye Loren Visser in Blood Simple. He was still going strong up until his death last year at the age of 88, with two posthumous credits still on their way.

Xander Berkeley

Xander Berkeley is one of Hollywood’s most prolific character actors, amassing 250 screen credits to date and working with a vast range of big-name directors including James Cameron, Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Rob Reiner, Wolfgang Petersen and many more.

His most memorable roles tend towards the nefarious end of the scale as he convincingly plays drug dealers (Sid and Nancy) unfaithful boyfriends (Candyman) deadbeat stepdads (Terminator 2: Judgement Day) and a variety of chinless scumbags with equal aplomb. 

William Fichtner

Much like J.T. Walsh, William Fichtner is a Rolls Royce utility player, capable of investing even the smallest role with class and charisma. He started out in the mid-’90s with a bit part in Quiz Show (1994) and gained such credibility that he was soon joining the supporting cast in Hollywood blockbusters like Contact (1997) and Armageddon (1998). Since then, he has built an impressive CV of film, television and video game work.

Fichtner’s talents are perhaps best summed up by his brief appearance as the shotgun-toting bank manager at the start of The Dark Knight (2008). The guy feels like a fully-rounded character despite us knowing almost nothing about him and appearing on screen for only a few minutes. The first time I saw it, I was a bit confused when we didn’t see him again. One actor guaranteed to make any movie at least 10% better.

Hector Elizondo

A New Yorker of Puerto Rican descent, Hector Elizondo has had a long career dating back to the 1960s and always stands out in an ensemble cast. He has great range, too, convincingly playing everything from a psychotic hijacker in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, to the fastidious but kindly hotel manager in Pretty Woman. He earned a Golden Globe nomination for the latter and the memorable role was part of his long association with director Garry Marshall, who cast Elizondo in all of his films.

Elizondo has also had a successful TV career, racking up several Emmy Award nominations for his work on Chicago Hope, winning once in 1997.

Phillip Baker Hall

Philip Baker Hall was a late bloomer as far as character actors go. Although he got his start in movies as far back as 1970,  he wouldn’t snag many regular eye-catching roles until the late ‘80s when he appeared in hits like Midnight Run, Say Anything and Ghostbusters II.

Arguably the biggest boost to his career was bumping into a young production assistant called Paul Thomas Anderson in the early ‘90s. He agreed to appear in his short movie, Cigarettes & Coffee, which was later expanded to become Anderson’s calling card, Hard Eight. Baker Hall would make notable acting contributions to Boogie Nights and Magnolia.

From that point, Baker Hall was rarely off our screens for the next 10-15 years or so, lending gravitas to a string of high-profile Hollywood pictures including The Rock, Rush Hour, Air Force One, Enemy of the State, The Truman Show, The Insider and Zodiac, to name but a few. Like several others on this list, his commanding presence often made him a shoo-in for stern authority figures, but he also had an avuncular twinkle that made every scene a joy.

Clancy Brown

With his stern demeanour and deep rich voice, Clancy Brown has made a prolific career in feature films, TV shows, and video games. Often cast in villainous parts, he created a major impression as the ferocious Victor Kruger in Highlander (1986) before landing some of his most well-known roles in the ‘90s, playing sadistic Captain Hadley in The Shawshank Redemption (1994) and brutal Sergeant Zim in Starship Troopers (1997).

His vocal work is celebrated, bringing life to characters including a variety of DC and Marvel characters like Lex Luthor, Bane, and Mr Freeze, and playing Darth Maul’s brother, Savage Oppress, in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Away from bad guy duty, he is also affectionately known for giving voice to Mr Krabs in SpongeBob SquarePants.

Now in his 60s, he shows no signs of slowing down, most recently winning plaudits for his sympathetic performance as Sal Maroni in HBO Max’s acclaimed series The Penguin.

Al Leong

If you were an action movie director in the ‘80s or ‘90s and you needed an Asian henchman, Al Leong was the go-to guy. With his background in martial arts, he found his way into TV and movies as a stuntman, credited in roles such as “Asian-looking thug” and “Tai-Chi Man” in shows like The A-Team, Hart to Hart and The Fall Guy. During this period he also made his big screen debut as “Vietnamese Villager” in Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983).

Leong’s very particular set of skills made his arrival on Hollywood lots well-timed during the action movie boom of the ‘80s, catching the eye as a hatchet-wielding Wing Kong foot soldier in Big Trouble in Little China (1986) and the terrorist with a sweet tooth in Die Hard (1988). In a rare diversion from getting gunned down by the heroes, he also played Genghis Khan in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989). 

He still had an active role behind and in front of cameras after surviving brain cancer in 1993, but his career dropped off after a stroke in 2005 left him paralysed in one arm. Despite the crippling setback, Leong still maintains a rigid fitness regime and was inducted into the Martial Arts History Museum Hall of Fame in 2014, the same year that he made a comeback of sorts in the affectionate crowd-funded homage Awesome Asian Bad Guys.

