Image via Complex Original
After a three-year string of hollow action movies, Denzel Washington has finally returned to heavier dramatic roles in movies with real substance. In the new character study Flight, from director Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Cast Away), Washington stars as Whip Whitaker, an airplane captain who miraculously lands a falling jet, saving dozens of lives, but also comes under an intense legal investigation when it's discovered that he had alcohol and cocaine in his system at the time. As it turns out, Whip is longtime addict, and the majority of Flight is dedicated to Washington's superb performance as a man coming to terms with his inner demons in the face of a media frenzy.
Flight is, for all intents and purposes, Washington's movie, and he could possibly receive his sixth Academy Award nomination (and maybe even his third win) for it. But early into the film, one of his co-stars makes a showy, memorable entrance and briefly pulls attention away from its top-billed star. That actor is John Goodman, doing what he so regularly does in films both big and small: giving a strong performance that, although it's only momentary, once again proves that his presence alone instantly make a movie better.
The same can be said for several other "character actors," as they're commonly referred to, tireless performers who rarely ever receive the widespread praise they deserve but frequently show up in films and steal the show despite minimal screen time. Have a look at The 10 Best Character Actors in Movies Right Now and see if you've ever properly shown them the respect they've undoubtedly earned.
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Written by Matt Barone (@MBarone)
10. J.K. Simmons
Best co-starring performances: Spider-Man (2002), Juno (2007), Burn After Reading (2008), I Love You, Man (2009), Extract (2009)
J.K. Simmons is the big-screen equivalent to that sarcastic uncle who shows up at family gatherings and makes (often hilariously) snarky comments about everyone and everything. Always a welcome addition to any Hollywood comedy, the 57-year-old actor makes the most of his usually limited screen time, either offering sage yet blunt advice (see: Juno), tearing main characters new assholes (as Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson in Sam Raimis' Spider-Man movies), or dropping playfully dismissive one-liners (Extract).
For the most part, Simmons gets called upon to play bosses or father figures, and it's rather obvious why that's the case: Nobody makes authority figures seem like seasoned wisecrackers (think George Carlin) quite like J.K. Simmons.
9. Michael Stuhlbarg
Best co-starring performances: Boardwalk Empire (HBO, 2010-present), Hugo (2011), Lincoln (2012)
Viewers of HBO's excellent Boardwalk Empire have no doubt been a little bummed this year. Probably because actor Michael Stuhlbarg has been busy co-starring in major motion pictures, his Boardwalk character, New York City racketeer/gangster Arnold Rothstein, hasn't been in many episodes so far. Meaning, Stuhlbarg's knack for quiet imposition and wide-eyed threats have been sorely missed.
If taking time off from Boardwalk Empire allows him to steal more scenes in movies like Martin Scorsese's Hugo and Steven Spielberg's Lincoln, though, then HBO viewers should have no problem getting over his absence in the long run. Going against the Rothstein type in both films, Stuhlbarg tapped into his vulnerable, everyman side for Scorsese and Spielberg, which is how he first caught the attention of Hollywood producers and directors in the first place.
In 2009's Oscar-nominated A Serious Man, written and directed by the esteemed Joel and Ethan Coen, Stuhlbarg inspired massive viewer empathy playing a beleaguered Jewish man who questions his faith after marital and financial woes. Dude really knows how to elicit compassion while playing a tortured soul—no wonder we care so much about that seemingly heartless Rothstein.
8. Brendan Gleeson
Best co-starring performances: Braveheart (1995), Michael Collins (1996), 28 Days Later (2002), Gangs of New York (2002), In Bruges (2008)
There's something about Brendan Gleeson that just puts you at ease. A large man in stature, the Dublin, Ireland, native should be an intimidating presence, yet he's usually flashing a big cheese grin or providing main film characters with emotional support of some kind, even if—like he does in the underrated, comedic crime flick In Bruges—he's busting guns.
Used to its greatest measure in Danny Boyle's new millennium horror classic 28 Days Later, Gleeson's teddy-bear qualities afford him the always bankable pleasure of being cast as someone's loving father, or that reliable, tension-breaking best friend.
In last year's critically adored independent dark comedy The Guard, he meshed those qualities with hilarious profanity and cold smugness to play an Irish policeman who cavorts with hookers and takes down an international drug smuggling syndicate. Unsurprisingly, The Guard was made in Ireland—Hollywood deal-makers aren't about to give Gleeson a leading role anytime soon. All good, since directors in every other cinema market appreciate the man's chops. No unease here.
