# Actors who do a good job of playing evil or dark characters **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** actor-characters\ **Created:** [August 31, 2024, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-a-good-job-of-playing-evil-or-dark-characters/1006527 "2024-08-31T19:43:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2024, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-a-good-job-of-playing-evil-or-dark-characters/1006527/41 "2024-09-01T02:02:40Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > Jesse Plemons, the dude who asked “what _kind_ of Americans are you?” in Civil War. He also had a memorable role in Breaking Bad. Jesse Plemons, with his boy-next-door looks, has a great talent playing sinister characters. What makes him particularly unsettling is his ability to bring a quiet, understated menace to his roles. He doesn’t rely on exaggerated expressions or dramatic gestures; instead, he conveys evil with a calm, almost soothing presence that’s deeply unnerving. His performances are full of tiny, barely noticeable quirks that subtly reveal the depths of his characters’ malevolence, adding layers of complexity to his portrayals. I’ve enjoyed all the parts I’ve seen him in. Chilling. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2024, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-a-good-job-of-playing-evil-or-dark-characters/1006527/42 "2024-09-01T02:21:48Z")
Going for a less known actor, I always enjoy [Michael Wincott](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Wincott) - it’s probably his voice, which is dark, raspy, and intimidating, or the fact that a number of times he’s played someone completely [For the Evluz](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ForTheEvulz), such as in The Crow, or the Count of Monte Cristo. In terms of names no one had mentioned, I cannot believe (per a quick alt F) no one has mentioned Tim frikkin Curry. 🙂 Although, in many cases, it’s an evil character with a hint of camp, I still love watching his performance as Darkness which is almost entirely free of such. Again though, his voice is a large part of all his portrayals. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2024, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-a-good-job-of-playing-evil-or-dark-characters/1006527/43 "2024-09-01T04:33:32Z")
William B. Davis Lee Marvin Malcolm McDowell Peter Stormare ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2024, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-a-good-job-of-playing-evil-or-dark-characters/1006527/44 "2024-09-01T04:37:19Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > William B. Davis Excellent choice. The Cigarette-Smoking Man was a outstanding, thoroughly creepy villain. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2024, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-a-good-job-of-playing-evil-or-dark-characters/1006527/45 "2024-09-01T05:40:21Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Why has Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter not been mentioned yet? Wrong actor. Mads Mikkelson did a much better job. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2024, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-a-good-job-of-playing-evil-or-dark-characters/1006527/46 "2024-09-01T13:29:31Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > it’s probably his voice, which is dark, raspy, and intimidating, or the fact that a number of times he’s played someone completely [For the Evluz](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ForTheEvulz), such as in The Crow, or the Count of Monte Cristo. > > In terms of names no one had mentioned, I cannot believe (per a quick alt F) no one has mentioned Tim frikkin Curry. 🙂 Although, in many cases, it’s an evil character with a hint of camp, I still love watching his performance as Darkness which is almost entirely free of such. Again though, his voice is a large part of all his portrayals. At that: Jeremy Irons. Yeah, if you want him to camp it up as a scenery-chewing villain, you’ll get your money’s worth — but if you just want a guy with that voice to _casually_ put aside every concern other than being one step ahead of everyone else, he’s on it. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2024, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-a-good-job-of-playing-evil-or-dark-characters/1006527/47 "2024-09-01T14:21:11Z")
Lifting a trivia item from the IMDb entry on _The Lion King_ (1994): > In the first conversation between Scar and Simba, Simba comments to Scar, “You’re so weird…”, to which Scar retorts a cryptic “You have no idea…”. This is the same answer spoken in similar fashion by [Jeremy Irons](https://m.imdb.com/name/nm0000460/?ref_=tttrv_tr) in [Reversal of Fortune (1990)](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0100486/?ref_=tttrv_tr), after his lawyer tells him “You are a very strange man.” ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2024, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-a-good-job-of-playing-evil-or-dark-characters/1006527/48 "2024-09-01T14:24:38Z")
I recently had a whole thread on if Giancarlo Esposito ever played a _good_ guy. He has, btw, but is so, so good at being bad. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2024, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-a-good-job-of-playing-evil-or-dark-characters/1006527/49 "2024-09-01T14:40:48Z")
