"Officially" Unattractive Actors/Models

[gigi]

@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!

[Ferret_Herder]

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 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.

[Fotheringay-Phipps]

@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.)

[rachelgrr]

Anne Ramsey

[Mama_Zappa]

I’m surprised nobody has mentioned Dan Hedaya 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.

[Gangster_Octopus]

Seth Rogan.

[Beware_of_Doug]

@Mama_Zappa

I’m surprised nobody has mentioned Dan Hedaya 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.