Robert Davi

Dark, handsome, a touch sinister, and with distinctive scars on his face (caused by forceps during birth), Robert Davi found a niche as villains and cynical cops after making his cinematic debut in City Heat in 1984. He had ploughed a similar furrow on TV for several years before after first screen appearance alongside Frank Sinatra in Contract on Cherry Street (1977). 

Although he still gets regular gigs today, many of his most memorable roles came during the ‘80s, playing one of the bumbling Fratelli clan in The Goonies, a gung-ho FBI agent in Die Hard and Bond villain Franz Sanchez in License to Kill.

Away from the screen, Davi has had a successful recording career and paid homage to Ol’ Blue Eyes with a well-received album of covers and touring the United States with his tribute act. He wows audiences by tailoring each show to the mood of the room, dipping into his repertoire of around 300 classic songs.

Bill Duke

Dragging himself to minor stardom from a tough upbringing in Poughkeepsie, New York, Bill Duke is a graduate of Tisch School of the Arts and the American Film Institute. In the 1970s, he resorted to petty crime to make ends meet until his acting career picked up. 

He made his debut as a Black Muslim revolutionary in Car Wash before lending his considerable frame and sense of menace to a series of tough guy roles in the ‘80s, starting with a ruthless pimp in American Gigolo before creating a big impression alongside Arnie in Commando and Predator. Always good value as a supporting actor (see also: Menace II Society, The Limey, Payback) Duke also had a successful career behind the camera, directing films like A Rage in Harlem, Deep Cover, and Sister Act II: Back in the Habit.

Bruce McGill

Since his youthful star-making turn in National Lampoon’s Animal House, Bruce McGill has filled out somewhat and become a dependable figure in Hollywood. While his name will often be found well down the credits list, he’s the guy a director can rely on to bring his consummate acting skill to even the smallest role. Perhaps it is a testament to McGill’s class that a filmmaker as meticulous as Michael Mann has cast him in three movies: The Insider, Ali and Collateral.

During his long Hollywood career he has worked with a diverse range of directors including Tony Scott (The Last Boy Scout), Renny Harlin (Cliffhanger), Clint Eastwood (A Perfect World), the Farrelly Brothers (Shallow Hal), Ridley Scott (Matchstick Men), Cameron Crowe (Elizabethtown) and Steven Spielberg (Lincoln). 

Tom Atkins

Like Robert Davi, Tom Atkins got his big break working with Frank Sinatra. He appeared briefly in The Detective, a detective thriller adapted from a novel by Roderick Thorp. It is perhaps best known nowadays because Thorp knocked out a sequel that became the basis for Die Hard – one ‘80s movie where Tom Atkins didn’t play a grizzled cop.

Atkins really hit his stride after John Carpenter cast him in The Fog and Escape From New York. Whenever there was a need for a gruff, hard-drinking, silver-haired, mustachioed hard-ass, Tom was ready for the call. As such, fans of horror movies and action thrillers from the decade will always welcome him as an old friend, thanks to notable turns in Creepshow, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Lethal Weapon and Maniac Cop. During this streak, he became a cult icon with his scene-stealing turn as Ray Cameron in Night of the Creeps, a cynical alcoholic detective with a penchant for curt one-liners.

Atkins also appeared in a range of TV shows including Hawaii Five-O, The Rockford Files, Walker Texas Ranger, Xena: Warrior Princess and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. He’s still working today as he approaches his 90th birthday.

Kurt Fuller

Kurt Fuller is perhaps the definition of a great “that guy” supporting player. Since his screen debut in an episode of Knight Rider in the mid-’80s, he has amassed a huge resume of TV and feature film credits. But, as he freely admits in interviews, he is one of those actors that people recognise in the street but can’t put a name to.

With his towering frame, sunken close-set eyes, and epic receding hairline, he is perhaps best-known for portraying “funny assholes” (his words), a trend kicked into motion by playing Jack Hardemayer, a slimy aide to the mayor in Ghostbusters II. That specific uptight persona has made him a great fit for variations in movies like Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, Wayne’s World, Scary Movie, Anger Management, Midnight in Paris and much more.

James Rebhorn

Tall, angular, and hawk-like, James Rebhorn managed to accumulate well over 100 film credits by the time he passed away at the age of 65 in 2014. Although he played many types of roles during that time, he was best-known for playing starchy authority figures and entitled father roles whose surface respectability often obscured deeper schemes and prejudices.

His most well-known roles include the officious Secretary of Defense withholding alien secrets in Independence Day; Mr Trask, the conniving headmaster in Scent of a Woman; the cheerfully sarcastic plastic surgeon in Meet the Parents; and adding terrific depth to a small part as Dickie Greenleaf’s disapproving father in The Talented Mr Ripley. Whether comedic or outright loathsome, Rebhorn excelled in playing men we loved to hate without making them caricatures.

So there you have it, 18 of our favourite Hollywood character actors. This is far from an exhaustive list, so who would you add? Let us know!