7. William Fichtner
Best co-starring performances: Strange Days (1995), Heat (1995), The Perfect Storm (2000), Black Hawk Down (2001), Blades of Glory (2007), The Dark Knight (2008), Date Night (2010), Drive Angry (2011)
William Fichtner could stop acting right now and he'd be leaving the game with an iconic performance under his belt—in one of the biggest movies of all time, no less. One of the best sequences in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight is its taut, masterfully executed opening bank robbery, which both sets the film's dark tone and introduces Heath Ledger's Joker. At the center of the scene, aside from Ledger, is Fichtner's defiant, ready-to-fight bank manager, who grabs a sawed-off shotgun and memorably tries to defend his turf.
When casting Fichtner for the small yet important role, Nolan knew something that fans of the actor's work—largely accrued from the TV shows Invasion (2005-2006) and Prison Break (2006-2009)—have known for years: His intensity as a performer is something to behold. Whether a film needs a cold-blooded villain or a no-bullshit authority figure, Fichtner is an ideal choice.
But he's also not afraid to have some fun and shed his tough guy mystique. Fichtner has mined laughs alongside Will Ferrell (Blades of Glory) and Adam Sandler (The Longest Yard), and in next year's bizarre, absurdist independent comedy Wrong, he's the funniest thing in an all-around ludicrous mirth-fest.
6. John Goodman
Best co-starring performances: Raising Arizona (1987), Arachnophobia (1990), Barton Fink (1991), The Big Lebowski (1998), Argo (2012), Flight (2012)
With Ben Affleck's sharply funny and altogether thrilling Argo steadily winning at the box office, moviegoers have been easily laughing at something other than Affleck's silly '70s hairdo: co-star John Goodman's minor but very impactful performance as the droll, self-aware makeup artist John Chambers. Alongside the equally great Alan Arkin, Goodman nails every one-liner and comedic moment, especially near the film's end, when he and Arkin break the tension from an otherwise nail-biting climax.
Eagle-eyed film buffs shouldn't be surprised by Goodman's work in Argo, nor his goofy turn in this weekend's Flight, in which he somehow makes a white-pot-smoking caricature not excruciating. That's because the 35-year acting veteran is untouchable when it comes to finding both the humor and humanity in colorful, left-of-center characters.
Having honed it in three classic Coen brothers' films (Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, and The Big Lebowski), it's a gift that Goodman has at his disposal whenever A-list filmmakers and leading actors are looking to add some levity to their latest projects.
5. Michael K. Williams
Best co-starring performances: The Wire (HBO, 2002-2008), Life During Wartime (2009), The Road (2009), Boardwalk Empire (HBO, 2010-present)
It's only a matter of time before Michael K. Williams lands that breakthrough leading role in a critically lauded independent flick. You know, the kind of part that catches the mainstream's awareness, puts him into all of the awards season conversations, and wakes up those sleeping Hollywood casting directors who've only considered the Boardwalk Empire standout for minor characters in genre films.
In a perfect world, Quentin Tarantino would've taken the less obvious route in casting this December's slave-gets-revenge pic Django Unchained and chosen Williams for the title role. As we've seen on both The Wire and Boardwalk Empire, the Brooklyn native is brilliant at lending dark, unapproachable antiheroes an underlying warmth.
He's an incredibly charming guy (check any of his on-camera and/or print interviews for proof), and that likability radiates through his otherwise brooding performances.
4. John Hawkes
Best co-starring performances: From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), The Perfect Storm (2000), Identity (2003), American Gangster (2007), Winter's Bone (2010), Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011), Lincoln (2012)
Want to get a leg up on your movie-loving friends and make an informed Academy Award prediction? Consult Fandango and find the nearest theater that's playing The Sessions, the new indie dramedy in which John Hawkes plays a polio victim hoping to lose his virginity. While most folks have Daniel Day-Lewis (for Lincoln) pegged to win next year's Best Actor prize, many people are giving Hawkes the underdog position, and, if The Sessions gains steam, he could very well upset Honest Abe.
