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William H. Macy |
Very versatile actor who Hollywood has somewhat stereotyped because he's particularly good at playing hangdog characters. Has been steadily turning out great performances since the early nineties, but shot to fame in Fargo in 1996, as the hapless Jerry Lundegaard, and picked up a richly deserved Oscar nomination. Can frequently to be seen in Coen Brothers and P.T. Anderson films, and has been a close associate of David Mamet since their college days. He's a bit of an all-rounder and has experience as a writer, producer and occasional director. He strikes me as an actor who will continue to do great work until the day he keels over. |
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Charles Durning |
Charles Durning has had many memorable performances during a very long career. He is equally comfortable with serious roles as with light comedy - remember the singing and dancing sheriff in The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas? His performances have been more idiosyncratic of late - he's obviously enjoying himself now; witness his turn as the encumbant governor in the Coen Brothers' hilarious O Brother Where Art Thou? What a hoot. He's also very funny in the Denis Leary vehicle Rescue Me on TV where he plays his irrascible father. The bottom line is that Durning is usually the highlight of any film - or TV programme - he appears in. |
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Luis Guzman |
Another Soderbergh regular, Luis Guzman has a very dry way of playing comedy. It's very understated and comes off as all the more amusing for it. He started off playing heavies because of his low-brow looks but managed to break away from that and now tends to play underdogs or downtrodden characters who just have too much stacked against them to have a chance at success. There's something unrehearsed seeming about Guzman's performances; he makes you think he's just some guy who's saying what he thinks, and that in turn makes it much easier to believe the character he's playing is a real guy. He may be a little hard to cast sometimes but he's always good. |
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M. Emmet Walsh |
Need someone who looks as though he's been round the block a few times? Someone who looks as though they've taken a few knocks and knows how to handle a situation? Need someone underhanded, someone who'll get the job done no matter who might be put out? Then look no further than M. Emmet Walsh. From the world-weary chief Bryant who sends an unwilling Deckard on his way in Blade Runner, to the demented sniper taking pot-shots at Steve Martin in Carl Reiner's The Jerk , to the Coen Brothers' debut feature Blood Simple as the most sleazy private detective you could ever hope to hire, Walsh is truly one of a kind. |
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Philip Seymour Hoffman |
My favourite actor. Philip Seymour Hoffman has an intensity that's hard to look away from. He can convey uncomfortableness better than anyone I've ever seen. His performances have never been anything less than excellent. The most impressive thing about Seymour Hoffman though is his control; he never overacts - all the anguish and tension keeps boiling away while he keeps a lid on everything. It's tiring sometimes watching all sorts of emotions pile up in his facial expressions and body language and it's all up there for the viewer to experience. When I watch Philip Seymour Hoffman I get the feeling the character he's playing has a life outside of the film. And that's the ultimate compliment.
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Oliver Platt |
Oliver Platt can play any character you throw at him, but he's particularly good at mischeivous, fast-talking intelligent types. His chubby frame, jowly face and piggy nose makes him well-suited for playing comedic roles - like Tommy Fawkes in Funny Bones, but his strength is to take a character that you'd think would simply be a figure of fun and show an intelligent, confident and sometimes aggressive side to it. His role as the drug-fuelled party loving lawyer Russell Tupper in the excellent tv series *Huff* is an absolute delight to behold. One night he's high on speedballs partying with a couple of prostitutes, the next morning he's sharp as a tack and talking rings round his legal opponents. Has done a lot of quality television work but is criminally underused in films. |
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Bruce McGill |
Bruce McGill is a bear of a man who can play powerful, commanding characters like judges or detectives better than almost anyone. He has a presence that reaches straight out the screen and fills the room. Perhaps not as versatile as most of the actors on this list (I couldn't see him playing a lead romantic role for example) nevertheless he was one of the better things in The Legend of Bagger Vance where he played golfer Walter Hagan with an infectious joi de vivre, and he was just about the only good thing in Michael Mann's disappointing The Insider, where he played a fiery lawyer. Unusually McGill is equally believable as absolutely crooked or completely incorruptable.
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Harry Dean Stanton |
The uber-character actor, Harry Dean Stanton is the favourite tipple of many a movie geek and has been for a long time now. He likes to play unusual parts in off-the-wall films and he always does a first-class job. His angular, wiry frame and slow but jittery mannerisms, combined with his Kentucky drawl - which always seems to be pushing it's way past a cigarette - all combine to make for a compelling performance. He's not your typical movie star, but he has a great face; it's a face that's been around for a while and has seen a lot of things - it convinces you that this character is a real guy. And that helps the viewer tremendously when they're looking to identify with the character he's portraying. |
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John Turturro |
Turturro is another one of those oddball actors who can fit into many parts. Hollywood being the way it is though tends to limit him to strange, disconnected people a lot of the time, which is a shame because he's capable of a lot more than that. He was excellent in the Coens' Barton Fink as the titular character and almost stole the show in The Big Lebowski for his outrageous cameo as Jesus - a chicano bowler with questionable sexual predilictions. Aside from comedy he's a very capable actor when given a meaty role as in Marleen Gorris's version of Nabokov's The Luzhin Defence about an introspective chess player on the brink of madness. |
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Pruitt Taylor Vince |
Pruitt Taylor Vince is living proof that you don't have to be pretty to be an actor, and a great actor at that. He pops up every now and then in a big film, steals it then disappears. He is the best in the business at playing awkward, shy, quiet men. Men who don't relate to the rest of the people around him and probably never will. I first noticed him in Mississippi Burning, back in 1988 only because he looked kind of odd, but he is an excellent actor if given the right part: Just look at the phenomenal performance he gives in James Mangold's Heavy. He's one of those actors you can't take your eyes off. And that eye of his that keeps buzzing around like a bee on acid - that's weird too. |
