# Help me identify an actor, please **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 9, 2007, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-an-actor-please/403415 "2007-05-09T17:00:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-an-actor-please/403415/41 "2007-05-09T19:56:09Z")
Bruce Greenwood? Was recently a government type in “Deja Vu.” Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-an-actor-please/403415/42 "2007-05-09T20:00:21Z")
How about [Dougray Scott](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0779084/) or [Dermot Mulrooney](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000551/) ? ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-an-actor-please/403415/43 "2007-05-09T20:00:31Z")
Sean Bean? Stellan Skaarsgard? ---
**Author:** ![foxymoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d26b3c/32.png) [@foxymoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foxymoron)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-an-actor-please/403415/44 "2007-05-09T20:02:58Z")
I don’t even have half a guess, but [Fametracker.com](http://Fametracker.com)’s [Hey! It’s That Guy!](http://fametracker.com/hey_its_that_guy/) section might be helpful in your search. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-an-actor-please/403415/45 "2007-05-09T20:03:12Z")
[QUOTE=Big Bad Voodoo Lou] Sean Bean? Stellan Skaarsgard? [/QUOTE] No on these, and no on Dougray Scott Dermot Mulrooney Bruce Greenwood Reasonable tries, all, however. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-an-actor-please/403415/46 "2007-05-09T20:04:42Z")
[QUOTE=foxymoron] I don’t even have half a guess, but [Fametracker.com](http://Fametracker.com)’s [Hey! It’s That Guy!](http://fametracker.com/hey_its_that_guy/) section might be helpful in your search. [/QUOTE] Thanks for the link. I may have to start working through that list. If there’s a similar site with pictures I could really go for it. ---
**Author:** ![Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abby_Emma_Sasha)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-an-actor-please/403415/47 "2007-05-09T20:04:47Z")
[John Pyper- Ferguson?](http://imdb.com/name/nm0701561/) He reminds me a bit of Jake Weber when he has long hair. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-an-actor-please/403415/48 "2007-05-09T20:07:55Z")
[QUOTE=Abby\_Emma\_Sasha] [John Pyper- Ferguson?](http://imdb.com/name/nm0701561/) He reminds me a bit of Jake Weber when he has long hair. [/QUOTE] Nice try. My guy’s eyes are more pronounced (less squinty). I don’t think I’ve seen Pyper-Ferguson before. If I have I don’t have a good memory of his work. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-an-actor-please/403415/49 "2007-05-09T20:08:47Z")
[William Atherton?](http://imdb.com/gallery/hh/0040472/HH/0040472/headshot.jpg.html?path=pgallery&path_key=Atherton,%20William) ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-an-actor-please/403415/50 "2007-05-09T20:09:26Z")
Michael Rooker? _Hey! It’s That Guy!_ has expanded quite a bit since I last went there. Too bad they don’t have pictures with it. Funny thing, I know most of those actors and enjoy their work much more than most A-list movie stars. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-an-actor-please/403415/51 "2007-05-09T20:15:12Z")
[QUOTE=Labdad] [William Atherton?](http://imdb.com/gallery/hh/0040472/HH/0040472/headshot.jpg.html?path=pgallery&path_key=Atherton,%20William) [/QUOTE] Too old, too blond/red, too well known (Die Hard and Sugarland Express for example). No as well on Michael Rooker, one of my favorites! And I agree with you, **Big Bad Voodoo Lou** , in that it’s great to be able to name members of the cast who are yet to get their stars on the Hollywood Walkway. ---
**Author:** ![foxymoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d26b3c/32.png) [@foxymoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foxymoron)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-an-actor-please/403415/52 "2007-05-09T20:21:41Z")
_Hey! It’s That Guy!_ doesn’t have pictures on the page anymore, but if you click on Image Search it will take you to a Google Images page for that actor. One more step, I know, but possibly worth the time. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-an-actor-please/403415/53 "2007-05-09T20:23:19Z")
I hope [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=419536) guy is reading this, to see how helpful people can be when asked nicely 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Potato\_Pancakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Potato\_Pancakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Potato_Pancakes)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-an-actor-please/403415/54 "2007-05-09T20:32:53Z")
Could you perhaps go into more detail of a particular scene you remember him in? Maybe even describe some other actors in the scene, it’s location, etc. Any more info at all might help. Besides, now I’m dying to know who it is. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-an-actor-please/403415/55 "2007-05-09T20:39:19Z")
Wikipedia has a long list under their “list of character actors” page, but most seem to be older. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-an-actor-please/403415/56 "2007-05-09T20:47:39Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar] The latest thing I saw him in (as best I can recall) he was a faculty member or a therapist or counselor and his relationship with a young woman was very suspect, as if he were molesting her or something along those lines. [/QUOTE] Do you watch 24? This made me think of Kim Bauer’s creepy therapist/boyfriend played by C. Thomas Howell. He’s pretty well-known, but not so much lately. Picture [here](http://www.imdb.com/gallery/granitz/0242-lia/Events/0242-lia/howell_c.tho?path=pgallery&path_key=Howell,%20C.%20Thomas). ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-an-actor-please/403415/57 "2007-05-09T20:53:31Z")
[QUOTE=Potato Pancakes] Could you perhaps go into more detail of a particular scene you remember him in? Maybe even describe some other actors in the scene, it’s location, etc. Any more info at all might help. Besides, now I’m dying to know who it is. [/QUOTE] I would love to be able to do that. I’m trying to picture other people in scenes, settings where he was visible, lines of dialog he may have said, all that sort of thing. So far, nothing but a hazy image of his face and his mannerisms. I do picture him being sincere, ernest even, in his general appearance and can associate that look with his machinations and manipulations of other characters. I seem to see him as more of a loner than as a gang member. I see him in a stressed-out situation where he’s working against the clock to get something done. I can imagine him calling in a ransom demand. I can see him in the shadows lurking to attack somebody with a knife. I have trouble envisioning him in a Western, although the Robert Vaughn character in the Magnificent Seven would fit him. I can see him as a lone terrorist, hijacker, bomber or the type, but seeing him working well with a group is harder to visualize. For all these visualizations, I’m prepared to find that he’s done roles of the type I’m having trouble seeing, but until I can look him up on IMDB, I’m just groping in the dark. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-an-actor-please/403415/58 "2007-05-09T20:55:48Z")
[QUOTE=jsgoddess] Do you watch 24? This made me think of Kim Bauer’s creepy therapist/boyfriend played by C. Thomas Howell. He’s pretty well-known, but not so much lately. Picture [here](http://www.imdb.com/gallery/granitz/0242-lia/Events/0242-lia/howell_c.tho?path=pgallery&path_key=Howell,%20C.%20Thomas). [/QUOTE] Yes, I watch 24. No, it’s not C. Thomas Howell. There are features in common, I will admit, but Howell is one of those guys I have trouble keeping my eye on in any scene he’s in. He’s negative energy. My guy is not a lot more positive energy, but I’d watch him instead of Howell. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-an-actor-please/403415/59 "2007-05-09T20:57:35Z")
Billy Drago! ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-an-actor-please/403415/60 "2007-05-09T21:01:07Z")
Maybe this would be easier if you say how long ago the most recent sighting was, and also maybe list what you generally watch on TV? Also, can you remember if you definitely saw him on a TV rather than a big screen? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-an-actor-please/403415.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-an-actor-please/403415.md?page=4)