
‘Oh, THAT guy!': 17 instantly recognisable actors whose names you don't know
Hollywood stars might lure in the punters – but it's the hardworking supporting actors who truly keep the machine whirring.
The life of a jobbing actor is no doubt difficult; keeping a career alive in an industry so reliant on box-office dollar signs and TV ratings must be increasingly tough at a time when metrics dictate who gets cast in films.
If you're lucky, you'll find a role you become synonymous with, but it's the people who show up time and again to fill in the roles further down the call sheet that deserve our respect. These are actors defined by their longevity – their dependable presence can often hike a project's quality, making them a casting director's dream. But chances are that if we asked casual viewers what these actors were called, they'd likely shrug.
Well, shrug no more – below, we run through 17 terrific actors whose faces you know, but whose names might have passed you by.
Clancy Brown
You know the face of Clancy Brown – and you certainly know the voice. Brown's gravelly vocals have enhanced many projects since his breakout role in the 1983 film Bad Boys – putting him in demand for villains, gruff authoritarians and all-round s***birds. The immortal Kurgan in Highlander? That's Brown. The tyrannical guard in The Shawshank Redemption? Brown again. Starship Troopers ' rough-and-ready Sergeant Zim? You bet it's Brown. Viewers will have seen him more recently in The Penguin – he played mob boss Salvatore Maroni.
Néstor Carbonell
For years, Lost viewers knew him as 'the guy with eyeliner', his character Richard Alpert becoming such a favourite that his role was drastically bumped up in the later seasons. Before this, he was the mayor of Gotham in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. But in the last decade, Carbonell has found himself associated with a few TV hits that have firmly placed him as a 'mum's favourite': Psycho prequel Bates Motel and Apple TV+'s The Morning Show. Thanks to his Emmy-winning role as Spanish sailor Vasco in Shōgun, it seems Carbonell will soon not be eligible to appear on this list.
David Krumholtz
Whenever David Krumholtz shows up in something, you know it's going to be good: he's an actor who knows a quality project when he sees one. The early roles were on point – he was head elf Bernard in the Santa Clause franchise, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt's nerdy pal in 10 Things I Hate About You. Since then, he's worked with Ang Lee (The Ice Storm), the Coen brothers (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs), David Simon (The Deuce and The Plot Against America) – and should have been Oscar-nominated over Robert Downey Jr for playing the physicist Isidor in Christopher Nolan's blockbuster Oppenheimer. Frankly, the guy has a better filmography than most bankable Hollywood stars.
Kevin Dunn
Kevin Dunn's Wikipedia page introduces him as an actor 'who has appeared in supporting roles in numerous films and television series since the 1980s'. That's putting it lightly. What this description fails to mention is that Dunn quietly elevates everything he's in – whether it's the Transformers franchise (admittedly not hard) or Tony Scott's unsung masterpiece Unstoppable. He's probably best known, though, for Veep, where he played the grumpy White House chief of staff Ben Cafferty.
John Hawkes
Two – the number of Oscars and Emmys John Hawkes has been nominated for. They were deserved for his role in Winter's Bone, as Jennifer Lawrence's ominous uncle, and as an enigmatic sheriff in the fourth season of True Detective, but that figure should be around five. Highlights include gentle merchant Sol Star, an oasis in the otherwise chaotic Deadwood; a polio-suffering poet in The Sessions; and a creepy cult leader in Martha Marcy May Marlene. But this is the tip of the iceberg: you might not even realise you're watching Hawkes thanks to his chameleonic ability to escape into the role. This generation's Harry Dean Stanton? Just maybe.
CCH Pounder
This entry excuses anyone who's watched The Shield, who will be fully aware of the name CCH Pounder thanks to the crime drama's in-your-face credits. But since making her acting debut in Bob Fosse's film All That Jazz (1979), Pounder has become a supporting acting titan of TV, with roles in everything from ER and Law & Order to NCIS. Pounder is known by the cultists, but not the masses – she was considered for Allison Janney's role in The West Wing, which would have helped with that – and you might not realise, but she's one of the Na'vi under all that CGI in James Cameron's Avatar franchise.
