Most famous living character actors

[Damon1281]

William Fichtner is certainly well known even if not by name.

And Gary Oldman probably qualifies.

[Flash3000]

Gene Hackman iin his later career Retired, but god i miss that guy.

[HD Canuck]

Andy Serkis

[mdawg1972]

How the hell has nobody mentioned John C Reilly?!?!

Just watch Stan and Ollie, Boogie Nights, Gangs of New York,etc etc etc.

[sanriel]

Ray Wise

[DR Herbert West]

Brad Dourif

[Dubstar]

Originally Posted by sanriel

Ray Wise

he's so damn funny on 'Fresh Off the Boat'

[Dubstar]

Originally Posted by Shingster

I see we've reached that stage where the topic of the thread gets completely ignored and we simply list character actors, no matter how obscure!

what was the original question ...

another shout out to Will Patton also pictured in post #13 sixth picture down right hand side.

[craigbarr2003]

Despite the occasional lead role, I'd certainly include Gary Oldman on any character actor list.

[traths]

J.K. Simmons

[Zivouhr]

I've seen Gary Oldman films over the years, and he's one of the few actors who really can play drastically different character personalities.
Examples:
Batman Begins, Dark Knight, Dark Knight Rises, Commissioner Gordon.
Then State of Grace, he plays a criminal punk with long hair.
Another one, he plays a corrupt agent.
In Robocop 2014, he plays a scientist with technical knowledge.
In Book of Eli, a total villain trying to find the one book to rule the city with.
And so on. Each role with a significant different personality and attitude.

These days, that's a rare thing when most times we get the same roles with different character names from most modern actors. Morgan Freeman, Tom Cruise, both good actors, but mostly playing the same kind of personality most times.

[filmbuffTX]

Toby Jones

[Rzzzz]

Ray Winstone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx4Ytbg-xDQ

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by Zivouhr

I've seen Gary Oldman films over the years, and he's one of the few actors who really can play drastically different character personalities.
Examples:
Batman Begins, Dark Knight, Dark Knight Rises, Commissioner Gordon.
Then State of Grace, he plays a criminal punk with long hair.
Another one, he plays a corrupt agent.
In Robocop 2014, he plays a scientist with technical knowledge.
In Book of Eli, a total villain trying to find the one book to rule the city with.
And so on. Each role with a significant different personality and attitude.

These days, that's a rare thing when most times we get the same roles with different character names from most modern actors. Morgan Freeman, Tom Cruise, both good actors, but mostly playing the same kind of personality most times.

*That's* the difference between being an actor and a movie star, although I would say Tom Cruise is a very good actor for being a movie star.

[JoeKryten]

Everyone knows his name but he has very few lead roles, so: Vincent D'Onofrio

Also, despite Monk: Tony Shalhoub

Listing Shalhoub reminds me that in the fall of 2002 we got three different new TV series lead by consummate character actors which seemed like an odd confluence to me at the time.

Monk
Hack
and the short lived Robbery Homicide Division

[Zivouhr]

Originally Posted by Batman1980

*That's* the difference between being an actor and a movie star, although I would say Tom Cruise is a very good actor for being a movie star.

[Show spoiler]

Tom Cruise is a talented actor with a lot of personality onscreen, and he's got plenty of entertaining movies. It's just that I'm not seeing a Knight & Day difference between each role he's playing. He's taking the same charismatic performances and just transplanting those skills into each film. Dustin Hoffman is more of a character actor in Rainman, while Cruise plays more of an average kind of role for his acting style.
Now if you had John Depp playing all of Tom Cruise's roles, I'm expecting Depp to really shake up the formula and try something drastically new with each role. Just like Gary Oldman does IMO.

The Rock on the other hand? He's playing the same role in pretty much every film, just different names and situations. They don't have to change things up, but if they did, I think it could be more exciting to watch each new film.

Mark Wahlberg, almost the same style performance in each film he's in. He's oversaturated in films at this point. Tom Holland, same type of performance from what I've seen.

Daniel Radcliffe seems to try to change things up a bit with different characters.

But it's character actors vs regular actors kind of a situation, and there is clearly a place for both. Many times film producers want a very expected performance for a film as it fits their story just right.

Originally Posted by JoeKryten

Everyone knows his name but he has very few lead roles, so: Vincent D'Onofrio

Also, despite Monk: Tony Shalhoub

Listing Shalhoub reminds me that in the fall of 2002 we got three different new TV series lead by consummate character actors which seemed like an odd confluence to me at the time.

Monk
Hack
and the short lived Robbery Homicide Division

D'Onofrio, from The Cell, played a serial villain and a very much different character from his other roles. I did see him on a CSI type of investigative show, where he played the lead role for a good run there. But true, I haven't seen him as a lead in many movies. Good actor though.

[JoeKryten]

Originally Posted by Zivouhr

D'Onofrio, from The Cell, played a serial villain and a very much different character from his other roles...

He definitely brings something different to most roles. Edgar/Bug in MiB is top quality physical humor. You've mentioned The Cell...

If you've never seen a little indie film called The Salton Sea, you should check it out. He plays a meth dealer/user nicknamed Pooh Bear who has done so much of his product that his nose has mostly rotted off and he wears a metal prosthesis (hence his nickname). Many or most of his lines end with a little squeak from what remains of his nose. It also features one of the last cool Val Kilmer performances prior to his weight gain and health issues...

[RFK]

M. Emmet Walsh

[spaceball-one]

Brian Cox, my cinematic father lol