If that happens, Hawkes will be statue-holding proof that hard work really does pay off. Before landing his first notable lead role in The Sessions, the Minnesota native paid his dues in small, sometimes single-scene performances in various genre films of strong (From Dusk Till Dawn, Identity) and shitty (I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, S. Darko) quality. But in 2010, Hawkes' talents finally caught the mainstream's attention thanks to the Oscar darling Winter's Bone, where his performance as a grizzled mountain man with a heart of gold earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Last year, Hawkes returned with another Oscar-worthy turn as a Charles Manson-like cult leader in Martha Marcy May Marlene, setting the stage for a 2012 marked by The Sessions and a prominent supporting role in the aforementioned Lincoln. Blessed with that rare ability to effectively play either creepy or heartwarming, Hawkes can do it all.
3. Stanley Tucci
Best co-starring performances: Road to Perdition (2002), Lucky Number Slevin (2006), The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Swing Vote (2008), The Lovely Bones (2009), Easy A (2010), Margin Call (2010), The Hunger Games (2012)
The best character actors are all wonderful role-players—it's the same down-for-the-cause approach to professionalism that exemplifies a basketball team's sixth man, or a football squad's defensive lineman who keeps the quarterback safe without ever receiving any of the QB's fame. Take one look at Stanley Tucci's filmography and it's immediately clear that he's one of Hollywood's finest walking, talking examples of such a team player.
Tucci, a 27-year acting veteran, has run the gamut from major blockbusters (Captain America: The First Avenger, The Hunger Games) to small independent drams (The Daytrippers, Margin Call) and mainstream comedies (The Devil Wears Prada, Easy A). If there's one word to describe Tucci, it's, simply, "versatile," and in 2009, his ability to completely switch gears and become absolutely terrifying in Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones (in which he played a neighborhood child murderer) earned him that ever-elusive first Oscar nomination.
2. Richard Jenkins
Best co-starring performances: Step Brothers (2008), Burn After Reading (2008), Let Me In (2010), Friends with Benefits (2011), Hall Pass (2011), The Cabin in the Woods (2012), Killing Them Softly (2012)
For over 20 years (from 1985 through 2008, to be exact), Richard Jenkins worked consistently in Hollywood with a strong cloak of anonymity. In that stretch, the now-65-year-old actor appeared in over 50 movies, always giving strong performances but never registering much beyond, "Oh, look, it's that guy." That all changed, however, with 2008's The Visitor, an outstanding independent drama in which Jenkins delivers remarkable work as a middle-aged man dealing with racial inequalities in a post-9/11 Manhattan.
From that point, Jenkins has been in high demand for both his name and his talent. What's been most surprising about his ascension to mainstream recognition, though, is how funny Jenkins has proven to be. In many scenes, he's the funniest thing about Step Brothers, lashing out with nicely timed expletives at Will Ferrell's and John C. Reilly's expenses. Last year, he nearly salvaged the otherwise pedestrian shenanigans in the Farrelly Brothers' Hall Pass with his agreeably sleazy turn as an older lothario. And, this past April, Jenkins garnered huge laughs in the meta horror-comedy The Cabin in the Woods.
1. Ron Perlman
Best co-starring performances: Cronos (1993), Sons of Anarchy (FX, 2008-present), I Sell the Dead (2009), Drive (2011), 3, 2, 1… Frankie Go Boom (2012), Crave (2012)
Genre fans really appreciate it when a credible, highly respected actor works in their realm without even the slightest hint of irony or I'm-too-good-for-this elitism. And there's no greater example of that type of game thespian than Mr. Ron Perlman.
Looking at his professional stats, it's easy to think that the uniquely masculine (read: dude has a chiseled mug like nobody else) is nothing more than a B-movie king, with titles like In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, Mutant Chronicles, and The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption. Even some of his major studio jobs have fallen into this distinction, most notably Season of the Witch and last year's crappy Conan the Barbarian remake.
That is, until you watch each of those films and realize that Perlman gives not a single unlikable performance in any of them.
He's one of the hardest working actors in the industry, and his disposition in movies regularly gives the impression that he's never doing it just for the paycheck. The guy clearly loves his job, and he's not above hamming it up in drag (3, 2, 1… Frankie Go Boom) or cracking one-liners while covered in prosthetics and makeup (the Hellboy films).
Besides, nobody can deny that he's one of the best actors working on television today, as seen weekly in FX's violent, character-driven biker soap opera Sons of Anarchy. Anytime someone calls him out for signing onto, say, the 2009 direct-to-DVD flick The Devil's Tomb, all Perlman has to do is toss them a Sons home video box set.