Lois Smith
Let's hear it for Lois Smith. At 94, she's still turning in the roles, 70 years after making her debut – opposite James Dean! – in East of Eden. She's stolen scenes in films across the decades, including Five Easy Pieces (1970), Fatal Attraction (1987), Dead Man Walking (1995), Minority Report (2002) and The Nice Guys (2016). That's quite the list of credits. TV viewers will know her as Sookie Stackhouse's warm grandmother Adele in vampire drama True Blood. Smith has become the most dependable ninetysomething actor around. Someone needs to cast her and June Squibb in their own project immediately.
Bill Camp
Most lead stars wish they had the gravitas of perennial supporting actor Bill Camp. He's dependable, always understated – and plays pissed off better than anyone on the list (sorry, Kevin Dunn). Whether he's playing a 19th-century politician (Lincoln), an experienced chess tutor (The Queen's Gambit) or a detective sergeant named Dennis Box (The Night Of), Camp is go-to support for good reason.
Shea Whigham
The Mission Impossible franchise is full to the brim with character actors who'll have you consulting IMDb to remind yourself where you've seen them before. For all your Henry Czernys and Holt McCallanys you've got Shea Whigham, who might be the cream of the crop when it comes to modern character actors. Whether he's chasing Tom Cruise through Abu Dhabi airport or captaining Leonardo DiCaprio's superyacht in The Wolf of Wall Street, Whigham, with his impressively high hair, is likely to pop up.
Stephen Tobolowsky
We can't be sure how often Stephen Tobolowsky said 'Ned Ryerson' when he was making Groundhog Day, but it's possibly more than he's said his own name. While he is best known for playing the overly cheerful insurance salesman in the Bill Murray comedy, he's arguably the king of the 'Hey, it's that guy' actors, having appeared in everything from Christopher Nolan's Memento to high-school jukebox musical show Glee.
John Carroll Lynch
One of the many moments of genius in David Fincher's Zodiac was casting everyman John Carroll Lynch as the prime suspect in an unsolved serial killer case, a role in which he delivered a uniquely disturbing performance. Lynch's impressive set of credits has seen him play a smorgasbord of roles, from one of the founders of McDonald's (The Founder) to President Lyndon B Johnson (Jackie). He memorably played Frances McDormand's loving husband in Fargo and was even the guy who melts to death in Volcano. He's also flexed his muscles behind the camera, directing the critically acclaimed Lucky in 2017, which featured one of the final roles of the great Harry Dean Stanton.
Amy Ryan
Amy Ryan is arguably on the cusp of becoming a more widely recognised actor thanks to prominent roles in hit TV shows like The Office and Only Murders in the Building. Ryan, though, had been working for well over a decade before she received wider recognition for her performances, popping up in numerous Law & Order episodes and in bit parts opposite Tom Cruise and Philip Seymour Hoffman, in War of the Worlds and Capote, respectively. Fans of The Wire will best remember her as port authority officer Beadie Russell.
Wood Harris
If there is a cooler character actor than Wood Harris, then we don't want to know about them. Best known for playing Avon Barksdale, the drug kingpin in The Wire, Harris has been quietly delivering stellar performances for more than 30 years. He's collaborated with fellow The Wire alumnus Michael B Jordan as a boxing trainer in the three Creed films to date, and was last seen as a shady nightclub owner in Lady in the Lake with Natalie Portman. Cinephiles will also be delighted to learn that he's set to appear in Paul Thomas Anderson's new movie One Battle After Another.
Larry Miller
Another contender for the king of the 'that guy' actors is Larry Miller, who we would estimate has been in at least 10 per cent of the movies and TV shows released from 1990 until the present day. As well as filling frequent guest spots on Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld and Boston Legal, Miller also has a successful stand-up comedy career. His varied filmography has seen him play Anne Hathaway's stylist in The Princess Diaries and the hypocritical head of an architecture firm in the abysmal Hulk Hogan superhero comedy Suburban Commando.
