# "Officially" Unattractive Actors/Models **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 25, 2009, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-unattractive-actors-models/511525 "2009-09-25T15:50:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-unattractive-actors-models/511525/101 "2009-09-29T14:08:35Z")
> [@tumbleddown](#): > > But she has, apparently, now segued into “mom” roles, as evidenced by last night’s “Grey’s Anatomy” premiere. I felt so old when I saw that! ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-unattractive-actors-models/511525/102 "2009-09-29T14:09:00Z")
Agreed with those comments - Hollywood standards of beauty are so extreme that many people listed in this thread would look normal, some even good-looking, out on the street. Put them in a movie and they stick out like a sore thumb. So to have a better chance at success, you either need to be drop-dead gorgeous, or have a “character actor’s face.” Talent always helps, of course, but an interesting face will help get you noticed. [Ron Perlman’s Wiki entry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Perlman) has a quote from him about being really overweight as a kid, and how that helps attract him to these “deformed” roles. Sure, he’s got a craggy and intimidating face, but most of the roles I’ve seen him in add to that, laying on scars or more. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-unattractive-actors-models/511525/103 "2009-09-29T19:30:42Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > The OP seemed not so much to be asking for a list of unattractive actors as how such people are cast, and how they feel about it: > [_Emphasis mine._] Yes, thanks. > [@](#): > > So although Hollywood is known for being home to vain and self-deluded people, presumably there are plenty of actors and actresses in the ordinary-to-ugly range who realize they won’t be cast as romantic leads but are willing to ply their trade anyway. They know who they are and what they can do. As I see it there’s a difference between knowing and accepting your limitations, and selling them. IOW, suppose an actor/actress knows they are not attractive enough to get leading roles and are reduced to “character” roles in which looks are not a factor, that’s knowing your limitations. If you act in a role in which a primary part of the act is laughing at and highlighting your horrible looks, that’s freakshowish. (See the linked Onion article in the OP - unless you object to seeing pictures of unattractive nude men. That guy wasn’t just selling himself as a guy who wasn’t attractive but could act/model. He was modeling a “hideous nude body”, which is something else.) ---
**Author:** ![rachelgrr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac8455/32.png) [@rachelgrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rachelgrr)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-unattractive-actors-models/511525/104 "2009-09-29T21:42:29Z")
Anne Ramsey ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-unattractive-actors-models/511525/105 "2009-09-30T20:17:27Z")
I’m surprised nobody has mentioned [Dan Hedaya](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000445/) yet. The first thing I saw him in was Cheers (as Carla’s ex husband) and part of the whole deal was that he looked like a troll, but still had a certain amount of magnetism with women. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-unattractive-actors-models/511525/106 "2009-09-30T20:39:59Z")
Seth Rogan. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-unattractive-actors-models/511525/107 "2009-09-30T21:18:32Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > I’m surprised nobody has mentioned [Dan Hedaya](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000445/) yet. The first thing I saw him in was Cheers (as Carla’s ex husband) and part of the whole deal was that he looked like a troll, but still had a certain amount of magnetism with women. He didn’t just lool like a troll, he _acted_ like one, foisting himself brusquely and self-righteously on people - which does have a certain (possibly mythical) kind of sex appeal. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/officially-unattractive-actors-models/511525.md?page=5)