What lesser known (I hesitate to use the term “B-list”) actors do you think are so talented that they automatically raise the quality of the production just by showing up on set? I suppose the term would be “character actor,” but that term evokes images of stuffy method-acting fogeys to me. I’m really not sure what to call 'em. They’re usually the guys you see in everything, but whom most people couldn’t really name.
Anyhow, three actors I can think of off the top of my head fit the bill to me. There are probably many more.
John C. McGinley - I see this guy EVERYWHERE. “Scrubs,” “Office Space,” “Platoon,” and a million other movies/shows I don’t remember right now. He’s awesome, and I couldn’t have told you his name before I looked it up in IMDB.
J.K. Simmons - Total acting genius. He can do anything. Extremely intense as Schillinger, brilliant as J. Jonah Jameson. He convincingly steals the show in every single scene he plays in, regardless of his role.
Tony Shalhoub - I first saw him in “Wings,” but he just classes up any set he’s on. He was easily the best thing about “Galaxy Quest,” and he had serious competition from (the ever-brilliant) Alan Rickman. I’ll watch a movie for no other reason than it has Tony Shalhoub in it.
Phillip Seymore Hoffman used to be held in this regard, then he went and made himself famous (sort of). Ditto Chris Cooper, though he has faded back to this status recently. Steve Buscemi is another graduate of this category. I can’t really think of anyone who recently fits the bill(ing). So I guess I don’t really have anything to contribute.
Joan Cusack. A very talented, funny, watchable actress whom I feel has never really been given the right vehicle to show off her talents. She only had two or three small supporting scenes in ‘Working Girl’ but I found her to be by far the most memorable aspect of the entire movie.
I don’t think Tony Shalhoub counts as lesser-known. He headlines his own show, for gossake. I mean, he’s not Tom Cruise famous, but I doubt he can go jogging without people saying “Dude! I just bumped into Adrian Monk, and he was out in NATURE without freaking out.”
As always with this type of thread, I’m gonna put my vote in for Bryan Cranston. He’s shown more range in Malcolm in the Middle then many actors show in their entire career.
Stephen Root
Me, a huge News Radio fan, having just caught Office Space on T.V. today after having not seen it for quite some time. This guy is genius.
Ogre references Office Space in the OP as a standout John C. McGinley credit.
Having recently rewatched all seven seasons of The West Wing (in which Stephen Root is awesome), I watched Office Space today paying extra attention to The West Wing’s Vice President Bob Russell Gary Cole’s wonderful performance as Lumbergh (also noteworthy: this guy as Will Ferrell’s dad in Talladega Nights and the Brady’s dad on the big screen!)
Definitely seconding both Gary Cole and Stephen Root. Both of those guys are pure fucking gold, no matter what the part. The blind radio station owner in “O Brother…” He was the best character in the whole damn movie (and I love that movie.)
John C. Reilly (aka Mike Honcho) - always amazing in anything he is in
Vincent D’Onofrio - ignore the fact hat he makes a living doing a second rate Colombo impersonation - he’s definitley not a movie star yet he steals every film he is in
Laura Dern - only ever briefly fashionable, no longer “on the radar” but one of the finest working actors there is, surely.
Kim Van Kooten - Never heard of her? A great actor who could be a big, big star(her face is just an encyclopedia of comic possibilities)
Ludivine Sagnier - a great actor in the french great tradition and quite possibly the most beautiful woman in the world, too boot. And she take she clothes off at the drop of a hat. A real triple threat.
Cool she gets noticed outside the Netherlands. Kim van Kooten. is a Dutch actress and scriptwriter, and she’s the daughter of Kees van Kooten, a guy who was Hollands most popular “intelligent comedian” for over decades.
And I second Vincent D’Onofrio. His portrayal of the psychotic “Private Pyle” in Full Metal Jacket, as he shoots Ermy and then himself in the bathroom has haunted me for years. As did his performance of another madman (both dangerous, demonic and somehow vulnerable) in “Cell”.
Peter Dinklage would be my first vote. I’ve yet to see a bad performance out of him - and bonus points for snagging roles that weren’t written specifically for a little person (along with several that were written for one, but in a compassionate and human kind of way).
Agreed on Steve Buscemi. There’s something endearing him - he doesn’t steal the scene, but there’s a quiet charisma to him that makes him one of my favourite supporting actors out there.
Both have had a handful of starring roles, but I don’t think of either of them as a “leading man”. That’s what made Buscemi so fantastic in *Ghost World * - he’s not the typical romantic male lead.
Joseph V. Perry, probably most recognizable as “Nemo” from “Everybody Loves Raymond.” In his long career, he usually played bartenders, truck drivers, cops, thugs–your basic tough-guy-at-large. Everybody’s seen him, and hardly anyone knows his name.