Harriet Sansom Harris
A Tony Award winner for her performance in Thoroughly Modern Millie, Harris is perhaps better known for her work in the world of theatre, where she is a Broadway mainstay. Fans of Frasier would contest this though, as she played Kelsey Grammer's unhinged, chain-smoking agent, Bebe Glazer, for the entirety of the sitcom's original run. More modern viewers might recognise her for supporting roles in Paul Thomas Anderson's Licorice Pizza and Phantom Thread as well as a recurring role in Desperate Housewives.
William Fichtner
It's no secret that Christopher Nolan's 2008 masterpiece The Dark Knight was heavily inspired by Michael Mann's equally masterful Heat, but did you know he even went as far as to cast an actor from the 1995 thriller? William Fichtner plays money launderer Roger Van Zant in Mann's film and also briefly appears in Nolan's movie as the bank manager who attempts to stop the Joker's daring heist. As well as having a prominent role in Prison Break, Fichtner can also be seen in classics like Black Hawk Down (2001), Contact (1997) and Strange Days (1995). He's also got the best line in Michael Bay's Armageddon: 'Requesting permission to shake the hand of the daughter of the bravest man I've ever met.' Leaves a lump in the throat every time.
David Dastmalchian
If you need a creepy, slightly nervous guy with an angular face who could also pass for the lead singer in an emo band, then David Dastmalchian is your man. As well as playing numerous supporting roles in superhero films from The Suicide Squad to Ant-Man, Dastmalchian has become a favourite of Denis Villeneuve, who has cast the star in Dune, Blade Runner 2049 and Prisoners. Dastmalchian is not just a character actor, though, as he showed with his smarmy but complex lead performance in .
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Powys County Times
3 hours ago
- Powys County Times
Shameless star made OBE says Prince of Wales joked about her playing Elizabeth I
Shameless star Anne-Marie Duff said she and the Prince of Wales laughed about her previous role playing Elizabeth I as she was formally made an OBE. Ms Duff, 54, played Fiona Gallagher in Channel 4's Shameless TV show and won a best supporting actress Bafta for her role as Grace Williams in Apple TV's series Bad Sisters. The actor also performed as Elizabeth I in the 2005 to 2006 BBC dramatisation of the monarch's life, titled The Virgin Queen. Discussing that role led William to joke 'this should all be old hat for you, or something' during Wednesday's ceremony at Windsor Castle, Ms Duff said. The actor spoke to the PA news agency inside the Berkshire royal residence after being formally made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to drama. Asked if the event had been as expected having played Elizabeth I, she said: '(Windsor Castle) is like a treasure chest, isn't it? Because every piece of every room is swollen with history and art and value, so it's very specific. 'To be in this environment where people do live and do sit down and have their dinner and all of those things – you know, when you're on location, you don't really have that feeling of something like that, but this is someone's home, which is just extraordinary to me.' The Virgin Queen was not filmed at royal residences for security reasons, she said. Ms Duff lives in north London and has a son with her former husband and Shameless co-star James McAvoy. She said she and the Prince of Wales discussed balancing work and parenting and 'how we're all kind of the same'. Her next guaranteed job is not until 2026 and she said she cannot talk about other projects that may pop up before then. 'There's so much nonsense now, you can't even read scripts now without NDAs (non-disclosure agreements)', she said. 'The streamers are like old Hollywood studios, it's like that, it's so bonkers, so you don't get to sort of enjoy the prelude to things with people – you can't say, oh my god, yeah, I'm going to be doing (this). You have to keep everything on the down-low.' She laughed as she said: 'I would love to tell you, Your Royal Highness, but … ' 'There are snipers everywhere, that's what it feels like, seriously, the walls have ears', she added. Ms Duff said a play would be the 'juiciest' next project for her because she prefers the 'communion with people' in theatre, as well as the immediacy and 'being in charge of the chronology'. She said she discussed her preference for the stage with William. She told PA: 'If a light bulb blows, we still go on. It's all of that and the jeopardy of it – when things go wrong, you become so resourceful and having each other's back as a company.' Asked how she felt after being formally made an OBE, Ms Duff said: 'Fabulous, really lucky. You never imagine that – I think especially for people who work in the arts – you never really have a sense of what you do as having a great deal of importance or being a contribution to anything. 'You're just so busy working away. It feels extraordinary to be recognised.'