> [@kitap](#): > > Wrong actor. Mads Mikkelson did a much better job. He won an Oscar for it too? ---
**Author:** ![Dogginit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogginit/32/16920_2.png) [@Dogginit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogginit)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2024, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-a-good-job-of-playing-evil-or-dark-characters/1006527/50 "2024-09-01T14:54:51Z")
Richard Boone, especially in Big Jake, although he also played a good guy as Paladin in :Have Gun, Will Travel". While not techically evil, per se, R. Lee Ermey could play a helluva bad guy/hardass. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2024, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-a-good-job-of-playing-evil-or-dark-characters/1006527/51 "2024-09-01T17:43:25Z")
James Cromwell as Dudley Smith in LA Confidential, particularly since he was not always obviously evil. But when needed, his eyes were as cold as the infinite depths of space. He also played Farmer Hoggett in the Babe movies - quite the range! ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2024, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-a-good-job-of-playing-evil-or-dark-characters/1006527/52 "2024-09-01T18:11:39Z")
Lionel Atwill Rudolf Klein-Rogge Robert Mitchum – _Night of the Hunter_ (1955); _Cape Fear_ (1962) Wolfgang Preiss Robert Ryan Henry Silva Erich von Stroheim Max von Sydow Orson Welles – _The Third Man_ (1949) ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2024, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-a-good-job-of-playing-evil-or-dark-characters/1006527/53 "2024-09-01T19:48:23Z")
David Tennant. If you don’t believe it from watching him in “Jessica Jones,” check out his performance in a movie called “Secret Smile.” He was chilling. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-a-good-job-of-playing-evil-or-dark-characters/1006527/54 "2024-09-02T01:43:00Z")
Michael Emerson, for his roles as Benjamin Linus on _Lost_ and Leland Townsend on _Evil_. > [@Loach](#): > > For some reason Ray Wise’s performance as The Devil in the TV show _Reaper_ always stuck with me. His devil was affable. Friendly even. But he could switch to menacing evil in a split second. Speaking of actors playing a villain named Leland, I can’t see him as anything other than a villain after watching him play Leland Palmer on _Twin Peaks_. He guest starred on an episode of _Psych_ and I immediately thought he must be the killer. He wasn’t, but it seemed that way for most of the episode. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-a-good-job-of-playing-evil-or-dark-characters/1006527/55 "2024-09-02T01:51:15Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > Speaking of actors playing a villain named Leland, I can’t see him as anything other than a villain after watching him play Leland Palmer on _Twin Peaks_. He guest starred on an episode of _Psych_ and I immediately thought he must be the killer. He showed up for an episode of _Star Trek_ as a member of a species described as being “quite peaceful and highly rational — which is not surprising, considering how closely their evolution parallels Vulcan.” And so, complete with pointy ears and a ‘Spock’ haircut, cue Ray Wise as the guy who — shoots Captain Picard. ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-a-good-job-of-playing-evil-or-dark-characters/1006527/56 "2024-09-02T02:28:30Z")
Jack Cassidy played the killer on three _Columbo_ episodes, to great effect. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-a-good-job-of-playing-evil-or-dark-characters/1006527/57 "2024-09-02T03:46:48Z")
I just watched **Trap** and Josh Hartnett is great as the villain. I got the sense that he was a sociopath who was faking emotions well enough to get by but also with a couple of moments of real emotion mixed in here and there. Fantastic performance the whole way through. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-a-good-job-of-playing-evil-or-dark-characters/1006527/58 "2024-09-02T04:15:57Z")
John Hurt as Caligula in _ **I, Claudius** _ portrayed a psychopathic killer so well it all but freaked me out. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-a-good-job-of-playing-evil-or-dark-characters/1006527/59 "2024-09-02T05:22:06Z")
**Zone of Interest** came to the streamers so I watched it, and I have nothing to add that hasn’t already been said months ago. (Yes, the next day I was cleaning the kitchen and folding laundry asking myself “could I do this while people are being gassed next door? And Stanley Kubrick would approve of how they shot this film, etc.) But, as to this thread topic, it was a signal that German actors should now assume the responsibility of accurately portraying Nazis, not British actors. Brits like Olivier and Kenneth Branaugh filter the Nazis through Shakespeare, with his wealth of insight into mendacity. But Shakespeare never had to wrap his head around anything like the Nazis. Shakespeare never wrote for rats, but Brecht did. ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-a-good-job-of-playing-evil-or-dark-characters/1006527/60 "2024-09-02T05:32:54Z")
Kim Coates. oozes evil from every pore, whether “lead” bad guy or part of a group. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-a-good-job-of-playing-evil-or-dark-characters/1006527.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-a-good-job-of-playing-evil-or-dark-characters/1006527.md?page=4)