# Underrated Actors **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 7, 2005, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-actors/298281 "2005-04-07T19:50:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-actors/298281/1 "2005-04-07T19:50:07Z")
My own nominee : J. K. Simmons I watched hiim as Emil Skoda in “Law and Order”, as J. Jonah Jameson in the Spider-Man movies and then as Garth Pancake in “The Lady Killers.” I never once realized that they were all played by the same person until I looked up his bio on the IMDb and it all fell into place for me. Now _that’s_ acting. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-actors/298281/2 "2005-04-07T19:53:37Z")
Good choice. Though he strikes me more as an “actor’s actor” than an underrated one. I’d also have to put the late, great JT Walsh in this category. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-actors/298281/3 "2005-04-07T19:56:56Z")
John Shea has appeared in some very low-key, low-budget productions, and also done some cameos on the _Law and Order_ shows–not your big A-list star, but I’ve always enjoyed his work 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-actors/298281/4 "2005-04-07T19:58:52Z")
I’ll nominate Camryn Manheim. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-actors/298281/5 "2005-04-07T20:03:50Z")
I’d nominate Philip Seymour Hoffman. He never gets the credit he deserves. He can take a stupid character like the “former child actor” in **Along Came Polly** and create a completely believable person out of it. His performances in **Boogie Nights** and **The Talented Mr. Ripley** were incredible. I first noticed him in **Hard Eight** and his few minutes on screen are among the two or three scenes that I still remember from the movie. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-actors/298281/6 "2005-04-07T20:07:57Z")
> [@Dooku](#): > > I’d nominate Philip Seymour Hoffman. He never gets the credit he deserves. He can take a stupid character like the “former child actor” in **Along Came Polly** and create a completely believable person out of it. His performances in **Boogie Nights** and **The Talented Mr. Ripley** were incredible. I first noticed him in **Hard Eight** and his few minutes on screen are among the two or three scenes that I still remember from the movie. I am proud to say that I knew him when I was groing up. Yes, he’s great, but I think plenty of people realize how good he is. I think Bob Balaban’s day is coming, as is Donel Logue’s. ---
**Author:** ![gum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-actors/298281/7 "2005-04-07T20:10:33Z")
Rutger Hauer. [**Liberal**!\* You’re back! Yay!]\* 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-actors/298281/8 "2005-04-07T20:20:07Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I am proud to say that I knew him when I was groing up. Yes, he’s great, but I think plenty of people realize how good he is. :eek: Hie thee to Eve’s thread [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=310476)! I was going for “underrated in the sense that they should be bigger stars” - I firmly believe he should be a top-tier actor. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-actors/298281/9 "2005-04-07T20:31:03Z")
[Isabel Jewell](http://members.tripod.com/~JohnHerbst3rd/isabeljewell.html). I saw her last night in _Marked Woman_, a Warner Brothers gangster film with Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart, and Isabel—in a smallish supporting role—stole it out from under everyone’s nose. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-actors/298281/10 "2005-04-07T20:31:26Z")
> [@Eutychus](#): > > My own nominee : J. K. Simmons Yes, no can convince me he’s burning a swastika into a man’s ass more effectively than JK. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-actors/298281/11 "2005-04-08T10:54:40Z")
> [@gum](#): > > [**Liberal**!\* You’re back! Yay!]\* 🙂 You are so amazingly kind. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-actors/298281/12 "2005-04-08T11:34:00Z")
James Cromwell. He can play Babe’s Dad, avuncular yet soullessly evil police chiefs _and_ the drunken inventor of the Warp Drive, and still be totally convincing in each role. The last of the great old-school character actors. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-actors/298281/13 "2005-04-08T11:51:41Z")
[Clevant Derricks.](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0220598/) Hr is best (and really only) known for his role on Sliders. He, IMO, was great on that show. He had a very good range of emotion anf you felt for his character. Unfortunately, he never really did anything else. Too bad, he could have gone someplace. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-actors/298281/14 "2005-04-08T12:24:43Z")
I often wonder what happened to Kerri Green. Amazing teen actress (Summer Rental, Lucas, The Goonies) who should now be all growed up. Haven’t heard from her since the mid-80s. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-actors/298281/15 "2005-04-08T13:11:15Z")
**Ernest Borgnine.** Though he is closely associated with **McHale’s Navy** \* in the collective memory, he also played in a metric assload of movies. He was nothing short of great in **The Wild Bunch** ; and though it is often used as an example of ludicrous miscasting, I’ve always enjoyed his turn as **Ragnar** in **The Vikings.** \*\* \*That show more truly belonged to **Tim Conway** and **Joe Flynn**. They were hilarious together on the show and in at least one of the movies. \*\*Aren’t we about due for a remake? The mind boggles at figuring out who could fill the shoes of **Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, and Ernest Borgnine**. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-actors/298281/16 "2005-04-08T16:47:34Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I often wonder what happened to Kerri Green. Amazing teen actress (Summer Rental, Lucas, The Goonies) who should now be all growed up. Haven’t heard from her since the mid-80s. According to [imdb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0338061/), she hasn’t acted in any movies since 1993. In 1999, she was a writer and director of a film called [Bellyfruit](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0159277/). The most recent credit I could find for her was as “Michelle” on an episode of _Law & Order: Special Victims Unit_, and that was in October of 2001. We could probably start another thread of obscure actors that we crushed on that have gone “missing.” My personal choice would be [Andrea Elson](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0255699/), who played Lynn Tanner in [Alf](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090390/). ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-actors/298281/17 "2005-04-08T16:57:10Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > According to [imdb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0338061/), she hasn’t acted in any movies since 1993. In 1999, she was a writer and director of a film called [Bellyfruit](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0159277/). Even then, it looks like her career was over by 1987. One has to wonder if her parents pushed her into acting, and when she was old enough to figure out her own life, she decided the thespian lifestyle was not for her. Pity. One has to wonder about the other kids that were in The Goonies as well (Hello, Martha Plimpton?), although I seem to remember that Sean Aston was in something a few years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-actors/298281/18 "2005-04-08T18:16:38Z")
Considering that Ernest Borgnine won an Academy Award and Camryn Manheim won an Emmy, can you really call them “underrated?” ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-actors/298281/19 "2005-04-08T19:26:45Z")
[Rick Worthy](http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/PersonDetail/personid-11288). This actor is versatile and good-looking, with a voice and manner that remind me of a young James Earl Jones. He has a particular affinity for SF roles, and has appeared in several flavors of Star Trek, as well as in Odyssey 5, Dark Angel and Stargate SG-1. Until recently, he was a perpetual “guest star,” but the new ABC series “Eyes” has given him a juicy co-starring role as a suave, savvy (and gay) private investigator. ---
**Author:** ![Barely\_Adequate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/58956e/32.png) [@Barely\_Adequate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barely_Adequate)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2005, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-actors/298281/20 "2005-04-08T20:07:01Z")
**Harry Dean Stanton:** You owe it to yourself to watch him (with both eyes!) in “Paris, Texas”, or that “road” movie with James Taylor, the name of which escapes me now. **John Cazale:** anything… we lost him much too soon. -Richard [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underrated-actors/298281.md?page=2)