Daily Record
5 hours ago
- Daily Record
American Gangster film based on true story that's a 'must watch' if you love the Godfather
The gangster film, which is now streaming on Amazon Prime, has been hailed as very "underrated" and the "best true crime drama out there". Biographical crime film Kill the Irishman is a movie based on the life of the Irish-American gangster Danny Greene that has viewers raving. The movie, which is currently available to stream on Amazon Prime and Apple TV, is an on-screen adaptation of Rick Porrello's book To Kill the Irishman: The War That Crippled the Mafia. The film's official synopsis reads: "Kill the Irishman tells the true story of Danny Greene, a scrappy union representative who rose through the ranks of the Cleveland underworld and became a force to be reckoned with, ultimately engaging in a turf war with the Italian Mafia. Greene's rise to power and his eventual assassination, which is depicted in the film, are the central themes. "The film explores Greene's ambition, his clashes with the Mafia, and the impact of his actions on organised crime in Cleveland and beyond." Directed by Jonathan Hensleigh, the star studded cast includes Ray Stevenson, Vincent D'Onofrio, Val Kilmer, Christopher Walken, Linda Cardellini , Tony Darrow and Robert Davi, among others. The film, which is also available to watch on Apple TV, has been applauded by gangster movie fanatics, who have branded it a 'must watch' if you are a fan of The Godfather, the Express reports. One critic stated in an IMDb review: "Great cast, great acting, and an absolute must-see for mafia-philes. "Unlike many bio-dramas, this one moves along at a rocket pace, leaving the audience on the edge of their seats." Another hailed the film as "very underrated". Kill the Irishman received mixed reviews upon its release and was noted for its similarities to Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas (1990). It was awarded a divisive score of 63% from Rotten Tomatoes critics, who state: "Kill the Irishman may not add much in the way of new ingredients to its crowded genre, but the admirable efforts of a solidly assembled cast add extra depth to a familiar story." However, other reviewers were quick to jump to its defence as one insisted it it "the best true crime drama out there" and another agreed they "absolutely love this [film]. Kill the Irishman is not the only gangster film that Amazon viewers are currently raving about as another crime film, that's been described as 'poetic' has recently resurfaced. Starring two forgotten Hollywood legends, the 1990s American gangster film, Miller's Crossing, created by Joel and Ethan Coen, is considered to be "an all time classic" by viewers. The film follows the story of two rival gangs, set during the 1929 Prohibition, as Irish mob boss Leo O'Bannon, portrayed by Albert Finney, sets off a war between the two as he protects his girlfriend's brother, Bernie, who lands himself in trouble with the other group. Unbeknownst to him, his girlfriend is having an affair with his partner-in-crime, Tom Reagan, played by Gabriel Byrne. Despite Tom's attempts to feed Bernie to the wolves, Leo trusts in his decision to protect him. However, while his Italian gangster enemy Johnny Caspar is growing in power in the background, he needs the help from his right-hand man now more than ever, that is, until he finds out he's been sleeping with his girlfriend. The title boasts a near 'perfect' rating as one viewer wrote on Rotten Tomatoes:"All-time classic. This has all the hallmarks of a noir. "The script is very complicated but never convoluted to the point where you can't follow it, which is a testament to the masterful editing. My only real complaint is while the music is good, I wish it was used a bit more, but this really is never dry. Everyone should give this a try once."


