# Your favorite character actor **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 2, 2011, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actor/591151 "2011-08-02T04:39:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actor/591151/61 "2011-08-10T18:33:44Z")
Ah…very good. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actor/591151/62 "2011-08-12T19:07:37Z")
Ooooh! I was thinking of long-established actors and forgot one of my new faves. I just had to come back and mention the up-and-coming Anton Yelchin. Probably best known to-date for playing “Pavel Chekhov” in the _Star Trek_ re-boot (2009). ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actor/591151/63 "2011-08-12T21:04:06Z")
> [@Sauron](#): > > Wilhelm Scream. Very limited range. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actor/591151/64 "2011-08-12T22:59:29Z")
Why am I the first to mention William Sanderson? He’s been working for 35 years and has over 100 IMDB entries, but I’m not sure if he was ever the lead in any part. Garret Dillahunt was my first thought, but he’s been taken, and he now has the lead in a Fox series. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actor/591151/65 "2011-08-12T23:07:46Z")
> [@Serenata67](#): > > He’s possibly too big now, but Steve Buscemi. I don’t like him in Adam Sandler films (luckily Rob Schneider has largely taken that role), but in movies like _Fargo_, _Big Fish_, _Reservoir Dogs_, etc., I think he’s brilliant. He played a memorable skeavy character in _Lonesome Dove_ as well. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actor/591151/66 "2011-08-13T00:23:27Z")
[Mark Sheppard](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0791968/), who pops up in nearly every show I watch, but will always to us be known as Badger, after Firefly. [Tricia Helfer](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1065454/) pops up almost as often, but is known in our house as ‘that woman’ because it took us so long to remember her name. ---
**Author:** ![sugaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actor/591151/67 "2011-08-13T00:57:45Z")
Another vote for Wallace Shawn, and also one for Stephen Root. I never can quite recognize Root for a moment; he so completely disappears into his characters. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actor/591151/68 "2011-08-13T01:39:04Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > Why am I the first to mention William Sanderson? He’s been working for 35 years and has over 100 IMDB entries, but I’m not sure if he was ever the lead in any part. Garret Dillahunt was my first thought, but he’s been taken, and he now has the lead in a Fox series. Garret Dillahunt is the _lead_ in something? What is it? Sanderson (aka J.F. Sebastian and E.B. Farnum) is also a great one, I agree. ---
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actor/591151/69 "2011-08-13T01:39:51Z")
James Gammon, rest his soul. Edie McClurg ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actor/591151/70 "2011-08-13T01:40:55Z")
> [@mac\_bolan00](#): > > gary oldman, one of few who can switch from cuddly-cute to stark raving mad within 10 frames of film. I don’t know if I’d characterize Gary Oldman as “cute-cuddly” in [this scene,](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74BzSTQCl_c) but he does have the “zero-to-60-in-nothin’-flat” down pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2011, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actor/591151/71 "2011-08-13T03:43:02Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > Garret Dillahunt is the _lead_ in something? What is it? > > Sanderson (aka J.F. Sebastian and E.B. Farnum) is also a great one, I agree. _Raising Hope_…it’s really an ensemble cast, so I guess it is hard to call him the ‘lead’. While I enjoy most of Dillahunt’s work, that show doesn’t do anything for me. I’ve only seen an episode or two. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actor/591151.md?page=3)