The Guardian
6 hours ago
- The Guardian
Middle-aged women are having a moment – and my new favourite TV series shows why
The current TV landscape leans heavily towards shows that skewer the rich from the point of view of writers who wildly, if sneakily, admire them. To be less polite: if shows such as the most recent White Lotus, the Apple TV+ show Your Friends & Neighbours and movies such as Mountainhead are all enraptured with themselves and the people they dramatise – targets who have been known to become the shows' biggest fans – then for those viewers who have had enough, there is an alternative. It's in Norwegian, and while watching it will force you uncomfortably close to using the phrase 'hymn to middle age', it does at least avoid the 360 degrees of glorified douchebags presently dominating TV. The Norwegian dramedy Pernille unfolds over five seasons, recently made available on Netflix, and is part of a small but marked trend around women in middle age that offers a buffer against universal bro culture. In my experience, people don't generally like to be told they are having a moment, since it draws attention to the fact that they weren't previously having a moment and likely won't get another moment any time soon – but the fact remains that middle-aged women are having a moment. Mostly this takes the form of endless books and podcasts about menopause, a heartening suspension of an age-old taboo, even if it does occasionally involve a female content creator inviting us to accompany her on her 'menopause journey' (no thank you!) or forcing us to pay attention to Drew Barrymore. In the case of Pernille – written by and starring the 50-year-old Norwegian actor Henriette Steenstrup – it involves a storyline built around a single mother and child protection officer in Oslo managing her two stroppy teenage daughters, her dad who is 75 and who has just came out as gay, and her affair with her colleague, a lovely county lawyer called Bjørnar. In outline, it sounds wholesome and conventional, but the writing is acute and, for my money, Pernille has more interesting things to say about sexuality than, for example, Miranda July and all her feverish strivings towards the avant garde. And, of course, it has a lot more to say about the experience of being alive than a bunch of fictional billionaires exchanging bons mots. The takeaway from Pernille is that there is nothing more fraught and complicated than regular life, and nothing structurally more sound – or better engineered for load bearing – than the middle-aged woman holding it together. In the show, Pernille's ex-husband is a preoccupied novelist whose career always comes first, and when we meet her in the pilot she is mourning the death of her sister while trying to provide for her family and the abused children of greater Oslo. It feels rude but necessary to point this out: Steenstrup is a telegenic but regular-sized woman who probably wouldn't have been cast as the lead in a US show. When her kids tell her to fuck off, or her ex-husband writes a book romanticising the affair he had when she was pregnant, the verisimilitude makes the drama intensely believable. But the show is also funny and lightly delivered, avoiding the trap of a lot of content about middle-aged women, which is the suggestion that perimenopause is just one long, terrible nightmare. I refer you to the actor Naomi Watts, whose book, Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I'd Known About Menopause, is a helpful resource but also, possibly because publishing contracts come with big word counts, teases out every last drama of being a middle-aged woman as though it is a tour of duty in Afghanistan. (Watts has released a line of wellness products aimed at alleviating the worst menopausal symptoms and, of course, good luck to her.) These descriptions are a useful corrective to silence, but they tend to overlook the flipside of all the discomfort and change, which is the tremendous release of energy experienced by many middle-aged women, some of it angry, much of it related to the dawning realisation that in any given environment they are the most competent people in the room. Last year, I attended the fifth grade graduation ceremony of my children's elementary school and came away, after hours of chair stacking and table folding, reminded of the fact that a good chunk of the US public school system runs on the volunteer labour of middle-aged women, most of whom also have jobs. The figure of Pernille, meanwhile, without being weird about it, properly represents and celebrates this fact: a fortysomething Norwegian woman sitting in her car in her garage to hide from her children, counselling her dad through the ridiculous rollercoaster of his late coming-out, managing her serious job and making poor decisions around her own dating life is inspiring and touching – and exactly the hero we need. Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist